Death of Manual Transmission ETA????

[wa-loaf]

 

[Hawkshot99]

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Should have used a Leki grip. That way you could click in on rough roads!

 

[bvibert]

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Pretty cool!

 

[marcski]

Nice, but to do it right, you need to lose the strap and use one of these:

 

[wa-loaf]

Should have used a Leki grip. That way you could click in on rough roads!

Not my car, but it's giving me ideas ...

 

[deadheadskier]

The Volvo and Subaru are both sticks, and it is my right. Driving back from Acadia with no pain meds and traffic through your part of NH was hell. Damn your tolls and liquor stores.


Btw...Happy First Father's Day

Thanks! It was a great day.

Both of our cars are sticks as well. I have zero interest in owning an automatic transmission again. Drives me nuts that Americans are so lazy that the choices for sticks is so limited today; especially with SUVs. The only time I consider getting an automatic again is thinking about if I ever got hurt because I drive 700 miles a week on average for work.

The high speed tolls have helped a lot in NH if you have EZ pass. The York tolls in Maine are still awful on weekends. Seen it backed up to Wells. It's almost as bad as the Cape Cod canal bridges.

 

[VTKilarney]

I used to only drive stick shifts. But there is nothing worse than being in a traffic jam with a stick shift. I kept pretending that it was no big deal, but I was in denial. And with the ability to shift with many automatics (via paddle shifters or via the stick), I can't see any reason to have a stick shift anymore.

 

[deadheadskier]

To each their own. I think folks in the forum are well aware that I spend a lot of time in Boston traffic. I won't deny an AT would be much easier, but it doesn't bother me enough to consider switching.

I've driven plenty of cars with slick ATs with paddle shifters and it simply is not as satisfying nor does it offer the same level of control over the car. You still need to cycle through the gears, where as with a MT I can grab whatever gear and amount of tourque I want instantly. That gives a huge advantage in driving in snow.

Add to that long term maintenance costs. I've got 93K miles on my car and haven't even thought about changing break pads / rotors. Clutches are relatively cheap to replace as well.

I wish we had the selection of MT vehiclesin the US that Europe has.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I have zero interest in owning an automatic transmission again. Drives me nuts that Americans are so lazy that the choices for sticks is so limited today; especially with SUVs.

It's not that people are lazy, it's what the market demands. Seems logical to me frankly.

I used to only drive stick shifts. But there is nothing worse than being in a traffic jam with a stick shift. I kept pretending that it was no big deal, but I was in denial.

Which leads us to this. Many Americans live in cities or suburbs, or travel to/from CBD zones. P.I.T.A.

And with the ability to shift with many automatics (via paddle shifters or via the stick), I can't see any reason to have a stick shift anymore.

And also this.

I don't understand the point of stick shifts anymore due to the above. First time I ever drove a car like this was in Ireland about ten years ago, blew me away, but they're fairly common now. I suspect that the only reason stick shifts survive in 2015 is tradition and familiarity, but I'm pretty sure they'll go the way of the dodo bird within......say..... 40 years.

And regardless of the fact that the paddle technology is so good at this point, there's another important part of the equation that's often ignored, which is that modern automatic transmissions are REALLY good now. I think 99% of people are kidding themselves if they think they can "out-shift" many (most?) new cars automatic transmissions today. I imagine both sticks and paddles will be a thing of the past someday.

 

[deadheadskier]

Like I said, it's about tourque management. I've driven some of the best paddle shifters and traditional automatics out there and they fall short of delivering the same precision driving experience of a traditional MT. It's not about how fast you can shift through the gears. I know I'm not as fast as a machine/computer.

 

[Domeskier]

I don't understand the point of stick shifts anymore due to the above.

The only think I can think of is that they make driving crappy economy rentals a tiny bit more fun...

Speedy recovery, Tin.

 

[dlague]

Like I said, it's about tourque management. I've driven some of the best paddle shifters and traditional automatics out there and they fall short of delivering the same precision driving experience of a traditional MT. It's not about how fast you can shift through the gears. I know I'm not as fast as a machine/computer.

