Best Looking Interiors

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FDSpirit
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Re: Best Looking Interiors

Post by FDSpirit »

theholycow wrote: I do tend to shift more than most people. I enjoy shifting, and I enjoy squeezing out that last little piece of one MPG by shifting to stay in the perfect RPM for my speed...so at certain speeds I'm shifting constantly. A floating shifter like that Civic one, or a shifter almost at shoulder height like in that Porsche, would be tiring and unpleasant.

They are probably good for tense racer-wannabe drivers tightly gripping the steering wheel with their whole white-knuckled fists at 10:00 and 2:00...not so much for relaxed medium/long distance commuters.
Image<----Probably for guys like that.
I think I have the same driving setup as you, THC. Never really think about it though.
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Re: Best Looking Interiors

Post by theholycow »

ElectroGhandi wrote:[youtube]Sprinter shifting[youtube]
That looks like something you shift because you have to, not because you want to.
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Re: Best Looking Interiors

Post by theholycow »

FDSpirit wrote:I think I have the same driving setup as you, THC. Never really think about it though.
You'll start thinking about it a lot after you spend 170,000 miles in a car that doesn't fit for your position. :x

That's why I'm so picky about my vehicles. Those were some miserable years. I should not have kept that car so long, but when I commit, I stay committed...
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Re: Best Looking Interiors

Post by Swimmerboy »

I gotta rep the Tiburon lol
Image
Image
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Re: Best Looking Interiors

Post by Jastreb »

theholycow wrote: They are probably good for tense racer-wannabe drivers tightly gripping the steering wheel with their whole white-knuckled fists at 10:00 and 2:00...not so much for relaxed medium/long distance commuters.
Which doesn't help their driving one bit. When in "tense" situations I like to hold the wheel at 9:3 with the elbows bent and my arms relaxed.

Bah... those high up shifters belong in minivans, which have a super-upright seating position. Where is our resident minvan driver? I wonder where they put the shifter on that car?
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Re: Best Looking Interiors

Post by ElectroGhandi »

To be fair, the Mazda5 is not your run-of-the-mill minivan. It's more like a sportwagon with sliding doors.
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Re: Best Looking Interiors

Post by 1974Alfa5spd »

ElectroGhandi wrote:sportwagon
Image
It's pronounced sportvagen.
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Re: Best Looking Interiors

Post by theholycow »

Jastreb wrote:Bah... those high up shifters belong in minivans, which have a super-upright seating position. Where is our resident minvan driver? I wonder where they put the shifter on that car?
I have driven minivans a couple times and found them extremely pleasant to drive. The ones I've driven have been extremely comfortable, handled similarly to a car (obviously not quite as well), and were tuned to compensate for lameness by having very good throttle response and hyper automatic transmissions that downshift at the drop of a hat.

To drive one with a manual transmission, I would ideally want a shifter in the same position (relative to the driver) as I want it in a car. I would not want it sticking out of the vertical dash surface nor would I want it extending way up from the floor.

A Mazda5's cockpit, IIRC, is not configured as a minivan with a flat walking floor that extends from the hatch to the dash and enough space between the seats for someone to sit on a milk crate. The driver sits in (not on) a bucket seat (not a captain's chair) with a console next to him (not non-existent or below him).

...or I could be wrong.
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Re: Best Looking Interiors

Post by watkins »

Thats not terrible though.
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Re: Best Looking Interiors

Post by Caramel »

Image
I like the shifter location for this and the honda.
Image
the odyssey probably has one of the most comfortable/nicest interiors for a minivan. :)
Last edited by Caramel on Thu Dec 10, 2009 11:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
Image
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Re: Best Looking Interiors

Post by Leedeth »

HAHAHAHAHHAAA IMAGE FAIL
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Re: Best Looking Interiors

Post by 1974Alfa5spd »

Caramel wrote:Image
Link broken.
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Re: Best Looking Interiors

Post by theholycow »

Caramel wrote:Image
I like the shifter location for this and the honda.
[img]image fail - looks just like the image above except with a Honda logo on the steering wheel[img]

the odyssey probably has one of the most comfortable/nicest interiors for a minivan. :)
What is the purpose of having that kind of shifter there? What does it accomplish other than obstructing access to the radio and vent? That needs a column shifter, which would be out of the way, no less convenient, and far less ugly.
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Re: Best Looking Interiors

Post by Caramel »

fixed it. :P
I think it's cool in a novelty kind of way. My dad always has trouble with the column shifter, can't seem to get it to go into the right notches. I can see this being better for some people.

But you're right the column style is much more discreet and out of the way.
Image
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Re: Best Looking Interiors

Post by theholycow »

Caramel wrote:My dad always has trouble with the column shifter, can't seem to get it to go into the right notches. I can see this being better for some people.
Assuming that there's nothing wrong with it, the trick is to stop operating the lockout once you're past the lock. Just like you let go of the button on a T-handle shifter after you get out of P and continue moving it, you let the column shifter spring forwards towards the dash while continuing to move it vertically.

One of the things I hated about my Grand Am was the lowest-common-denominator interface with big plasticky knurled knobs designed for old people and toddlers to operate. I'm not sure a minivan needs it either; they tend to be driven by parents of child-raising age, not elderly.
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