At the push of a button ...

Alfa Romeo has developed a clutchless gearshift that will change the way enthusiastic drivers drive, writes ALASTAIR SLOANE.

We've all done it. Misjudged speed into a corner but managed to settle the car just as the mental images of what might have been came back at you.

Messy they are, too. There you are, upside-down in a paddock or a hedge, perhaps with wire from a farmer's fence wrapped around the car and a batten or two sticking out of the rear window.

Remember the best advice? Can't see your way into a corner until you see the way out. Rally great Walter Rohrl had it sussed. Slow in, fast out. It's all relative on the track and road. Get the car settled and drive it through the corner. The accelerator isn't just for speed - marry it with the right gear and it helps the grip.

Marry the Formula One-style Selespeed transmission with the accelerator in the Alfa Romeo 156 and driving becomes a whole new experience. Don't get it quite right and it still adds a new dimension.

A standout feature of Selespeed is that the car's computer system understands brake pressure. Touch the brake lightly and nothing necessarily happens. Press harder and the electronic gearbox shifts down a cog. Press harder again and it shifts down two cogs.

Basically, the system pardons he who rushes into a corner without shifting down. It does it for him through the brakes, thereby enabling him to accelerate out in the correct ratio.

The first Selespeed model arrived in Auckland last week. The system is a $3000 option only on the $56,995, 2-litre 156 Alfas. The 2.5-litre V6 cars uses what the Italian carmaker calls its Q system, a manual-automatic.

Basically, Selespeed is similar in principle to the sequential transmission systems offered by other carmakers by which the driver uses a console-mounted gearshift to change gears manually. Clever software takes over the role of the traditional clutch pedal.

But Alfa Romeo has added an automatic mode called City, a centre console-mounted button which overrides the sequential system for town-and-around driving convenience.

Also, two steering wheel-mounted buttons (left to change down, right to change up) complement the role of the five-speed gearshift, now called a joystick.

The two spring-loaded buttons can cut in half the time it takes to shift gears using a manual gearbox, therefore enabling enthusiastic drivers to rely on the car's computer to make use of optimum engine revs.

This can give a driver better control. Instead of having to drop your left hand from the steering wheel to the gearshift, a quick blip with your left thumb on the down-change button tells the computer to instantly match revs with road speed.

It can take some practice to get the heel and toe action right at speed, especially to time upshifts to perfection before the rev limiter cuts in and changes up.

Let's go through the Selespeed system. Say you want to back out of your driveway. Move the gearshift to the right of centre to select neutral. Fire up the engine and select reverse by easing the shift back from the neutral position. You must keep one foot on the brake to select reverse.

To engage first gear, again by keeping on foot on the brake, go back the way you came with the shift until it slots into the straight gate. Now drive off, changing up into second and so on by either pushing the shift forward or thumbing the right button. To change down a cog either pull the shift back or thumb the left button.

Selespeed automatically selects first gear when the 156 comes to a complete halt. The buttons don't work below 10 km/h, so creeping through a give-way sign must be made by using the gearshift.

If traffic is dense and you want a hands-free break, push the City button on the console and drive on the throttle alone, like a standard automatic.

At slow speeds, the change-ups in City mode take noticeably longer because the engine revs are low. Put your foot down and they speed up, again matching revs with road speed.

It's all very clever indeed.