Well. My girlfriend picked up her Protege Friday, and of course I had to drive it. So on our way to dinner I decieded to test out the auto-shift on the car. Well, as I got around 5000 RPM I got worried because the damn car wouldnt shift. Take a look at the pics and see if you can find out why I was having trouble with the shift...

The Mazda Protege:


And my CL:


But once I got it figured out, I realized just how smooth the damn thing is. It is WAY better then my CL's tranny.
You can (from a stop) shift directly into 2nd which is great when pulling out in snow. And it downshift soooooo smooth. Unlike my CL which might just give you whip-lash.

Oh and the Protege can go into 1st gear when downshifting.... You think I can make it fit into my CL????

 

haha, yeah our car is backwards from most other auto shifts.

 

Really? Is it just out cars?? To me foward feels natural....

I think my 99 A4 was also foward +.... Hummmmm..

Still got a good laugh out of me!

 

Yeah, most other cars shift the other way...BMW is an example where you push up to go to lower gear.

 

Up for Upshift

Down for Downshift


How is that backwards?

 

yeah that really doesnt make sense. The designers musta been stoned

 

I didn't mean backwards, just backwards compared to most other cars.

I agree with you, up for upshift, down for downshift feels normal to me.

 

Pulling down feels more natural to people that drove manual cars, from the 1-2 shift where you pull down. I like it this way better, just preference I guess.

 

i've gotten so used to the TypeS SS ,.. that it'd be weird if I got into another car w/ the reversed direction for up/down shifting

 

A member actually changed the + and -'s in our car to make it the other way. Worked well too.

 

You have to go to 3rd gear eventually

but I agree up for upshift, down for downshift. Lincoln LS's have it our way also.

 

yah... i had a rental when i went to hyannis for a weekend and its SS was also backwards from our cars. needless to say, i couldn't get used to it and just left it in full-auto....