Nissan's Synchro Rev match

[martine]

For those that don't know, the new Nissan 370z has the option of automatic rev matching when changing gear. So it's a manual with a clutch and all that - but is senses which gear you are moving towards and will blip the throttle for perfect rev-matched gear changes.

Sounds very clever to me - not quite sure how it knows if you're block-changing but I expect it copes (in typcical Japanese technology fashion). Bet it's fun watching it cope with a 6th to 2nd block change.

What do people here think about this option (I stress it's got a button to switch it on/off).

[Custom24]

Sounds cool. I think the Renault Laguna advert showed something similar a couple of years back?

I wonder is it clever enough to take into account how long it takes you to complete the gear change (ie if you take a long time, the speed of the car will be slower by the time the new gear is engaged). I guess all it needs to know is destination gear and road speed when the clutch is released.

I like the idea, but I'm not sure if it belittles the amount of effort I am putting into improving my gear changes.

[martine]

I wonder is it clever enough to take into account how long it takes you to complete the gear change (ie if you take a long time, the speed of the car will be slower by the time the new gear is engaged).

My understanding is it's not so much of a 'blip' but more of a sustained increase in revs...I think it's just waits patiently for the clutch to come back up before relinquishing throttle control back to the driver!

I see no reason why it can't gradually reduce the revs as your road speed is falling if you're taking a long time to find that gear.

Apparently it uses the ABS wheel speed sensors and sensors on the base of the gear stick.

[Porker]

I don't suppose this has anything to do with the number of synchromesh problems reported on earlier cars?

Personally, I can't imagine wanting this feature on a manual-gearbox car, but I could imagine it being quite appealing to parts of the market which the Z is targeted towards.

Indeed, as far as new features go, I would have preferred a better seating position and a rear-view mirror which didn't obstruct my forward vision to the extent that I had to move my head to see around it on left hand bends.

regards
P.

[martine]

Personally, I can't imagine wanting this feature on a manual-gearbox car...

OK but why not?

[crr003]

Personally, I can't imagine wanting this feature on a manual-gearbox car...

OK but why not?

Because that's one of my tasks?

[Porker]

Martin

It's because I regard the ability to change gear, including adjusting the engine speed, as being an enjoyable part of the driving experience. Having the car do it for you removes some of the pleasure of driving for me*. To be honest, I'm guessing that this is the case though, since I've not driven a car which is equipped with this capability.

I'm also, in general, not a fan of the car making undemanded control inputs.

Now, this debate could run and run, since I do like ABS brakes and, to some extent, stability control systems. However, these only cut in (or should only cut in, IMO) when the situations already got pretty bad, so they don't impact on my normal driving. "Auto-rev-match" would however be ever-present, and would remove the need to do something which I enjoy, so it probably wouldn't work for me.

* I'm going to qualify that further - for cars which I drive primarily for pleasure, it's not something I would want. As you say, I believe the Z's system is switchable however.

regards
P.

[martine]

Fair enough 'porker' I can understand where you are coming from.

Anyone else have a view?

[brianhaddon]

I agree with Porker on this one. Mind you there are other things I would prefer to do myself such as decide when to switch the lights on and use the windscreen wipers.
Although it could be argued that this is an extension of syncromesh. I mean why bother with that if you can match the revs perfectly yourself? I imagine it could appeal to many drivers.
Regards
Brian Haddon

[Porker]

I tend to agree with automatic lights, although that may be more to do with the fact that they aren't quite perfect yet and I worry about giving an inadvertant "flash" because the light sensor thinks it's got dark enough to have the lights on.

That said, I quite like rain-sensing wipers. They're great when it's just a bit drizzly - not enough for intermittent wipe but requiring the odd flick-wipe.

regards
P.

[Gareth]

My views are closest to Porker's of anyone on this thread - I like automatic wipers, dislike pretty much everything else that takes away control or direct responsibility from the driver. I go further than many in that I don't like some forms of stability control, and that would be those that I can feel it turning the response of the car to mush! On the other hand, if I can't feel it then (to me) it isn't intrusive and then isn't an issue.

I disliked a BMW that stopped the engine when the car stopped moving - initially I didn't realise what was happening, but even when I realised then it still felt odd. I suppose I worried about not being able to make a quick exit from a side-road ... but the engine re-started when I depressed the clutch so I should have been able to work around it. I think the problem was mainly for short stops, where an opportunity to pull away is short and infrequent - to get around this I would need to keep the clutch depressed, (to reduce the time to pull away into a short gap), and I don't habitually do that.

[Porker]

I suppose this leads us on to the ultimate nightmare - ISA. The car that thinks it knows when I'd like to brake and how much braking I'd like to apply.

P.

[jont]

It will be interesting to see how well the mechanism lasts. I imagine you could get some strange effects when the gear stick position sensor gets a bit dodgy. Presumably once the new gear is selected it leaves you with no throttle on, so doing large block changes could lead to interesting engine braking effects (eg 6th to 2nd), although maybe drivers who need the mechanism to assist won't notice the lack of smoothness. I also wonder about the opposite extreme to Marks concern - rather than slow changes, how quickly can it react for those that snatch them?

I think a mass ADUK test drive session is needed

[waremark]

I am all for a mass test drive. I have read a road test which said that the system works remarkably well. I find it hard to understand how it can manage to blend the throttle blip with whatever you are planning after the gear-change. For example, if you are changing down to accelerate you want to maintain the gas at least at the level required to rev match. That sounds harder to do if the system has rev matched than if you have been in control of the throttle for the rev match.

But for the purposes of argument I accept that the system does work well; would I want it? Well, in my daily driver electronics make a brilliant job of controlling the whole process of gear changing (BMW DCT), and I don't find that ruins the driving experience. However, I do enjoy driving a manual car, and a large part of the enjoyment comes from the satisfaction of setting the throttle accurately. It seems a bit perverse to decide not to have a full automatic (the logical choice?) but then to automate this particular and enjoyable slice of the manual gear-changing process.

[TripleS]

Fair enough 'porker' I can understand where you are coming from.

Anyone else have a view?

Yes, and it pretty much tallies with what Porker said....but then I would take that view wouldn't I ? Hello, Mark.

Best wishes all,
Ned.