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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

#471

Post by esaym »

blattimwind wrote: post #165
esaym wrote: post #96

Not sure what "audi" (a German company) has to do with America but what ever. For my own tastes, once my 2000 Ford mustang's automatic tranny started acting funny sometimes (after 15 years and 200k miles), I bought a used manual tranny, flywheel, and clutch pedal set from a wrecked mustang of the same year and did a swap. Much happier now. I also feel more "invincible". If my starter goes out, I won't be stranded, I…

> If my starter goes out, I won't be stranded, I can just do a push start! Heck even if your battery is dead you can normally still push start. Most modern-ish cars really don't like this, regardless of transmission.

Care to elaborate? Regardless, you won't be stranded!

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#472

Post by m3kw9 »

toomanybeersies wrote: post #325
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…

I've never had a huge issue with driving in stop-go traffic with a manual. It really depends on the type of car you're driving though, I guess. Driving a sports car with a grippy clutch is going to be painful. Driving a $750, 20 year old Mazda with a 2 L engine and a soft clutch isn't too bad at all, you just sort of ride the clutch (which I am aware isn't great for it). I think that there is nothing that beats drivi…

Me too but rarely there are these hard core foot by foot stop and go traffic where I wish I had an auto, but rarely.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#473

Post by esaym »

tyingq wrote: post #97
esaym wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure how old you are, but on my grandpa's 1950 Ford there was a hand operated parking brake (under the dash). I had to use it once after stopping to get gas and the driveway to get back onto the main road went down into a steep ditch and then out onto the road. Of course some nitwit pulled up right behind me as I was trying to pull out into the road. I tried easing up on the foot brake and allowing the clutch to…

It was cars with a foot operated emergency brake that locked into place with a separate lever to release it. Not useful in these situations. Even on cars with a hand brake, it was still a bit dicey, because they only operated the rear brakes, and could be mis-adjusted/weak/etc. Pretty common on late 60's, 70's, and some 80's cars.

Whether foot operated or hand pulled, you will have to use your hand to disengage it so not seeing the difference.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#474

Post by taeric »

rootusrootus wrote: post #262
taeric wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Driving is one of those things that most of us probably have no clue how everyone else actually thinks about and does it. To that end, I just don't know. I expect I will have an issue teaching my children. Biking has already thrown me some curve balls. Nothing insurmountable. But the more you have on the bike, the harder it is for the learner to get it going. I mean, I hate biking without my shoes that attach to the…

Oh man, I remember how long it took me to learn to ride a bike. Quite a lot longer than driving a car, I'm afraid. Learning that you have to turn one way, fall, and turn the other way is definitely counterintuitive and requires your brain to do some rewiring. I also hate attaching my feet to the pedals. I do not want to confess that I've hit the ground in a very undignified manner more than once because I couldn't ge…

Falling down is no big deal and expected. Why you should always weara helmet. My favorite is wheni released my left foot, but leaned right. Did that twice.

Nowadays, i feel more stable clipped in.

And i know countersteering is a thing. Don't really process it, though.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#475

Post by fernandopj »

freddie_mercury wrote: post #430
chrisdhoover wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just do like the truckers do, leave it in second and crawl. It helps to not be concerned with maintaining a 6 inch gap with the car ahead. I truly believe that stop and go is caused by automatics. All of the brake tapping tends to bunch people up at the end of long lines forcing them to a complete stop. In a manual just let off on the gas a little and the engine brakes a little, no brake lights to create cascading…

> I truly believe that stop and go is caused by automatics. A simple hypothesis like this is easy to test: does stop and go traffic exist in places that are predominantly manual transmissions? I live in Asia and I can tell you unequivocally that, yes, stop and go traffic still exists even when every single person has a manual transmission.

