Dial Shifter

[shrek]

I am, 225

lol I knew it!

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[No Brand]

Just under 10,000 miles in 6 months, I like the dial shifter.

I did accidentally knock it into N while at highway speed, I was placing a phone in the wireless charging pad and grazed the knob. So light in fact I didn't know that I had.

5'8" 180 lbs, very agile and athletic and not a careless klutz.

It can happen.

 

[dochawk]

I learned on a VW bug. . . . Nowadays, one has navigation, music streams, climate control to worry about

ehh . . . I had a '74 super beetle in high school. As it warmed up, the cable for the heater started pulling down (cooler), and was as busy as the shifter!

Not so with an automatic that shifts via wire. I'd rather use that space for the Kleenex box, thank you very much.

Yes, I, too, go through much tissue crying when forced to drive an automatic . . .

Yep, some heavy clutches back in the day.

I had a girlfriend in high school whose father tried to teach her to drive a manual in his truck, a mid 70s I presume.

She simply wasn't heavy enough to operate it, and ended up in the air instead!

 

[First Sergeant]

ehh . . . I had a '74 super beetle in high school. As it warmed up, the cable for the heater started pulling down (cooler), and was as busy as the shifter!





Yes, I, too, go through much tissue crying when forced to drive an automatic . . .







I had a girlfriend in high school whose father tried to teach her to drive a manual in his truck, a mid 70s I presume.

She simply wasn't heavy enough to operate it, and ended up in the air instead!

That doesn't sound fun! As Scooby-Doo would say "Rah-Ro".

 

[JBnorthTX]

A steering column stalk is absolutely the right place to put an automatic shifter. We only went to console automatic shifters because every guy driving a mommy automatic wanted to fantasize that he was driving a 1960s era muscle car.

I found most of the old steering column stalks were awkward to shift. Many of them required high effort to get out of park but then you could easily overshoot into neutral instead of reverse or into 2nd instead of drive, etc. Probably just poor design that could be rectified in a modern version, though.

What I don't like about the Maverick dial is it's harder to "find" with your hand without looking down. Needs to be bigger. Also, needs more resistance to make each "click" easier to feel.

 

[onemuir]

Exactly The dial style gear selector allows easier access to the cup holders.

Gotta throw my two cents in. If there was a column shifter you would have even more room for Kleenex boxes, 64oz coffee drinks, several redundant electronic devices and places for life’s dirt and detritus to accumulate.
If it had just 4 detents (and not just keep spinning around in both directions) it would be much more intuitive.

I seriously miss the manual control button in the automatic transmission in my previous Titan. And now with 8 gears I find the trans constant “must be in the wrong ratio” frustrating. (Sport is better but still a little too aggressive) I would have bought a manual transmission after a test drive with the automatic.
And yes all transmission controls should be on the column or somewhere on the dash!

 

[dochawk]

That doesn't sound fun! As Scooby-Doo would say "Rah-Ro".

yeah, that.

After several minutes, it would reach some kind of equilibrium.

The bright side was that being air cooled, it simply ran the air through pipes in the muffler, meaning hot air after about a minute.

Many of them required high effort to get out of park but then you could easily overshoot into neutral instead of reverse or into 2nd instead of drive, etc.

The only one I ever had an issue with that on was a '71 Plymouth Fury III.

You had to pull it nearly to your chin, it felt like.

Now, couple that with the hood release being where the brake release belonged . . . after having to stop for gas in a bad part of town just a few miles from home, on a 400 mile drive, I ended up hitting the hood release. I drove on rather than getting out again.

Getting off the freeway, at the stop sign I didn't set the brake, not wanting to do it again, when I went to latch the hood.

About as I reached the front wheel, the car starts going backwards. I dashed around the door, hopped in . . . and missed the brake due to the collision.

It punched out the grill and collapsed the hood of the Honda behind me.

I figured that I hadn't pulled the shifter far enough back, and left it in reverse, but the adjuster was absolutely convinced that it had popped out of gear. She was just happy that noone was hurt, having just dealt with one of the fatalities from a gear-popping Audi.

