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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

#711

Post by rhinoceraptor »

rsync wrote: post #600
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.

"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." This is very interesting - thank you. I shift cars into neutral while going down…

It's actually illegal in many states to coast downhill in neutral.

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

#712

Post by dfar1 »

I grew up in Brazil where most cars are manual. After my first automatic car, I really missed switching gears... and I ended up going back to manual. Some friends ask if I don't ever get tired switching gears, but after you've done it for so long, it becomes second nature, you don't have to think about it. Whether true or false, I feel like I have more control of the car when I'm in control of the gear... specially when going up/down a steep hill, or going through terrains other than asphalt.

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

#714

Post by _nalply »

_nalply wrote: post #702
lb1lf wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

-That only works for children; adults have too large a moment of inertia for this technique to be effective. Seriously, his (valid, IMHO) point was that driving eco-friendly was all well and good when conditions allowed (A distinction not being made by the training manual) - but when interacting with other drivers, accelerating slowly, for instance, would often mean you could never (legally) enter a road where you're…

Interesting. I'll have too look up what the Swiss road law says about this.

I looked up. Art. 36 para. 4 SVG says: «The driver [...] is not allowed to impede other users of the road [...]», however I don't know what «impede» does exactly mean. Since I often experience that I have to adapt my speed because someone entered the road rather tightly, I think the Swiss are more lax about this. You only «impede» if the other one really has to hit the brake. Maybe.

https://www.admin.ch/opc/de/classified-compilation/19580266/... (German)

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

#715

Post by rconti »

dfar1 wrote: post #712

I grew up in Brazil where most cars are manual. After my first automatic car, I really missed switching gears... and I ended up going back to manual. Some friends ask if I don't ever get tired switching gears, but after you've done it for so long, it becomes second nature, you don't have to think about it. Whether true or false, I feel like I have more control of the car when I'm in control of the gear... specially w…

I've only owned manual transmission cars since I was old enough to buy my own, including my most recent car, a 2016 Golf R. In fact, I specifically bought the Golf instead of the BMW I wanted to buy, because BMW dropped the manual transmission choice.

I enjoy shifting, and even in bay area traffic, I simply don't get what's "hard'" about changing gears. I'm already sitting there in front of the controls. It really takes no additional effort or brainpower, it's second nature. It's like complaining it's too much work to press the brake to avoid colliding with the car in front of you. It's driving.

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

#716

Post by rconti »

city41 wrote: post #627
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 live in Silicon Valley and sit in nasty traffic daily in my manual transmission car. It's such second nature it doesn't even register. A motorcycle is a different story. Holding the clutch in with your left hand gets downright painful after a while. Thankfully lane splitting is legal here.

SV MT driver too, I simply don't get it either. You're already sitting there. The controls are not hard to operate.

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

#717

Post by NickM »

codingdave wrote: post #466
kweinber wrote: post #7

Manual shifting is neither possible nor even relevant in electric cars or cvt (continuous variable transmission) cars. Their rise will be the true end of the stick shift.

That is completely dependent on the design of the engine. There is no reason that an electric motor cannot be hooked to a transmission. It just doesn't need it as badly because they can handle sustained high RPMs, and in many cases, are specifically designed for high RPM operations. So it makes sense to keep things simple, and leave out the transmission, and that is what we are seeing right now. But as electric cars…

> But as electric cars become more common, they will need to be able to handle all types of driving, including steep slopes, which is a very common reason to stay in a lower gear. There will be demand for such a function, even if not in every vehicle.

There's no need to add a transmission for this: many electric cars automatically apply regenerative braking when you let up on the accelerator, which provides similar benefits. It actually provides a really similar feel to driving a manual in low gear already.

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

#718

Post by rconti »

_nalply wrote: post #141
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…

Manual transmission is incompatible with cruise control with proximity detection, because the automated system can't shift (or it would be an automatic transmission). I would buy a car which has both (like the Smart) and manual shift in difficult conditions (like driving over mountain passes in snow). However the Smart I rented didn't have a clutch. It's weird. I don't know.

My 6MT car has laser cruise control and while I have to operate the clutch and shifter, it doesn't disengage cruise. works just fine.

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

#719

Post by Unklejoe »

speeder wrote: post #450
3poundkilograms wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, engine braking to the red light would have been more efficient. :) But indeed, automatic cars are less efficient. They do not know what you will do next, so they often make erroneous gear shifts that waste fuel and time. They don't know when to coast or when to engine brake (For older transmissions, the overdrive gear had permanent coasting, and could not engine brake at all), often have lossy pumps, etc. Dual…

I am from Brazil, here the population hates "hydramatic" cars as they call automatic cars. I saw one accident that the cause was lack of transmission knowing the future: road crossing, bad road signs didn't made clear who had priority, so both drivers went forward. Both cars tried then to stop, but the automatic car instead had just shifted up, then as the driver tried to stop, it lurched forward and hit the other ca…

Not trying to be confrontational, but I have to say... I don't buy that story at all.

Automatic transmissions back then didn't even have lock-up torque converters. You could always stop the car unless the throttle got stuck. The transmission can't suddently send the car screaming forward if the person isn't on the throttle.

On another note, the main automatic transmissions of those days were probably the TH350 and TH400, which actually stands for "turbo hydramatic". That's probably where the name came from.

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

#720

Post by fnj »

smileysteve wrote: post #465
henrikschroder wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotal, but I did some tests in my previous car (a 2014 Mercedes, automatic) and it coasted really, really, really well. In drive, downhill, on the freeway, feet off all pedals, it would accelerate as much as if I put it in neutral, so I think its software and transmission allowed it to perform as good as a manual in that situation. Not calling you out specifically, but a lot of people arguing for manual transmiss…

Automatics don't engine brake the same way, the torque converter is only fully engaged when it has some pressure buildup, so it will slip (and not maintain fuel cut) when coasting whenever the wheel speed won't maintain the pressure. To test, watch your rpm when you left off the gas, if it drops to ~750-1000 rpm, your torque converter is slipping (as designed) and not maintaining fuel cut. To agree with you, I think…

It's not that simple, since everybody has had lockup torque converters (based on a computer-controlled clutch) for a long time now. As long as the TC is locked up, you have full engine braking. As you slow, it eventually drops out of lockup, you see the rpm drop to idle or close to it, and you feel the engine braking diminish (though you do still have a small amount, as the the transmission does have pumping and drag losses).
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