Manual transmission challenged

[tan 0]

normiss

4 forward gears, stick shift on the floor. As opposed to "three on the tree".

Interesting vernacular! Thank you for the clarification

Seems like it's the same in the Netherlands as in Singapore, where "manual" holders can drive both, but "automatic" holders are limited to auto transmissions. No offence here; half the girls I know took the "auto" licence test so as to avoid the trouble of learning how to work the clutch, while only 1 guy took the easy route (he certainly got tons of ribbing from everyone else )

[RMK 3]

I’m with Nataly here. Not being able to drive a manual-shift car is like an adult that doesn’t know how to swim – it’s just incomprehensible to me.

I remember being about 13 years old and riding with someone driving a manual. I watched intently at how they did it. Later when I was given a chance to drive a manual myself at about 14, they asked if I knew how. I replied yes, and was able to take off without stalling and drive fine – it’s not that damn hard.

For the countries that produce higher grade cars, you will often see high-end manuals costing more than their automatic variants. Yet, the US has this 1950’s mentality that an automatic is some type of upgrade/option.

"Pain is the best instructor, but no one wants to attend his classes"

[JerryBaumchen 1,074]

Hi RMK,

Quote

Yet, the US has this 1950’s mentality that an automatic is some type of upgrade/option.

That is because it was; we used to call them slush pumps.

I taught both of my kids to drive a stick because I wanted them to be able to drive any vehicle available in an emergency.

JerryBaumchen

[BIGUN 1,095]

Nataly

I don't get why North Americans make such a big fuss about driving stick shift... It's just not a big deal - anyone can learn. Proof is that most people in Europe have never seen, let alone driven an automatic, and they all cope with it just fine.

It's not a fuss... it's a choice.
Like ketchup, mayonnaise or mustard.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[BigMark 1]

Thank you for not saying miracle whip! (barf)

[TriGirl 278]

FlyingRhenquest

I prefer it over an automatic. I hate driving cars with automatic transmissions.

+1.

-current car is a Jeep Compass, limited edition (all the bells & whistles), with 5-speed manual. 2010 was the year Jeep started offering manual in all levels of trip. I jumped on that opportunity! Back in college I wanted to buy a manual from a dealer. He kept pushing me toward the automatic, citing resale value. I told him I was buying the car for me, not the next guy!

-first time driving a manual was my parents' friend's car. I was recently licensed (age 15), when said friend stopped by while out driving his Corvette. He handed me the keys when I asked, but I returned shortly thereafter because I couldn't drive a manual. Instead of taking me out for a ride, he got into the passenger's seat and taught me to drive the car. Awesome.



*miles per hour, for those outside the US

See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus

Shut Up & Jump!

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

BigMark

Thank you for not saying miracle whip! (barf)

I don't know exactly what that stuff is. I think it's space aged polymers. The local Sprouts has pasteurized eggs, so I can go back to making my own mayonnaise from scratch again. Two egg yolks, squeeze of lemon or lime juice, a quarter cup of vegetable oil and a good strong whisking arm (Or the food processor, but that's cheating.) If you want to bam it up a notch, add a teaspoon of powered wasabe. Bam.

I know we're way off topic here, I just find it amusing that I'm dropping my recipe for homemade wasabe mayo into a discussion about transmission preference

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[theonlyski 3]

ryoder

******I don't get why North Americans make such a big fuss about driving stick shift...

Mad, isn't it.

Anyone who says they can't drive a manual must think they live in a world without synchromesh.

Merkuns can't drive a manual because the shifting interferes with their texting.

Horseshit, you have 2 hands, don't you?

Who among us hasn't eaten a cheeseburger while driving a standard? Thought so.

"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
I'm an asshole, and I approve this message

[theonlyski 3]

A course I went to actually had a module on how to *ahem* commandeer *ahem* a vehicle.

Pretty funny to see the guys get in the car, hear them grind the crap out of it, stall it and have to spend a little longer getting out of the 'box'.

I learned to drive standards because my first car was a '74 Nova with a 3 speed. By the time I had it running, I was scared to drive it.

I learned.

