Gear Ratio: J-Gate vs. Standard

Ok... since I'm on a roll with my 'noob questions'...

Gear Ratios on X-Types:

Performance/spec-wise...
How does shifting and gear ratios compare on a standard trans vs. J-shifter in automatic-mode?
How does shifting and gear ratios compare on a standard trans vs. J-shifter in manual-mode?

On the automatic transmission, does the car use the same gear ratios when shifting manually as it does when fully automatic (in D)?

-happilute

I like you already...
Really, I do and why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?? 
I'll tell you a bit about me...if you already haven't guessed it I'm what they call round these parts here now ya hear one of them there wise guys....and my PR guy, Jimbo can 'splain it to ya later on....with a baseball bat..no i think he uses the ol' golf club now...anyway..

Here we go:

First off....this is gonna be hot debate and i can tell that this post is gonna generate some serious discussion and I may even make a few enemies...no wait...I have too many of them already so it's all cool.

The Automatic v Manual argument will rage on just as long as there are motor vehicles on the road and people to drive and argue about them and neither will be right or wrong. It is all down to the individuals’ preference and experience.

Manual trans give you absolute and total control of how you drive and appeales to those younger persons who liked to pretend to be budding formula one drivers as they down shifted to screech around a corner, impressing no one except the traffic cop. Just to show off your driving skill you could slip neatly from second to top or vice versa. Approaching a tight bend you could down shift a gear ready to go in ‘slow’ and come out ‘fast’ much to the admiration of the passengers as they hung on for dear life to prevent them being thrown around inside.

Nowadays the automatic is as reliable as the manual and on our jag's we can select which gear we want to start off in depending on the conditions prevailing at the time. At the press of a button I can select the ‘sporty’ mode where the car does its best to misbehave under acceleration and that is handy for showing the ‘boy racers’ a thing or two at the traffic lights. They just do not expect the Jag to leave them standing especially when they see an old geezer like Jimbo driving it, damn, he drives an Audi, never mind. When it is snowy and icy I can select the snow conditions where the car will take off in third and for hilly terrain I can select to only go up to third gear. I can also select the same mode for up to second gear and stay in first for really hilly driving. But in normal automatic mode I can still change gear as I want simply by lifting off the accelerator to go up a gear or pressing down hard to come down a gear or I can let the ‘box’ do its stuff on its own. The automatic has one drawback for those who do not use it properly and that is fuel consumption. In town where the road speed is restricted to 30 mph you can find yourself in third/fourth gear all the time and emptying your fuel tank as if there was no tomorrow.  To get the best out of an automatic box you have to listen to your engine and watch the rev as well as the speedo and that compensates for not having to change gears manually.

Q: How does shifting and gear ratios compare on a standard trans vs. J-shifter in automatic-mode?
     A: I'm unable to find the gear ratio's for either transmission, so I'm not sure if I can give a good explanation without the numbers. As for the J gate shifter, the gear ratios do not change, unless of course you shift it into another gear, the J gate allows you to keep the trans in a particular gear giving you full control much as the manual, an in both instances you want to shift under the red line.
I think that answers the other two questions.

Before you ask, and I have a funny feeling you will...about the button that says "sport mode" .  All that does is when you keep the tranny in full auto mode, it increases the rev's by another 500 or so before shifting into the next gear for that auto sport feeling.

Oh and I forgot to mention the one absolute and non disputable thing about a manual trans is that when your battery and or starter goes bad, you can have a friend help you to the nearest hill where you would slip the trans in second or third while gaining momentum down the hill and starting the car...

Well, in my 18 years of driving, I've always had a manual. Tried many of the things racer describes, and some more. The X is a manual too, but maybe I'm getting "old," as I've found myself thinking about an auto in the next car after the X. Not all autos are equally created, so it depends on the list of cars I'll be shopping from, but any premium these days has some sort of advanced auto that makes the old autos look like dinosaurs. Probably will be in the market in 2 years. Might get another X, with more options, but...Alfa will be here by then, if they keep their 999th promise to come back to the U.S. :D

I have a manual X, but my brother has a DSG VW GTI, the shifting on that is insane. shifts so quick it doesnt seem real. Boy if i had that on the X, i wud be more then happy to trade the manual.

Automatic is all the way .Manuals give you better acceleration though.For instance, let's take X Type 3.0 V6  .Automatic vs Manual ,the manual accelerates quicker  than auto .
I think it depends on personal preference after a point as well.

