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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

#501

Post by JoeAltmaier »

larrik wrote: post #497
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #482

All of mine are manual. Live on a gravel road - can't properly drive on loose gravel with an automatic. Then you have to creep along at 10mph. I can do 55 in my Subaru. Another downside of auto - they have all sorts of 'traction control features' that take over the accelerator. What that really means is, when driving on loose gravel they start to vibrate like one of those old vibrating-football-game toys and the car…

Isn't doing 55 on gravel going to destroy your paint? Traction Control, on paved roads, is extremely beneficial, and one of the best safety innovations since seatbelts.

On smooth dry paved roads anyway. I live up here in the Arctic Zone (as my OK brother-in-law calls it) and we have weather. And gravel.

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

#502

Post by SonicSoul »

Porsche is actually bringing back 911 GT3 in manual thanks to popular demand (after their older manual models went up in price). Can't wait for that #MAGA check so I can finally buy one

http://www.autoblog.com/2016/03/04/porsche-911-gt3-manual-re...

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

#504

Post by randlet »

bane wrote: post #403

Just got back from another trip to Europe where I encountered the slightly odd European preference for manuals. I can kind of see why, the car culture is quite different from the States -- where most cars are two or three generations beyond the kind of automatics most Europeans associate with the transmission type. The inverse is that most European diesels are two or three generations beyond what most Americans assoc…

If you are being passed on the inside lane you* are in the wrong lane no matter what speed you are travelling.

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

#505

Post by lqdc13 »

seszett wrote: post #253
lqdc13 wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is way more fun to drive, weave through traffic and to take turns at higher speed because of heel-toe downshifting than driving the same car with automatic. You feel like you are one with the car sometimes. You feel like you are in control. You hear the engine obey your every command. In an automatic car (only extensive experience with Subaru and Hondas) you feel like you are in a bus. It feels completely irrespon…

> staying reasonable and safe requires too much self control. I wouldn't say manual transmission is the main problem here. I'm able to not break law when driving, and apparently most people in Europe are, even though we are mostly driving manual. I really hated driving automatics though, especially since my only experience with them was in the mountains of Taiwan and Japan. You just have so little control, and you fe…

Well, that mismanagement of the powerband is so frustrating to me that I lose interest in driving altogether thus making it safer.

I might be an anomaly though.

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

#506

Post by 24gttghh »

sliken wrote: post #38
sebcat wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> especially if you are shifting a certain way because you can see traffic or the lack of it, up ahead. Downshifting instead of using brakes is more environmentally friendly as well. Though you can do this with an automatic too (or semi-automatic I guess). My mother has a car with paddle shifters which you can use if you want, or you can just keep it in automatic. Best of both worlds. Edit: I drive stick, though. It'…

Downshifting more environmentally friendly? Because burning more gas is better than heating up break pads? Reference?

I had assumed engine-braking will heat up the engine more and use more oil and increase general wear on the engine and reduce it's service life. New brake pads seem cheaper and more environmentally sound than having the engine serviced/replaced and burning more oil...

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

#507

Post by emodendroket »

zippergz wrote: post #35

I'm a car enthusiast, and I was a manual transmission purist for many, many years. But then I had to be honest with myself, and admit that the VAST majority of my driving is commuting in traffic. And that driving is much less annoying with an automatic. My leisure driving is maybe 5% less fun without a manual, but that's far outweighed by how much better my daily commute is. At this point, I'd only buy a manual for a…

I always hear people say this but going from auto to manual I haven't really found commute driving any worse (granted, it's not fun in either case).

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

#508

Post by emodendroket »

GFischer wrote: post #365
exclusiv wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree regarding traffic I think everyone would be way more courteous and the roads would be safer if everyone drove a manual.

Just go to Italy or Argentina (100% manual) and you'll be disabused of that idea VERY quickly... that's the worst behaving traffic you'll ever see.

There are tons of inputs to consider here but driving a manual car does make you a bit more attentive to what your car is actually doing.

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

#509

Post by 33W »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #395
sshanky wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In modern cars, disengaging the clutch (or using neutral) when coasting (toward a stop or down a hill) is less efficient than staying in gear. This is because it takes some fuel to keep the engine idling, where staying in gear allows the computer to completely cut fuel flow, as long as the forward motion is keeping the engine turning.

Oh so that's what was happening... Two days ago my friend and I were driving a rented car and we've noticed that when coasting, the computer said the fuel consumption is 0, but when the friend disengaged the clutch, the fuel consumption actually went up (!) to some value. We've been wondering what's going on, and we actually suspected a software bug in the fuel consumption indicator. Thanks!

This is called Deceleration (or Direct) Fuel Cut Off (DFCO). When the engine is turning at > 1500 RPM, and your foot is off the accelerator, fuel is stopped to the engine.

This shifts the engine from combustion, where gas explosions cause motion, to motion causing the engine to turn. Because the engine is still in motion, when the RPM drops below 1500, then engine can resume fuel and begin combustion again.

When you disengage the clutch, the engine is disconnected from the wheels, and requires combustion again to keep running.

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

#510

Post by emodendroket »

capkutay wrote: post #265
zippergz wrote: post #35

I'm a car enthusiast, and I was a manual transmission purist for many, many years. But then I had to be honest with myself, and admit that the VAST majority of my driving is commuting in traffic. And that driving is much less annoying with an automatic. My leisure driving is maybe 5% less fun without a manual, but that's far outweighed by how much better my daily commute is. At this point, I'd only buy a manual for a…

I also drove a manual while commuting about 70 miles a day on the freeway. I figured out that you can make manual driving as comfortable and carefree as automatic, but that type of driving typically wears on the clutch. For instance, you might just hold down the clutch in stop/go traffic if you don't know if you'll change gears or not. I was even pretty proficient at using my phone while driving with a manual but onc…

To the contrary, I find just popping it into neutral frequently is a much more comfortable way of handling stop-and-go than holding down the clutch all the time.
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