I also learned how to replace U-joints, clutches and transmissions on the side of the road, as well as getting the lifetime warranty of clutches from Autozone was a good idea. Bring back a box of dust and get a new clutch.

"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
I'm an asshole, and I approve this message

[wolfriverjoe 1,365]

JerryBaumchen

Hi RMK,

Quote

Yet, the US has this 1950’s mentality that an automatic is some type of upgrade/option.

That is because it was; we used to call them slush pumps.

I taught both of my kids to drive a stick because I wanted them to be able to drive any vehicle available in an emergency.

JerryBaumchen

I always knew them as "slushboxes." Slightly different vernacular, possibly regional differences.

And an auto is an "upgrade." I bought a S-10 Blazer new in 97 and specified a 5 speed. An auto was "standard equipment" and I got a ~$800 credit for deleting the auto and having a 5 speed.
I was very grateful for the 5 speed a couple weeks ago (yes, I still have the 16 year old Blazer). The starter went out (bendix finally gave out). I got a push from a couple friends the first time, and parked on a hill the second time.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[Nataly 38]

wolfriverjoe

And an auto is an "upgrade." I bought a S-10 Blazer new in 97 and specified a 5 speed. An auto was "standard equipment" and I got a ~$800 credit for deleting the auto and having a 5 speed.

My parents (in Canada, for those who don't know me) got discounts twice when buying stick-shift... Because the dealerships have a hard time selling them - NOT because they are "not as good" as automatics.

"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

[Nataly 38]

JerryBaumchen

I taught both of my kids to drive a stick because I wanted them to be able to drive any vehicle available in an emergency.

JerryBaumchen

Like when they are trying to steal a car??!!

"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

[wolfriverjoe 1,365]

Nataly

***And an auto is an "upgrade." I bought a S-10 Blazer new in 97 and specified a 5 speed. An auto was "standard equipment" and I got a ~$800 credit for deleting the auto and having a 5 speed.

My parents (in Canada, for those who don't know me) got discounts twice when buying stick-shift... Because the dealerships have a hard time selling them - NOT because they are "not as good" as automatics.

I had to special order mine to get the 5 speed. The credit was on the options sheet with a "negative" price.
I have never seen another Blazer with a 5 speed. I'm sure there have to be couple of them out there but not that I've seen.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[tan 0]

After reading through all the replies here, what intrigues me is the fact that these dealerships are still offering the manual options...

From a sales point of view, manual vehicles are clearly harder to sell, and generate less revenue. This means that there are less economies of scale to manufacture those manual options. The sales guy also receives less commissions on the sale, and is of course less inclined to promote this harder-to-sell vehicle.

What I'm curious about is, if you guys had your eye on a particular vehicle model, would you actually walk away if there was no manual option to choose?
Because if the consumers aren't turned off, as a manufacturer, I would simply consolidate my production lines...

[wolfriverjoe 1,365]

NPR did a story on this a while back.
They said that manuals make up about 9% of sales in the US. But that that 9% is very dedicated, and would not buy a car with an auto (and I am in that 9%, BTW). Because other makers offer manuals, they have to.

The dealers and manufacturers don't make that much less on the manual cars, so they aren't losing that much on the sales. The dealers know that they are a small part of sales, so they may only keep one or two on the lot. And they may only keep them in performance cars, or economy compacts, not anything else.

NPR Story: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=149398112&m=149412806
I looked for a written transcript, but I could only find the audio.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[JerryBaumchen 1,074]

Hi Nataly,

Quote

Like when they are trying to steal a car??!!

At this point in life, I really do not want to know.



JerryBaumchen

[popsjumper 2]

New(er) - Auto

Old beater - Manual
Starter goes out, no problem.
Although, if you have to drive it a while because you don't have the money for a starter, you're limited on parking areas. You get good at eyeballing even the shallowest downgrade.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

tan

After reading through all the replies here, what intrigues me is the fact that these dealerships are still offering the manual options...

From a sales point of view, manual vehicles are clearly harder to sell, and generate less revenue. This means that there are less economies of scale to manufacture those manual options. The sales guy also receives less commissions on the sale, and is of course less inclined to promote this harder-to-sell vehicle.

