Tesla actually used Mercedes switchgear for a long time

 

I know but my memory is fuzzy, thought it was the turn signal stalk maybe also the shift stalk.

 

I get it sometimes you've gotta just do it. But that's still on you.

 

Same here. Both of our cars have the BMW joystick shifter and both my wife and I have adjusted to them. Not a big deal. I'm sure we'd adjust to button shifters if they were on a vehicle that we liked enough to buy. Some of them seem better than others but the operation is similar.

 

Still my favorite...

 

.......Even in this?

 

Yes, even in traffic. I dearly miss having manual transmission vehicles. It's all I owned for over 20 years.

 

One reason I keep sticking with Lexus/Toyota is their shifters. For the most part they are sticking to tradition (and also still offering manual control). In an emergency, it's the quickest way to make a shift without having to locate, look, or think. I think it should all be about safety, which has been greatly eroded with the advent of infotainment systems and all the funky new shifters.

 

Heresy, reverse should always be on the right side! But otherwise yes this is the way.

 

I never need to look at my non-traditional joystick-style shifter. Shifters can be different and still be just as safe and easy to use; just like anything else, there are good, average and bad designs.

 

I've had them both ways - reverse on bottom right and on top left. I can't honestly say it made much of a difference to me.

 

My first time exposed to anything other than a normal shifter was our 2006 ML 350. It was a stalk. I never liked it but my wife didn’t mind. I was always reaching for a place to rest my hand. For me it just feels good to hold onto a conventional shifter. When I picked my 2019 Santa Fe this was one of the deciding features. It’s old school and the manual use is forward for upshift and down for downshift unlike the ridiculous opposite movements in the Grand Cherokee. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to pull downward to shift up and push forward to shift down. I never got used to that. So now our Grand Cherokee L (GCL) has the rotary button I’m trying to get used to. The new Santa Fe’s are rotary now also. Even with the new beefed up 2.5T engine I’m not going to give up my conventional shifter for it.

 

remember any modern transmission is fully electronic controlled. You aren't moving a mechanical linkage, you are manipulating electrical contacts to control the transmission and its computer. There is no difference if they were buttons instead. Shifters arent any more "mechanical" in terms of controlling the transmission so dont kid yourselves. Going to a rotary/button shifter is a big space saver for the center console and a rotary shifter mounted in the dash area between the gauge and steering column occupies what otherwise wouldve been useless space. I can kind of see a joystick shifter for sporty cars, but other than that, its a waste of space. You can clearly see how much of a space hog it is in these pictures. Really great consolidation of many shifter designs.

 

[raises hand] Me and almost everybody who drives spiritedly. The "back for upshift, forward for downshift" comes straight out of motorsports. When you're hard on the throttle and the torque is pressing you into the seat, it's completely unnatural to lean/move forward to grab the next gear. Likewise when you're threshold braking coming up to a corner, pulling the shifter behind you to continue slowing down is equally unintuitive.

ALL motorcycles work the exact same way, since the beginning of time, for the same reason. Press down to upshift, pull up to downshift.

The "forward to upshift, back to downshift" is a compromise design for people who want to pretend they know how to drive. Even Hyundai isn't consistent across the line. So while your Santa Fe does it the wrong way (IMO), their driver-focused cars like the Veloster N and Elantra N do it the right way--just like BMW, Porsche, Dodge, etc.

 

I agree. The stalk on my S560 works fine, but I miss being able to rest my arm on a gearshift...

My other issue is the wiper stalk on the Pacifica is where the shifter stalk is on my S560, so when I drive the Pacifica I instinctively try and shift the wiper stalk...