[Aditya]

Unconventional Automatic Gear Shifters

Automatic gearboxes are in. As time goes by, more and more people are preferring these to manual transmissions. The convenience they offer, particularly in city traffic, outweighs their additional cost over their manual counterparts. It’s not just the lesser effort required on the part of the driver that is an advantage. Many new slush boxes offer quicker shifts and even better fuel efficiency compared to manual transmissions.

While there are just a few types of automatic transmissions available (such as torque converters, dual-clutch transmissions and continuously variable transmissions), the gear-shifters that enable the driver to engage the gears vary. Most cars come with the standard stick shift with gears in the R, P, N, D sequence, but there are many cars that use shifters that are not conventional.



Let’s have a look at some of the unconventional gear-shifters that we have seen on cars over the years.

Monostable shifter:

Probably the most popular type of shifter after the stick shift, the monostable shifter is found mostly in luxury cars such as BMWs and some Jaguars and Volvos. The shifter can be moved forward or backward like a joystick to select the desired gear and springs back into its only resting position the moment it is released. Most monostable shifters are very easy to use and have a premium feel. "P" or parking mode can be engaged by pressing a dedicated switch located either on the selector or near it.


Older M cars from BMW did not come with a P button.


The Volvo XC40 uses a similar shifter, but its functioning can be confusing. You need to dab the selector backwards twice in succession to engage ‘’D” or drive mode.

Stalk shifter:

These are used in Mercedes-Benz and Rolls Royce cars. They are placed on the right of the steering wheel. These selectors function like monostable shifters with just one resting position. Push the stalk up to engage "R" or down to engage "D". When parking, press the button on the tip of the stalk to select "P". To prevent accidental use of the wiper stalk, Mercedes has integrated the wiper functions into the light stalk located on the left of the steering wheel.


The Rolls Royce Cullinan also get a button to engage "Low Mode" on the gear lever.

Rotary shifter:

Many Jaguar Land Rover vehicles use these gear selectors. They raise out of the center console when the engine is started. Apart from providing visual drama, these selectors are simple. They are minimalistic to look at and with no soft touch material on them, don’t feel premium to use.


The Renault Kwid AMT - one of the cheaper cars on sale, uses a rotary shifter as well.

Button shifter:

Button shifters are less popular that the other types of gear selectors. Individual buttons are assigned for selecting the gear the driver wants to engage. These buttons are either placed on the center fascia or the center console of the car.


Not many cars are seen with these. The Fiat 595 Competizione and Honda CR-V along with supercars from manufacturers such as Aston Martin and McLaren come with button shifters.

Touchscreen shifter:

The latest type to join the list of unconventional gear sectors is the touchscreen selector which is going to be seen in the updated Tesla Model S and Model X.

Image Source: Torque News


Image Source: VerietyInfo


Image Source: Torque News

If gears are to be shifted, it will have to be done using a controller located on the touchscreen of the cars. The touchscreen will feature a sliding selector which is a small icon of the car) located in the upper left corner of the touchscreen to select D or R, while N mode can be selected on the screen through the shortcut menu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqscljhaOJY

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line.

[vigsom]

Although from a commercial vehicle, this is the simple D, N and R button set up in a Volvo 8400 low floor city bus.




Also adding the "mazy" shifter from the Grand Vitara AT.

[Keeleri_Achu]

I'll take a conventional stick with tiptronic function (or paddle shifters) any day over these unconventional shifters.

Of all the automatics I've driven over the years, the worst shifter is the rotary knob on the Nexon EV. I've also driven the Ford Fusion with a rotary shifter, but the one in Nexon is just plain crap. It tests my patience every single time I've to make a three point turn in a busy street.

[padmrajravi]

Current gen XUV500's unconventional manual mode button. In manual mode, driver had to use his thumb to push the small button on the right side of the shifter to shift up or down. It was an ergonomic disaster and ensured that nobody used the manual mode.

