Friday 27th October 2017

Match 'box enthusiast: Tell Me I'm Wrong

We should embrace rev-matching manuals - they might be the stick shift's best chance of survival

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All manual gearboxes should come with automatic rev-matching.

Before bellies begin to ache, though, I should declare one essential caveat: you must be able to deactivate said rev-matching at the touch of a button. And I do mean one touch of one button. No drilling-down via touchscreen menus, no convoluted confluence of drive and traction modes - just a button to switch it on or off, just like in the Sport Pack-equipped Nissan 370Z that brought the function to market with its Synchro Rev Match system in 2009.

Porsche makes it hard - it shouldn't be!

Yes, heel-and-toeing is a simple but eternal joy - even in the most lethargic of front-drive hatchbacks, where it serves no purpose other than to entertain the driver. But even if you're an exponent of the ankle-bending ritual and your car's pedals are appropriately spaced, it's not always appropriate or, indeed, possible. In most cases, you need to be braking fairly hard before the throttle pedal is within tickling range, and unless you're on an open, empty road - which, on the balance of probability, you aren't - that level of brake-squishing is pretty unlikely. So for the rest of the time, why not let the car flawlessly smooth your transition from one gear to the next, and save a little drivetrain wear in the process?

If you were buying a used manual BMW M2 or Sport Chrono-equipped Porsche 991 or 718 from a seller short on mechanical sympathy, surely you'd be glad of the clutch-pampering properties of their respective rev-matching setups?

To date, such systems have been confined to more performance-orientated cars, but it needn't be so. It's a software-based addition, and much simpler and therefore cheaper than the safety and autonomous tech that trickles down the market with each passing day. That you can buy a £16,200 Mini Cooper with rev-matching speaks of its affordability.

Nissan system one of the oldest but still the best

Indeed, the most populous beneficiaries would be indifferent A-to-B drivers, who'll suddenly find their regular manual hatchback, crossover or SUV easier and more user-friendly to drive while avoiding the expense of an automatic. Their car's parts will last longer, and their passengers will be happier, too, saved from the nodding-dog indignities of their host's misjudged shifts. Owners might even save a little fuel from smoother driving.

Automated manual city cars such as the Toyota Aygo x-shift or ASG-equipped VW Up aren't popular because of their added expense and awkward mannerisms. But furnish those cars' conventional manual gearboxes with rev matching, and you've taken away some of the apprehension of buying a manual at a fraction of the complexity and cost of an auto. You could easily argue a rev-matching manual would actually provide a smoother drive than one of those clutch-actuating jobs too.

Rev-matching manuals should be the new normal, then. And in the process, they'll win back market share from autos, thereby prolonging the career of the manual gearbox that we know and love.

Richard

[Words: Richard Webber]

[Ekona]

No issue with rev-matching 'boxes at all, just so long as there's an option to turn it off.

[ghiblicup]

It's all the sport button does on the GT4

[sidekickdmr]

I had a 370z with it and its a great feature, like you say it should be commonplace in sports cars

[grumpy52]

Many of us older drivers mastered the art of driving without a clutch , usually due to slave cylinder or cable failure. Achieved by matching revs to road speed , also a skill needed when using Hewland race gearboxes to avoid grinding cogs .
Ruined by more and more intrusive synchromeshes on modern boxes .
More dumbing down of driving skills ?

[Porsche911R]

I like the option, again as long as there is an off switch.

[Dyl]

My hire car for a fortnight in Italy last year was a Mini One D 5 door - all 1.5 litres and 95bhp! I was very surprised to find that it had rev matching, and found it very useful for quick downchanges on the tight mountain roads, particularly with it being in LHD flavour and my coordination not quite as good as it should've been.

[AmosMoses]

Great feature to have, i have no issue with it as long as it can be disabled.

[astrsxi77]

I had a track experience in a manual 991 (early 7-speed, as I recall) a couple of years back. All perfectly enjoyable, only slightly marred by the instructor insisting that rev-matching was switched on for the duration. It totally defeated the purpose of the enthusiast nature of the car and box. Rev-matching is such a gimmick on a sportscar like that - a manual 991 has had plenty of thought put into the pedal layout to cater for skillz The manual is chosen almost exclusively for the ultimate driving connection. If you can't hack it, buy the PDK, which you probably will anyway, and be done with it.

As for ordinary cars, I really cannot see auto-super-blip-match having much effect on whether the manual survives or not. Judging by what fills the roads these days - oh, it's yet another aggressively styled, yet podgy Diesel...thing - most potential buyers probably couldn't give a toss how smooth changing gear will be. It is what it is. If they can't be bothered, then they'll spend more on the auto. If they want to pretend that they own a racing car, they'll spend even more on the double-clutcher, if available. I think most just appraise how desirable the vehicle looks/will make them look, number of toys and tax liability/economy anyway.

[culpz]

Ekona said:

No issue with rev-matching 'boxes at all, just so long as there's an option to turn it off.

