851–860 of 893 posts
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I recently purchased a Fiesta ST, which (along with the Focus ST) bucks this trend. The Fiesta is a cheap car, but the highest trim package, ST, is exclusively available as a manual and adds 70 HP. The Focus ST is the same, with an even bigger HP bump. Hopefully somebody else decides to compete with Ford for the budget enthusiast market, and we get a bunch of fun manuals :)
I also own a 2015 Fiesta ST as my daily driver. It's the most fun I've ever had in a car.
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…
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> nor is drivers education a requirement This is it really. Americans aren't very good at driving. In the UK we are taught that it's one of the most dangerous things you'll do in your life, which it is. In America it's just like learning to walk. You have to do it and it doesn't matter how you learn. Check out the road safety stats. USA is pretty much an outlier amongst first world countries by most metrics.
> nor is drivers education a requirement Not sure what state they're referring to, but it's a requirement in every place I know of. The general process when you're 15-16 typically includes: - A number of Driver's ed classes that typically end with behind the wheel training - Learners permit granted that only allows you to drive with an adult (21+) in the car. - Drive without incident for a certain period of time - Pa…
To actually learn to drive, you just gotta have an adult in the car. In theory, this is to teach you how to drive.
Outside of that, there are a few restrictions on the license after you start driving, mostly on passengers from what I can remember.
Some folks do take drivers ed, which is usually offered at the high school after school or during the summer. When folks do this, they can get their learners permit at a younger age. It is quite common in the rural areas for kids to learn to drive tractors when they are 13/14 or younger.
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Having driven manual pickup trucks for hundreds of thousands of miles, I'm sure this will happen eventually, but it hasn't yet...
But do you hold the clutch in when stopped? I generally don't. I too have driven several manual pickups, and only once had a squeaky throwout bearing. But I bought that one used so who knows what it had gone through before me.
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I think that is part of the issue though. The scenery really isn't where your mind should be while driving, simply looking to the side for 5 seconds is enough distraction to cause an accident. http://www.distraction.gov/stats-research-laws/facts-and-sta... I think for an already attentive driver it might be okay, but I would argue that a manual transmission would force people who are in the habit of being distracted…
Pay more attention to what , though? The road? Or the car controls?
I have no studies to link unfortunately so this is of course just an anecdote..
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My mother needs to learn this lesson. Light turns green? Stomp on the gas. Light turns red? Stomp on the brakes. She drives a minivan with a V8 and uses every bit of it on winding Massachusetts roads. People who haven't grown up with it get carsick. She's a damn good driver - in 10 years, she racked up about 430,000 miles in a Toyota Sienna without an accident... but holy fuck she's traumatizing to ride with.
What production minivan has a V8? I can't even think of one looking back to the 1980s. I've ridden with people that drive like that. Self-driving cars can't come soon enough.
I just found it funny that brake jobs on that poor minivan always cost shitloads of money because she always ground the pads all the way down to the metal and obliterated the rotors. I'm sure that the mechanic always sighed and shook his head ruefully at her.
When I took my fiancee home to meet the folks, she made her carsick. I found this hilarious because I'd grown up with it, so it was completely normal for car rides to be ZOOM-STOP-ZOOM-STOP the whole way.
For the record, I drive like a grandma.
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Pay more attention to what , though? The road? Or the car controls?
You eventually don't pay attention to the controls, just like you don't think much about the actual steering wheel. But you do have to be constantly aware of the situation you are in order to have the data to tell your subconcious to select the right gear, or to coast and such. You are constantly paying attention to stop lights for example, because if you don't you won't be in gear and you will get a toot for taking…
I'm originally from a European country where the stick is prevalent, and pretty much had to learn to drive it (and hated it) - while driving exam could be passed with automatic in theory, there were simply no cars available (and you couldn't supply your own).
That said, people there weren't really particularly opinionated about it one way or another. There was some mild form of sexism, along the lines of "auto is for girls", but I think it was more an extension of the general car-related sexism in that country.
I then lived in New Zealand, Canada and US for a while. All of them have autos dominate - less so in NZ, more in Canada and especially US. But no-one really makes a big deal of it. If you drive the stick, no-one will taunt you for showing off, for example, the way people do with other stuff. It's just a slightly unusual choice.
On the other hand, I noticed that many European immigrants have a decidedly snobby attitude towards auto. They don't just prefer the stick - they're like vegetarians who have to make a point of some innate superiority of their choice, and disparage the other option - not even rationally, but on the level of, "Americans are just too dumb to learn this stuff".
And I think that this, more than anything else, kinda muddies up meaningful discussion (with studies etc) on this subject. It's such a strong part of cultural identity for some, that even starting a conversation on it is inviting flame. Note how my first post in this thread is at 0, even though it was purely about sharing my personal experience as a data point, and not saying that it applies to other people.
For the most part, I think people should just choose what they feel makes most sense for them, and refrain from judging the choices of others. The differences really aren't that big or that important beyond subjective personal experience.
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I've always wondered about this. In my head, using the engine/transmission to "brake" when in gear going down hills or slowing down seems like a bad idea. Something is getting stressed in order to slow the car down. Having to replace my brakes makes sense, they get worn out, and its relatively inexpensive (especially if I do it myself). I have always been wary of staying in gear to brake. And, as it so happens, my ma…
The Car Talk guys addressed this and agreed with you. It's better to use the brakes to slow down since they're ablative and designed to be replaced with wear. Causing the engine to do extra revolutions means extra wear on something that's quite difficult to replace/repair... That said, I drive a manual and use the engine for braking...
Suffice to say that they do not recommend against engine braking--quite the contrary. Think about it: the engine is already spinning, so spinning it at a higher RPM for a few tens of seconds does no more wear than accelerating.
The issue is not brake wear--the issue is brake fade, and potentially boiling your brake fluid!
When you're going down a long hill, downshift and save your brakes! It could save your life!
I have a license for manual transmission as that's the default in Germany. My US license is expired now* but I only drove automatics there. I always thought it was curious that the default in the US is automatic and in most other countries I've been to it is manual...in fact there's an ego thing at play here, too. A lot of people in Germany think automatics are for people who can't drive properly. My next car will be…
German licenses also have an expiry date, at least since 2013. Your license without expiry date will also need to be replaced in 2033: https://www.adac.de/infotestrat/adac-im-einsatz/motorwelt/be...