Small Maverick gripes, and why the dial shifter exists.

[Bj517]

Anyone like auto high beams? I don't.
I keep that feature disabled.

I love them. They've worked flawlessly for me, coming on when I expect them to and turning off instantly when traffic appears ahead. Only minor complaint is that (by design) they don't come on at lower speeds (below 30mph or so it seems)

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[GPSMan]

They are crap in the city. I assume they'd be better in the 'country'. There's a disable for a reason.

 

[Bj517]

They are crap in the city. I assume they'd be better in the 'country'. There's a disable for a reason.

I live a city/suburbs and they work just fine here. What kinds of problems are you having specifically?

 

[crgator]

'65 Valiant AT shifter located on the dash:

My sister's first car had that. I drove it a few times but hated it. Loved my VW Bug.

 

[GPSMan]

I live a city/suburbs and they work just fine here. What kinds of problems are you having specifically?

They go high to low like 6-8 times a minute at totally inappropriate times "flashing" other drivers.

 

[MLA62563]

They are crap in the city. I assume they'd be better in the 'country'. There's a disable for a reason.

I drive almost exclusively in the city, and they seem to work just fine with no odd switching back and forth.....except that on a couple of occasions I've discovered they weren't working and had to work them manually. Both times the dash indicator wasn't even on, even though it was selected in the settings. Back to normal the next day each time, so I suspect it was a computer glitch. Had a Chevy Trailblazer before that did that sort of thing once and a while with a number of features. Switch it off to reboot and you were back in business. Those electronic gizmos are great when they work...but they aren't foolproof.

 

[Bj517]

They go high to low like 6-8 times a minute at totally inappropriate times "flashing" other drivers.

Sorry to hear you're having issues. Again, mine work great. High beams turn off within a second of the truck "seeing" another car's headlights or taillights ahead of me. Once they're out of sight, the high beams come right back on. It very rarely, if ever, gets confused by things like street lights, road reflectors, lights from houses, etc.

 

[TheWizziard]

Most of us '65' and older folks grew up with shifter on the floor and are well accustomed to the traditional stick shift IMHO.

I'm 68. My first manual was a 3 speed on the column. My last was a 5 speed on the floor. I've ridden motorcycles with shifters on both sides some with one up and others with one down. One of my first cars had a two-speed auto with a lever on the dash. I frequently travel for work and rent cars and trucks with a variety of shifters including a the new dials. Over the years I have just got in and driven each without giving much thought to the shifters.

I wonder if it was controversial when the manual shifter went from the floor to the column. Of course, there were no forums back then.

 

[GPSMan]

I'm 68. My first manual was a 3 speed on the column. My last was a 5 speed on the floor. I've ridden motorcycles with shifters on both sides some with one up and others with one down. One of my first cars had a two-speed auto with a lever on the dash. I frequently travel for work and rent cars and trucks with a variety of shifters including a the new dials. Over the years I have just got in and driven each without giving much thought to the shifters.

I wonder if it was controversial when the manual shifter went from the floor to the column. Of course, there were no forums back then.

Good point.

Thankfully the brake is always on the left right?

 

[jsus]

They go high to low like 6-8 times a minute at totally inappropriate times "flashing" other drivers.

They'll dim for no apparent reason, for one street lamp on a dim road, etc. They'll wait until an oncoming car in a curve or turning onto the road is lined up directly facing you before dimming. They'll sometimes flicker/strobe because it can't make up its mind.

With LED lamps like on a Maverick, they're already bright and they'll flash the high beams at people for no apparent reason. With halogen lamps and halogen fog lamps like on other models, it does this really annoying 2-stage process switching between high and low beam. Like it'll dim from high to low, and then there's a multi-second delay before it brings back the fog lights. Unnecessary distraction as the light pattern keeps changing. With LED headlights and fog lights, that delay doesn't appear to be there.

Auto lamps works well. Auto high beams, not so much.

 

[TheWizziard]

Good point.

Thankfully the brake is always on the left right?

Current motorcycles have the foot shifter on the left side and the rear brake on the right side. The right foot shifter I drove many years ago had the rear break on the left side.

 

[dadd75]

I dislike it for visual, size and placement. First it’s all electric with a fake locking in place gear. It’s in the highest cross traffic location in the center of the truck. You got to seat spill-able just next to it. Eat hamburger over the area to keep from dropping thing in your lap etc. loose toddler in the back can play with it. Dog drooling from the back seat.
Second you got no feedback that it’s where You want it by touch. So I always have to glance at it.
If it’s purely electronic why is it so frickin BIG it’s got the same functionality off say like the headlight control. It would be better placed next to that control and ‘small’
There is no real pushback on dail size versus the important functionality. That would only seem off/wrong different for a day or so.

Back in the mid 1960's, my aunt drove a Dodge that had buttons on the dash you pushed in for what gear you wanted the transmission to go into, i.e., Drive, Reverse, etc, etc. That would work for the Maverick, or any other car and give more room on the floor console for other things, since it's all electronic now.

 

[TedTX]

They could also just get rid of the shift dial and drive mode buttons entirely.
The right side up/down steering wheel controls could be functional when stopped with brakes on for the shift dial functions. And same for drive mode. That would cover 95% of the use cases. A drop back setting for driving modes on the fly would be needed for the remaining 4% not sure why anyone would need to drop into neutral for the 1% but some drivers due that.

 

[TheWizziard]

I dislike it for visual, size and placement. First it’s all electric with a fake locking in place gear. It’s in the highest cross traffic location in the center of the truck. You got to seat spill-able just next to it. Eat hamburger over the area to keep from dropping thing in your lap etc. loose toddler in the back can play with it. Dog drooling from the back seat.
Second you got no feedback that it’s where You want it by touch. So I always have to glance at it.
If it’s purely electronic why is it so frickin BIG it’s got the same functionality off say like the headlight control. It would be better placed next to that control and ‘small’
There is no real pushback on dail size versus the important functionality. That would only seem off/wrong different for a day or so.

I am usually intolerant of people whining about the shifter knob.
Instead of whining you provided constructive criticism.
I agree that there is probably a better place or shape for it.

 

[RCollins]

Guess the year, make and model of this one.

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