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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

#661

Post by theorique »

chrisweekly wrote: post #413
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…

You know what else increases traffic? Merging too soon. A good friend of mine and I have a standing argument about proper behavior when, driving, one encounters a "lane closed ahead" sign. He insists that the right thing to do is to abandon the to-be-closed lane as soon as feasible [tangent: he also gets mad at drivers who want to merge later, describing them as "cutters"], while I maintain that the best way to minim…

I maintain that the best way to minimize the effect of a lane closure is to use whatever lanes are legal/open for as long as possible -- because leaving an open lane of travel unused only exacerbates the problem.

I agree with you. Fully packing an 'ending' lane until it actually ends is most efficient from a road usage point of view.

(I have lived for 10+ years in the Boston area but did not grow up there.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#662

Post by emodendroket »

jimmaswell wrote: post #394
apple4ever wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its absolutely more fun, and that's a pretty compelling argument. And another one is I tell the car what I want to do. Sure it can try to figure it out, but it will never know exactly what I want to do. I can do something quicker than an automatic will know. For example, I'll know I need to be in a lower gear because I'm about to floor it. An automatic can't know that.

Maybe I'll try it in real life someday, but I've tried manual in some sim games (Richard Burns Rally and Assetto Corsa, racing wheel/pedals + oculus setup) and it wasn't more fun, it was just a distracting chore. And that's not even having to use a clutch pedal, which would make it even worse.

Doing it in a video game is nothing like in real life, where the car is shuddering and responding to your movements. No game captures it well at all, even the Gran Turismos and Assetto Corsas of the world.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#663

Post by emodendroket »

Krasnol wrote: post #562
King-Aaron wrote: post #545

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's little argument for manual transmission anymore except in larger vehicles. Why has "having fun" disappeared from people's list of requirements in a vehicle? CVT's are boring to drive. Extremely boring .

Probably it's just the people writing here. The hip generation that doesn't even need/have a car. The uber callers where some low wage person does the driving for you. Those who consider it some "man hobby from the last century". It's funny how reasonable arguments drown with it too. This is the moment where you hear that American visitor in Europe abusing a rental car or not even getting one because he/she has no li…

There's no separate American license for standard shift. You can take your license exam in an automatic, then the next day go out and legally drive a manual car on the road.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#664

Post by emodendroket »

ptaipale wrote: post #593
Scea91 wrote: post #569

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not sure how in US but here in Czechia manual cars are considerably cheaper than automatic cars. I think many people drive manual for economic reasons.

That's partly a thing of volumes: the models that sell a lot go cheaper than models that need to be ordered specially for specific wishes. So, in the US, everyone assumes automatic and manual gearbox isn't any cheaper. In many European countries, manual shift is the norm and you paid a lot of extra for the rare luxury model with a weird transmission that eats a lot of fuel. Nowadays, with DSG and other dual-clutch tr…

Manual is still usually about $1000 less in cars where it's an option. Probably for this reason, economy cars are more likely to offer it than fancier ones.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#665

Post by emodendroket »

briffle wrote: post #431
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…

They are rare in larger vehicles as well. Only Ram still makes a manual for their deisel heavy duty, and they detune the engine by 200 ft/lbs of torque. Automatics HD trucks do not disengage/spool down the turbo when shifting, which is important when you are pulling large loads up a hill.

I think "large vehicles" means big rigs, not pickups, and in these auto is still rare.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#667

Post by Yizahi »

chrisdhoover wrote: post #345
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 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…

Traffic is not when you can constantly drive on second. Traffic is when you stall even on first, every damn day.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#668

Post by tjr225 »

hfdgiutdryg wrote: post #641
vinay427 wrote: post #530

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have driven in both the US and a few European countries, and I would disagree with your proposed cause but agree somewhat with the effect. Having driven on long-distance road trips in the US, drivers are noticeably more competent than in (sub)urban highways, probably because the latter are filled with drivers who don't drive as much at those speeds. This is often inherently true in many western European countries i…

In every US city I've ever spent time in, including San Francisco and Portland, you're taking your life into your own hands every time you use a crosswalk. Or even a sidewalk, as people will just turn into driveways without checking if the sidewalk is clear first.

I agree with one exception- Seattle. For all of Seattle's faults the drivers are very aware of pedestrians and very courteous towards them.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#669

Post by bobbytherobot »

Fifer82 wrote: post #579
J-dawg wrote: post #574

Earlier 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…

What if I have an Automatic Driving Licence (UK) and I go to America and rent a Stick Shift then the Police pull me over? Also could I go to a developing country, get a licence there, then it is valid in the UK and America? These questions came to mind when I read your comment.

"What if I have an Automatic Driving Licence (UK) and I go to America and rent a Stick Shift then the Police pull me over?"

First off, you would have to find a rental manual transmission. I don't know if I have ever seen a manual in all the times I have rented here in the U.S.

The police will not care about that status on your license. They probably will not notice it.

Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift

#670

Post by Krasnol »

emodendroket wrote: post #663
Krasnol wrote: post #562

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably it's just the people writing here. The hip generation that doesn't even need/have a car. The uber callers where some low wage person does the driving for you. Those who consider it some "man hobby from the last century". It's funny how reasonable arguments drown with it too. This is the moment where you hear that American visitor in Europe abusing a rental car or not even getting one because he/she has no li…

There's no separate American license for standard shift. You can take your license exam in an automatic, then the next day go out and legally drive a manual car on the road.

But there is here in Germany. I only learned about it because almost all of our US colleagues have it. Making them a pain in the ass on so many occasions.
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