someone told me that the GM900 does not have a clutch pedal, something of an automatic clutch... is this true? does this make the car less "fun" to drive (i imagine it would)... what's up with that?

(sorry, i am in a bit of shock here as it seems that one of the most essential parts of driving a stickshift is using the clutch pedal itself.)

anyone?

That is true in part.
In 1994 - 95 Saab produced a 900 called the Sensonic, basically it is a manual gearbox in that you stir the gearlever as normal but the cluch system is automated. Think Porsche Tiptronic or paddle shift gear changes, you have to manually select gears but don't have to depress the clutch pedal. I don't know how it all works, I'm sure someone else can shed light there. I'm pretty sure it was fitted across the range including the Turbo models (I nearly bought one - glad I didn't) As far as i am aware it was just a bit gimmicky and Saab didn't sell very many as so dropped the model.

Rest easy escalator guru

Dave

From memory, it was a fairly crude system, which basically had little gates by where each gear would be, so as you piloted your 'normal' gear-lever to the gear you wanted, the slush-box (as it obviously was, somewhere in there) would just change as requested. Can't imagine how it worked, but it was probably a bit ahead of it's time. Like the old Honda 4-wheel steering thing. ie: rubbish. There must be someone out there with one. Any good?

Well I just drove one at the National, P reg 175hp turbo and it was great. Didn't take long to get used to it either. It works by having a hydraulic activator for the manual clutch. As for the sensors I don't know where they are. You put it in first and depress the accelerator and away you go. Ease off on the accelerator to change gear as with a normal manual. SAAB left the hole in the car for the clutch pedal if you wanted to retrofit full manual.....

they didnt have the regular stick option for those years?

my dads NG900 from '97 is regular stick shift. I like it except for where they place the gas pedal, i dont think it feels right.

Sensonic was just an option, standard GM900s had a normal 5-speed manual throughout the model life.

Back in 1957 DKW had an automatic clutch with its 3cylinder 2 cycle 3=6 cars. Clearly took a lot of initiative. Way above their stations. :wink:

I think that one of the greatest virtues of a manual box is how simple and efficient it is. The whole Sensonic thing IMHO takes away the major advantages of having a stick in the first place. Lastly, what will it cost to repair/replace it if it fails.

Back in 1957 DKW had an automatic clutch with its 3cylinder 2 cycle 3=6 cars. Clearly took a lot of initiative. Way above their stations. :wink:

The idea's been around forever apparently. I remember my dad had some 60's car that had no clutch, and the 'stick shift' was a small 5-inch square panel on the dashboard. Like a mini representation of it. I wish I remember what kind of car that was... Anyone know?

Has anyone gotten this clutchless thing right? Aside from the racing type sequential transmissions, that is. I've heard some interesting things about the nifty transmissions in Volvo 18-wheelers. Computer tells you which gear for the best torque and whatnot, you hit a button and it's in that gear, or you can set it to switch automatically, or you can still switch to any gear you want. Sounds pretty cool, I guess.

The NSU ro80 in the late 60s has auto clutch too

The sensonic system might as well have a self distruct timer as it seems to need rebuilding every 75k miles

Dragging the thread off topic, IIRC, Routemaster buses in London have a semi-automatic gearboxes where the clutch is replaced by a gear selector pedal.

A good number of modern buses have a small knob to shift gear. What it actually does is select one of 4 clutches - one for each gear. Idea was to makes it very easy to replace a faulty clutch IIRC.

car that was... Anyone know?

An Edsel?

someone told me that the GM900 does not have a clutch pedal, something of an automatic clutch... is this true? does this make the car less "fun" to drive (i imagine it would)... what's up with that?

(sorry, i am in a bit of shock here as it seems that one of the most essential parts of driving a stickshift is using the clutch pedal itself.)

anyone?

My cousin's 97 GM900 is a "normal" one.

The Tiptronic is more of an automanual. The true automated manuals are on cars like Ferrari, BMW, and Audi. These are actual manaul-style transmissions that are shifted and clutched automatically by hydraulic and electronic means. I think BMW calls theirs an SMG . . . or is that AUDI. Ferarri's system is made my Magneti Marelli and is similar to the systems used in real F1 cars.

Rob in Atlanta

Porsche had the Sportamatic clutchless manual in the 70's. Sounds like it worked like the Sensomatic - some sort of sensor on the shift lever would engage the clutch when the shifter was moved, and disengage the clutch when the shift was completed. My buddy really liked it, except for the sensitivity of this actuator was such that you couldn't rest your hand on the shifter, or you'd engage the clutch accidently with just the slightest movement.

Personally, I'd love to have a manual with a normal patter shifter with no clutch. Seems like BMW should be able to take it's SMG system and set it up with an H-pattern shifter, rathern then a sequential shifter. It knows how to match the revs, and the could even put an idiot feature in their to bar the gears that would result in overrevving over bogging down.

my parents have it in the Passat...apparently VW is offering it as an option on a lot of their cars. my sister had to request a clutch in her Passat...she actually returned/traded in the triptonics one she had after about a year, she couldn't stand it.

Audi has a DSG (direct shift gearbox) transmission available on the 3.2 TT. It is the fastest shifting transmission in the world. Faster then even the Ferrari transmission and faster then any human can shift a manual transmission. The SMG transmission in the BMW sucks- it shifts too slow.

Audi has a DSG (direct shift gearbox) transmission available on the 3.2 TT. It is the fastest shifting transmission in the world. Faster then even the Ferrari transmission and faster then any human can shift a manual transmission. The SMG transmission in the BMW sucks- it shifts too slow.

Oh, the DSG is so yummy. Seemless power, perfect downshifts. I'm sure it may become a near-standard in the future. I'd greatly desire one of those. As long as I had a fake gearshifter to make it feel like I was shifting, that's half the fun. 8)

they didnt have the regular stick option for those years?

my dads NG900 from '97 is regular stick shift. I like it except for where they place the gas pedal, i dont think it feels right.


The Sentronic transmission wasn't offered in North America - we only got the auto and the manual...

What's the new Saab autostick? I know it's not called Sentronic but something similar - like Sensonic.

Audi has a DSG (direct shift gearbox) transmission available on the 3.2 TT. It is the fastest shifting transmission in the world. Faster then even the Ferrari transmission and faster then any human can shift a manual transmission.

Actualy its not the fastest shifting transmission. Zeroshift is but you won't have heard much about that yet. Trust me though its amazing.

www.zeroshift.co.uk

Matt