And my car? Not even a scuff on the bumper pads!

 

[NextTruck]

I just received a 2024 Hybrid XLT. Pretty disappointed so far, but it's a company car/truck.
Being that I am 6'2 and move my legs, in doing so, I have hit the rotary dial at least 4 times while in cruise control knocking it into neutral or reverse.
I have read that someone installed an F-150 shifter. Are there any updates, pics, videos on this?
And would it work on a 2024?

6'3 here. Have not even come close to that. That is an odd thing to happen.

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

yeah, that.

After several minutes, it would reach some kind of equilibrium.

The bright side was that being air cooled, it simply ran the air through pipes in the muffler, meaning hot air after about a minute.



The only one I ever had an issue with that on was a '71 Plymouth Fury III.

You had to pull it nearly to your chin, it felt like.

Now, couple that with the hood release being where the brake release belonged . . . after having to stop for gas in a bad part of town just a few miles from home, on a 400 mile drive, I ended up hitting the hood release. I drove on rather than getting out again.

Getting off the freeway, at the stop sign I didn't set the brake, not wanting to do it again, when I went to latch the hood.

About as I reached the front wheel, the car starts going backwards. I dashed around the door, hopped in . . . and missed the brake due to the collision.

It punched out the grill and collapsed the hood of the Honda behind me.

I figured that I hadn't pulled the shifter far enough back, and left it in reverse, but the adjuster was absolutely convinced that it had popped out of gear. She was just happy that noone was hurt, having just dealt with one of the fatalities from a gear-popping Audi.

And my car? Not even a scuff on the bumper pads!

Pulling the hood release instead of the parking brake release. Been there done that, 72 Chrysler Newport.

 

[HeyBales]

Ok - when using cruise control - does no one else move their legs around the minor space available?

Where does your go-pedal leg go when using cruise?

 

[Carlitos_92]

Ok - when using cruise control - does no one else move their legs around the minor space available?

Where does your go-pedal leg go when using cruise?

I use cruise a LOT - even around town, if the situation is appropriate. For any given posted speed limit, I already know how fast I want to go. Cruise keeps me out of trouble.

Anyway, I typically just move my foot aft of the pedal (tight to where the seat starts) but I also cross my feet every now and then, and so on (I'm 6'-0" and 210 lbs). A month ago, after a 1,600-mile round trip to CO and back, I wasn't too beat up.

I am a size 12 running shoe, but even in larger vehicles, I usually also take my shoes off if I'm tucking in to burn a full tank of gas in one sitting...

 

[cyberdog]

The absolute only issue after 19 months has been in a rush, I'll occasionally miss reverse going from D to R, or P to R, and end up in either Park or Neutral respectively. Just a matter of spinning the dial too quickly, and not hitting the desired position. And that would be me in a rush, and you realize it pretty quick, and could potentially have the same thing occur with a traditional shifter, albeit it takes more of a shove or pull to do so. Not real issue with the rotary shifter, and at least it has the safety of opening the door or turning off the truck to shift into Park.

I'm a bit over 6'2" and can't understand how somebody hits and rotates the knob with their knee. The knob isn't right at the edge of the console, the only possible way I could see it happening is if you placed the right foot just in front of the left side of the seat, which I'm not about to do with the car in motion, adaptive cruise or not, I'm always ready to intervene and punch the brake pedal. (I'm not exactly a candidate for a self-driving car, not willing to give up all trust and control to the automated systems).

 

[BlueOval1954]

Wait till the dial comes off in your hand, Then what will you do ?

 

[dochawk]

Wait till the dial comes off in your hand, Then what will you do ?

same thing as when the shift lever comes off in my hand!

 

[Timothyd]

So I have grown to like the dial shifter. Would like some sort of buttons on the dash. I get board and I had to teach myself it is not a fidget spinner at lights! Hence the desire for buttons! I have slammed this puppy into reverse and park at times. Albeit it while it was stopped.

I've gotten used to it. If it's not better, it's not worse. Just something to deal with.

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