[starke]

The 2016 ACURA TLX also came with weird Gear shift buttons which needs some time to adapt to.




Say what, they have no intention to leave it as 2021 TLX has redesigned the same concept

[kamilharis]

Meanwhile, the Cadillac Escalade gear shifter has transformed from this to



This (2021)



And Chevrolet Tahoe gear shifter has transformed from this


To this! (2021)

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by vigsom

Also adding the "mazy" shifter from the Grand Vitara AT.

A-star too has the "mazy shifter" (as you call it):



Moving the gear-shifter to L, 2 and 3 stops the gearbox from upshifting (from 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear respectively). Useful while driving on hilly roads.

[Herr_Autobahn]

After driving VAG Automatics for sometime, I found this to be bit unconventional. Not to mention the two lever parking brake mechanism along with it, which is a real pain .

[viXit]

I think the "mazy" arrangement we are referring to is called a gated shifter.
Here's a related link

Gated shifters allow us better shifting. Muscle memory helps remembering which slot is where. A greater advantage is that you cannot shift into certain gears by mistake. In a linear shifter, you might overshoot R and go to N or D in a (P>R>N>D>S) arrangement.

That's not possible in a gated maze. As you have to move left or right in addition to up or down. so there's no chance of going into wrong gear by sliding the shifter up or down too hard.

[TrackDay]

The one on the BMW i3 can be quickly confused for the wiper/indicators. Better to read the manual before driving the car.


This is a looker and found on the old Camaros and muscle cars. The Tata harrier has a parking brake in a similar design I believe.


The gearknob sticking out of the dash is quite peculiar as seen on the Honda CRV and some of the micro SUVs from Mahindra.


Don't get your kids to play on the ICE if you drive a Lincoln Continental !


Problems of the rich. What a gear knob looks like in the Mercedes Benz CLK GTR.



And lastly the Pagani Huyara ! Everything about the car is strange, down to its gear stick.

[carthick1000]

I have had a Lexus CT200h and it had the shifter pretty close to the steering wheel, but on the middle tunnel top close to driver. One of the very ergonimical shifters I have had. It is spring loaded and returns to it's home position after every shift. (D)rive - (R)everse - (N)Neutral - (B) Engine braking for more regeneration. To engage in Neutral, the shifter has to be moved to left and hold there for 2 seconds. Parking brake is a separate button below the shifter.





Lexus CT200h shifter concept is from it's budget brother Toyota Prius:

[GTO]

I absolutely hate buttons or rotary knobs for gear-shifting. Have used a few AT cars with them and it just didn't feel intuitive or important enough for something as critical as the transmission.

My first choice are the BMW gear levers - they are ergonomic perfection. You have to live with one to appreciate the thought & detail that went into its well-contoured design.

An equal match are the column-mounted shifters in Mercedes. They do take some getting used to, but are cool after a couple of hours. Plus, they do free up a lot of space on the center console.

[vishy76]

The one thing that I am not really sure of in a rotary or a monoshifter is the fact that one can't look at the physical position of the shifter or touch it and conclude what gear the car is in. One has to rely on the MID or the indication on the shifter or sometimes even beside it (as in the case of the Volvo) in order to figure this out.

This flaw was further amplified by FCAs pathetic implementation in some of their cars, so much so that it ended up claiming a life. Owners would struggle to tell whether the car was in Park or not and it would sometimes end up rolling away after being parked.

[gkveda]

There has been no standardized gear shifting convention in AT cars as we see in manual transmission cars(H Model with slight variation in reverse gear or 1st gear position in 1% cars).

The only commonality I see is, PRND nomenclature. Other than this, every gear lever looks different in terms of shape, size, the way lever traverse etc. And Its surprising to observe that Every car has unique AT Gear shifter in terms of the way it is changed.

So, personally, I feel there is nothing called conventional gear shifter in AT Cars. Every second AT Car is installed with unconventional gear shifting lever.