I do not go for warranties. I am always ready to scrap a car if a bill comes to more than it cost, which is frequently not much. I consider my AA membership as essential (though I have not used it for over a decade).
How do you go round a corner in an automatic car?
- Thread starter Samson
- Start date
Grendeldef
Trancerelic & coffeeholic
You're supposed to keep it in D - don't touch anything while driving as it doesn't make any useful contribution to anything unless you're having a track day - off-roading is not an option anyway.
You may preselect between Sport/Economy whether you want more noise or not but that's just about it.
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Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
I accelerate at the turning point, sometimes increasing at an inflection point. I slow down first.
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This is the answer. "D" is the only setting one needs for 95% of driving with an automatic. You use the gas pedal to speed up; the brake to slow down; the steering wheel to follow the road. All very simple.
I drive my Mustang stick-shift instead of my midsize SUV automatic. Takes a bit of advance prep, though.
And btw the '05 and newer ragtop Mustangs also have stiffened frames, the earlier ones felt like pushing a rope but mine (an '07) does fairly okay.
Thorgalaeg
Deity
No, the Opel Speedster is a few years older than the Opel GT Roadster and it is a totally different car, however it is usually mistaken with the GT. The Speedster is in fact a Lotus Elise chassis and is a very extreme sporty car, almost a racecar which currently is being sold for 30,000, 40,000€ or even more, specially the turbo version. The Opel GT Roadster otoh is the same as the Pontiac Solstice turbo/Saturn Sky Redline and it was built for General Motors. It has a way more powerful engine than the Speedster but it is much heavier and comfy car. Still very sporty, but more bourgeois compared to the spartan Speedster. You can find cheap ones for 8,000 or so, but usual prices are 12,000 and up. Still a bargain for a very solid Roadster with almost 300hp:
Obviously no one of these cars are as cheap as the second hand CLK you posted but if you really like to drive as I deduct from your OP, i think you should at least try to find some Roadster which will put a smile on your face. I think the better chance is the MX-5 NB or NC or even NA, they all are amazing little cars to drive and parts are pretty abundant and cheap.
If what you care about is driving experience, don't buy an automatic. You'll be forever disappointed, especially if you're buying an automatic that's 20+ years old.
That said, if you are commuting daily during stop-and-go rush hours, don't buy a stick, it's stress that outweighs any open-road experiences.
Personally if it wasn't for interstate on-ramps I'd probably have gotten rid of my Mustang years ago; they're the only places I can really launch well without worrying about police.
Ah, when I was like 8 or so, my dad bought a new Firebird. On a weekend drive, he took me to a subdevelopment under construction, found the longest bit of road available, and treated me to a launch for the first time. Thanks for the memory
Short answer: get a better automatic gearbox.
Without some advanced program that tries to predict your driving behavior (and I am not sure I would trust such a thing), the transmission does not know when you want to accelerate before you actually do. So you would either need to semi-automatically downshift yourself, or decrease the time for shifting gears to a very short time, so that there is almost no delay due to shifting. I think a racing gearbox does both and easily outperforms manual stick shifting.
Without some advanced program that tries to predict your driving behavior (and I am not sure I would trust such a thing), the transmission does not know when you want to accelerate before you actually do. So you would either need to semi-automatically downshift yourself, or decrease the time for shifting gears to a very short time, so that there is almost no delay due to shifting. I think a racing gearbox does both and easily outperforms manual stick shifting.
sophie
Break My Heart
I suppose I don’t entirely understand the question you’re asking? Prior to the turn I take my foot off the gas pedal and place it over the brake, coast until the turning point, applying the brake as necessary to get to an appropriate turning speed, brake firmly at the start of the turn, begin turning the wheel, shift foot to over gas pedal, and gradually increase pressure in gas pedal as I come out of the turn until return to cruising speed.
No selection necessary. I think generally with turning on automatic it’s typically more appropriate to think about speed rather than gear. The only time you really need to think about gear is when: a) you’re hauling something heavy, or b) you’re driving in mountainous or loose/unstable terrain (I.e. places where torque is relevant or you might be running into issues where your rpm is consistently hovering right around the turnover point so your box is constantly upshifting and then downshifting or vice-versa).
Living in a country where manual virtually does not exist, most people - even very experienced drivers - do not know about gear, and do not even understand what H/L/1/2 stand for. It is generally not something you ever need to think about with automatic. It is something I only know about because I worked for a time at a job where I was frequently driving large vehicles pulling heavy loads uphill on dirt tracks.
Also I can’t tell if you know this, but with automatic you should only be using your right foot.
No selection necessary. I think generally with turning on automatic it’s typically more appropriate to think about speed rather than gear. The only time you really need to think about gear is when: a) you’re hauling something heavy, or b) you’re driving in mountainous or loose/unstable terrain (I.e. places where torque is relevant or you might be running into issues where your rpm is consistently hovering right around the turnover point so your box is constantly upshifting and then downshifting or vice-versa).
Living in a country where manual virtually does not exist, most people - even very experienced drivers - do not know about gear, and do not even understand what H/L/1/2 stand for. It is generally not something you ever need to think about with automatic. It is something I only know about because I worked for a time at a job where I was frequently driving large vehicles pulling heavy loads uphill on dirt tracks.
Also I can’t tell if you know this, but with automatic you should only be using your right foot.
Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
I do this kind of driving all the time, as I drive the back roads just for fun. If I’m going down hill, I’m not gassing it because the the hill takes care of the acceleration into the turn. But uphill and flat you have your starting speed that you brake into before the turn and then accelerate through it. No gear switching.
Those lower gears on an automatic are to apply engine braking, you only really want them on extended down hills and even then depends on the car.
@Samson why is your car not coming out of neutral until the straight part of your foot is on the gas?
Those lower gears on an automatic are to apply engine braking, you only really want them on extended down hills and even then depends on the car.
@Samson why is your car not coming out of neutral until the straight part of your foot is on the gas?
This is not far off what I do, though I would be fully off the brake and onto the throttle before I turn in. My car will always decide to change gear as I get back on the throttle.
Because it takes some time, I think about a second, to change gear. Because it starts the gear change as I start the corner and it take about a second to go round the corner I get the power back as I am straightening up. It has been like this with all the autos I have driven hard, though that is limited to old cars and american hire cars, so no good ones as uppi talks about.
I may get a CLK just to see what a good auto is like.
Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
Get a Prius 
the electric assist takes car of bay gear shenanigans
the electric assist takes car of bay gear shenanigans
Automatics aren't for booting. They're for cruising. You can't really have fun in them.
Get a Prius
Or get a Tesla, I'm sure the computer handles all the complicated turning stuff automagically.
Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
Maybe you can't.
race you
I still don't understand the original post. 
'How do I round a corner in a car with an automatic transmission?'
I just... leave the gear selector alone and turn the steering wheel slightly and straighten up again when I've completed the turn. It's called 'driving'.
'How do I round a corner in a car with an automatic transmission?'
I just... leave the gear selector alone and turn the steering wheel slightly and straighten up again when I've completed the turn. It's called 'driving'.
