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GM's Autotrans Dog Bone

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Sporin

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'21 Tacoma – '18 Outback – '94 Miata – '16 RAV4
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Discussion starter · #1 ·
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Not to start a GM bash thread but after looking at a Malibu Maxx SS in the parking lot it occurred to me a design element I really don't like.. the Autotrans Dog Bone.
It just look so strange to me, it usually sticks WAY up on a long stalk, and it looks all awkward, wide and horizontal at the top, like something I'd throw to my dog. Other automakers have lowered their autosticks and integrated them better into the console but GM seems to have used this awkward design for ages.
I'm a big GM fan generally and not even remotely a TCL Dashstroker© but this is one style point has has always bugged me.
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'08 Malibu!
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Modified by Sporin at 11:53 AM 8-20-2007
 
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#2 ·
Re: GM's Autotrans Dog Bone (Sporin)

This is probably a car lounge nono, but when the vehicle is put in drive, i remember those cars as having the shifter in just the right spot for my hand to rest on the shifter and my elbow on the armrest in a level position. Might look goofy, but feels okay when driving.
 
#3 ·
Re: GM's Autotrans Dog Bone (Tornado2dr)

Quote, originally posted by Tornado2dr »
This is probably a car lounge nono, but when the vehicle is put in drive, i remember those cars as having the shifter in just the right spot for my hand to rest on the shifter and my elbow on the armrest in a level position. Might look goofy, but feels okay when driving.

that is exactly what happens. it is SOOOO damn comfortable to rest your arm on that location. soooooooooooo perfect for a full armrest.
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
Re: GM's Autotrans Dog Bone (Seabird)

Quote, originally posted by Seabird »

Doesn't look much worse than the one in the 07 Accord to me.
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Yup, not much better. I never said GM was the only one with issues, just that GM's extra wide grip is very unpleasant to my eye.
Why do autoshifters have to be so TALL anyway?? It's not like they need a lot of leverage.
 
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Re: GM's Autotrans Dog Bone (CosmicTDI)

Quote, originally posted by CosmicTDI »
I remember when the Malibu first came out, it was mentioned that's why the gear selector was made to that exact height.

I've read that as well, the width of the GM one just stands out to me is all.{shrug}
Maybe it's the lack of a soft boot on the thin stalk that makes tall autoshifters look so odd to me.



Modified by Sporin at 12:46 PM 8-20-2007
 
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#12 ·
Re: GM's Autotrans Dog Bone (Sporin)

Quote, originally posted by Sporin »

I've read that as well, the width of...

One of the office perverts showed me this video (youtube or something like that) once with a lady... errr... chic, inside a car, and riding... errr... well, maybe that's why GM does it? Safety?
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#14 ·
Re: (Lumis_Wolfy)

Quote, originally posted by Lumis_Wolfy »
rofl. they have a trim level called MAXX
lmao

i need the XTREME edition. lolz.
wait a minute.. wasnt there something with that trim made a while back..?

maxx isnt a trim, its the hatch version. And the S10, Colorado, and Blazer had Xtreme editions
 
#15 ·
Re: GM's Autotrans Dog Bone (Sporin)

My Regal has an awful looking shifter... it looks like some kind of deformed limb.
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IMO older Toyotas have the absolute worst shifters... They are about a foot long
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Modified by WhistlerYOW at 9:59 PM 8-20-2007
 
#16 ·
I'll take a long auto shifter with some real mechanical feel to it over a short, stubby glorified multi-position electronic switch any day of the week.
Also, the shape and size of the GM shifters allow you to use your whole hand, while others require you to use very specific pinching/grasping motions that folks with injuries or arthritis may find difficult. For what it's worth . . .
 
#18 ·
Re: (climacus)

Quote, originally posted by climacus »
Why even have shifters for AT? Just switch to dash buttons like the Aston Martin. It'll be cheaper to make and safer in accidents.

Plymouth used to do this, with an overtly complicated linkage assembly with buttons on the steering wheel. In the mid-50's. Push-button is nothing new. However, it was incredibly easy for someone to accidentally put the car into neutral, even while the vehicle was off, and cause an accident. Which is precisely what my dad did as a toddler, and landed the Plymouth his dad just purchased in 1960 or so into the neighbor across the street's front porch.
But the reality is that installing actuated linkages on the trans is most likely far more expensive than having a direct manually-operated linkage. Given the legendary reliability of British electrical components, the dash-buttoned Aston scares me almost as much as Al Gore being made the head of CARB.
 
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#19 ·
Re: GM's Autotrans Dog Bone (anon_az)

Quote, originally posted by anon_az »
Gigantic shifters are silly, I like the German's take on the auto shifter, small and out of the way.

Yeah, those Germans and their svelte shifters.
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