Joined
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91 Posts
Now that my new van is “broken in” (dealer and others (Click & Clack?) say no need for this with a modern engine, others will religiously disagree) I’ve been seeing what all those 240 horses will do. I’ve had some experience with a few front drive cars in the past, though all were manual shift, so I’m aware of how the engine torque affects steering when accelerating hard.
I was not, however, prepared for “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” when punching the Odyssey:
Boom!
First gear, pulls to one side, compensate ... compensate
Shifts, oops! overcompensated ... steer back, course corrected
Pulling to one side again in second gear, compensate ... compensate
Shifts again, oops! overcompensating again, steer back, staying on target … stay on target
and so on ...
It’s not a pretty site: A 2 ton van careening down the interstate, going about 80 mph, weaving back and forth with each shift, kids hanging out the windows screaming, wife beating me over the head with her Totes umbrella.
I guess on my other cars, being in control of the shifts allowed me to pre-steer a straight path in anticipation of letting off the accelerator, shifting to the next gear, then back at it again. With the Odyssey’s automatic transmission I’m sort of at its mercy and caught off guard. I’m sure I’ll get better at it. I just hope I don’t take out any guardrails in the process.
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’86 Civic – gone
, but not forgotten
’90 4Runner – great, but lacking for a family of 5
’02 GG Odyssey EX-L-RES – hello, my new best friend
tnuckels
I was not, however, prepared for “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” when punching the Odyssey:
Boom!
First gear, pulls to one side, compensate ... compensate
Shifts, oops! overcompensated ... steer back, course corrected
Pulling to one side again in second gear, compensate ... compensate
Shifts again, oops! overcompensating again, steer back, staying on target … stay on target
and so on ...
It’s not a pretty site: A 2 ton van careening down the interstate, going about 80 mph, weaving back and forth with each shift, kids hanging out the windows screaming, wife beating me over the head with her Totes umbrella.
I guess on my other cars, being in control of the shifts allowed me to pre-steer a straight path in anticipation of letting off the accelerator, shifting to the next gear, then back at it again. With the Odyssey’s automatic transmission I’m sort of at its mercy and caught off guard. I’m sure I’ll get better at it. I just hope I don’t take out any guardrails in the process.
------------------------------------------------------------------
’86 Civic – gone

’90 4Runner – great, but lacking for a family of 5
’02 GG Odyssey EX-L-RES – hello, my new best friend
tnuckels