With all the foreplay done, now came the time for the main act!
Test Drive #5: Maruti Swift 1.4 + ECM
Cheap innuendos apart, I was quite eager to get my hands on the star for the day: another UK import, this time a Swift with the new ECM gearbox Schaeffler proposes to launch and wanted me to test. I had no clue what an ECM was: in my line of work that expands to "Enterprise Content Management" which I thought was a bit unlikely here! Anyway they kept the suspense up and I decided to go with the flow.
I got into the Swift finally and was a little nonplussed to see a manual gear shift lever in there.
The guy doing the briefing registered my surprise with a smile of quiet satisfaction. Then he asked me to check the footwell.
Surprise #2: no clutch pedal!
Turns out ECM stands for "electronic clutch management" (that's what the printed material they gave me claims- I could swear the Schaeffler guy onsite said "manipulation"). You drive the car exactly as you would a manual, the only difference being the clutch action is simulated electronically.
My first question: "So what's my left leg supposed to do while shifting?" (it provoked some laughter but it's a valid question- will come to this later). Anyway I started the engine in neutral and drove off.
To be honest it was a rather confusing experience. You drive off in 1st, then your left leg instinctively pushes down on the non-existent clutch and your right foot steps off the gas as you upshift. When you come to a stop, if you don't shift into neutral, the engine stays in that gear with the clutch depressed till you remember and mutter a short expletive and shove it into N. Then the process repeats itself.
I managed to drive this car without stalling it (hardly an achievement considered it is after all an automatic!) but there was something unnerving about it that I was not quite able to put my finger on, till after the drive. Then it hit me.
You see- all my driving life (about 22 years now) I've driven either manuals or automatics. The standard H is so closely associated with a manual that the sight of it in an "automatic" is enough to make your head swim. But once you get over that sensation, you'd think it was a piece of cake to adapt to this 'box.
Not so. For there's one vital difference between this and other forms of automatic/automated transmissions. That's this:
you have to take your foot off the gas when shifting gears! No matter that it's electronically done, the clutch still has to be depressed right? Which means you need to raise your right foot, shift the lever, and then lower your foot again. And this can be exhausting!
The Schaeffler boys looked at me strangely and said, really? It's automated- you don't have to use your left foot. I said, THAT'S THE PROBLEM! In a manual, I know I have to press the clutch while I shift, so my left foot goes into action the same time that my right foot relaxes, and vice versa. It's so ingrained in every driver we hardly notice!
Here you have one leg doing all the work while the other is itching to do something. Mind you- that's the case in any AT car but at least your right leg is fairly relaxed since your foot doesn't have to keep popping up for air now and then.
By now we were sitting in a nice air conditioned conference room at the Westin sipping Coke Zero. But it still looked like my point was going nowhere. So I tried a different tack.
"Has
no other driver over the last 3 days given you this feedback about the ECM 'box?" They shook their heads in unison. And looked a bit dispirited when, after all that, when asked, would I buy a car with this transmission, my answer was a categorical "
No".
Why not? It is after all the lowest cost option for an automatic, they said.
That may have been a great argument 5 years ago, I replied. You have to remember that the market has moved on. When I was looking for an automatic car in 2010, I had maybe 2-3 reasonable options, none in the hatchback category. Today you have VW and Ford plonking state-of-the-art double-clutch 'boxes in the 10L segment. And AMTs are going into 2L cars for crying out loud! Once the Nano Twist AMT launches, the entire budget spectrum is covered. It's hard to imagine someone willingly putting his legs through all that trouble just to save some 20,000 rupees.
The taxi drivers we tested these on claimed it gave their left foot a good rest, was the next claim. I didn't dispute that- clutches on most commercial vehicles are a pain to operate especially over the distances that these guys cover in a day. But it *is* a lot of work changing gears manually and the point about the right foot raised its head again.
OK then, they challenged me,
what would you do to resolve this? How about a straight shifter, I suggested. A linear 1-2-3-4-5 configuration that at least makes the process a bit more fun. Or paddle shifters on the steering!
Of course it would all boil down to cost. The advantage of this system is that it can be used on any gearbox in any vehicle at a cost much lower than plonking in a fully automatic/automated transmission. And they can add stuff like hill-hold and gear shift prompters at minimal incremental cost. But my main concern if I were Schaeffler would be how easily the new system would be adopted, especially in the A/B segment where they claim to have the most interest.
They turned the question around and posed it to me:
as a consumer what is your gearbox of choice in these segments, where cost is of primary importance? I gave them my honest layman opinion on each of the options:
AMT: Already done but probably the most promising technology in India. Tata and MSIL have already adopted it for everything from the Nano to the Zest, Alto to Celerio (and possibly the Ciaz?) Not the best driving experience but certainly worth it for the sheer convenience aspect alone.
CVT: I hate this gearbox so my opinion is to be discounted suitably. Not a bad choice at all in the A/B segment but a no-no higher up (am amazed Honda chose a CVT for the new City).
Conventional (torque converter) AT: My gearbox of choice in the lower segments. There was some frowning and shaking of heads as this is apparently an expensive option, comparable with the DSGs (you learn something new everyday).
DSG: Definite no-no in the A/B segment. Even if the cost permitted it, these boxes have an aura of luxury around them and it would be a fool carmaker who tries to plonk it into an entry level hatch. They agreed wholeheartedly.
I'd already made my opinions about the
ECM quite obvious by then- here's a quick summary:
- Confusing as heck- am I driving an MT or an AT?
- Lack of fully automatic mode is (literally) a pain
- Perception of luxury associated with ATs will not spill over to these
- Too little too late
They thanked me and handed me a goodie bag with a Schaeffer pen (nice touch!) and some promotional material about the company. In the interests of fairness, let me try and capture the points the company claims favour adoption of its "Efficient Future Mobility" platform:
- ECM- or "electronic clutch management" system makes the clutch pedal unnecessary and is replaced by an electromechanical actuator. In combination with the gear detection system integrated in the shift tower, automated driving and a harmonious engine start/stop function is possible
- They also optimize friction at various points in the drive train and leverage variable camshaft timing units (VCT) which allow matching of the engine characteristics to the specific driving situation for optimum performance and energy efficiency.
- Integrated thermal management module ensures that the engine operates in the optimum temperature window, offering fuel efficiency and power plant life.
Schaeffler claims that the net result of all these technologies leads to a fuel saving of ten percent.