So you know you are getting old

[MJL]

Gone are the days where the shifter was either on the column or in the floor/console. I have a Ram, Maverick and wife has a MB. Today I went to put the maverick in park and turned down the radio....rotary shifter on ram in on the dash. I drive the wifes car for a bit and hers is on the steering column little arm like wipers.....I'm sure after driving hers I will turn the maverick wipers on looking for park.......can't we just make them the same like the 60's and 70's.
Although I will say I had a corvair once with push button shift

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[CTYankee]

After 15 months of driving my Maverick, I'm still not used to the rotary shifter dial. I used to be able to change to the right gear without even looking. Now I have to look down if I want to switch to reverse or I end up in park. I'd love to have a shift lever again.

 

[Oh Weld]

Ditto to both

 

[SLINGSHOT]

 

[Timothyd]

After 15 months of driving my Maverick, I'm still not used to the rotary shifter dial. I used to be able to change to the right gear without even looking. Now I have to look down if I want to switch to reverse or I end up in park. I'd love to have a shift lever again.

Yeah, the Mav will be interesting. After about 45years of driving manuals I'm still getting used to an automatic on my Buick. I sometimes wear down the battery because it won't let me turn the key off because I don't always put it in park when I'm in a hurry. Does the rotary shifter have a "feel" to it? Or will I have to be very careful with it?
And I suppose that's not the only weirdness I'm going to have to adjust to. What else?

 

[Hillbilly]

Not much "feel" there but I don't have to look anymore....well mostly

 

[UberGadgetFreak]

The rotary shifter does have a feel to it. I got into the bad habit of spinning it clockwise to put it in drive (it doesn't have a hard stop, you can keep spinning it, but electronically you can't go past D). And to reverse, spin counterclockwise, then back clockwise one detent.

But that makes me wonder... since its really just an electrical switch, someone could 're-engineer' it to be a column shifter, console shifter, or even a pushbutton shifter (remember those?). If someone has the patience, it would be a fun project.

 

[Fancy Farm]

Well they still haven't put that dimmer switch back in the floor where it belongs so the rotary shifter is going to have to wait.

 

[WannaMav]

The day you officially become old is the first time you find yourself thinking "When did they start hiring policeboys?"

 

[7Litre]

Well they still haven't put that dimmer switch back in the floor where it belongs so the rotary shifter is going to have to wait.

When the floor dimmer on my 1968 Dodge Dart needed to be replaced, I rewired it to a heavy duty toggle switch on left side of the dashboard. Pretty sure I never went back to a floor switch before I junked it in 1982, although it was never as convenient as I had hoped for.
In 2016 I eliminated the Ford Fusion from consideration solely because of the rotary shifter. Now I can't wait to get my hand on the one they're building for me as of two days ago. Old dogs need new toys to learn new tricks.

 

[Gpp]

I may be wrong but cars and trucks are not designed for 65 and older generations.we dont buy enough new vehicles.thats why you see all these weird changesbut that round shifter nob is just dumb

 

[CTYankee]

Yeah, the Mav will be interesting. After about 45years of driving manuals I'm still getting used to an automatic on my Buick. I sometimes wear down the battery because it won't let me turn the key off because I don't always put it in park when I'm in a hurry. Does the rotary shifter have a "feel" to it? Or will I have to be very careful with it?
And I suppose that's not the only weirdness I'm going to have to adjust to. What else?

The most important thing when you first start driving it is to make sure you know what gear you're in before you take your foot off the brake. Also, the parking brake is a switch (pull up to set, push down to release) and you have to have your foot on the brake to disengage it.

I can't think of any other controls that are substantially different from what we're used to.

 

[Dad]

You know you're getting old when you no longer turn your hi-beams on/off by using your foot on a floor switch.

 

[rlhdweman]

I find myself turning on the wipers occasionally when trying to shift out of park. It took a while to get used to. You don't have to look down at the knob to see what gear you are in, it shows on the dash. I have also found that when I park, I just have to turn off the key & it automatically goes into park.

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