Boy, I autostick you where the sun don't shine

First, some background. We traded our 2 older kids and the Pontiac Montanta for a Chrysler Pacifica for the day (the day before Easter that is, although I also drove it again last week). The kids are spending the night and coming back for Easter. This allowed me to drive a Pacifica for the first time. I had ridden in it and thought it was a very roomy and versatile vehicle, that drove very well, but I had never driven it.

There are many interior things that I think Chrysler did right, and others where I think they flopped. One that they definately did right was finally having express-down feature on all windows, not just the driver's. How hard was that? They countered that though by having RDS on their radios, but no way to cycle through the RDS data. Lame. Much worse is their retarded lack of steering wheel radio controls, choosing to place cruise control there instead. Plus, their cruise must be turned on everytime you restart the car. Poor design all around on these fronts.

Anyway, the biggest thing I was interested in was the AutoStick feature. I had wanted to try this out since it was introduced back in the late 90's. It seemed like something fun to try, but I had my doubts about its usefulness. It seemed mostly like a gadget for middle-aged guys who bought an automatic for practicality, but wanted to pretend they had a manual transmission still. My dad himself said it was pretty much junk.

After driving it for a bit, I still think it is a bit silly. However, I cleared up a few misconceptions that I had, and now can see where it might be fun occaisionally. If it truly doesn't add much to the transmission cost, then it might not be bad to have around, especially since you never really have to use it.

The autostick definately gives you more get up and go quicker. As with a manual, there is no sitting around in too high of a gear, and having to mash the pedal to downshift. When I was in first, I could spool up the engine immediately. The AWD in the Pacifica would likely make this feature even more fun jumping off the line.

One misconception I had was that the autostick would actually shift for you if you revved it too high in a gear. Not true I found out as I blew up the engine (no, not really). Actually though, I didn find that it will not shift until redline. This seems like a perfectly adequate compromise. As Josh points out, really the only way to improve on that is to have user-settable shift points.

Downshifting is handled pretty slick, with the computer at some point shifting you down to a sane gear automatically. Nice for not having to shift down after slowing for a light. On the other hand, shifting down works as exactly as expected, providing passing power while on the highway, as well as very smooth engine breaking at a stop.

The shifting was very smooth and crisp in my opinion when driving spirited, and very sluggish when trolling around town. Perfectly acceptable, as I would expect the full automatic to be used while cruising town anyway.

Overall, I am very satisfied with autostick now, and find it quite enjoyable. I would not pay extra for it, but it is a nice addition for free by Chrysler. Coupled with 17" wheels on the Pacifica, a few quick mods to the suspension and possibly a supercharger, and you have a "crossover" vehicle that will cause a few surprises at the track or a stoplight.