Haha, what do you think of F1-style paddle shifters? I remember on some old Lexuses, they actually had buttons on the steering wheel to go up or down a gear similar to paddles, but just buttons. Maybe something like that could be implemented for future cars to shift through all gears, including Park and Reverse... kind of like a videogame lol...InlinePaul wrote:Actually I kind of prefer even manual transmission cars to have the shift lever on the steering column, but for me there is no good reason for the automatic selector lever to be in the middle taking up space. The push buttons in the '64 Dodge Dart were perfect. We don't see huge knobs on radios because a small knob does the job. Likewise, what is the point of a huge lever just to pick between the mode of reverse or drive, 2 or 1. Yeah, I forget about those who like to manually shift automatics, but even then, push buttons would be a very positive way to do it.
In all honesty, for automatics, I'm with you, I prefer column-shifters. Chalk it up to my police car fetish, but for an automatic, column shifters are just more practical in my opinion. When I had my Crown Vic, I loved the column shifter... I never had to reach down to my side; however, with it being a Police Interceptor, I still had a center console since they come with bucket seats instead of the bench (for obvious reasons). Also love the column-shifter in the family Windstar... Ironically, the old 86 Aerostar we used to have had this huge floor-mounted shifter that stuck out of the floor like a railroad switch. It was awkward to shift because my arm was at this perfectly-imperfect length where I had to position it weirdly.