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Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

latimes.com

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Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#521

Post by Broken_Hippo »

nommm-nommm wrote: post #484
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I knew it was rare for people to know manual transmissions, but why such a preference for automatic? I think this is twofold. First off, most drivers education doesn't teach a manual transmission anymore, nor is drivers education a requirement. While my parents learned on a simulator in school, I learned it from experience (and so happy I did) - my first car was a manual. But the second part of this is that there t…

>nor is drivers education a requirement This was probably the case when you learned to drive (it was when I did) but many (most?) US States are starting to crack down on this and require formal driver's ed in some cases. There's also a lot more restrictions on young drivers than there was when I was a young driver. For the non-Americans, in the US each State licenses their drivers and they all have different requirem…

It has been more than 20 years since I learned to drive and admittedly I'm only really familiar with Indiana laws, save for the last 3-4 years. And you are right, there are some vast improvements in the area, some a little ill-thought out. Most of these I've seen were increases in driving age, Requiring a longer permit holding time, more indepth written tests, and restrictions on either new license holders or teenage license holders.

That said, I wasn't aware of cases where drivers ed was a requirement at all. Everywhere else it doesn't matter so long as one can pass the both the written and driving test.

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#522

Post by aabajian »

I think it's fair to say at this point that people aren't buying manual for the fuel economy, but for the fun and control provided by the interface. I think if you take a look at cars that come only in manual in 2015, they take a distinctly sporty direction: http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/g6415/13-manual-only...

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#523

Post by strgrd »

salex89 wrote: post #483
TeMPOraL wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh so that's what was happening... Two days ago my friend and I were driving a rented car and we've noticed that when coasting, the computer said the fuel consumption is 0, but when the friend disengaged the clutch, the fuel consumption actually went up (!) to some value. We've been wondering what's going on, and we actually suspected a software bug in the fuel consumption indicator. Thanks!

Sure, but it will cause increased wear on the clutch plates. However, idling, keeping the clutch disengaged in neutral for longer periods of time increases wear on the dual-mass flywheel. So, whatever you do, you are damaging something :) . Personally I try to balance it out, but on longer down-hill slopes or when slowly coming to a traffic light I try to keep it in gear. It takes a bit of effort to train, but I real…

:)

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#524

Post by [deleted] »

exclusiv wrote: post #130
gambiting wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would call myself a "car enthusiast" and I drive an automatic - I feel like even in dangerous situations, I have full control of the car. Whether it's sudden need to stop or accelerate, I have full control. In a manual car I've had a few near-accidents where the car just stalled because I was so concentrated on braking and avoiding the obstacle - Which was great, except that I found myself in a middle of a dual car…

Never experienced that but you have way more control in a manual excluding powerful electric cars. You need to stop fast, well you have gears to utilize quickly in a manual. Need a pop to get out of a sticky situation? Drop the gear to get in the power band and pull away. I don't understand your argument other than manuals being more error prone. Certainly you could stall it in an intersection if you aren't experienc…

[deleted]

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#525

Post by Annatar »

WalterBright wrote: post #66

A stick is the only way to go for a muscle car. My first muscle car was a '67 Mustang, which had a problematic transmission. The first thing I did was convert it to a 4 speed manual. My '72 Dodge has a Tremec 5 speed manual heavy duty. It's a sweet shifter, indeed.

Former 2004 Holden Monaro / Pontiac GTO driver here. Six speed manual transmission, 5.7L LS1 engine. 2nd gear lockout disabled, high RPM range cam.

One of the best driving experiences of my life: a V8 and a manual transmission is a match made in heaven.

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#526

Post by mdimec4 »

Quote: "And it takes a really patient instructor to teach it."

That is bullshit.

It is not that hard, everybody can learn it with little guidance and practice.

The law here in some parts of Europe (e.g. Slovenia) states, that if you make licence with automatic, then you are licensed only to drive automatic, but if you make it with manual, you can drive everything.

So literally everybody here learns manual. Most of them are 18 years old when they start.

Most of the cars are manuals here anyway. But trend goes in favour of automatics for high end cars,

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#529

Post by problems »

vmarsy wrote: post #104
henrikschroder wrote: post #46

I got my driver's license in Sweden, and the official driving handbook completely worships manual transmissions, and makes several untrue claims about how much better they are than automatics. You can choose to do your road test in an automatic, but that'll earn you a restriction on your license, barring you from driving a manual. It's probably fair, but almost everyone (myself included) chooses to practice in manual…

>when automatic transmissions are consistently outperforming humans at fuel efficiency Do you have data to back this up? Unless you're driving a dual clutch "dry" transmission or a CVT, because of Physics, an automatic transmission will always be less efficient. The Automatic transmission Torque converter [1] will waste some of the energy provided by the engine, especially with city driving. Also, most automatic cars…

Even many of the CVTs have fake gears because people didn't like the sound and feeling of a straight up linear CVT, so they might be more comparable to automatics.

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#530

Post by dpkrjb »

vinay427 wrote: post #454
torrent-of-ions wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude, many Americans can't drive in rain let alone snow and ice.

I'm not sure where you're getting that. There are hundreds of thousands in my area that seem to do it for several months every year.

I think they're trying to be flippant. Not worth indulging
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