AutoStick coupled with the CVT2
 

I am anxiously waiting for my Caliber R/T to arrive - in approx 5 weeks I am told. In the meantime, I am very curious about the speed of response on the Autostick feature. Those that are in possesion of R/Ts please enlighten us. What would you say are the nice qualities and/or the bad qualities of the R/Ts Autostick. Are you finding that you are using it daily? Does it make a difference in performance? - Thx

RE: AutoStick coupled with the CVT2
 

Meh.

That about sums up the auto-stick for me. It is a cool feature, but it is not above the CVT in most respects. Here are my views:

When accelerating, in my experience it gives you a bit better accel from a stop than the CVT, which has a bit of lag to it and does not get the engine up in RPM's much until about 20 MPH.

There is also the weird thing I noticed, but nobody could give me any insight into its benefits or drawbacks, that under 50 MPH, putting it into "6th" dropped the RPM's considerably from just leaving it in Drive. This may improve gas mileage, it may not, I dont have any definate answers. I see a 300 RPM drop at 45, and up to 400-500 drop at 40. The CVT keeps it at about 2,000 in Drive otherwise.

Other than that, there is nothing really that great about it. It shifts better, and firmer, than any Automatic I have driven. Its a very quick shift, and as responsive as a manual but without messing with a clutch.

But the CVT does SO MUCH BETTER on its own when you really want to get some performance. With the CVT you can push down to the floor and have it kick up to 6,000 RPM and just take you straight to whatever speed you are hoping to reach, and quickly. The CVT does a damn good job on the performance end ABOVE 20 MPH. Below 20, like from a stop to 20 MPH, it leaves something to be desired, but more than makes up for it above 20.


Those are my views, I hope that answers something. It is hard to describe this stuff to someone that has not driven one that much, but in that case you would already know this stuff.

The Autostick also has a cool feature that if you leave it on Autostick mode, it will auto shift through all six gears when it hits redline. Makes for a fun drive without worrying about watching or listening for the engine shift points since the computer does it all for you, and probably a heck of a lot better.

RE: AutoStick coupled with the CVT2
 

VulnoX, I thank you for this information. I am trying to get a test drive with an R/T but my dealership still hasn't gotten one available. I have been told that one is coming (note mine! [&:] by end of this week or beginning of next week and that they are going to call me immediately for a test spin. Your insight and anyone else's is thus very much appreciated!

RE: AutoStick coupled with the CVT2
 

I am a little confused about how the CVT2 works. Do you have to choose CVT2 or Autostick before you begin driving or can you flip from one to the other on the fly?

For instance, you talk about pick-up under 20 MPH with the CVT2, can you use the autostick to increase the acceleration and then over 20 MPH drop back to CVT2?

RE: AutoStick coupled with the CVT2
 

It is all done on-the-fly.

Ok I will try to describe it:

You have a shifter layout that is the same as most any other vehicle. You have Park at the top, then drop down through reverse, neutral, and then Drive.

Now if you drop it down to Drive and just leave it there, the CVT works on its own, no shifting just push the pedal and go.

You have the option, at any time, to move the shifter to the left or the right. Think like an old Atari joystick. You just push to the left andit returns to the center. When you push left, it "downshiftS" and you are now in autostick mode. You can then push to the left or right and downshift or upshift.

Unlike a manual, or at least any I have been in, the computer wont let you downshift to a "gear" that would make for an unsafe RPM for the engine and transmission. If you are doing 80 and push it left or right, it puts you in the gear that is the safest and best for your speed, which would be 6th if you were doing 80, seems to go to 5th if at around 40, etc.

When you want to go from autostick to Drive, just hold the shifter to the right until the car goes back to drive, usually 2 seconds, you can see on the dash that it went back to drive because when in autstick it shows "D" and then "1,2,3..." depending on what gear you are in. When just in regular Drive, it only shows the D.

You can usually feel it when it goes back to Automatic also.


It is really hard to describe a system like this if you have never experienced it, I hope I am getting something across.

RE: AutoStick coupled with the CVT2
 

You are. I understand. I have seen the setup but never actually driven one so with your description it makes sense. So do you use both often enough?

RE: AutoStick coupled with the CVT2
 

Now that my engine is really broken in, (1100 miles) I have started using the autostick a bit. For from a stop performance driving, the Autostick is pretty sweet. I think you could easily improve the 0-60 by a second or two using it.

So sometimes I use it for fun, otherwise I just keep it to CVT. I would say its 80/20 CVT vs Autostick.

RE: AutoStick coupled with the CVT2
 

Yeah, weren't you saying in another thread the acceleration is a bit underwhelming. If the autostick could fix that and then pop it back to CVT that may not be a bad solution. Is there any sort of CVT options you can get to improve how the computer drives it? Does that make sense? If the autostick can do it, why not program it differently?

RE: AutoStick coupled with the CVT2
 

I think there may be options eventually. I hope there are, or that Chrysler just improves the programming through experience and flashes the chips.

Anyway, yeah with the CVT it can be slow to launch, it doesnt really open up until 20 MPH. With the Autostick this is improved, but you lose gas mileage in the process, so its a trade-off.

99% city driving:
CVT all the time: 24.9 MPG
Auto-Stick for most take-offs: 22.9 MPG

That is what I have noticed.

RE: AutoStick coupled with the CVT2
 

Good info VulnoX! [8D]:)