 
Old racer........OLD??
I'll give you old......wtf does that mean by the way??....lol
Old people drive Autos cos they're lazy and forget how to drive........Manuals deffo the way to go for the "real" driving experience for sure. Although it can be a bit tiresome in n out of traffic.......I must admit, Like Racer n some of the other Older members on the forum, I've been getting strangely drawn to Autos.
I'm sure I'll be wearing slippers, smoking a pipe and fitting a tow bar next.....NOT!
Jeez.....racer thats the most you've typed in about 6 months....all in one go!!!
You better go n have a lie down me ole china
 
Jim

quote:

Before you ask, and I have a funny feeling you will...about the button that says "sport mode" . All that does is when you keep the tranny in full auto mode, it increases the rev's by another 500 or so before shifting into the next gear for that auto sport feeling.

Forgot about changing the tolerance for the kick down. It'll shift sooner to a lower gear in sport mode in a most annoying way. :)

lol.....yeah It took me like 2 hrs to type that up..of course i had to take a 15 min break every 15 min.....and 15 beers later I had a nice 15 min post for you all to read......

BTW that was old geezer...if you're gonna quote me...do it right! lol

Oh man I need my beer tonight!

Autos are great for large luxury cars, suvs, mainstream bread and butter sedans, etc.  If it's a sports car or sports sedan, I'd never buy an auto.  It takes away from the driving experience. 
 
As for the J-Gate, my parents have an S-Type and while the J-Gate gives you more control over the gearing, it's no manual :)

 

quote:

ORIGINAL: racerx82
lol.....yeah It took me like 2 hrs to type that up..of course i had to take a 15 min break every 15 min.....and 15 beers later I had a nice 15 min post for you all to read......
BTW that was old geezer...if you're gonna quote me...do it right! lol
Oh man I need my beer tonight!

 
Thats cos u were typing one handed bro
 
For those that immediatley thought sumthin else...........I meant u had a beer in ur other hand.....what else?.....lol
 
JC

An acquaintance of mine(not necessarily a friend) just bought a Max with the CVT transmission.  AWESOME guys, that's the future of auto for every company.  Super nice shifting!

I dont like slush boxes and the same with shift-by-cable manuals.

Jaguar is very conservative when it comes to transmissions.  Both manual 5-spd trannies in the S-type (00-03) and X-Type feel "loose".
My personal car, VW GTI has a 6-spd manual but it's shift by cable.  I prefer mechanical linkage.

The paddle shift (auto) trannies in the new XKs are ok, I dont like it either. It lacks response.

Specs on the X-Type's trans:

Automatic

1st           3.80:1
2nd          2.13:1
3rd           1.36:1
4th            0.93:1
5th            0.68:1
Reverse     2.97:1
Final drive  3.8:1

Manual

1st               3.41:1
2nd              2.14:1
3rd              1.45:1
4th              1.03:1
5th               0.77:1
Reverse        3.47:1
Final Drive    3.8:1

There many sorts of auto trannies .Besides that I don't know if you noticed that there is a huge inflation on the increasing speeds of the autos lol .4,5 ,6 and 7 .The next limit is 8 speeds lol

Lol...I'll never tell!

sweet... good info, racer & envy.

everything you did or didn't want to know about happilute:
i'm a 26 year old electrical engineer living/working in massachusetts.  every car i've ever driven or "owned" before in my life was a friend's car or a hand-me-down:
1998-1999: an '80s box-shaped toyota minivan (aka the party wagon)
1999-2004: a '91 toyota corolla (hand-me-down from the 'rents)
2004-2006: the corolla got wrecked in a late-night accident during gradschool (some prick ran a red light), was hard-up on cash and a relative loaned me a '97 toyota camry

do you see a pattern here? hand-me-downs... toyotas... bleh

so i've been working for a while now and i saved up a good amount of $$$ and finally got myself something nice: my 2005 X-Type 3.0 Sport. ... and i couldn't be happier.  i swore to myself i wouldn't get a good ole, dependable toyota cuz they make me sick (unless it's like a supra or something - hehe).

i love it. it's hot. or as my electromagnetics prof used to say: "SEX-AY."  i love the looks, and i love the way it drives too. and i love the looks i get from other people even more! they probably think "stupid-ass kid driving the jag..."... haters. ;)

i found the ebony X-type with only 6,000 miles on it and in pristine condition at a dealer in Florida... so i flew down there on memorial day weekend checked it out, and now it's mine.  i'm getting the inside and exterior detailed tomorrow.

...and that's everything you did (or didn't) want to know about happilute, racer. 

Well alrighty than! Welcome again!  I had faith in that fact you would eventually spill the beans.  The rest of the "gang" will follow and you'll eventually get to meet them all.

