Well here it is for those of you that haven't seen it yet.

*I got the pic from mini2*



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<img src="http://www.retrogradeattire.com/deep...nner.jpg" alt="Beepers" border="0">

 

Looks awkward.

 

>>Looks awkward.

I agree, paddle shifters should be behind the steering wheel, not on the front. I still don't get "shifting" gears on a CVT...can someone explain that to me?

 

Looks like a hoax to me. Like someone morphed a MINI wheel with some kind of barbeque fork.

 

Well the CVT is constantly shifting via belts and pulleys. This happens by the belts and pulleys moving to different positions. If you hold it at one position, you can call that 1st gear.... change the position and hold it again and you have 2nd gear. (and so on) 1st and final gear (6th) is limited by the actual CVT initial and final gear ratios...

To the car, the CVT is doing the same thing as a manual transmission, changing the gear ratios between the engine and the wheels. However, the CVT is doing it constantly but you can hold 6 different pre-programmed positions to simulate driving a manual.

The gears that it simulates are set electronically and there is no reason there couldn't be more gears except for practicality. I presume it would be possible to hack your way into the computer and change these gears if you really wanted to but you probably wouldn't see any performance difference.

I also agree that the paddles look awkward... I'd want the paddles to be on the back of the steering wheel... Good thing I have a manual.
-Chris

 

If it's real, whoever has one will end up accidentally honking the horn all of the time. Could make for a rather annoying motoring experience.

 

i was looking forward to seeing these, but now!
i can't see how useful they would be, i prefer the shifter.
they look goofy! the ones behind the wheel seem much more useful!

 

Why would they have made a prototype not using the sport wheel w/thumb grips or the new 3 spoke wheel?

 

Ought to be very popular there in Leisure World.

 

>>Well the CVT is constantly shifting via belts and pulleys. This happens by the belts and pulleys moving to different positions. If you hold it at one position, you can call that 1st gear.... change the position and hold it again and you have 2nd gear. (and so on) 1st and final gear (6th) is limited by the actual CVT initial and final gear ratios...
>>
>>To the car, the CVT is doing the same thing as a manual transmission, changing the gear ratios between the engine and the wheels. However, the CVT is doing it constantly but you can hold 6 different pre-programmed positions to simulate driving a manual.
>>
>>The gears that it simulates are set electronically and there is no reason there couldn't be more gears except for practicality. I presume it would be possible to hack your way into the computer and change these gears if you really wanted to but you probably wouldn't see any performance difference.

Seems to defeat the purpose of a CVT to me as well as layer in a level of complexity that doesn't need to be there. I can see how it would be fun, though.

 

Don't think it's a hoax, or else someone went to a lot of trouble to make it look real (flash shadow, bezels around the base of the shifter, etc.). there's one funny looking blur on each side where the shifters curve outward. The part looks cheap, though, IMHO.

 

Here's an interesting link about CVT's

CVT link

 

I'm willing to bet that's a hoax..

But if not, it looks really awkward and uncomfortable, they should be behind the wheel.

 

OK, IMHO - It looks ugly. I wouldn't have that in my car! Here they offer a cool looking MFSW with it's little buttons and then they come out with this for the CVT!!!

UGH!!!!

 

Wouldn't mind having my sunroof controls set up that way, but I sure wouldn't want to be doing any shifting from there.

 

that is ugly

 

Might be an excellent Photoshop job...

 

some of of the cvt post miss a single important mode of the cvt... the SD mode... if you jsut move teh stick over and not shift then the rev limited is moved up to red line and the car has a much quicker response without have to shift. I drive in this mode quite a bit esspecially when i'm on the interstae adn want a little bit mroe oomph to get around someone.... also, whiel in this mode you can floor the car.. by taking your foot all the way to the floor and then pushign a little on the top of the peddle, which let s the peddle move a little farther down. in the "to the floor mode" or super drive mode.. the car will belt shift, a tthe comupter calculated best "rpm" and will take you all the way to the cars top speed limit... you can sift immidiatly back into d if you want to save gas and get you standard performance... anyway.. back to the thread.. I'd liek to see teh paddle either on teh back of the wheel or on the column as rocker paddles.. however they'd ahve to move teh stem in that case.
-happy motoring

 

PS. I think it a photoshop job ( though I don't knw why anybody trying to replicate shifter would make them look like this...... ( look at the left shifter... ther is a black shadow box around part of it.. it is way to sharp an edge for that to be a shadow.. and I don't know what else it could be except a photoshop screw up... I guess they missed a spot... the shifter looks like the one i've seen on computer joysticks... which is probably where the image was lifted....

 

That seems like a very wierd position. If your hands are at 10 and 2 like they are 'supposed' to be, you wouldn't be able to get anywhere near touching those things with your thumbs...??? Maybe you are supposed to use your nose to upshift/downshift??!!

 

I still believe thsi is a photoshop job.. but everyone PLEASE TURN TO THEIR HANDBOOKS page 18 I think..(its on afew of the pages) seems that the intention of mini was to come with shifters that were at least similiar to the ones above. Does it make anyone else mad that they didn't change the handbook to reflect changes in the car. makes you wonder what else they missed.. I don't remember seeing my first aid kit, air compressor, or the traffic triangle i'll have to see if there in there tonight.

 

Even if it was the actual placement...I don't like it. I would rather shift from the center. :smile:

 

can you guys not spot a horrible photoshop job when you see one?
Look at the bluriness around the horn button ..

 

this is what paddle shifters should look like . *drool*

 

hey I'm just saygin that what they look liek in teh users manual.. but this i'm 99% sure is a photoshop job.