Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The end of the manual transmission is near?

popularmechanics.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

761–770 of 875 posts

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#761

Post by zaroth »

capableweb wrote: post #478
domh wrote: post #466

I always found it strange how people in the UK prefer driving manual transmissions, there's always talk of liking the "feeling" and "control" when driving, this is coming from people who are not enthusiasts and don't even like driving sometimes. 90% of driving tests in the UK are done in manual transmission cars[1]. Taking your driving test in an automatic means that you are not allowed to drive a manual[2]. After li…

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…

I find automatic transmissions absolutely infuriating for all of those exact same reasons.

Except that I drove an auto for all but my first 3 years and last 3 years of driving.

Now I drive a Tesla and the janky auto transmissions and lag in an ICE for the engine to rev is so maddening I actively cringe just trying to drive a rental.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#762

Post by Retric »

kkielhofner wrote: post #680
JasserInicide wrote: post #671

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, but most trucks sold today are indeed pavement princesses. For every one you see in the country doing work, there's 5 others being parked on tenth/quarter-acre lots in the cities/suburbs.

I'd say it's not even close. As another commenter noted pavement princesses are probably > 90% of trucks sold today.

My guess is it’s closer to 25%, once you consider people who use a snow plow, haul a boat/camper/trailer etc. Now sure many of these could be replaced with smaller trucks without extended cabs etc, but the choice of pickup truck was still useful.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#763

Post by dgently7 »

artogahr wrote: post #433
dgently7 wrote: post #417

I’ve dailied a mt in LA traffic since 2009. I’m one of those connected to the car people. I don’t even like cruise control bc I can’t feel what is happening. That said, I will never buy another ice engine if I can help it. That’s coming for all of us ”enthusiasts”. For better or worse “boring” electric motors with all the smoothness and infinite torque across all rpm’s are the future… Mt and even ice will be only for…

That's never going to happen en masse because petrolheads are always going to complain "But it's not the real thing and you're a stupid person for enjoying it!!!"

Yeah but people said the same thing about 4 cylinder turbo cars vs beefy v6s, but they made em anyway, they are super fun and people who want to drive a fun car but don’t have tons of cash bought tons of them.

This isn’t the solution for the purists with cash to spend 10-20$/gallon of gas it’s the thing for the rest of us who love to drive but cant justify an ice.

I mean I think you are right in that it’ll never happen. It would be a lot of engineering for a super small segment of the market, but I can dream…

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#764

Post by mrguyorama »

The-Bus wrote: post #698
branon wrote: post #613

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment is dripping with more political vitriol than I've seen in "that country" in a while You can find plenty of more compact pickups - I've been searching for the best one for a while because the Dodge Ram and Ford F150 are just too big. The Honda Ridgeline, the Ford Maverick, the Chevrolet Colorado, the Hyundai Santa Cruz, the Toyota Tacoma, are all more compact, only seat 2-4 people, and have more bed than…

The Honda Ridgeline has a wheelbase that's almost two feet longer than a mid-80s Ford Ranger. The body is almost a yard longer. Bring back small, capable trucks.

The problem is not supply, it's demand. Every american wants to be the biggest vehicle on the road, and can't stand the mild inconvenience of sitting in a car, so their vehicle must be as large, spacious, comfortable, and luxurious as an expensive couch.

Toyota could bring back the tiny 90s tundra, and they would sell a tiny tiny number of them. That's why the modern corolla is as large as the 2000s camry.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#765

Post by iancmceachern »

mywittyname wrote: post #745
iancmceachern wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

I'm the current owner of one, had it since 2013 from New, I absolutely love it. It's a blast to drive when you want to, it gets 30 mpg when you want to, is reliable, and low cost to insure and repair. I wouldn't trade all those plus' for more speed. I'm still refining my driving, learning to drive better. Like they say, it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#766

Post by bergenty »

RamRodification wrote: post #181
bergenty wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Manual is stupid. Automatics have been better than manual for a while and who the hell wants to spend all that time changing gears for no reason. Boring is the silliest rationalization there is.

You prefer thing?! Me mad!

It not so much the prefer thing it’s the fact that it’s backed up by thin rationalizations.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#767

Post by whaleofatw2022 »

mrguyorama wrote: post #764
The-Bus wrote: post #698

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Honda Ridgeline has a wheelbase that's almost two feet longer than a mid-80s Ford Ranger. The body is almost a yard longer. Bring back small, capable trucks.

The problem is not supply, it's demand. Every american wants to be the biggest vehicle on the road, and can't stand the mild inconvenience of sitting in a car, so their vehicle must be as large, spacious, comfortable, and luxurious as an expensive couch. Toyota could bring back the tiny 90s tundra, and they would sell a tiny tiny number of them. That's why the modern corolla is as large as the 2000s camry.

No post body was provided.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#768

Post by bkberry352 »

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.

That's already happening in the sense that companies are able to offer these discounts for their telematics-using customers by surcharging all their other customers. If you're not using one of these devices, you're already paying for it, even if it's not formally recorded as a fee.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#769

Post by mrguyorama »

Retric wrote: post #749
dumpsterlid wrote: post #615

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Even where I grew up in northern maine, where everyone had two trucks, 10 feet of snow per winter was reliably expected, and everyone runs a farm, very few people would plow their own driveway.

For personal driveways, people had cheap push snow blowers. For the roads, we had big plow trucks and literal construction equipment was used for large roads and parking lots.

Very few people plow, because plowing is harder than snow blowing, more damaging to your lawn and driveway than snowblowing, and just all around less effective. And the few people who do actively plow their own driveway will either start a business to do other people's driveways (a common way for 16 year olds to make money in the winter) or just straight up plow neighbors driveway for free or payment.

Even in this literal heaven for trucks, full of farmers, outdoor activities, mud, and construction, 8 out of 10 trucks were driveway queens.

Re: The end of the manual transmission is near?

#770

Post by driverdan »

quacked wrote: post #142

I would pay $25,000 cash for a new manual transmission '00s-style mid-sized pickup with hand-crank windows and knobs for the temperature and radio. Last time I drove a car from after 2018 it started automatically keeping pace with the car in front of me on the highway, and you couldn't manually close the trunk but instead had to push a button and wait for it to close. I hate modern cars.

Why would you want hand crank windows? Electric windows are a reliable and proven technology.
Post reply on HN