Tear your left ACL and then try driving a stick. Did not work so well. My truck does not need torque management, in fact, it has the best traction I ever had in a SUV. I ditched a standard after commuting into Boston with my wife's Saab. That clutch pedal was tough to push especially when you are riding between 1st and 2nd gear. In my Honda Accord it was soft and was not so bad. Either way MT are history for me!

 

[deadheadskier]

Fixed my thread derailment. Only reason I brought up the Manual Transmission is they're tough to drive when injured.

And D-Lague, your car would have even better traction with a MT. Why do you think all the Jeep Gear Heads drive MT? Best for torque management and off roading. The same applies in the snow.

There is no automatic transmission on the planet that's smart enough to down shift when you're heading into a snowy corner.

 

[marcski]

I love driving and I love driving a MT. I got a new car last year and it is a MT for my daily driver, which gets about 25-30k of driving including driving in/out and around NYC on a daily basis. It replaced another car that was MT. IMHO, if you know what you're doing when driving and become at one with your transmission, you actually do a lot less when driving a stick. For example, on the FDR almost every car is flashing its' brake lights on and off about every 10-20 feet. In other words, the driver is moving his/her right foot from from the gas (or hovering) to the brake. Meanwhile, for 80% of that time, I'm doing a steady 4-5 mph in 1st gear. Not shifting. Not moving either foot.

IMHO, you have more control of the car and get better handling out of a MT, it keeps you more engaged in the driving experience and it's just plain more fun to drive a MT.

 

[ctenidae]

Control is a big factor for me in preferring a manual. That 1st gear creep is exactly it, marcski. If more people could/would drive like that, the rubber band effect of traffic would be much reduced, which would help reduce traffic jams. It's also harder to do other stuff when driving a manual, which means you're- wait for it - driving! Which you should be doing. Not texting, or eating, or reading, or putting on makeup, or searching for that next jam. But, I rant...

You do have better control in curves and turns, and you just overall have a better say in what the car does. I turn off almost all the nannies in my car (ordered it without a lot of other ones), so that I know that when I do this, the car will do that. I don't turn them all off because the throttle mapping the system uses when everything's off is annoying, so I live with nannies pushed as far out as I can get them. It's very rare that they kick in, and it's usually only when I make them.

It would be nice to see a push towards safety, but not to make the cars safer. How about making the drivers safer?

 

[JimG.]

All part of the plot to take away our control of cars completely.

You will have to pry the shift knob out of my dead hand before I drive an automatic.

 

[bvibert]

It's not that people are lazy, it's what the market demands. Seems logical to me frankly.

The market demands it because people are lazy.

I don't understand the point of stick shifts anymore...

You should have stopped there. If you don't understand it, you don't understand it. The rest of your post just further exemplifies that you don't get it. There's no part of the equation that's ignored, because it's not an equation. It has nothing to do with efficiency, speed of shifting, etc.. It's all about the feeling of control, fun, driving experience, simplicity, etc.., that you simply can't replicate with flappy paddles. I like driving, and to me part of driving is rowing through the gears as I accelerate. But, even more fun for me is working the pedals to blip the gas with the same foot that's stabbing the brake, while the other works the clutch, as I downshift from 4th to 2nd going into a corner. Nailing that throttle blip so that the revs are perfectly matched when I let out the clutch in 2nd is a feeling that keeps me coming back for more. No computer, or equation, can ever compete with that.

My wife has a car with a CVT, it does a fine job of getting from point A to point B, but it lacks any sort of driving experience, to me it's more like riding in an appliance, which makes me very sad for the fate of automobiles.

 

[deadheadskier]

You nailed it right there. To most people, a car is an appliance.

Cten makes a good point about safety too. If you're focused on driving, which an MT requires more attention to do; you're less apt to be distracted by other things.

 

[Funky_Catskills]

Stick shifts are for the "cool dudes" or dudes that think they are hardasses.....

I'm not cool.. I like automatic.. I'm OK with this..

 

[bvibert]

You nailed it right there. To most people, a car is an appliance.

Yup, that's why the 'demand' is for more appliance like cars. Very sad.

Cten makes a good point about safety too. If you're focused on driving, which an MT requires more attention to do; you're less apt to be distracted by other things.

Another good point. I'd say that a lot of the car safety 'innovations' of late have contributed to people spending less attention on what they should be doing in order to drive safely.