I will warn ya....the gals love the X so be prepared to get hit-up hard.....have a few opening lines ready.....

Speaking of opening lines....anybody got a good one that they used? And Worked?? lol

The message is clear I'm gonna go a have beer now...Oh, BTW, found this on Utube,  and thought of me! :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PK4DlC2mVE

oh and i forgot to mention, not much of a differance in gears between auto and manual....

Jim to your argument that manual is real driving, that's what sounsd like young peoples argument. 

Aren't we all mature enough where we realize that driving is just about going places, and maybe looking good.  Unless your talking about racing, which I don't think many jaguar owners do, automatic just makes more sense.  Jag autos have enough power where we can beat most people out at the lights.  That's good enough for me.  I don't have to prove that I can drive for real when I drive a jaguar, that's how I look at it.  So I say let's jsut forget manual. 

Nice vid Racer, and about the line that actually worked, "yeah thats mine" didnt say nething else, didnt need to.

 

quote:

ORIGINAL: 93xj6
Jim to your argument that manual is real driving, that's what sounsd like young peoples argument. 
Aren't we all mature enough where we realize that driving is just about going places, and maybe looking good.  Unless your talking about racing, which I don't think many jaguar owners do, automatic just makes more sense.  Jag autos have enough power where we can beat most people out at the lights.  That's good enough for me.  I don't have to prove that I can drive for real when I drive a jaguar, that's how I look at it.  So I say let's jsut forget manual. 

 
Hey 93xj........We all have our own opinions and your welcome to yours........all I was saying is that for me, the real driving experience is all about manual as opposed to Auto.
As for racing, yeah I used to do a lot, here there n everywhere at 100mph...lol.......( that was a while ago ) and yes, manual everytime over auto for that I think you'll agree. How many racers in NASCAR or hte Gran Prix or Rally races drive Auto?........None!
I honestly think Autos have the stigma of being for older drivers, well, certainly over here anyways, having said that, I find myself being strangely drawn to the benefits of Auto boxes...lol...must be my age
I got a real funny feeling that my next car will be an Auto.
 
Anyways, thats my viewpoint
 
Cheers
 
Jim

Told ya this was gonna generate some serious discussions....lol
So like um....anybody know who invented the Auto box? <----cheap trick to defuse the heated debate

 

quote:

ORIGINAL: racerx82
Told ya this was gonna generate some serious discussions....lol
So like um....anybody know who invented the Auto box? <----cheap trick to defuse the heated debate

 
Looks like the honours go to the Yanks on this one guys.....
 
JC
The first automatic was invented in 1904 by the Sturtevant brothers of Boston. It provided two forward speeds that were engaged and disengaged by the action of centrifugal weights without need for a foot-operated clutch. As engine speed increased, the weights swung out to engage bands -- first the low-gear band and then the high-gear band. The unit failed because the weights often flew apart.
The next significant attempt at an automatic transmission was by Reo in 1934. Called the Reo Self-Shifter, it was actually two transmissions connected in series. For ordinary driving, one unit upshifted itself automatically in relation to car speed through the engagement of a centrifugal multiple-disc clutch -- much the same idea used by the Sturtevants. The second transmission was shifted manually and was used only when a lower gear was needed.
In 1937, Buick and Oldsmobile came out with a transmission called the Automatic Safety Transmission. it had a conventionally clutch for shifting the transmission into forward or reverse. Once in forward, the transmission shifted automatically by using two hydraulically operated planetary units -- one for LOW gear and one for DRIVE. The unit was the forerunner of the GM Hydra-Matic, which was born in 1938.
The Hydra-Matic consisted of three planetary gearsets that were operated hydraulically. A fluid coupling was used to connect the engine and transmission. Credit for perfecting the fluid coupling goes to Chrysler, which developed the concept in 1937. However, Chrysler did not make use of it until 1941, when the Chrysler Fluid Drive transmission was introduced. This was not an automatic unit, but a standard transmission with a fluid coupling, not a clutch.

By 1948, the automatic transmission had evolved into the hydraulic torque converter that we know today coupled to a planetary geartrain. The first to use the converter was Buick. The '48 Buick Dynaflow, as it was called, was the model for present-day automatic transmissions. Others soon followed with similar units -- Chevrolet Powerglide, Fordomatic and Merc-O-Matic in 1950; and the Chrysler M-6 Torque Converter Automatic in 1951.

Dear Mod, you rock the thread !
What a huge info

 
Lol.......cheers
 
JC

Oh brother...
the little things that amuse the masses...