I know there are clear warnings in the owners manual but have you tried driving a manual Honda (or any other make) with the aluminium gear knob when the car has been sat in this weather.
Blimey it burns - does anyone know where I can get drivers style oven gloves ? - the ones with the holes on the back.
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Previous Lexus IS200 had a metal gear-nob. Reading reviews put me off. Solid piece of metal at high temperature - no way. My car at the moment has the steering wheel and plastic gear-nob very hot if sat in the sun for a lengthy period.
As for the Lexus, this "design feature" I believe had a fix via Lexus ... i.e. an alternative to metal.
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What about covering these items to prevent direct sunlight heating them up,dont take a few seconds to do
--
Steve
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get that knob on the internet auction site it will do a fortune and buy a normal one to stick on the stick.......
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My 2000 W Vectra GSi V6 had a lovely milled aluminium gear knob, the tactile nature of which was excellent, but yes, it burned in summer and froze in winter. Perhaps I got lucky - as mine was the best of many Vectras I have used with the same basic underpinnings - but this was a price worth paying as the snick-snick movement and aforementioned gear knob remain the most satisfying gear change of any front wheel drive car I've driven.
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i have tried to think of a superb fwd car with a better snick snick but have failed im afraid........ :(
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Puma ??
Haven't driven one of those, but I have driven Fiestas on which the Puma is based and my GSi still wins hands-down.
Even the well engineered V70 2.4T with which I am so happy - equally so as MTC with his gangsta car! ;-) -isn't as good in the gear change department as the GSi. Turbocharging and the drive by wire throttle of the V70 have distinct tuning advantages though that offer more than adequate compensation, but that's another thread!
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I had an SRi V6 Vectra estate, the same g/box as the GSI IIRC, the change was excellent though the gap between 2nd and 3rd was a bit large, once on the move however 3rd, 4th and 5th were beautifully spaced making swift progress a pleasure.
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Re hot g/knob, keep a white handkerchief in the car and lay it over the knob when parked.
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Try the Civic Type-R or the S2000, both have superb gearchanges.
As for the gear knob, my Accord suffers from the same problem. Luckily the car park where I work is lined on one side by trees which conveniently provide shade during the day so the car doesn't end up like an oven by the time I get back to it.
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Re hot g/knob, keep a white handkerchief in the car and lay it over the knob when parked.
He says!
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Why not keep an old sock in the glovebox so you can pop it onto the gear stick on sunny days to avoid the burning? People will think you a little odd but not as odd as being under 80 and wearing driving gloves :-)
teabelly
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Never listed in the advantage of automatics
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Can I just ask: what's the point of a metal gear knob? Why do modern cars need a design feature of a grand prix car of 50 years ago? Modern grand prix cars don't have them!
Surely if you want something tactile that reacts favourable to climatic changes then leather is the answer?
Also, I'm no engineer I know, but I don't see how the material of the gear knob can affect the quality of a gearchange mechanism. Cue the experts...
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don't see how the material of the gear knob can affect the quality of a gearchange mechanism.
No expert, but the round metal ball on the Vectra just felt "right".
Hand clasped over the top, fitting perfectly, nothing to "give" or "flex" between palm and gear lever, and together with a well engineered mechanism between lever and gear wheels, "snick".
Lovely.
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Sounds fair enough, I guess.
I just don't understand how this 'stir a lever about yourself every few seconds' thing ever caught on.
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Sounds fair enough, I guess. I just don't understand how this 'stir a lever about yourself every few seconds' thing ever caught on.
That's easy to answer, too.
It all depends on what we want out of a journey.
A-B, sure, but I also want to get some enjoyment out of the time spent, and key to this is enjoying controlling a mechanical device with care and precision.
Yes, I even double de-clutch on down changes when I want to keep constant speed, such as to get ready for an overtake. No jolt-jolt of the passenger heads in my cars, easy on the powertrain, and satisfying. Nailing the throttle in my bro's automatics to get a gearchange - or electronically holding a gear in his current Geartronic equipped Volvo - just doesn't do anything for me. Even a colleague's DSG equipped Audi doesn't float my boat; fantastic engineering, sure, but takes no skill to use.
BTW - When Volvo give me a drive by wire throttle and a brain of its own, that just adds to the challenge! (I think mine is a fantastic machine, but in stop-start city driving it isn't as easy to be chauffeur smoooooooooooth as with a simple cable throttle. It's possible, but it takes more skill and familiarity with the car. A bit like most modern bikes equipped with fuel injection; rather too binary in operation at the bottom end of the RPM range).
The aforementioned GSi however was a dream. Oily smooth gear changes under any circumstance and great satisfaction with it. Lovely.
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I know there are clear warnings in the owners manual but have you tried driving a manual Honda (or any other make) with the aluminium gear knob when the car has been sat in this weather.
Surely cant be any worse than having to sit, whilst wearing shorts, on black vinyl seats in Dads Mark 3 Cortina in the mid '70's. Soon learned to cover them up with a towel when parking it in the sun!
;o)
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I have a leather gear knob, so no problem there, but I keep burning my thumb on the brushed aluminium starter button :(
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>>Can I just ask: what's the point of a metal gear knob?<<
Mike - its sporty and I consider myself to be a very sporty individual - I watch it all the time.
With a beer belly and loss of hair I have to have something to make me feel I'm still sporty.
Your absolutely correct - there is no point in a metal gear knob - but they do sell it as sporty and mugs like me fall for it.
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Nothing daft about a pretty alloy knob. Park in the shade. Get someone to knit a little white hat for it. Tear a piece off your shirt to hold it with. Unscrew it and make a wooden one. You know the sort of thing. Pair of pliers or forceps. Change gear with your elbow. That sort of thing. Use your initiative. Develop OLQs. Got it? Right.
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You're not a mug my friend - I have a tarted-up Prelude that makes the whole backwards-baseball-cap brigade laugh at me but if we don't feel good about ourselves sometimes then what are we doing here?
I'm still not convinced about all this pedal and gearstick business though - I can do all that by twiddling the big toe of my right foot (dives below the parapet once more...)
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think it needs mentioning that alloy gear knobs are dammed cold in winter until car warmed up
so you cant beat a bit of leather..............
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