Transmission Controls. The Dial a Matic seems to be the next trend.

Pew

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Can you shift it from park to reverse to drive without looking at it?

Nope.

But you can do that with a column or console shifter.

Yes you can. You feel the clicks and it ends at D like a normal shifter.

My mom has one in her fusion. I didn't think I'd like it but I got used to it fast and enjoyed the extra room without a giant shifter in the way. Everything is electronically controlled anyways so there's no point of putting a big ole shifter in the middle and taking up that extra space.
 
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I am seeing the dial control more and more on new car reviews replacing the traditional lever. What are your thoughts on this? I am sure the manual shifters are gritting their teeth.
I'd imagine that the majority of automatics today are shift-by-wire so automakers definitely have more latitude with design (push button vs dial vs lever). I'm indifferent since I no longer have the opportunity to manually shift.
 
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All this stuff is more than 60 years old. Granted they were mechanical but worked okay and saved a lot of space. Chrysler products used this from 1956 IIRC.

NS-45167-2T.jpg
 
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Makes it too hard to rock the vehicle, when stuck in snow. Which is probably a good thing in the OEM’s mind. ”Shame on you for not getting AWD in the first place!”

I prefer column shift for my automatics. Seems like a waste of space for a console shifter. In something like a race car, ok, something that I’m going to slap up/down. But I really liked my Tundra with its rocker switch on the column shifter. If I really wanted to interact, it had the precision of a button (as opposed to counting notches).

But with transmissions being largely electronically controlled it makes sense to make a button or knob somewhere. Not a fan but time does march on.
 
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