Switching to a manual finally killed my habit of "quickly replying" to a text or e-mail. Sad it took that, but I'll accept my longer lifespan now.
How America lost its love for the stick shift
21–30 of 729 posts
Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift
#22I still have a manual transmission car, and am in the process of teaching my sons how to drive it.
Granted they are not popular, but I prefer them. Sadly the market does not. And electric cars, which seem to be the next iteration of the automobile, don't have transmissions at all, so the ability to drive a manual is really looking like it will soon be a fairly useless skill.
Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift
#23You’ll pry my manual transmission from my cold, dead hands. Hopefully not because you’re a paramedic and I’m wrapped round a tree... Joking apart, I’d swap my manual for an ‘automatic’ with paddle-shift manual controls. If I was commuting in a city I’d definitely want an automatic though.
Doesn’t most automatic transmissions have that? My old VW Touran have paddles on the wheel for changing gears. I only use it when driving down steep hills though.
Yes, but automatics with "paddle shifts" have very soft transition and very soft/delayed gas pedal reaction; whereas dual-clutch/sequential with "paddle shifts" have very fast transition and very straight gas pedal reaction.
The true automatics, or CVT, there's limited need (or fun:) in paddle shifts outside of hills, poor traction, etc.
For sequential/dual-clutch, paddle shift operation is direct... and fun :)
Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift
#24Sitting in traffic did it for me.
4 way stop at the top of an icy hill for me. Interesting they chose a picture of a floor shift automatic for the article.
I always had an easier time getting up snowy/ice hills (in Boston) than my friends did in their autos. I remember once driving up a hill in front of a friend so he could use my tire indentations to get up behind me.
Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift
#25Sitting in traffic did it for me.
Yep, when over the years your same 45min commute turns into an hour and a half commute, automatic is so much better. That and then getting work closer to home.
Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift
#26I learned to drive stick at 34 just for fun. Now own a Mazda 3 and MX-5. Worth it.
It's not about out performing an automatic transmission it's about engagement. For some people that's not going to have any value. For others there is no going back to numb econoboxes with automatic transmissions.
It's a shame more people don't get over the hump and get to see what driving can be vs. what it is for most.
Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift
#27Despite the title, it never explores why this phenomenon is specific to America, except to note that "the 5-speed manual is [still] the most popular transmission in the world".
Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift
#28Switching to a manual finally killed my habit of "quickly replying" to a text or e-mail. Sad it took that, but I'll accept my longer lifespan now.
> habit of "quickly replying" to a text or e-mail.
Once you are on the highway and driving at 80 km/h or above, in most manual cars you are already shifted to the highest gear. In my Hyundai Matrix I am already shifted to the highest gear at 55 km/h.
Oh, and regardless which car you have, please, do not touch your mobile phone.
Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift
#29I like manuals because they feel better to me. This is totally anecdotal but to me it seems like the stick keeps me more engaged with what's happening with the car so I find I tend to be less distracted. It also occupies a hand so it definitely prevents a lot of phone usage. If this could actually be proved I'd definitely welcome a return to manual transmissions as sometimes I feel like the only person not on their phone in traffic...
Re: How America lost its love for the stick shift
#30In the UK most cars are still manual. Less so for the more expensive you go but I'd guess more than 90%.
I have driven automatics a handful of times. The longest I spent was 2 weeks in a motor home touring the Rockies.
While I can see the appeal for around town driving driving up and down grades was a bit of a pain. Basically I had to learn the behaviour of the transmission and use a combination of the exact amount of throttle, hold down gears and flicking between tow haul and normal to get the gear I wanted. It was more hassle than having to change gear manually.