I was hanging-out with Dad yesterday, waiting for Mom to come out of [minor] surgery. When he mistook a passerby's ringing cell for his own, I said it's hard to imagine that he grew up in a time when no one had a phone. (The device had been invented; it just wasn't available to the average Hungarian.) For my generation, being born pre-Internet renders us digital dinosaurs. Well fair enough. How did we grow-up without it? Truth to tell, I'm jealous of today's youth, who don't have to rely on Car & Driver, the library and their local mechanic/nut/dealer to satisfy their curiosity about all things automotive. In some sense, I run this site for that young kid I once was, desperate to learn at the feet of as many masters as possible. To probe their experience, wit and wisdom. To know more. So I'd like to take time out to thank all of TTAC's contributors and commentators and all three listeners for joining me in this endless quest for insight. If you could spread the word, emailing a link to anyone who might benefit from our intellectual inquiries, I'd be much obliged. If not, same thing.
Find Reviews by Make:
Read all comments
Hey Robert,
I’ve been jealous, too, but then I found this site. Consider me a 4th listener and I’ll pass this along to a possible 5th.
-DP
I’m not so jealous. Most of them never get to drive stick!
dolo54:
I have been asked by two people recently to help them look for new cars. There number one request – automatic tranny. I do not understand this. My soon to be wife can drive a stick, but she wants an auto too. It kills me. If you are going to by a sports car (which my fiancee and my friend want), why wouldn’t you want a stick?
My real issue with this is, I am a fan of manuals, and with so many people my age never learning to drive one, how long will it be before they stop offering it?
At least there is something resembling a community around the manual transmission, kind of like with Harleys. Driving a manual automatically (pun not intended) makes you cool with everybody else in the club. Whenever I find out that someone drives a manual, I make sure to compliment them for it.
If anyone remembers Ken Purdy an automotive writer who passed away several years ago. His comments towards a manual transmission “Unless you have a true high performance engine, get an automatic” Years ago high performance engines were challenging to mate to an automatic transmission.
BMW 3 Series which are the ultimate driving machine are challenging to sell with a manual transmission. Although every road test/review talks about a manual transmission.
The manual transmission is there for the halo effect, the automatic is for the actual usage.
Cell phones, and other technology that enables multitasking in a vehicle, makes it increasingly challenging for manual transmissions.
A link for Ken Purdy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Purdy
Tom McCahill was the first to do road tests and reviews as we know them today. Uncle Tom with his black Lab.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_McCahill
There was a fellow here on TTAC as well who used to write about how terrible the manual transmission is, and even about how stupid the DSG is. It of course ignited a lot of intense feelings, and if you look back at the article I think you’ll see a lot of comments from pissed off people. Dissing the manual is like going into a bar where the Hell’s Angels hang out (think Pee Wee’s Big Adventure) and announcing that Harleys blow. Granted the outcome is much less violent, but still. I actually first found out about TTAC from that article. I read it, became pissed off, and decided that the rest of the site probably sucks. A year or so later it became quite possibly my favorite site on the web.
I just enjoyed the added control. In a low HP engine (mine has ~115), a manual makes all of the difference. Not to mention, unless I abuse it, there isn’t much to go wrong. It’s like having crank windows, for your drivetrain.
I never understood the huge success of automatics in the US. Better fuel economy, driver control, actually thinking while you drive, more fun to drive, and cheaper upfront cost and repair costs.
I refuse to buy another automatic, which my wife has accepted since she now loves driving her turbo stick. I hate the fact less and less sticks actually show up on dealer lots regardless of if it’s offered in the car or not. Too many lazy people who don’t have the coordination to drive stick makes the rest of us the minority.
I am waiting for someone to come out with a stick more akin to a motorcycle with up-down instead of H, and without 2 clutches. And how come no one has moved the clutch from the foot to right on the stick, handled electronicly rather than by leg-force.
i too love the manual. my first car was an ’88 CRX and i loved working the gears. As far as i’m concerned choosing how you work a clutch in various situations is all the fun and no DSG / SMG / etc. will satisfy completely.
That said, i’m not able to drive the way i wish i could at all times. I’ve got a kid in the car seat in back, my wife’s calling on my cell, i’m in stop and go traffic, and the wipers and windows need adjusting since it just started to rain . . . An automatic is my friend, for the moment. Ideally, you have two cars (one for real life and one for pretending you’re James Bond), but in the mean time I suppose DSG will have to do.
Redbarchetta: “I am waiting for someone to come out with a stick more akin to a motorcycle with up-down instead of H, and without 2 clutches. And how come no one has moved the clutch from the foot to right on the stick, handled electronicly rather than by leg-force.”
It’s here already. It’s called the “automatic transmission.” :)
All kidding aside, what you ask for is the basis of the increasingly ubiquitous “automanual” like in our Mazda3.
These upcoming “dual clutch” manuals, and the SMG transmissions are more complex than an automatic, all the “stuff” that makes an automatic shift is in the transmission. The “manu matics” half of the stuff that makes them shift is at various locations in the car.
Motorcycles shift well, most of them have an oil bath clutch which facilitates the shifting. The race bikes have a multi disc “dry clutch”, look up the price of a clutch for a Ducati. It will give you an indication of “dual clutch” replacement costs.
Early automatics had incredible parasitic losses, there’s a reason they were called “slush boxes”, if a car did not have enough motor it was simpler to have a manual transmission. Automatics became very popular in North America since its one place where the cars had enough motor to overcome the losses of the automatic, and run A/C compressors, power steering pumps etc.
When muscle cars became popular the one’s with the really hot motors had totally wild camshafts, and usually were overcarburated for low RPM’s. Its was easier to put a manual transmission mated to those engines. Today you would raise the stall speed of the torque converter, and have a “rough automatic” with a similar engine.
Yup, pretty sure the Mini is the first cheap 5-star car. I gave the Z06 a 5-star rating too…before the new format ate all the old stuff up.
Why can’t the car companies put in racing manual trannies? There is no 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. Gear. It is always or . Real easy.
@ RyanK02;
Well, even when they stop offering them in the US, you’ll probably be able to import a car with manual transmission from Europe and other parts. I think the percentage of cars sold with manual in Europe is, though slowly declining, still at above 80%.
It would be fun to have real sequential gearboxes in road cars, but I think this can just not be made reliable enough for more than a couple 1000 kilometers…
JJ: I just enjoy choice. In college, I looked at buying a Focus. As a manual, it was a much more enjoyable car. I don’t like being consigned to only (fill in the blank) cars because the more complicated trannies sell better.