Brazil is the same. New cars with automatic transmissions are now at least 40% of sales, but on the roads, manual must be still at least 80%, and 10 years ago it'd be virtually 100%. Stop and go exists here since always, Sao Paulo is a nightmare.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#476

Post by neuralRiot »

jhayward wrote: post #338
0x00000000 wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The best you can do is increase the glide time between stops Do you understand what causes traffic? That harder you brake, the bigger and longer the wave of people braking behind you will be. By braking less hard, you are causing less traffic. And yes, 99% of people driving in traffic are idiots who don't know how to drive or they wouldn't be tailgating and slamming the brakes every 6 feet wasting thousands of hour…

I have somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 hours operating a stick vehicle in high congestion traffic. I went to engineering school and studied traffic both academically, and experientially. Yes, I understand traffic better than you do. Do you understand traffic? I pretty much doubt it. No, 99% of people driving in traffic aren't idiots. About 5% are, and that's all it takes. My most pleasant finding from all those ye…

I have more than 35 years driving all kinds of vehicles and what i've learned is that "all the other drivers are wrong" or at least is what everyone says. Probably we all need to learn to better ourselves and be a bit more patient and courteous.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#477

Post by tmh88j »

BurningFrog wrote: post #461
int_handler wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Driving a manual car isn't about efficiency. It is about driver engagement. Yes, you can row your own gears with paddle shifters, but no automatic will ever give you the same kind of engagement or connectedness with the car as a manual with three pedals will. But yes, if there is a smoking gun for the death of the manual in America, it would be our crumbling, congested roads and absurdly long daily commutes.

Driver engagement is exactly what I don't want, so I strongly prefer automatic.

>Driver engagement is exactly what I don't want

Not to be a jerk, but there's a big difference between a Dodge Dart and a Dodge Viper or a Chevy Cruze and Chevy Corvette. Cars that are designed to provide the driver with mechanical feedback and tight handling are not something that manufacturers are concerned with in most of their vehicles.

Even among sports cars with "automatic" transmissions (most likely dual clutch), the transmission is programmed very differently from the regular models. Take an automatic BMW M4 for a spin and compare it to a regular 4 series. The M4's transmission will be far jerkier and rougher shifting despite having mechanically identical components. It's programmed for faster shifts for better performance while sacrificing comfort.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#478

Post by vinayms »

Manual transmission s basically the command line of cars. It does have its utility, like if you are a sysadmin, but for most part a GUI is much better. Further, as with GUI, automatic transmission poses new problems that need innovative solutions, and this is always a fun thing to happen.

Automatic transmission is a godsend for developing countries like India where roads are too crowded, and filled with bad drivers with bad driving etiquette, and the start-stop driving happens for more than one reason. Its a shame that the market hasn't grown here, at least AFAIK. On the flip side, making it easy to drive might worsen the bad driving and make it accessible to even more incompetent people, as has happened with gearless scooters. It would be interesting to see how things unfold.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#479

Post by neuronexmachina »

brownbat wrote: post #464
developer2 wrote: post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know where you live that you can stay in 2nd and crawl. Where I live, the moment you leave a few inches between your front bumper and the car in front of you, someone is guaranteed to cut you off and force you to brake to prevent hitting them. When I say "inches", I mean inches - 6-8 inches of space is enough for someone to think "I'll just squeeze in here".

Hello New Jersey? :) I worry there's a sampling bias going on. When I commuted to work, I'd keep the same tight pattern everyone else used, and it felt like any time I let up, some jerk would take advantage. Then, for a while, I was suddenly paid to go between buildings on opposite sides of one of the worst traffic cities in the US. I always left with plenty of time and no urgency, so I would just stubbornly maintain…

Are you already familiar with "traffic waves"? Your comment reminds me of it.

http://trafficwaves.org/

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#480

Post by sandGorgon »

It is crazy that 95% of all cars sold in India (one of the largest in the world) are stick shift with very less growth in automatic vehicles.

One is the perception that automatic vehicles have significantly worse fuel efficiency than stick shift. And the second is that the newer CVT based automatic vehicles have not been introduced in India.. and the older AMT automatic vehicles is what have been half-heartedly used by manufacturers.

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