81–90 of 875 posts
If I could afford a Porsche I would still get a manual option. Changing gears cleanly, heel-toe blipping the throttle when gearing down, getting the right gear at the right time - simple pleasures. It seems the more refined cars become the less character they have. Even the equivalent cars to my old dependable friend feel like lesser cars. Annoy CVTs, electric power steering, and finishes that feel cheap. And windows…
> 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…
I guess it depends on the car you started in and how easy it is to stall. My Jeep Cherokee with an inline 6 would have been an incredibly easy car to learn on, but my RX-8 - with about the same amount of low-end torque as a sewing machine - was much less forgiving. If it had been my first manual car, it would have taken ages to feel comfortable. And to your question, the answer is actually yes. Because fewer folks in…
I had similar experiences. I am British also, so, also learned in and mostly drive manuals. My instructor's car would stall if you looked at it funny. A secondhand car I drove after I passed my test would almost never stall at all. I don't remember the makes - I enjoy driving but I'm definitely not into cars that much, sorry. But there's definitely quite a bit of variation in how cars handle and even someone like me who doesn't care that much for the internal details realises they'll need to “figure out" a new manual car when they first drive it.
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If you read the article is says that dual clutch automatics are much faster than manual transmission and most modern automatics have 7 to 10 gears for better fuel efficiency but no one is willing to use a manual transmission with that many gears.
Truckers have entered the thread. (I agree though, since I don’t drive a semi or dump truck.)
Also, FWIW, they don't just pick between 18 gears with a single shifter. They have multiple inputs that allow shifting between multiple combinations of gears, some requiring clutch to change and some not, as they gain speed. Most trucks still only have 6-ish positions for the main gear shifter to slot in to.
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The real issue isn't the demise of manual transmissions. It's the upcoming demise of transmissions entirely as electrification continues it's march towards ubiquity.
You need a lot more mining and environmental destruction to get enough batteries for replacing all cars with electric vehicles. Kind of wondering if maybe one day we could have safe micro reactors that can power vehicles.
> 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…
Nothing protects your car from theft by millennials like a manual transmission.
Just another example of us being the butt of jokes from boomers, even when it's not the case. :)
My current car is a low milage 1991 Acura Integra 5-speed manual. I bought it party because it would have been one of the cool cars to have back in high school. No one would have thought the manual would be that out of place back then.
> 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…
There are a lot of handed down memories of shifting in non-synchromesh transmissions with lousy cable driven clutches. These are very old memories. Modern manuals do a lot of interesting things like force shifting patterns for efficiency. If you really want to geek out, do a NASCAR Racing Experience. Those clutches and transmissions are awful in comparison (they’re not supposed to be optimized for feel). They’re mush…
As of 2022 they have the fancy five speed sequential stuff and the clutch is not always necessary.
https://www.motorbiscuit.com/do-the-nascar-next-gen-cars-hav...
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Ah yes the good ol' "Tap the breaks before an overtake" trick. Just as god intended. /s
Most modern automatic transmissions let you pick a gear if you really want to, either with paddle shifters on the wheel or a sideways +/- slot next to "D" on the gear lever. You don't get the sensation of letting the clutch go at juuust the right revs, but hey, there are always motorcycles.
Whether I want a manual or an automatic depends on the nature of the car. If it's a small fun-to-drive car — like a Mini Cooper, BMW 3 series, porsches etc — I prefer manual.
But if it's a large luxury sedan or large SUV, then I will opt for automatic.