Shift knob with LCD display

[alikhan78]

Saw this on a tech site and thought it looked pretty cool. For $169 its affordable although I'm not sure how practical it will be. Basically the LCD displays the current gear the car is in. The company claims that the knob will work on all manual transmissions up to 6 speed regardless of shift pattern. They seem to sell various mod products for VW and Audi.

http://www.tmtuning.com/HOME/catalog/product_detail.php?default_product=1937

[986 Girl]

Looks cool, but not practical. You shouldn't be looking down at your shift knob in order to read a display, and you should already know what gear you are in.

I like not having any numbers, that way only I can drive my car, lol. I dont want any jow schmoe car thief to be like sweet, im in first now.

[Cloudsurfer]

Very curious how they can say this works on "all shift patterns, up to 6-speed." What about dogleg italian car gearbox? For that matter, I'm still not sure where it would pickup what gear its in, and at the end of the day, who needs this? I do like the lighted BMW M shifters, which show the pattern and the M, but I'm certainly not sold on this.

Patrick

[[z0ne]]

Originally Posted by bmwm750

Very curious how they can say this works on "all shift patterns, up to 6-speed." What about dogleg italian car gearbox? For that matter, I'm still not sure where it would pickup what gear its in, and at the end of the day, who needs this? I do like the lighted BMW M shifters, which show the pattern and the M, but I'm certainly not sold on this.

Patrick

I'm with Patrick on this. Hell yeh, I think it looks cool, but practicality-wise? None. I can't look down at the shift knob to figure out what gear I'm in. If I have to look down then I might as well already be upside down in a ditch. I don't think I've missed a shift in over two years. (I got my full license when I was 17, been driving since I was 16)

[humara]

i've been doing my best to stay upbeat and positive on my posts here.
but i have nothing upbeat nor positive to say about this.
if you have a 1996 honda civic that you're looking to tart up this may be the way to go.
otherwise, please stay away from that. far away.
:chicken:

[dmcutter]

Dunno, looks kinda fun to me. And as far as practicality, I'm not sure I can say practical and Boxster in the same sentence with a straight face...

[djomlas]

yeah you dont really need to see tha say anything, if you dont know what gear you are in there is somehting definitely wrong with that picture.
but it does look like a cool gadget, or at least an idea.

now if they can somehow integrate the same thing on heads up dispplay of some sort or something...

[conradtan]

A better investment would be some aluminum: pedals, instrument cluster rings, license plate holder, door sills = $180.00 (that's some of the things I got for my car in the last two weeks) Hehe...

I too am looking for something cool in terms of a shift knob, but this knob you found is a little "star treky" for me. And I love star trek.

[Sammy]

Throw in some fuzzy dice and a carpeted dash cover...

[thegarage01]

Despite the gimmickry being less than functional I like the look of the shifter. I’m not a big fan of the 2001 stock shift knob, but I am having trouble finding a shift knob for the Boxster.

Also there is the issue of the shift boot, is there a replacement boot that works with a universal shift knob?

Is there a shifter that looks similar to this that would work? I like the current shift knob, a little more round… just my personal preference.

[socratic]

Actually I like the look of the knob.

But it's not useful for a manual trans.

However if something like that can be made for an automatic--and the display be put on the dash, that would be interesting AND useful.

[drburton]

I have a VW Touareg and it actually does show what gear you are in (automatic) in a display on the dash, right in the middle. It if very cool, b/c if you go into the tiptronic functionality it shows the numbers 1-6 in a line and you can easily see what gear you are in etc..

As for the stick shift in question, seems pretty silly to me. What if you had a buddy drive the car for the first time, now it doesn't even tell them the shift patter, where is reverse etc..