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How America lost its love for the stick shift

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Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#231

Post by BeetleB »

jedberg wrote: post #162
taeric wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is dangerous, as you aren't signaling people behind you if you are braking... Edit: I would likely soften the "dangerous" wording above. I'm not trying to claim this is guaranteed to get you killed. Just pointing out that bypassing a well established signaling mechanism of your vehicle should be a deliberate act. Not one of convenience.

Engine breaking just means slowing down by letting the foot off the gas. You aren't really slowing down that quickly. Someone has to really not be paying attention to miss it. It would be the equivalent of someone merging.

>Engine breaking just means slowing down by letting the foot off the gas.

Given how often I've driven on stretches of road where engine braking is prohibited, I beg to differ.

Engine braking is usually braking by shifting to a lower gear.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#232

Post by emodendroket »

t0mbstone wrote: post #163

Speaking as someone who has owned a number of sports cars with manual transmissions, I can tell you why I finally made the switch to automatic: Adaptive cruise control in stop and go traffic. I used to have to deal with a six-speed manual transmission in stop and go traffic for an hour every day, and it was pure torture. I mean, sure, it was fun for a weekend drive in the mountains, but it sucked the rest of the time…

People always say this, but frankly I find stop-and-go traffic isn't that bad if you put the car into neutral instead of holding down the clutch the whole time. I haven't looked back since I bought my first manual car. I never use cruise control at all though, even when I had an automatic car.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#233

Post by pluto9 »

0x00000000 wrote: post #222
tedunangst wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much space do I need to leave if the car in front of me is stopped?

Enough so you can gradually slow down until they start to move without stopping yourself. Watch how big rig drivers drive in traffic where it is almost required that you don't keep repeatedly stopping.

Big rigs definitely stop in these situations. No matter how much space they try to leave, other drivers speed around them to fill it and they have to stop anyway.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#234

Post by 0x00000000 »

lizknope wrote: post #226
0x00000000 wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To each their own, but stop and go traffic does not exist in the absence of stoplights if you leave adequate space in front of you. If you tailgate, ride your brakes, or have to stop completely you are contributing to traffic jams behind you. I drive a 6 speed in one of the worst traffic areas in the US every day.

I can drive a stick. I borrowed my sister's car for 3 months and drove it on occasion at other times. I define stop and go traffic as when I'm in 0-15mph traffic during rush hour on the Interstate. If I leave a large enough gap so that I don't constantly have to press the clutch from stalling then someone else will move in front of me and then I have to hit the brakes as well. No thanks. Automatic for me.

> someone else will move in front of me and then I have to hit the brakes as well

I don't know what to tell you. Works on my machine.

Maybe it's because I don't do it in the left lane but I never see 4+ people force their way in front of me at the exact same time with no time to decrease my speed. The occasional one will buffer out so it works for me.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#235

Post by mhh__ »

slavapestov wrote: post #136
FLUX-YOU wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get a sports car, put it in manual mode, and you get the perks of choosing gears during the drive without stalling your engine.

After a week of driving manual you will never stall the engine.

When people learn to drive it's usually the panic rather than technique that makes people stall, anyway

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#236

Post by emodendroket »

Someone1234 wrote: post #48

There's little argument for manual transmission anymore except in larger vehicles. There used to be an efficiency gap, in that a good manual driver was more efficient than an automatic. But two things have happened since then, we have computer controlled transmissions and CVTs. Manual drivers were more efficient because they learned when the vehicle would need to shift, and shifted preemptively. A computer controlled…

Well, the argument for it is the same as the argument for buying a turbo-charged car or a pickup that never hauls anything or whatever else people buy that isn't truly "necessary:" some people enjoy driving it.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#237

Post by emodendroket »

bunderbunder wrote: post #207
IshKebab wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are manuals not cheaper to manufacture and repair? Definitely in the UK since 90% of cars are still manual.

They may be, but probably not enough so to offset what having a manual transmission does to the resale value of your car in the USA. I'd be willing to go with a manual on a used car that I am paying cash for, but, if you buy a new manual and need to finance it, you'll likely be upside down on your loan for an uncomfortably long time.

Put down more money, I guess.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#238

Post by kenhwang »

taeric wrote: post #218
kenhwang wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Federal regulation requires brake lights to be on if deceleration from regenerative braking to be over specified thresholds. edit: apparently, it's UN regulation, not federal.

Cool to know. Do you have up to date links to that regulation?

See below link for references to relevant regulation.

https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/traffic/rules-of-the-r...

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#239

Post by stephengillie »

greglindahl wrote: post #219
joeblau wrote: post #59

My brother has an R8, Viper, and Vantage (All Manual) and I would rather drive a Tesla over all 3 of them. Manual is fun and you get the feeling of control and I love driving them, but in reality, there is a reason they are on their way out. The main problem is that the replacement, automatic, make driving feel worse. The computers that manage automatic transmissions are so bad that they make automatics feel terrible…

Looking at the replies to your comment, it appears that few repliers realize that Tesla S/X/3 all have just one gear. Ditto for the Bolt and Leaf. This is the future of cars.

Hybrid cars too - Toyota, Ford, Chrysler, et al - almost all use a dual-motor/generator system with a planetary gearset to allow direct drive. At slow speeds, the engine is basically just to power the first motor/generator, which powers the second one. The transmission shifts power to direct engine by spinning the first motor/generator less, causing physical force to instead be transmitted through the planetary gearset. It's ingenious, and was invented in 1969.

Honda uses a different system where the engine is just a generator until highway speeds, when a wet cluch engages engine to wheels.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#240

Post by wmboy »

Someone1234 wrote: post #48

There's little argument for manual transmission anymore except in larger vehicles. There used to be an efficiency gap, in that a good manual driver was more efficient than an automatic. But two things have happened since then, we have computer controlled transmissions and CVTs. Manual drivers were more efficient because they learned when the vehicle would need to shift, and shifted preemptively. A computer controlled…

I think the most compelling argument surely, is that it's just more fun. You actually feel like you're driving, it makes it more of an active experience.

Recently sold a manual car I owned for about 12 years, upgraded to a newer car which is automatic (only because there was no option for manual). Man, I miss driving a manual!

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