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Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

latimes.com

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Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#331

Post by joncalhoun »

rsp1984 wrote: post #313
henrikschroder wrote: post #46

I got my driver's license in Sweden, and the official driving handbook completely worships manual transmissions, and makes several untrue claims about how much better they are than automatics. You can choose to do your road test in an automatic, but that'll earn you a restriction on your license, barring you from driving a manual. It's probably fair, but almost everyone (myself included) chooses to practice in manual…

An often lost fact in automatic vs. stick-shift discussions is that in practice automatic transmission causes much heavier wear on the brakes of the car. This is because with a stick-shift you can just gear down when going downhill or before a foreseen stop and let the engine do most of the breaking for you. You then only use the brakes to bring the car to a full-stop on the last couple meters. This gets you much bet…

Some new cars (and likely some older ones) offer paddle shifters and other ways to kinda pretend to be a manual. Eg most Subarus have this now.

As someone who preferred cars with a manual transmission until recently, the paddle shifters are useless when accelerating (they just don't work well, and rarely feel "smooth"), but I really appreciate them for engine braking in the snow.

I wonder if you could get similar brake-saving results if you got accustomed to switching to manual mode when braking and then switching back to drive regularly.

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#332

Post by JetSetWilly »

vetinari wrote: post #317
Reason077 wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've driven manuals most of my life. Before stop/start came along, I was in the habit of just holding the clutch pedal down while stopped at intersections or in traffic. Anecdotally, I think most drivers do the same. Now, when driving stop/start equipped vehicles, I always try to use it. But in a manual, it does takes more thinking and effort and I wonder how many casual drivers actually bother. The thing is, most of…

By holding down the clutch pedal, you are literally destroying the clutch. When I was in the driving school, I was taught to never do this. If you are stopping, even for just few seconds, put in the neutral. It becomes automatic movement in a short time. Few years ago, I had colleagues who came from a certain foreign country and were not used to manual transmission. They got a company car with manual transmission. Th…

I don't think having the clutch down destroys the clutch, how would it do that? It is having the clutch partially engaged for a very long time that would destroy the clutch.

A clutch is destroyed by friction - slippage between the two plates that comprise it. This is a useful characteristic when pausing on a hill for a few seconds but I suppose there must be some people that keep the clutch partially engaged for a very long time.

But if you are sitting at a junction with the clutch entirely depressed for a long time the plates are disengaged and no damage is done. That's a bad habit for other reasons, such as if you get rear ended your car is still in gear and could then cause a further accident.

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#333

Post by beachstartup »

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #320
massysett wrote: post #238

I live in an area (in USA) with a lot of car theft. A police officer said the easiest theft prevention is to buy a stick because the thieves can't drive them. He said they had a really nice bait car, but because it was a stick nobody stole it.

That is a bonus! Similar story: My father (and now, my brother) had a 1963 pickup truck that he always left unlocked. He said he never worried about anyone stealing it because he figured most folks couldn't drive it. Not only was it a manual, but it was a 3-speed manual you shifted from the column, so it looked like an automatic inside but yet very much wasn't.

this is called a three-on-the-tree car. as opposed to a four-on-the-floor.

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#334

Post by barrkel »

akerro wrote: post #161
henrikschroder wrote: post #46

I got my driver's license in Sweden, and the official driving handbook completely worships manual transmissions, and makes several untrue claims about how much better they are than automatics. You can choose to do your road test in an automatic, but that'll earn you a restriction on your license, barring you from driving a manual. It's probably fair, but almost everyone (myself included) chooses to practice in manual…

>that'll earn you a restriction on your license, barring you from driving a manual. It's probably fair, but almost everyone (myself included) chooses to practice in manuals It is fair. When you do motorcycle training for up-to 125cc, you can take a scooter which doesn't have gears, or motorcycle with gear. If you learn how to use gears you know how to ride a scooter, but if you take a scooter, you're not allowed to r…

In the UK at least, CBT is not geared vs automatic specific. If you do your basic training on a scooter, you can still ride a geared 125 unaccompanied on the road. The full test is specific though.

The bigger issue with scooters vs geared bikes isn't the extra effort of using the gears, it's the much higher centre of gravity and (usually) wider turning circle of geared bikes that complicates manoeuvres. More forward planning is required to avoid tight turns that require high bank angle at low speed, turns that are easy on a scooter. The higher centre of gravity means it's trivial to drop the bike if braking while turning at slow speed. It's easy to hold up a scooter in the same situation.