What I'm curious about is, if you guys had your eye on a particular vehicle model, would you actually walk away if there was no manual option to choose?
Because if the consumers aren't turned off, as a manufacturer, I would simply consolidate my production lines...

You can't get a Nismo 370Z with anything other than a six speed manual transmission. There isn't an option for automatic.

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[DrewEckhardt 0]

Quote

What I'm curious about is, if you guys had your eye on a particular vehicle model, would you actually walk away if there was no manual option to choose?

Yes - I won't buy a car with an automatic.

I opted for an Audi A4 Quattro with a manual over a less expensive Passat 4 Motion which only came with an automatic. If Audi wasn't offering a manual I'd be driving a Subaru.

[Krip 2]

popsjumper

New(er) - Auto

Old beater - Manual
Starter goes out, no problem.
Although, if you have to drive it a while because you don't have the money for a starter, you're limited on parking areas. You get good at eyeballing even the shallowest downgrade.

Hi Pops

Drove with a lady that had four on the floor only!.

She had also developed driving-parking techniques to make up for the lack of a reverse gear. To back up from a parking spot she would drive into the concrete wheel stops, bounce backward, repeat, repeat until the car bounced out of the parking spot.

She also had a spare reverse for her car, as long as she had a passenger.

One Jump Wonder

[mrbang 0]

automatic's for pu**y! lol kiddin

European car market has been focused only on manual transmission in past years due to our streets type, we have no very long highways, no deserts but a lot of hills, moutains, and much important our cites are very old, all of them are based on the old Rome grid layout #. So we have a lot of narrow streets, bottleneck. We need the complete control over the transmission.

But recently we can see more automatic transmission cars.. i don't know why.. maybe 'cause everyone is bored on control something like transmission. Everyone wants to drive whit mobile in a hand and a cigarette in the other one.

Personally i love 100% manual transmission, i won't get any other type of transmission until i get on a rally car.

a-h-u-g!

Matt

[mr2mk1g 10]

tan

What I'm curious about is, if you guys had your eye on a particular vehicle model, would you actually walk away if there was no manual option to choose?

Yes, I'd walk. Manuals are for people who actually want to drive their car rather than simply be a passenger. Auto boxes are significantly inferior* if you want to drive the hell out of your car. In fact in general, you're going to go slower and have worse gas consumption in an auto. For a waft-mobile for getting from A-B in comfort theyre great... but your goal there is essentially to be a passenger rather than a driver having fun driving.

My daily drive is a manual and whilst, depending on what it was, I would countenance an auto for it but I would prefer a manual. My fun car is a manual - hell, what would even be the point in having a fun car with an auto box?

*except for high end sports cars like Fezzas, Lambo's etc with double / triple clutches etc which then are actually semi-auto with paddle shifts and frankly even those are crap the moment you take them off a track and try to do something as mundane as parallel park them.

[Nataly 38]

mr2mk1g

***What I'm curious about is, if you guys had your eye on a particular vehicle model, would you actually walk away if there was no manual option to choose?

Yes, I'd walk. Manuals are for people who actually want to drive their car rather than simply be a passenger.

I'm pretty sure we could have developed fully-automated (ie: driver-less) cars by now, but I think most people enjoy driving too much. One thing that *would* improve, though, is traffic... Get 10 cars driving at *exactly* 30 mph and there is no problem... Get 10 people driving at roughly 30 mph and suddenly people slow-down and accelerate, and in no time you have a traffic jam FOR NO REASON AT ALL. But it would be boring as hell, even if everyone could get to where they want to in time... And this is assuming it worked flawlessly...

"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

[Remster 24]

Quote

In fact in general, you're going to go slower and have worse gas consumption in an auto.

For speed: newer dual clutch autos shift faster than manuals. For example, the 0-60 time for a new GTI is slightly faster on the auto than on the manual.

Gas millage is becoming less and less of an issue (and that is even disputable since, gear heads often like to rev the engines higher before shifting than auto's will when in eco mode). And again, new auto's are sometime more economical: the GTI has better millage with a auto tranny.

This being said, yes, manual are more fun. But, that DSG tranny on the GTI is pretty fucking fun too ;)

Remster