Here's were I was going to poke fun of Suzuki for equipping this car with an archaic 4-speed automatic transmission. I was going to make some bad jokes like, "A 4-speed? Cool, my IROC Camaro has one too."
But I'm not.
Turns out I like the automatic transmission in our long-term 2009 Suzuki SX4. Sure it's geared a bit tall compared to the more modern five and six-speeds out there, but it's responsive enough that the gearing isn't a problem. This thing is never lazy with a throttle induced downshift, plus you can choose the gears yourself with this cool gated shifter.
Obviously designed by somebody like me, a guy that likes to shift his automatic manually, the Suzuki's simple shifter is proof that the manual gate found in most cars these days is nothing but marketing. In the old days (you know, the sixties, seventies and eighties and even the early nineties), every Mercedes had a gated shifter much like this. Even the 1992-1994 Mercedes 500E/E500, which is one of my favorites, had one. It worked then and it works great now.
No I'm not kidding. Look, you slide it to the left for the first gear down and pull it back for the second. Each shift, up or down, has a hard stop. Brilliant. Plus the shifter's action is nice and tight, as are the gear changes.
Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief @ 3,444 miles
nealibob says:
02:02 PM, 03/25/09
As convenient as the *-tronic shift levers are, I would much prefer a position for each gear. I find it annoying that I do not have that option in my 335i, especially since the paddle shifters do the same thing as the shift lever. Granted, you can more or less lock the transmission in manual mode, and the sport mode is nice as well, but I want more options!
zoomzoom22 says:
02:08 PM, 03/25/09
Honda is the worst offender here. Their automatic shifters are silky smooth in operation but allow the accidental selection of a gear other than Drive to be way too easy. Gated shifters are the best.
billt9 says:
02:18 PM, 03/25/09
Gated shifters rock.
I don't like those where you have to look down at your display to check which gear you're in.
With gated, just like manual shifters, you know what gear it is just by feel. Your head and eyes stay where they belong.
carguy622 says:
02:27 PM, 03/25/09
As nice as a gated automatic shifter is, with the popularity of 6, 7, and 8 speed automatics it would be very hard to fit all those gates in.
zoomzoom22: I think Ford has the worst automatic shifter all you get is P, R, N, D, L. I realize Honda's are easy to slip out of overdrive, but at least there is an indicator in the instrument binnacle.
athakur999 says:
03:00 PM, 03/25/09
I've never been a fan of gated automatic shifters but maybe that is because I'm so used to the Honda shifter that is maligned here :)
When I'm in our beater Honda, I know 3 "clicks" back is drive. I don't have to look at anything... The only time I've spent in cars with a gated shifter are in rentals so maybe if I had one long term, I'd get used to it.
cwmoo740 says:
04:01 PM, 03/25/09
When you downshift with that, is there a large pause and then a sudden lurch? The auto in my honda has quite a delay and then does not raise engine revs, so I avoid the shifter as much as possible. Or is this one decently smooth?
benson2175 says:
04:44 PM, 03/25/09
I love my gated 300e shifter. Slide down to 2 then back to D so it starts from 1st and not second. Weird but it works.
jamhandman says:
04:52 PM, 03/25/09
My Elantra has this, it's great. I just wish I could shift to first gear and not Low gear. According to the manual, when in Low gear I'm not to exceed 30 MPH. :^( Also, the car doesn't always up-shift when I move the selector up, I guess the ECU is still in control really. :^/ Still this is a good design, but nothing unique to Suzuki.
jamhandman says:
04:52 PM, 03/25/09
My Elantra has this, it is great. I just wish I could shift to first gear and not Low gear. According to the manual, when in Low gear I'm not to exceed 30 MPH. :^( Also, the car doesn't always up-shift when I move the selector up, I guess the ECU is still in control really. :^/ Still this is a good design, but nothing unique to Suzuki.
dragonflight says:
04:54 PM, 03/25/09
Had an 90s S-class that had a similar design. The only mistake I sometimes saw others make with my car was that they'd go into D...but accidentally click into 4th gear. And this was before the era of LCDs in the dash to tell you what gear you were in. Very easy mistake to make.
roar02ram says:
05:41 PM, 03/25/09
It's odd that Toyota and Hyundai are the only two that still do this.
roar02ram says:
05:42 PM, 03/25/09
Well, maybe not the only two, but given the intent, those two are oddballs to employ the practice.
stovt001 says:
06:47 PM, 03/25/09
I agree with carguy622, this is fine for a four speed, but try the same thing with anything more and you run into problems.
Since my Cobalt, like a Honda, has a straight-line shifter, I've gotten used to how many clicks I should feel until its in drive. I've never overshot into the next position. Its shifter is only marginally better than Ford's: P-R-N-D-2-L. And it doesn't show the gear in the dash either.
kurtamaxxxguy says:
07:55 PM, 03/25/09
Better a well calibrated 4 speed AT than a badly matched 5 or 6 speeder.
As for manual-auto shifting, the Subaru folks approach it differently via an up-down gate just to the left side of main drive gate. This seems to work well in selecting wanted gears, and is easy to flip back to auto by simply batting the lever from left to right.
foxtrot685 says:
09:34 PM, 03/25/09
the sx4 has some GREAT shifters. the 5-speed is a pretty darn nice shifter, its direct and has a nice mechanical feel without being notchy or clunky. the clutch is unlike any other small inexpensive car. the pedal has nice weight and a communicative engagement point.
johnnyr3 says:
03:07 AM, 03/26/09
I prefer a -/+ arrangement, but I won't knock this. +/-, however...sheesh, don't open that can of worms.
redliner says:
09:18 PM, 03/26/09
Jaguar has the "J-Gate" shifter, but the lever feels very disconnected from the transmission (think: gaming joystick), and it's easy to skip gears inadvertently.
http://www.jaguar-xj8.com/6-speed%20transmission.jpg