Quote:
Originally Posted by GeeRam
I wouldn't be.
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I would tend to agree. The DCT drives differently from a stick or an automatic... but some people expect it to behave just like the latter. It's a fundamentally different technology, and you can't get the relative smoothness of an automatic without a power-sapping torque converter. No thanks, I'd rather have a clutch, even if it's being actuated by a computer instead of my left foot.
My limited time in a DCT has told me that there is a certain jerkiness to the shifting... but it's less than you'd get even with an average stick driver. The only time I've ever had a smooth ride with a stick driver was when said driver happened to be a professional driver who literally did it for a living. Very few people can drive that well, but the DCT is in my opinion a good second place to that.
Maybe my opinion will change when I've put a couple thousand miles on a car with a DCT (I'll let you know around Christmas...) but at the moment I find the performance and behaviour of a DCT quite acceptable considering its performance aspirations. Remember, this isn't Volkswagen's DSG which is tuned for comfort and does drive an awful lot like an automatic (at the expense of slipping the clutch a LOT!). This is a performance transmission that's surprisingly similar to the one in BMW's high performance M cars.