I agree. I'm sure the majority do, anyway. Just give us the power of choice. Personally, i'd never turn it off but i think it's important to understand that not everyone wants/likes the same things. If it can keep the manual gearbox in existence for longer, then it can't be a bad thing, surely?

I test drove a new Mini Cooper S a couple of years ago and that had it. It wasn't a great test drive and was only brief, so it's not like i remember it massively or even noticed much at the time. Saying that, i wasn't exactly hooning it, especially with the sales rep sat next to me.

[wab172uk]

I bought a new 370Z GT when they came out, and the box was fantastic. Wish it was on more cars.

Button there to switch it off, as most people on here are Heal & Toe experts, as well as Drift Kings.

[Limpet]

The other half's Clubman Cooper D has it, FFS! Just what you need, the gorgeous sound of a BMW N47 diesel blipping itself on downchanges.

No option to turn it off either, at least that I've found.

[mko9]

AmosMoses said:

Great feature to have, i have no issue with it as long as it can be disabled.

I'll go a step farther - as long as it is an option I don't have to pay for. Completely pointless, I know how to drive.

[CS Garth]

I always admired the rev matching function of Nissan Micras that kept them at about 6,000 rpm irrespective of which gear the human fossil driving was in

[swisstoni]

Came here for a nostalgia-fest about toy cars ....

[JagerT]

I thought it was about collecting matchboxes,what a disappointment .

[toasty]

grumpy52 said:

Many of us older drivers mastered the art of driving without a clutch , usually due to slave cylinder or cable failure. Achieved by matching revs to road speed , also a skill needed when using Hewland race gearboxes to avoid grinding cogs .
Ruined by more and more intrusive synchromeshes on modern boxes .
More dumbing down of driving skills ?

I guess if you'd learnt to play the harmonica while driving you'd bemoan the new fangled audio systems of modern cars as well.

Just because things were a once a pain in the butt that you had to work around, it doesn't mean they should always be this way.

[Lowtimer]

toasty said:

I guess if you'd learnt to play the harmonica while driving you'd bemoan the new fangled audio systems of modern cars as well.

Just because things were a once a pain in the butt that you had to work around, it doesn't mean they should always be this way.

Indeed, those who lack the desire or ability should of course be catered for, for they are the future. So long as no-one tries to force the new world order it on us grumpy old sods who know how to do it and actually like doing it.

Otherwise we'll be very happy to continue spending money keeping our old cars good, and avoid not bother buying new ones. Up to the manufacturers.

Mind you. I think the manufacturers have already come to that decision and don't want my money any more.

[astrsxi77]

toasty said:

grumpy52 said:

Many of us older drivers mastered the art of driving without a clutch , usually due to slave cylinder or cable failure. Achieved by matching revs to road speed , also a skill needed when using Hewland race gearboxes to avoid grinding cogs .
Ruined by more and more intrusive synchromeshes on modern boxes .
More dumbing down of driving skills ?

I guess if you'd learnt to play the harmonica while driving you'd bemoan the new fangled audio systems of modern cars as well.

Just because things were a once a pain in the butt that you had to work around, it doesn't mean they should always be this way.

I understand both of these viewpoints, but I think there is a limit, or sweet spot, in the development life of the manual gearbox that strikes the balance between a tactile and involved mechanical experience, and ease of use, day in, day out, by the everyman. For me, power-blip-mega-match is a pointless step too far into over ease of use - a marketing department project, not an engineering one.

[toasty]

Lowtimer said:

Indeed, those who lack the desire or ability should of course be catered for, for they are the future. So long as no-one tries to force the new world order it on us grumpy old sods who know how to do it and actually like doing it.

Otherwise we'll be very happy to continue spending money keeping our old cars good, and avoid not bother buying new ones.

And, hopefully, long may you continue to do so if you enjoy it.

Maybe I'm just the grumpy one for never having learnt the skill of heel and toe but I do love the downshift blips however they may be made.

[_Neal_]

grumpy52 said:

Many of us older drivers mastered the art of driving without a clutch , usually due to slave cylinder or cable failure. Achieved by matching revs to road speed , also a skill needed when using Hewland race gearboxes to avoid grinding cogs .
Ruined by more and more intrusive synchromeshes on modern boxes .
More dumbing down of driving skills ?

I fail to see how it's necessarily a dumbing down of driving skills, when one of the (in my view correct) points of the article is that the existence and preponderance of rev-matching tech could actually prolong the existence of manual gearboxes. Put it this way, it'll dumb down driving skills more overall if buyers of new cars simply can't get one with three pedals!

That's not an issue if you'll only ever drive classics of course, but a good thing for enthusiasts on the whole.

ETA - One of the bits of the article that I don't agree with is the assumption that you can't rev much unless you're heeling and toeing - that isn't true. And it isn't even a pain, or a hardship to practice.

Edited by _Neal_ on Friday 27th October 17:01