161–170 of 875 posts
I bet they'll eventually make electric cars with manual gearboxes and gearing to simulate this experience in an EV. You can already do this on your own with things like thr Ford EV crate motor that you can just bolt in any old car.
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Here's a better compromise, a semi-automatic: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-automatic_transmission You choose when to change the gears but the computer deals with the clutch, best of both worlds.
meh, my wife's car does that, but to me it's not the same. I think if I can put into words what I like about manual transmissions, it's more than just the control to change the gears, it's the actual tactile feeling of removing power from the drivetrain (via clutch), then re-applying it. it's the cliche feeling of "connection" to the car, road, and what's happening. But I understand why the manual is dying. Most peop…
case in point, me flooring it on a left hand turn in my moms prius and having to wait a good 500ms for the thing to start moving at all.
I know exactly what my manual does in first gear and when, I don't think about it, it's an extension of myself.
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Entirely unnecessary to meet the parents “demands”.
Car shapes are substantially about pedestrian fatalities. You can't have those shapes back without murdering people who aren't even driving a vehicle.
Is the author talking about the world or the US?
AFAIK the vast majority of vehicles sold in Europe are manual. Not sure about the rest of the world.
I'm from Spain and I've never seen an AT car there. I'm sure they exist though, probably.
I now live in Mexico where AT is very common and I've gotten used to it. I think the best AT is better than the best MT, but I think the average MT is way better than the average AT. I'd be totally happy driving MT.
There's nothing worse than getting stuck in traffic going up a slick hill in a Midwest winter with a manual transmission. Your car goes backward!
In an old manual transmission, that's true. Modern cars have anti roll back systems. But also, use the hand brake.
Do most manual transmission cars now do this?
I reiterate my compromise proposal: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32397975 I will give up my manual transmission, if you will bring back pull-knobs, twist knobs and other tactile switches for the main controls of my vehicle, with the appropriate tactile feedback at set points so I can set them without looking. After thinking on it, I am going to raise my demands, however: you also need to produce cars that are…
If it's in your budget I highly recommend test driving the Porsche Macan. It has a screen but as far as I can tell it's not required for anything that doesn't implicitly require a screen (i.e. GPS). Overall the car is amazingly well designed. The tactile experience is there, you can feel your way around everything without moving your eyes from the road/immediate dash area. It still has an analog clock. I also feel li…
I would pay $25,000 cash for a new manual transmission '00s-style mid-sized pickup with hand-crank windows and knobs for the temperature and radio. Last time I drove a car from after 2018 it started automatically keeping pace with the car in front of me on the highway, and you couldn't manually close the trunk but instead had to push a button and wait for it to close. I hate modern cars.
I would pay $25,000 cash for a new manual transmission '00s-style mid-sized pickup with hand-crank windows and knobs for the temperature and radio. Last time I drove a car from after 2018 it started automatically keeping pace with the car in front of me on the highway, and you couldn't manually close the trunk but instead had to push a button and wait for it to close. I hate modern cars.
I hate how technology is changing the roads. This happens to me so frequently. I am a right lane driver. I hang out, I cruise at 55, and take my time. It feels like every few minutes someone comes up behind me, slows down, and doesn't go around. If I go to the left lane they speed right past me, so I can go back into my right lane... Bizaare!
> it’s not something you master overnight. I’m not ashamed to mention that it took me a few sessions in a parking lot to get the fundamentals down This kind of line always confuses me. I mean, I remember my first driving lesson in the UK. Guy arrived in a BMW 116, manual. He said to me: what is there to explain, you get in and drive. So I got in and drove. Did my first hour, took 5 minutes to get comfortable with the…
Do you really think your experience is representative and that most people take a few minutes to learn how to drive? Honestly, it even sounds like a humble brag (mostly because I'm a little jealous)
The most difficult part of driving is not even the machine itself but traffic.
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But anyone that drives a manual will let you know it's mostly about the clutch and how you use it, rather than choosing what gear you're in. Using a clutch just right can produce amazing amount of torque just when you need it. Automatic clutch can be incredibly efficient, but it simply can't know what you want to do.
Yeah. And the car is just second guessing you in general. I can blip the throttle in my automatic and the car acts like nothing happened at all. Or I’ll put my foot to the floor, nothing happens, then a few seconds later it downshifts and jerks forward. But it’s easy on long journeys and the road is not a racetrack so I can’t complain.