The 2004 Grand Prix GTP calls it "TapShift"
The Chrysler 300M calls it "AutoStick"
A lot of other luxury sport cars are getting it now.

How hard would this be to do something similar on our Bonnies?
Obviously it would require a lot of transmission work, (or an entire new tranny) as well as reprograming of the computer.

Anyone have any thoughts on this one?

Why would it require a new tranny? Its just moving the mechanism for switching gears. THats all it is. So, you come up with some little electronic translator that sez "when I hit this one, bump it down a gear, or when I hit this one, bump it up a gear". Its nothing special really, just makes people think that they are driving a race car. Honestly, a Grand Prix is not equipped well enough for it to make a difference for my to reach down and bump gears. Put a full suspension under it, and maybe, but still probably not. You know how many race cars are autos? Not very many. They have to reach down and shift....

Ummm, F1 cars, Indy cars, WRX and a lot of other race cars use the sequential gearbox.

Um, the WRX is not a sequential gearbox, at least not the US street version. BMW also uses a sequential. The new grand prix is JUST a switch though, for the normal tranny. F1 cars use paddles, because it is just easier and there is NO place for a stick. I am not saying paddles arent easier or better, I am just saying for a street car, they are useless, because you ALWAYS have time to reach down and shift. Plus, with an auto, why bother? Saying this, I want a BMW M3 with the sequential gear box...

I meant WRC not X.
The new GP uses a "tiptronic"(i think thats what they call it) transmisson, which is still a auto tranny. As for race car drivers needing to reach down and shift, it'* easier to have the gear "paddles" on the steering wheel. That way is saves room, doesnt waste time moving a gear selector, no chance of a mis-shift and the driver can keep both hands on the wheel.

No, the new GP does not use a tiptronic tranny. It is the same tranny they have used before. They call it "TapShift". Its just a fancy shifting unit... nothing special. And yes, WRC does use sequential gear boxes, but not paddle shifters. Watcha few races, and you will see the HUGE stick in the middle of the console...

Yup, it is the same tranny. The "Tap-Shift" is actually pretty crappy. It is basically the shifter put on the steering wheel. You can drive down the road in your Bonneville and move your shifter to 2 and it will go to 2nd gear correct? (assuming you aren't going too fast) And it will do the same if you put it in 1st or 3rd gear also. Basically they just put the gears on the steering wheel. It is basically a waste. If you want a car you can shift, get a manual, if you don't want to have to shift it get an auto. This auto-stick crap is crap IMO.

Agreed. Although, there is something about an autoshifting manual that gets me going. I don't know, maybe it is that you don't lose as much power as an auto, but you can still have it shift for you. Either way, I drive my car around sometimes in the lower gears, just because I am bored and feel like playing.

You would have to install some other electronics - The 300M automatically downshifts if the speed and rpms get too low, and upshifts if the speed and rpms get too high.

I had a bit of fun driving that 300M with the AutoStick.... never noticed what you described about fuddyduddy... but maybe I didn't rev it too high or let the rpms get too low.
I found with the AutoStick on the 300M I could drive faster and harder (ie better) then just leaving it all up to the automatic tranmission.

So, everyone thinks that a new tranny is not required, just some electronic fooling around to cause the car to shift into the gear you want. That sounds like just moving the shifter from 1st to 2rd to 3rd..... isn't that supposed to be hard on your transmission?
I'm thinking that it'* a bit more then that....the shifting in the 300M didn't seem hard, and I can't see it actually hurting the transmission (unless you do it wrong).

Any thoughts?