Dodge ram

[daugen]

My dial has worked just fine, very simple and positioned ergonomically.
And I never set my parking brake unless on a hill or with an rv.
About the only functional difference I can see among any of these selectors is the ability
to go easily between forward and reverse, for rocking a vehicle in snow or mud.

Would be nice if it stayed in Park when you put it there too...and provide an indicator, like a lit P that absolutely
cannot come on unless the transmission is physically confirmed to be in the locked Park position.
Granted folks do dumb things and aren't careful enough but this shouldn't be hard to engineer out of the equation.
Try starting your car without your foot on the brake...
I bet this comes down to cost, not engineering best practices.

 

[Oaktree]

Many tranny's have been fully electronic for years, but the biggest reason you see the buttons or dials is it that it saves weight, reduces cost, and furthermore it allows by far the most flexible placement of the shifter as car manufacturers build vehicles for global markets (e.g left hand driver seat and right hand driver seat).

I get that part, but with many of the new style shifters it's not easy to tell at a glance what position it's in, since the "lever" returns to a home position.
To me it would be like replacing the steering wheel with a joystick. Cheaper to build, and allows for manufacturing flexibility but not very intuitive to use.

It's one thing to monkey with the radio, etc. and make it more complicated to use, but you'd think they'd leave the actual operating controls alone.

The Buick I mentioned in an earlier post is a perfect example. You can't see out to back up due to the small windows and high beltline, so I tried opening the door to to better position the car. Well, if it's in gear the doors are locked. Unlock the door and it automatically shifts into park. Backup cam (1) takes a lot of getting used to and (2) isn't very useful in many situations. I only had the car for a week or so.
Someone please tell me how all this makes for a better driving experience. PS, this isn't a bash at GM, everyone else is just as bad. I'm sure it's all an attempt to idiot-proof it, but...

 

[rankrank1]

I get that part, but with many of the new style shifters it's not easy to tell at a glance what position it's in, since the "lever" returns to a home position.
To me it would be like replacing the steering wheel with a joystick. Cheaper to build, and allows for manufacturing flexibility but not very intuitive to use.

It's one thing to monkey with the radio, etc. and make it more complicated to use, but you'd think they'd leave the actual operating controls alone.

The Buick I mentioned in an earlier post is a perfect example. You can't see out to back up due to the small windows and high beltline, so I tried opening the door to to better position the car. Well, if it's in gear the doors are locked. Unlock the door and it automatically shifts into park. Backup cam (1) takes a lot of getting used to and (2) isn't very useful in many situations. I only had the car for a week or so.
Someone please tell me how all this makes for a better driving experience. PS, this isn't a bash at GM, everyone else is just as bad. I'm sure it's all an attempt to idiot-proof it, but...

Well, I can only say it is one more thing to take into consideration when one buys a vehicle. I flat out will not buy a car that has bad blindspots - I consider that issue something that compromises my safety and a dealbreaker for me buying it anyway. Blinspots is one of those things I check religiously when looking at a "new to me" vehicle. Whether or not the controls are intuitive to me is another thing I check.

I am sure some manufacturers will do a better job with electronic shifters going forward as compared to others just as some manufacturers do better with quality, ergonomics, reliability, fuel economy, crash safety, etc. The cream normally rises to the top.

 

[Monster5601]

Mine is a 2015 and no question, 30k plug service per dealership

If you check your owners' manual, the schedule calls for 100K sparkplug change. Over the years, I've learned to take what a dealership says (sales or service) with a grain of salt.

 

[BigBlue1]

If you check your owners' manual, the schedule calls for 100K sparkplug change. Over the years, I've learned to take what a dealership says (sales or service) with a grain of salt.

That's for sure. They are certainly not experts when it comes to knowing specifics about various models. Either at sales time or service time. I'm thinking part of it is that they just have too many variations and permutations to be able to pay close attention, but also it's just that they don't need to so they are lazy. When half-*** is good enough that's what you get.

Rob

 

[WilliamBos]

Late MY 13 they transitioned the Hemi to new coil packs and 100,000 mile plugs.

That dealer is taking you for a ride.

 

[daugen]

Ok, out of my warm house I go to get the manual.
Replace spark plugs 100,000

now isn't that interesting...
maybe they thought it was older......................

 

[WilliamBos]

Ok, out of my warm house I go to get the manual.
Replace spark plugs 100,000

now isn't that interesting...
maybe they thought it was older......................

Thats why I downloaded mine.

Bets they just wanted to make sone money off of you.