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#335

Post by apetrovic »

dogma1138 wrote: post #193
edoloughlin wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

However, it's more convoluted to use. You have to engage the clutch, put the shifter in neutral, and release the clutch again This is how you should drive if you know you're going to be stopped for more than a few seconds. 'Convoluted' doesn't come into it - it's the default.

I want to see the people who cycle the clutch twice at a red signal.

If I'm expecting to stop more than few seconds, I put my car in neutral. Every time. For last, let's see, 28 years since I have my driving license.

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#336

Post by wfunction »

Would anyone happen to know what the accident rate is for drivers who drive manual vs. automatic as a whole?

What about among the same drivers who drive both? (This one is to control for distractions that might be present when driving automatic but not manual.)

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#337

Post by [deleted] »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #63
jaggederest wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paddle shifting is in no way equivalent to the level of torque and engine control a manual transmission provides. I drive a car with paddle shifters, coming from a manual, and it's just night and day different. The connection is entirely missing without the feedback provided by the physical linkage of the clutch pedal.

Try a PDK. The idea that it's so important to be able to uncouple the driveline as to warrant a dedicated pedal just for that purpose is completely silly.

[deleted]

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#338

Post by gambiting »

seszett wrote: post #264
gambiting wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but in a manual some percentage of my brain is always dedicated to thinking about which gear I'm in. In an automatic I have 100% attention on the road. And when I said "stop quickly" I meant "a person steps out on the road in front of you". Gears won't help you here, because I don't believe anyone can downshift in the 2 seconds left to impact - the best you can do is press the brake as hard as you can. The diff…

> in a manual every time I had to do that I was left with a stalled car because I didn't press the clutch in time, while with an automatic I could move out of the way very quickly. I can see it happening, and I've observed it with people who have learnt to drive on auto, but that's just a reflex problem due to inexperience. If you're used to driving manual, just don't have to think about disengaging the clutch when b…

Well, I come from a country where automatics are almost non-existent and very much frowned upon(Poland). I've only learned in a manual, and I haven't driven an automatic until after I already had 5 years of experience in a manual, and then drove a manual for another few years anyway. Had a selection of both sports and off-road vehicles, all in manual - yet I never had the reflex to press both clutch and brake in an emergency situation - it was always full brake first, clutch second.

In my experience, with all the autos I've driven, the transmission downshifts much quicker, smoother, and more intuitively than I ever could. Maybe I've only ever driven top-tier automatics, and a normal auto box is poor in that regard. No idea.

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#339

Post by bitL »

I never understood how to use automatic transmission in snowy/icy conditions. To me it's basically a lottery. With manual transmission and clutch I can actually recover from a slide almost immediately (the moment you start sliding you disengage transmission right away with clutch and do initial correcting maneuver which you cut short the moment you feel any kind of traction in order not to oversteer; it takes some practice on each car but you can try it on empty parking lots during winter nights). This is not possible with automatic transmission, the neutral gear still drags wheels, driving them to slide. Of course, if you have a 300+hp engine and are a race driver, you might try to correct it using full throttle, but don't try that with a normal car unless you want to massively increase your chance of hitting traffic.

Re: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

#340

Post by entropy_ »

henrikschroder wrote: post #200
kalleboo wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love to see some kind of study that went deep into how the results pan out over a certain population and why. My own anecdote is that I'm a better driver in a manual. I'm a lazy driver, and lazy in a manual means avoiding stopping/gear changes by anticipating green lights and so on. Being lazy in an automatic results in more stop and go for me because it's no more effort. I could be as efficient in an automatic,…

Many modern cars are completely drive-by-wire, and have a mode selector inbetween your controls and the car, which forces you into more fuel-efficient driving, e.g. ignoring if you push the speeder all the way down, and accelerating the car at an efficient pace instead. The more sensors and processing you get in a car, the better the car can be a this. Other modern cars have an "eco display" or similar, which gamifie…

"Ignoring if you push the speeder all the way down, and accelerating the car at an efficient pace instead."

That has the potential to be really dangerous though, at least where I drive(a third world country). If a car doesn't do what you expect it to when you provide a certain input, that's a recipe for disaster.

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