@TomL said:
Celia, just for clarification the 2019 RAV 4’s have a conventional 8 speed automatic transmission except for the hybrid which uses a CVT. Also, Ford was never big into CVT’s so I think you meant Dual Clutch Transmissions (DCT’s) since only Ford hybrids use CVT’s. I had a one year lease on a 2005 Ford Freestyle when I worked for Ford and that one had a CVT but I think Ford went away from CVT’s largely to avoid maintenance complexity for their dealerships. So with a significant horsepower bump plus the 8 speed automatic the new RAV4 should be plenty peppy and also quick off the line which Americans love. I was disappointed to see the very small horsepower increase in the new Forester when they added direct fuel injection…which implies that it’s more of a retro-fit technology and marketing buzzword since direct fuel injection should enable a big horsepower increase while also improving fuel economy.
Dual clutch automatics are very popular in Europe and in sporty cars because they offer the control of a manual yet shift faster and more consistently than any other transmission so they can be a great option in sporty vehicles (like every Ferrari) or even the new little Hyundai Kona. The DCT is an awesome option in the VW GTI and it’s also getting rave reviews in the new Honda Gold Wing motorcycle. CVT’s do not have the control of a manual or DCT but they can work really well in the real world…my 2017 CRV is calibrated to feel eager and peppy and it feels more effortless driving through mountains than my V8 Mustang did. Many manufacturers may be forced to tune CVT’s for fuel economy so I can understand why some folks feel like they let the engine lug…the Nissan Murano feels a bit sluggish even though it has a very powerful engine and goes just great if you put your foot down. Hondas are usually a bit lighter than their competitors and they also often use slightly smaller engines so they can then calibrate the vehicles to be fun to drive and still get good fuel economy. The CVT in my Honda also gives more engine braking than a conventional auto and I like that.
All the new models have different personalities and different pro’s and con’s and one can make a good argument for any of them being “best”. I think the new RAV4 will be bigger and that’s one reason we liked the CRV…at the time it was the only small crossover that had a real double-wide armrest between the front seats just like grown up vehicles…plus it has way more rear seat legroom than our 4Runner!
If you want to be truly fast and responsive drive your car as if it were a motorcycle if you’ve ever driven 2 wheels and that’s how racing works. You don’t give it tons of gas, especially quickly, no never! Approaching a turn you get somewhat off the throttle, or if you really need to slow down for a curve, brake before the turn. Then when you are releasing the brake or as you are just backing off the throttle start to turn the wheel into the direction you want to turn. You can sometimes rotate the car by releasing the brake a little quicker and you tune it to the curve but again, smoothness and slowness and deftness is key. Turn in slightly early and then as soon as you reach the amount of steering input desired you want apply throttle very gradually whilst unwinding the wheel. Maximum steering should be initially with a goal to unwind the wheel as you apply gas, both slowly and smoothly. Now it should be so smooth that someone in the passenger seat should not be able to tell the exact moment when you let off the throttle, applied brake, were braking maximally, applied steering or started to apply throttle. But once you apply throttle start undinwing the wheel and straightening out and the car will start turning by itself. It’s magical. Did you know that high power front wheel drive cars can be tamed and rotated just like AWD or RWD?
You see throttle, when applied slowly, turns into grip because by forcing the wheels to turn forward it applies downforce on your car so it increases grip. But you don’t want to give too much throttle too quickly because that will essentially quickly lift the front tires and it’s like picking up the rudder out of the water. So you just keep feeding more and more throttle while you take away steering. If the car doesn’t point where you want you probably gave it too much gas too quickly, too little gas, or are giving it too much steering, or a combination of all three.
Once you know this principle you start to pick the line in a curve that is not the line that needs less steering. You pick the line in the curve that allows you to turn in and get on the throttle while unwinding the wheel the soonest and that’s different. Doesn’t matter how much gas you give it, the important thing is giving a tiny little bit as soon as possible. Usually you start on the outside, turn in a bit early, gas and start unwinding as soon as possible, get on the inside relatively late, and end up on the outside at the end but it’s not linear like that. Each curve is different and it depends on the car, the surface, conditions, lots of stuff. When faced with a slalom situation or multiple curves set yourself up so that you get on the gas the soonest on the last curve as that is the longest straight where speed is most important, which means in a series of 4 turns the first 3 should be sacrificed in order to put yourself in the position to maximize your speed coming out of the last. Watch these slaloms transitions, that’s when you are most likely to spin out on the 3rd turn or 3rd twist of the steering wheel!
Do this smoothness thing feathering wheel and throttle and you can drive around at 1.5-2x the speed limit all the time without anyone ever noticing. You can keep up with luxury and high power cars that are flooring the throttle and the brake all the time burning traction and you’re basically barely feeding in gas, just keeping momentum and using all your available grip as efficiently as possible.
Driven this way all modern cars are so well engineered they all start to feel the same.
That said I love heel-toe downshifts and prefer the manual over the sequentials, especially with cars that have very short final drive ratios or high torque, turbo motors or V8’s. But more than 100hp is unnecessary because most people don’t know how to drive and just use it to break traction because they jam on the throttle too much even if they are not spinning the wheels.
