Manual vs Selespeed
Discussion
eddymann said:
do not get the selaspeed
you will get bored driveing it after a few months
eddythealfaman
Really, i love mine, yes its had its faults, New GB and Clutch, both replaced under warranty, but a spirited drive none the less, and i'm not bored driving it yet, i get greater satisfaction from the Alfa box than i do from the Tip on the Merc.
I have to go with manual.
I have just spent this week in a Maserati Spider F1, a SRT/10 Viper and a 355 Spider (manual) in Hawaii
Best of course, was the 355 with the metal on metal gear change. The addiction of raw off the line pull of the Viper suprised me however. The Maserati was really sweet as it is so sweet but the F1 system, although solid, got boring very quickly.
Although the paddles are fun, you do get a bit tired of them simply for the lack of involvement. Also, the feeling of the F1, selespeed or whatever you want to call it, is not right. There is always a slight..................hesitation which you won't appreciate.
Again, the 360 spider is F1 and as much as I love it the 355 spider in manual is prefered. We have an Alfa selespeed too and, same as before, it's fun at first but after a bit you sort of want to stick it in automatic (which I never do out of my sheer hatred towards automatic cars).
Try both but I am sure you will go for manual. Especially with those bloody little buttons in the Alfa.
MARA
I have just spent this week in a Maserati Spider F1, a SRT/10 Viper and a 355 Spider (manual) in Hawaii
Best of course, was the 355 with the metal on metal gear change. The addiction of raw off the line pull of the Viper suprised me however. The Maserati was really sweet as it is so sweet but the F1 system, although solid, got boring very quickly. Although the paddles are fun, you do get a bit tired of them simply for the lack of involvement. Also, the feeling of the F1, selespeed or whatever you want to call it, is not right. There is always a slight..................hesitation which you won't appreciate.
Again, the 360 spider is F1 and as much as I love it the 355 spider in manual is prefered. We have an Alfa selespeed too and, same as before, it's fun at first but after a bit you sort of want to stick it in automatic (which I never do out of my sheer hatred towards automatic cars).
Try both but I am sure you will go for manual. Especially with those bloody little buttons in the Alfa.
MARA
The whole idea of a semi-automatic gearbox is that it removes all hindrances to getting around. You can put it in automode for around town (selespeed generally works in these conditions) or put in semi-mode for when you want a bit of hooning.
As an autobox is it acceptable even by modern standards (so far better than most of the past) but as a semibox it is a pile of steaming shite. There is a knack to using it without giving yourself whiplash with every gearchange but that doesn't make up for the fact that it is actually an obstacle to progress.
This is *not* a driver aid, it is the total opposite.
A rather enthusiastic Fiat salesman told me it was because the 2.0TS engine wasn't supplying enough torque and I should try the Stilo Abarth instead. So I did and came close to getting a dislocated vertebrae at the first gear change instead of a bit of gentle whiplash. I hate to imagine what these little "accidents" do to the engine internals or the rest of the car for that matter but I would expect anyone to need a good few days of steady driving to master the selespeed system before they can do anything approaching the speeds they would normally drive at. A bit of finesse and aforethought and you might start to get some gentle, subtle gearchanges instead of looking like a total prat but it doesn't change the fact that the system is seriously flawed and that doesn't even take into account the reliability issues.
If you want to see a good semiauto system in a (relatively) cheap car go and have a play in a Galant VR24.
As an autobox is it acceptable even by modern standards (so far better than most of the past) but as a semibox it is a pile of steaming shite. There is a knack to using it without giving yourself whiplash with every gearchange but that doesn't make up for the fact that it is actually an obstacle to progress.
This is *not* a driver aid, it is the total opposite.
A rather enthusiastic Fiat salesman told me it was because the 2.0TS engine wasn't supplying enough torque and I should try the Stilo Abarth instead. So I did and came close to getting a dislocated vertebrae at the first gear change instead of a bit of gentle whiplash. I hate to imagine what these little "accidents" do to the engine internals or the rest of the car for that matter but I would expect anyone to need a good few days of steady driving to master the selespeed system before they can do anything approaching the speeds they would normally drive at. A bit of finesse and aforethought and you might start to get some gentle, subtle gearchanges instead of looking like a total prat but it doesn't change the fact that the system is seriously flawed and that doesn't even take into account the reliability issues.
If you want to see a good semiauto system in a (relatively) cheap car go and have a play in a Galant VR24.
I am looking to buy a Selespeed Alfa 156 GTA, and I had heard about probs. with this system. There are, in fact, many websites that exist solely for problems with Selespeed Alfas ( I think one is just called
www.selespeed.com ). Certainly there were no end of software probs. with this system in early 147's and 156's, but now we are into the Mark 4 Selespeed system, the problems seemed to have been ironed out enough for me to still now want one. I will pay a good reward to anyone who can advise me of any Selespeed 156 GTA Sportwagons that they know about. Email me on marlin@spugs.fsnet.co.uk
Ta,
Steve.
www.selespeed.com ). Certainly there were no end of software probs. with this system in early 147's and 156's, but now we are into the Mark 4 Selespeed system, the problems seemed to have been ironed out enough for me to still now want one. I will pay a good reward to anyone who can advise me of any Selespeed 156 GTA Sportwagons that they know about. Email me on marlin@spugs.fsnet.co.uk
Ta,
Steve.
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