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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?

#741

Post by yencabulator »

dumpsterlid wrote: post #625
ZeroGravitas wrote: post #525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even for people in the car, some older car designs put the drivers legs under the engine block. In a head on collision at speed, the legs were the crumple zone (meanwhile the steering column was being pushed through your torso). edit: also recently people noticed that high 'trucks' would simply miss the crumple zones in the car they were crashing into > Another problem is "impact incompatibility" where the "hard poin…

"Even for people in the car, some older car designs put the drivers legs under the engine block. In a head on collision at speed, the legs were the crumple zone (meanwhile the steering column was being pushed through your torso)." Anytime anyone waxes nostalgic about how "they dont make cars like they used" I think about this video. They sure as hell don't make cars like they used too, you can get out and walk away f…

I agree with you, but crashing a 50-year old car also isn't the same as crashing a new car. Rust, failed fasteners, etc has to bias that crash to make it even worse for the old car.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#742

Post by lisper »

taylodl wrote: post #736
lisper wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I drove a manual for about 20 years and I still really enjoy them, but there is one thing that made me happily leave them behind: stop-and-go traffic. Not having to clutch constantly when driving in the city is a big enough win that I'm willing to give up the fun of a manual for it. But I do sometimes miss having a stick on a windy mountain road.

People say they hate driving manuals in stop-and-go-traffic and I don't get it - maybe it's because I've been driving them as my daily driver for over 30 years? My left foot and right hand just take care of what needs to be done without my even having to think about it. Essentially I am driving an automatic! :)

Where do you live? Because I lived in LA, and I found that after an hour or more of constant clutching, day after day after day, it got old.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#743

Post by yencabulator »

JasserInicide wrote: post #676
falcolas wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forget about the government, I’m more afraid of insurance companies or the manufacturers themselves imposing such limits. Fortunately shielding against one shields against both.

It's already started. My insurance State Farm has already advertised you can get a lower rate if you drive around with their dreadful phone application. Won't be long until it's mandated you drive with one or else you're stuck with an "unsafe driver" charge on your insurance.

> Won't be long until it's mandated you drive with one or else you're stuck with an "unsafe driver" charge on your insurance.

That's already happening, too. "Root" is a car insurance company that only serves "good drivers". Guess how they evaluate your "goodness"?

https://www.joinroot.com/car-insurance/telematics/

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#744

Post by mywittyname »

switch007 wrote: post #510
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…

> Another example is highway driving and wanting to accelerate to pass someone. Sometimes the car decides that when I press the accelerator (while driving in 120km/h already), to shift down a gear to be able to speed up faster, but it's completely unnecessary, just go faster instead. This is the number one problem I have with automatics! Even in 'eco' mode, most tend to shift down. It seems completely wrong. It shoul…

High loads at low revs are stressful on engines, which is why automatics won't let you hit more than 20-30% load in a high gear.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#745

Post by mywittyname »

iancmceachern wrote: post #117
legitster wrote: post #42

I wouldn't jump to this conclusion just yet! Porsche, Ferrari, etc all commanded huge premiums this year for their manual versions. Specifically among younger buyers and first time buyers! You even see this effect downmarket - Toyota promised to never make a manual version of their Supra, then just this last year they put together a cobbled transmission to save their car. Manuals are also an order of magnitude less c…

>Toyota promised to never make a manual version of their Supra, then just this last year they put together a cobbled transmission to save their car. But they've been putting a delicious 6 speed manual in their FRS/GT86/BRZ for 10 years, and continue to.

The problem with those cars is that they are slow. -former owner of one

The supra is a rocket ship.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#746

Post by hnov »

mywittyname wrote: post #740
hnov wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not quite how traditional autos worked, they also have sets of clutches and bands, controlled by a complex hydraulic system. Modern automatics are electronically actuated and are basically killing the need for DCTs, with VW Group and Hyundai (and some exotic makers) being the lone holdouts in the U.S. market.

DCTs are still best for that sweet-sweet 0-60 time. The max stall RPMs on a stock torque converted transmission is probably 2300rpms at the most, while Porsche PDK can launch at redline and modulate torque delivery precisely. I don't know of a car with a torque converted that can hit sixty in under 3.0 seconds, but the Corvette and 911 can both do so with RWD due to the bonkers launches these cars manage.

The BMW M5 has a ZF 8HP and pulls off sub 3s 0-60s in CS trim. The new xDrive M3 comes close. I’m sure there are others. The key obviously is to have a torque converter stall speed that’s in powerband.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#747

Post by Slaminerag »

dinom wrote: post #450
pjerem wrote: post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know that radios can be as software defined they want, they are still requiring antennas.

I do know that. But... Assuming you can even get to the antenna without special tools... you're just going to cut the antenna so short that the radio can't get a signal? On a hunch? What if the SOC in your vehicle has to download a rolling encryption key every week in order to activate?

There are plenty of parts of the US with really poor cell coverage. Even if everything's working perfectly, there's no guarantee that your car can update. Having a car die because it couldn't phone home is both a lawsuit waiting to happen and a potential PR nightmare.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#748

Post by randomdata »

bambax wrote: post #634
woodruffw wrote: post #591

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You and I might disagree about their fashionability, but they are indeed a fashion (and political) statement for many people.

Well no... that's my point! A political statement is not fashion. If one plants a political flag in their garden in support of a presidential candidate, that's not fashion, that's politics. If people decide to broadcast their opinions about the world using cars, they certainly can; but I don't think that kind of behavior can be called "fashion". Ideology, maybe.

Regionality in fashion is significant, clothing included, but in this part of the world trucks are definitely fashion. People largely drive trucks because they like the way they look in them, not because they have some secret political statement that nobody is picking up on.

As you venture out into the world you will also find trucks that are clear political statements. You might be right that an individual cannot own a truck for both fashion and political reasons (although I'm not sure I agree), but just because some people use trucks for political statements does not mean all trucks are political statements. Some trucks can be used for fashion without crossing those who use them political statements.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#749

Post by Retric »

dumpsterlid wrote: post #615
Retric wrote: post #564

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Pickups are actually one of the worst vehicles imaginable in the snow. You have to throw a lot of weight in the rear to get traction, the wheelbase is long so that spinning out of control is far more likely and terrifying, trucks are super high off the ground so roll over risk is high (ESPECIALLY with lifted trucks) and worst of all extremely heavy vehicles like big trucks have a horrendous stopping distance in the s…

Unless you want to toss a snow plow on the front and actually deal with it.

That’s the thing even in urban areas you will see pickup trucks cleaning parking lots etc.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#750

Post by mywittyname »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #92
legitster wrote: post #42

I wouldn't jump to this conclusion just yet! Porsche, Ferrari, etc all commanded huge premiums this year for their manual versions. Specifically among younger buyers and first time buyers! You even see this effect downmarket - Toyota promised to never make a manual version of their Supra, then just this last year they put together a cobbled transmission to save their car. Manuals are also an order of magnitude less c…

Huge premiums != large market. It just means the market is bigger than their production. Manual transmissions are not "an order of magnitude less complex and cheaper." They're far more expensive because the volume is much lower and every configuration has to be crash-tested, so the cost of that crash testing is amortized over a much, much smaller number of vehicles. Manual transmission vehicles get significantly wors…

> No manual transmission car can be up/down shifted during track in / cornering / trackout without upsetting the car's balance;

That auto-rev matching feature is used in DCT cars for smooth down shifting: almost every manual transmission sports car out there has this exact same technology.

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