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I adore a manual transmission and wish every vehicle I owned had one. I cannot think of a situation where I'd prefer an automatic - traffic, snow, ice, whatever. I think it's a very useful skill, especially if you travel overseas. I do think it makes for better driving skills - but then you'd have to do away with air bags, GPS, antilock brakes, 4WD, heated mirrors and a whole raft of other safety/convenience features, if you want to be consistent.
And I am old enough that I prefer rear-wheel drive (yes, really) and a stick shift in snow and icy conditions, since that is what I learned and still know. But progress marches on, despite my preferences.
Truly it's becoming an anachronistic skill to be able to drive a stick in the US, I don't see what fat, lazy or American has to do with it and I don't quite get the vehemence here. Isn't this sort of like saying microwaves, or cell phones, or indoor plumbing or electricity or the internet, is only for fat lazy Americans?
I must have struck a nerve. Tell me, why is it at the United States is just about the only country where automatic transmissions are the majority? it's because we've become lazy, and stupid. Why bother shifting gears when you can just get a valve body or computer to do it for you!
Sorry, truth hurts. Although, the sequential paddle shift tranny's from F1 are awesome, and still have an actual clutch.
I only buy manual trans if I can help it and both my current cars are MT... but I'm fat and I have been accused of being lazy too.
Gotta admit that auto trans tech has caught up with MT in virtually all technical aspects (including reliablity), but the bottom line is that the more things a car does for you, the less you are gonna focus on driving and the more likely you are to find yourself in an accident.
Europe's accident rates are much lower than America's... is that because they all drive stick?
I must have struck a nerve. Tell me, why is it at the United States is just about the only country where automatic transmissions are the majority? it's because we've become lazy, and stupid. Why bother shifting gears when you can just get a valve body or computer to do it for you!
Sorry, truth hurts. Although, the sequential paddle shift tranny's from F1 are awesome, and still have an actual clutch.
Again, we agree on our preference for manual transmissions. But we are in the minority, and it's not just that everyone else is fat, lazy and American. I would prefer to drive only RWD, manual trans vehicles for the rest of my life but for practical purposes, the vehicles I need for work and hauling simply do not come with that option.
Manuals are going the way of the Dodo all over the word, sorry to say. Along with RWD, crank windows, landlines and paper maps. It's not just the US. It's everywhere else, including China, the Middle East and Europe. The US is just at the forefront of this trend.
What percent of Americans can drive a stick shift car?
It certainly seems to be a dying art. So few vehicles today (except for trucks and a few sports cars) are even available with a manual transmission. Even then, many if not most of those are automatics.
I must have struck a nerve. Tell me, why is it at the United States is just about the only country where automatic transmissions are the majority? it's because we've become lazy, and stupid. Why bother shifting gears when you can just get a valve body or computer to do it for you!
Sorry, truth hurts. Although, the sequential paddle shift tranny's from F1 are awesome, and still have an actual clutch.
Then having ADHD and GAD myself, I think you would like to drive non-peak times? Take good care of any Honda and they go 200k. I may switch from toy to hon both great cars. Driving in CA is hectic but there is really no weather, sans Mammoth, etc. Drive in Denver during blizzard that's exciting and slow same.
Yeah, the nerve that hates closed minded fools like yourself. There's more reasons than being lazy to account for why many people like automatics, even those of us that prefer good manuals. But you're too inexperienced, too intolerant, too hateful, and too closed minded to understand them. You seem to think you're some special snowflake for being able to wiggle your left foot occasionally. You're not that special.
BTW, America is the reason for many supercars still having manual trans options, where those cars may only have DSG type automatics in the rest of the world...
I reluctantly learned how to drive a stick in the city back in 93, and last year I learned in earnest so I could save on gas. I'm not a pro and probably still hard on my clutch, but I'm no longer afraid to drive a stick and feel pretty accomplished that this old dog learned a new trick!
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What percent of Americans can drive a stick shift car?
