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The end of the manual transmission is near?

popularmechanics.com

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Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#581

Post by Tade0 »

rad_gruchalski wrote: post #48

> 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…

My observation is that American drivers tend to try to drive in 1st gear instead of engaging 2nd as soon as possible.

Well, at least that's the story that youtube clips of car guys tell, seeing how they operate the selector.

Being swung back and forth like that by the engine must feel intimidating.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#582

Post by woodruffw »

tomohawk wrote: post #568
tadfisher wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they're not classified as passenger vehicles, so they don't have to meet the same standards.

Exactly. The technocrats thought they'd be clever, and they basically outlawed reasonably sized cars for very small marginal efficiency gains. People bought light truck instead. People don't want to drive around in dinky death traps. The CAFE standards for cars are too restrictive. The fleet averages look great, but the percentage of cars as vehicles on the road is low. Cars such as station wagons don't exist any mor…

I don't understand this comment. SUVs are classified as passenger vehicles. They're also getting larger (and more dangerous for pedestrians), but to nowhere near the same degree that pickup trucks have.

The danger posed by pickup trucks is chiefly a function of the absence of regulation: the US has decided that you can role-play as a farmer and get treated as one for safety purposes, without actually demonstrating a need for a car that's patently unsafe for US streets and highways.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#583

Post by jiri »

ciconia wrote: post #351
eric4smith wrote: post #113

Manual transmissions are dead. I grew up learning to drive a manual transmission car. Awesome. I loved the feeling of driving and shifting gears up the hilly, mountainous, twisty horrible roads in Jamaica. Exhilarating! But cars got better. I got older, and now automatic transmissions are so much more efficient than manual transmissions * for ordinary people *. We're not talking about people who love driving here. We…

> now automatic transmissions are so much more efficient than manual transmissions * for ordinary people *. Efficient in what way? I find it highly unlikely an automatic would have better fuel economy than a manual.

In large SUV with powerful engine, modern automatic transmission like ZF 8speed surely have better fuel economy than scenario adequate manual transmission.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#584

Post by [deleted] »

zaarn wrote: post #392
calvinmorrison wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or how about just being able to anticipate the power band around a corner? Being able to downshift on a hill without thinking about it. Those are things you don't even realize you do in a manual, that you do. 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 a…

I've given up with manual, as a technology, since I've used an EV that didn't have any switching transmission. Just fixed gear ratio. The feeling is better than manual. You always have full power available. There is no RPM regime where an EV won't be able to apply maximum torque. Manual can't beat that feeling. Though I will also say that a modern automatic doesn't need 500 meters. It works almost as well as manual.…

[deleted]

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#585

Post by bipson »

Retric wrote: post #564
raverbashing wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> many large pickup trucks are providing real utility to construction, farming, etc. Yes. One in 10 or maybe 20

Let me guess, you don’t live next to farmers or a lot of snow.

Seriously, snow? You don't need a pickup for snow!

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#586

Post by ericmay »

vladtheimpala wrote: post #492
dinom wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're making terrible assumptions here. The fact is you'll need special tools and then you'll need to follow a special procedure as if you're defusing a bomb. Otherwise... the radio will phone home and inform the mother-ship it's being tampered with. The prima facie reason is that in case of an accident the car should be able to request help even if everyone inside the car is unconscious. The other reason is, of cou…

> The other reason is, of course, that document you signed at the dealership stated that you've only purchased the _right_to_use_ the car... not the actual car. I can assure you that (in the US at least) when you buy a car, pay off any financing, and ultimately hold the title free and clear , you do in fact own the car.

Right to repair advocates should be focusing on this too. Companies should have to provide a mechanism for disabling telemetry data (or some variation of this that I think we could discuss and identify) or provide opt-out that doesn’t affect other features of the vehicle so companies can’t play games.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#587

Post by kasey_junk »

Retric wrote: post #564
raverbashing wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> many large pickup trucks are providing real utility to construction, farming, etc. Yes. One in 10 or maybe 20

Let me guess, you don’t live next to farmers or a lot of snow.

Pickup trucks are horrendous for snowy conditions. You literally have to put extra material in them to make them manageable.

The farmers in my family do have pickup trucks. 40 year old ones with standard cabs and no frills.

There is virtually no good function for a modern leather appointed king cab other than signaling your group. Which is fine! Half of car ownership is that but do t pretend that even half of trucks are used for some truck like usage. Heck the half that are is for hauling boats or rvs once or twice a summer.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#588

Post by cbm-vic-20 »

wildrhythms wrote: post #528
capableweb wrote: post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im not from/in the UK or US, but not sure that matters. I also prefer manual transmission. As my car is currently in the shop for repair, I have a borrowed car from the shop, who has automatic transmission instead of manual. It's true that it takes less effort to drive. Easier to drive by just using one leg and easier to use one arm. But the loss of control is real, at least for me. One example is moving from zero to…

Living in a hilly, mountainous area with an automatic transmission is a nightmare because you're constantly having to 'convince' (jamming the gas pedal a few times) the transmission to get into the right gear to negotiate an incline.

Don't most automatic transmission cars built in that last 10 years have "manual mode" that lets you provide a hint to the transmission?

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#589

Post by iggldiggl »

ChainOfFools wrote: post #320
kazinator wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> dual clutch automatics are much faster than manual transmission and most modern automatics have 7 to 10 gears for better fuel efficiency In what < $15K econobox? :)

I believe every US market Nissan sedan, including the stanza at the lowest end, come standard with a continuously variable transmission programmed to fake the sensation of shifting at fixed gear intervals. so in that case, you get an infinity of 'gears'

The Mitsubishi Mirage (Space Star in parts of Europe) is offered with both manual and CVT transmission options.

According to the figures in the manual for the 2016 model revision (https://mitsubishi-motors.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/1...), the CVT is indeed supposed to be slightly more efficient, according to the figures for the 2019 model (https://mitsubishi-motors.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/1...) on the other hand the CVT is consistently slightly worse than the manual transmission.

(Also somewhat interestingly, in some cases the auto engine start-stop system actually seems to increase nameplate consumption/CO2 emissions.)

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#590

Post by raverbashing »

Retric wrote: post #564
raverbashing wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> many large pickup trucks are providing real utility to construction, farming, etc. Yes. One in 10 or maybe 20

Let me guess, you don’t live next to farmers or a lot of snow.

Given the % of urban vs rural population of the US, yes (as expected)

Doesn't justify the urbanites buying SUVs though

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