How to drive an automatic?

Sadly I can. Everything now and then I get back in the car to discover I left the van in R or D

I didn't think there was a sport mode on the DSG? It's just drive and manual
 
Sadly I can. Everything now and then I get back in the car to discover I left the van in R or D

I didn't think there was a sport mode on the DSG? It's just drive and manual
Something not right there then.
 
In my experience not car auto box I've owned would let you remove the key until the box was locked in Park, nor move it from Park until ignition was on.

All of them blocked start in Drive and Reverse and some (I think mostly the pure mechanical older 3 speeds) blocked it in Neutral too. That occasionally catches me in the Volvo as it doesn't have stop start so I'm in the habit of dropping to neutral and engine off in big jams and the start process is muscle memory; very occasionally it doesn't start first time but muscle memory means I'm already in Drive and confusion occurs why the engine won't start...
 
All this talk of confusing gearboxes and confusion reminded of me of my motorbikes. For those that don't ride, motorbike boxes are sequential. So from Neutral its push down on the lever (left foot) for first. Then gears 2 -> 6 are push the lever up. (ie 1 down 5 up.)

My track bike was set up as reverse shift. ie. 1 up then 5 down. (Also had a quickshifter so the only time clutch was needed was to get from neutral to first).

First few days on track after riding road bikes all winter certainly focussed the mind. Especially the first time you went the wrong way in the gear box.
 
Loved these boxes have one tomorrow if I could !!!
Maybe not in my truck yes best box ever
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My 1977 John Deere, 4 gears on one stick, High, Low and Reverse on the other then a splitter, no synchromesh so you have to think about what you're doing!
 
All this talk of confusing gearboxes and confusion reminded of me of my motorbikes. For those that don't ride, motorbike boxes are sequential. So from Neutral its push down on the lever (left foot) for first. Then gears 2 -> 6 are push the lever up. (ie 1 down 5 up.)

My track bike was set up as reverse shift. ie. 1 up then 5 down. (Also had a quickshifter so the only time clutch was needed was to get from neutral to first).

First few days on track after riding road bikes all winter certainly focussed the mind. Especially the first time you went the wrong way in the gear box.
Probably a stupid question Jon, but what's the advantage of having a 1 up/5 down setup on a race bike?
 
Probably a stupid question Jon, but what's the advantage of having a 1 up/5 down setup on a race bike?
Not a stupid question. The advantage is coming out of a corner and accelerating you are often still leant over a long way and this can make it difficult to get your foot under the lever to shift up. It’s much easier to push down.
When you are going down the gears you are normally hard on the brakes and the bike will be upright.
 
Not a stupid question. The advantage is coming out of a corner and accelerating you are often still leant over a long way and this can make it difficult to get your foot under the lever to shift up. It’s much easier to push down.
When you are going down the gears you are normally hard on the brakes and the bike will be upright.
Thanks - that makes perfect sense.
 
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