OT: Look out, here comes some free advice…
- Thread starter Frabjous
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I did.
But not for that reason...for a hundred others.
40 years. I'll say this for her - she's no worse driving a manual transmission than she is an automatic.
I didn't; my wife is tremendously impressed that I can drive a manual transmission precisely because she can't!
One day, as a teenager, I was out walking with my grandfather when he offered me this advice: "Marry a woman with small hands." When I asked him why, he said: "'Cause it makes your pecker look bigger."
You really think many people in this generation can drive manual transmissions?? I can't remember the last time I saw a recent model car that has one.
My neighbor’s oldest just a got a Jeep with a stick.
Her dad said he got it for her because no one will be able to steal it.
Her dad said he got it for her because no one will be able to steal it.
My wife definitely became proficient at driving a manual transmission post marriage because one of our cars was manual. (Going way back, I recall that she could even handle the hill at the light on Wood Ave making the left onto Oak Tree during rush hour. This was not for the faint of heart!)
I don’t think I’ve driven a manual shift in 30+ years. I’m sure I could pick it back up quickly but why bother?
I don’t think I’ve driven a manual shift in 30+ years. I’m sure I could pick it back up quickly but why bother?
Yup. Won't make it impossible, obviously, but greatly reduces the potential number of thieves.
I wasn't talking about driving a manual transmission. I was talking about you impressing a girl because you could shift gears!
I have a 2024 sports car with a manual for which I traded-in a 2019 sports car with a manual. Also have a 2011 sports car with a manual. If I could've gotten my current SUV with a manual, I probably would've.
Today's dual-clutch transmissions are much better at shifting than we humans using a manual. Which makes cars with DCTs quicker from 0-60 than cars with manual transmissions. But, for driving on the street, I think there's no substitute for the increased level of engagement a manual transmission provides. And shaving off a few tenths of a second in straight-line acceleration (on the street) just isn't worth giving up that engagement.
Hopefully the thief looks into the car, sees the stick and clutch, and moves on. I think the worst case, 99% of the time, is they break in, realize there's a stick and clutch, and they move on.
Makes no sense for the thief to try to drive it if they cannot drive a manual. It would draw unwanted attention due to them stalling it constantly. So maybe 1% of the time, they break in, see it's a manual but give it a try, and then give up after stalling it a couple times.
OTOH, depending on the car, pros will winch the car into a panel truck, drive somewhere to put in a container with other stolen cars, loaded on a boat and shipped overseas. In that case, a manual won't make much difference.
Never cared about cars too much.
Even less now with all the unlicensed drivers crashing
No desire to own a standard.
I see lawyer sites saying they are better for reducing distracted driving
As it is I have dashcam, phone and GPS cables all over mid console area.
www.michiganautolaw.com
Even less now with all the unlicensed drivers crashing
No desire to own a standard.
I see lawyer sites saying they are better for reducing distracted driving
As it is I have dashcam, phone and GPS cables all over mid console area.
Stick Shift vs Automatic Transmissions: Which One Is Better? | Michigan Auto Law
We cover the main points of contention in the stick shift vs. automatic transmission debate and let you decide what’s best for you and your family.
Ha I was just in that exact spot last weekend. When I saw a car pulling up behind me I let the car roll backwards a little bit with the hope that they'd see it and give me some extra space.
Never saw that movie, but the door test isn't necessarily the worst idea I've ever heard.
But I like to get to the bottom of things as quickly as possible. So I prefer the sheep test.
In this test, you meet a potential GF at a bar and, after discovering you have tons in common and that there's an obvious mutual attraction, you invite her back to your place to see your etchings. Upon arriving, you fix a couple drinks, get out some snacks, put on some quiet music, and sit together on the sofa.
After some kissing, and so forth, you invite her to your bedroom. When she sits on the bed, you ask her to hang on a minute, go out back and fetch one of your cleaner, cuter, sheep. Then you bring the sheep back to your bedroom and carefully watch what happens next.
If your potential GF smiles, stands and starts undressing in a flirtatious manner, you know she's definitely GF material. If, on the other hand, she starts asking insensitive and thoughtless questions like why you just brought a sheep into the bedroom?
You dump her.
These days, some modern cars with manual transmissions have a "hold" feature where the car applies the brake automatically on a hill and then releases it once you start to drive away. I really could've used that feature the day my dad taught me to drive a stick.
After a couple hours of figuring things out, he had me drive onto Parsonage Road in Roosevelt Park in Edison. That road has a pretty steep hill and there's a traffic light at an intersection near the top of that hill. Naturally I hit the red light and a bunch of cars queued up behind me.
When the light turned green, I stalled the car at least 3 times, in no small part due to my dad yelling at me, loudly enough to make hearing the engine revs impossible, about how I was destroying his clutch (which was indeed producing that unmistakable burnt clutch smell). 🤣
I'm not saying the last time I stalled was intentional, just to piss off my dad (along with the cars honking behind me). But I wouldn't rule out the possibility that some subconscious thoughts along those lines were in play. 🙂
My daily driver is a 2015 Subaru Forester 6 speed manual. Alas this is most likely my last daily driver with a clutch. Hopefully there will be a fully manual "toy" sports car in my future though.
I checked into a Hotel in Atlanta last month. There was no valet that could park it. Scored me a primo spot right in front.
I taught my son how to drive a stick in that area and utilized that same spot!
I don't need that stinking "hold" feature.
I know you're far from the only person who feels that way. I've driven both. The manual transmission gives a feeling of control that is lost with the automatic.
A test that, unfortunately, doesn't work on the many current cars where opening the passenger door also unlocks the driver's side door.
A friend told me there's a long wait for Subaru Foresters with manual. Perhaps after saying he'd only get another manual, he used it an an excuse why he got a new one with automatic.
The only manual I ever owned was my 64 Mustang. Loved that car till some idiot creamed me in a snowstorm. Never drove right after that.
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Had a 85 1/2 Mustang SVO with a Hurst shifter.
Had it at Rutgers too. Awful in the snow.
I have a new Subaru Forester that can be driven in "manual mode," but it doesn't have a clutch. I don't think there's a current-year Forester that does.
I hear you. I get it.
I will say, though, that I think a really good DCT-equipped sports car can still be super pleasurable to drive. Arguably not quite as engaging as with a manual, but the sounds and feels of a great DCT transmission slamming itself the next higher gear during upshifts is it's own kind of joy.
Yes they were terrible. I went over a hill in 1st, saw an accident in front of me, and managed to stop just short of it with the car pointing toward 2 o'clock . Idiot comes over the hill like a bat out of hell and hit me over the passenger side front wheel. zBent the frame. Sold it for $200.
For the most part, gearboxes are going away pretty soon and probably forever. EVs don't need gearboxes. And hybridization presents problems for gearboxes.
The instant powerful torque from electric motors puts a boatload of stress on a gearbox. So for most manufacturers it's just not viable from a cost standpoint.
Even among many supercar makers, where price is no object, manuals have mostly been eliminated in their lineups.
The instant powerful torque from electric motors puts a boatload of stress on a gearbox. So for most manufacturers it's just not viable from a cost standpoint.
Even among many supercar makers, where price is no object, manuals have mostly been eliminated in their lineups.
I figure if God wanted us to drive our sports cars in the snow, he wouldn't have invented AWD SUVs. 🙂
1976 260 z.... creamed from the back on I-95 just north of Samford, Conn heading to Vermont to see a girl. They continued on to Boston. I took 2 trains , a bus, and a taxi to get back home to South Brunswick.
