Please may the day come soon when we can say that America lost its love for the automobile in general.
How America lost its love for the stick shift
631–640 of 729 posts
Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift
#632There'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 like that manual transmission cars can actually be started without any battery power (by getting them up to speed by pushing or downhill). I need that option far more often than I would like in my life.
Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift
#633Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep, one of my favorite ways to mess with tailgaters was to drop a gear or two and drop the clutch. *of course not recommending anyone ever do this since it's dangerous as hell.
Idea: have the brakes come on when the car decelerates independent of whether or not the brakes are engaged. Simple a sensor that detects deceleration in excess of 'X' Gs will enable the brake lights.
Some electrics do that because the regeneration system makes them lose a lot of speed quickly so they automatically turn them on.
Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift
#634This is somewhat tangential, but I think there may have been an increase in the two-footed driving of automatics. On a highway with smoothly-flowing traffic, there is rarely any need to touch the brakes, yet I see a constant flickering of red in front of me, together with the occasional car that has its brake lights lit most of the time.
Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift
#635In Europe, the manual/automatic situation is quite the opposite of that in the USA. Here all standard, cheap cars are manual, and only the expensive luxury cars have automatic transmissions. (At least in the Netherlands) driving lessons/tests must done in manual cars, unless you have some medical reason not to (then you'll also get a note on your license, prohibiting you from driving manual cars). Automatic transmiss…
Here in the Netherlands I see most people going automatic when the are often in traffic jams and their knees start to complain from constantly having to push the clutch.
Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift
#636Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the UK you don't need a medical reason, you can simply choose to take an automatic test. But then of course you can only drive automatic cars, just like in the Netherlands. Ironically I believe an American who has never driven a manual would be able to come here and rent one, because (please correct me if I'm wrong) their licences don't distinguish between the two. I think manuals are slowly on the way out here as…
Manual transmissions could offer 2 advantages today: 1) They are most likely cheaper and lighter than automatics. They make more sense in cheap small cars. So if cost is an issue you may opt for this. 2) They could be more fun, depending on the car they're on. There are people who genuinely enjoy being engaged while taking a drive for fun. The more disconnected you get and the more stuff is done for you, the more it…
There are people who genuinely enjoy being engaged while taking a drive for fun. The more disconnected you get and the more stuff is done for you, the more it feels like you're a passenger instead of the driver.
As someone who drives both automatic and manual cars, and rides (manual) motorcycles, I take umbrage with this sentiment. It regularly gets trotted out in these types of discussions and is used as a way to dismiss anyone with a different view.
If you don't feel engaged while driving an automatic, the problem is with you, not the transmission. You may find manual shifting gratifying or fun, but if you need that to feel engaged then you need to stop and think about what your mind is doing while driving.
Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift
#637In Europe, the manual/automatic situation is quite the opposite of that in the USA. Here all standard, cheap cars are manual, and only the expensive luxury cars have automatic transmissions. (At least in the Netherlands) driving lessons/tests must done in manual cars, unless you have some medical reason not to (then you'll also get a note on your license, prohibiting you from driving manual cars). Automatic transmiss…
I believe the main issue in Europe was due to torque converters being inefficient. With expensive gas and small engines, the performance hit is non-negligible. Nowadays you can get good robotized gearboxes that have almost none of the disadvantages, except for a slightly higher price. And given that most people drive manuals in an idiotic way, they can easily be more fuel efficient.
VW Group seems to charge about £1300 for a DSG - not sure I'd call that "slightly higher" on a £22K car.
Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift
#638Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can whoever flagged the original comment please STOP and THINK. Nothing wrong with the post. OMG. @icantdrive55 you are 100% right.
On investigation icantdrive55, someone is systematically killing your posts. All you can do it create a new account.
Maybe it is a bot trigger by certain words since I can’t imagine anyone is that stupid.
Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift
#639Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you might be getting downvoted for using an abbreviation for 'transmission' that also happens to be a homonym for a slur against transgender people. You've written a good, informative comment drawing on your specialist expertise, so it seems a shame to have it lose visibility. You might consider editing to change the word that could be upsetting some people.
To be upset you would have to take it out of the context its presented in, at which point its out of context. Seems like people are trying to be upset, shame on them.
In electronics/electrician-speak, "tranny" is also commonly used to refer to transformers, but I'd never confuse that meaning with the automotive one nor the gender one given the context.
I don't think older automatics are hard to work on (50s-70s era), but I agree that the modern electronic ones are horribly complex.
Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift
#640In Europe, the manual/automatic situation is quite the opposite of that in the USA. Here all standard, cheap cars are manual, and only the expensive luxury cars have automatic transmissions. (At least in the Netherlands) driving lessons/tests must done in manual cars, unless you have some medical reason not to (then you'll also get a note on your license, prohibiting you from driving manual cars). Automatic transmiss…
Sort of fits in to the more general point that we Europeans mostly drove smaller, cheaper cars with fewer luxuries.
The basic model, no frills European car still comes (here in Ireland) with manual transmission, manual windows (at least in the back), no Aircon (heater/fan only), no cruise control...
Since there are a lot of these, it's what people are used to, and they keep driving manuals.
Idk if Americans have ever really bought many nissan micra-esque cars.