What if the sun turned green and all the birds suddenly started flying upside down? It would be the end of times lol

 

Fascinating to see some of the members complain about a Toyota or Lexus gated shifter when they don’t even own a Toyota or Lexus and maybe haven’t or never have since they went to the gated designs.

I will reiterate, they are simple to use and a very nice design....you need to OWN these cars to understand. Never had to look at what gear the car is in at is gives feedback (almost like a haptic) way. I also have the button design in our 450, I hate it. Same with the button design in the new 2019 Avalon...I hate it too.

If people love the Buick E shifter or the BMW E shifter or the LS500 E shifter...good...I am happy for you. I just wish Toyota would have never abandoned their gated shifters like they do with new TNGA stuff.

So far, the nicest E shifter I have ever seen is the LC500 design. Very classy

 

Not sure why this is fascinating, it's not incongruous in any way:
"I hate feature/functionality X"
"I do not currently own a vehicle that has feature/functionality X"

Seems like a 100% logical position to me.

For my part, I did own one for 12 years, and while it wasn't the worst thing ever, I did think it was pretty stupid and I'm glad neither of our current vehicles has one.

 

Why do you feel it was stupid?

 

Car Chat would go out of business LOL.

 

I had a gated lever for almost five years on my 1Gen Lexus IS300. I also had one for five more years on my 2006 Subaru Outback....so I think I have a right to voice an opinion.

 

Needless complexity, mostly. The zigzag gate is also unattractive and takes up additional space. The whole assembly consumed probably 90% of the center console, leaving room for literally nothing else on either side of it.

 

Ever had the crank detach itself while you were cranking? Or reach down only to bash your head against the glass or top of the door panel? It all comes down to the quality of the material and design.

 

I'm new here and want to ask a question; how do I do it?... Nothing seems to work for me.

 

You have a right to voice an opinion regardless of whether you have owned a vehicle with a gated shifter. It's ok to like/dislike features without having owned a vehicle with that feature. In fact, it may be the reason a person does not own that vehicle. I won't own a car that only has an inflator kit, and no spare or RFTs...even though I've never owned a car that only had an inflator kit.

 

click on "+NEW THREAD" on the main page with the list of all the subforums.

 

Pretty sure it's a cable-linkage, which is why they haven't gone to a dial with Aisin or the 68RFE transmissions.

I think Ford did a better job of desigining a column shifter that isn't in the way.


And i think bit mentioned that there is too much slop in a column shifter. Maybe in the 80's and 90's. But the column shifters I've driven that have been made since the late 90's have been pretty decent. Might even be the only thing in my family's 99 Sienna that still feels solid even.

 

Column shifters don't have to feel sloppy if they are designed and assembled correctly. Chrysler, in particular, has done some excellent-feeling ones, especially in the late 60s and 70s, though that was admittedly at a time when much of the rest of their quality, outside of drivetrains, was going down the tubes. The other extreme was Ford, who produced millions of column-shifters with defective parking-prowls/pointers in the mechanism, falsely-indicating Park when they were really in Reverse. That was one of the most extensive recalls in automotive history.....perhaps comparable in numbers to the Takata airbag-sensors or GM's ignition switches.

 

I was surprised to find out gated shifters are cheaper than the button for/aft type.

https://jalopnik.com/this-is-why-som...ght-1828062490


I will say, the LC500 shifter IMO is the best electric shifter I have seen. The separate P looks really classy.

 

I wholeheartedly agree. While it is functional and gives the lateral movement to satisfy those who want to pretend that they're driving a manual, it eats up a lot of space and is not as precise as a linear control, or fast as a dial/pushbutton system.


What I found most interesting about that article was this:

I've accidentally put the Sienna into the top gear lockout the first time I drove it because of the gated shifter's ambiguous nature. Granted, that was kind of a silly mistake, and I never made it again, but still, I don't buy the Jalopnik writer's claim in this case.