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driving manual is a skill unlike the auto. an automatic can be driven by 8 yr old kids. it is akin to driving a golf cart. There have been instances of kids driving an automatic all alone.
I drove manual trans cars by the time I was 8 (starting with my folks Renault 4CV). It's not THAT hard. If it was, you couldn't easily teach it to other beginners (I taught it to my kid when he was 13 in only a couple minutes), nor would it easily become second nature to most of us. Don't act like it's brain surgery and makes you special.
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your manual car is less likely to be stolen. there have been instances of car robbery gone wrong because the car robber can't drive a manual. lol. how funny and embarassing is that!!! the furious robber with a gun comes over to take over your car and bingo, he has to run away empty handed.
You really want to frustrate them (and valet parkers) drive a car with a 3 on the tree column shifter setup.
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If you are at a hill stop, you can threaten the car behind not to come too close to you by rolling back (whenever the car comes close to you). They immediately leave a safe distance.
driving manual is a skill unlike the auto. an automatic can be driven by 8 yr old kids. it is akin to driving a golf cart. There have been instances of kids driving an automatic all alone.
your manual car is less likely to be stolen. there have been instances of car robbery gone wrong because the car robber can't drive a manual. lol. how funny and embarassing is that!!! the furious robber with a gun comes over to take over your car and bingo, he has to run away empty handed.
If you are at a hill stop, you can threaten the car behind not to come too close to you by rolling back (whenever the car comes close to you). They immediately leave a safe distance.
You buy a car based on the fact that it makes you feel superior to an 8 year-old? Btw, I know 8 years old who race dirt bikes and can handle motorcycle clutches, etc...I am sure they're coordinated enough to run a manual if someone showed them how.
No one can steal your car if it has autokill when the fob is not around, Onstar is tracking its location, etc, etc....
Btw, my cop friends say what you describe with your roll-back can be considered road rage and you would be arrested.
If you are at a hill stop, you can threaten the car behind not to come too close to you by rolling back (whenever the car comes close to you). They immediately leave a safe distance.
OK, but to play Devil's Advocate, if you're driving an auto you probably don't really care all that much about people getting too close at a hill stop.
trucker, there are lot of BS on this thread. for example, a 8 yr old boy can handle a stick when he is not tall enough to reach the pedals as well see where he is driving.
And then teaching someone to drive the stick in a couple of minutes.
Rather than BS that one started stick when they were 8 yrs or 8 days or 8 hrs old, I challenge these people to provide youtube links where 8 yr olds have handled stick independently
My next new car. I never said that a clutch has to be there for me to have fun, so I don't see why you felt the need to say all that, unless it wasn't directed at me in particular. If I had the resources to own practically every car my heart desires there would be a few automatics among them, and I wouldn't be hell bent on installing a manual in all of them. Despite the fact that cars have gotten more advanced, manuals shouldn't necessarily be viewed as obsolete tech - so I don't get the analogies to handcranks or not having ABS or traction control. We don't have to double clutch any more due to modern synchros.
The DCT is rapidly proving that they are the best choice for a sports car because they can shift faster then a human can, however they are still fresh tech and typically found on more expensive cars. The only "cheap" cars that I like that they are found on are the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X and the Nissan GT-R. I don't think of a GT-R as cheap by any stretch, but it is a lot cheaper then the Ferraris and Lambos that these transmissions are common on.
If I modify a car for more horsepower, I can easily upgrade a clutch and a flywheel, but on an automatic or DCT it can be much trickier or impossible to fortify it for more power. Having a stick just gives you that direct link to your steed; a sort of primal control over the car that automatics just don't offer. Slower or not, shifting is an art form that just sort of raises the experience and fun factor of a car that is slowly disappearing. Pretty soon, they (DCTs) will be commonplace and modding them won't be a concern, but we are still in that transitional phase I think. But right now, I'm totally okay with paddle shifting.
trucker, there are lot of BS on this thread. for example, a 8 yr old boy can handle a stick when he is not tall enough to reach the pedals as well see where he is driving.
And then teaching someone to drive the stick in a couple of minutes.
Rather than BS that one started stick when they were 8 yrs or 8 days or 8 hrs old, I challenge these people to provide youtube links where 8 yr olds have handled stick independently
The same ones who can reach the pedals to drive your automatic, remember? I am just saying that it's not that hard to drive a stick. And if an 8 year old can manage the timing and shifting and balancing on a motorcycle, he surely has the coordination to do it while sitting safely in a car.
You really want to frustrate them (and valet parkers) drive a car with a 3 on the tree column shifter setup.
Try an inline 4 speed shifter. An old boss had one in his 64 Impala. He gave me a two minute lesson on how to use it, then sent me to an Auto Bell carwash with it. I nearly burned up the clutch getting it there, and the guy trying to pull it out of the carwash lane couldn't get it into gear at all.
Hadn't seen one before, haven't seen one since in nearly 25 years.
I had a 75 F-85 with a three on the tree. That's one of those things that I look at and wonder why it ever happened.
Go ahead. It's a regular occurance. Most of the guys on the E38.org board are getting 26-30 mpg highway from theirs, too (depending on gear ratio. Sport models have 3.15 final drives and thus get slightly worse fuel mileage.)
examples from friends on the board:
I regularly take trips up to Hartford, CT (well, Rocky Hill) and back here to Baltimore, a 600 mile round trip, on 20 gallons of gas. You do the math. I already have.
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