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I can live with a "manumatic" setup that uses an actual clutch to transfer power from the flywheel to the gearbox. I will not abide "manumatics" that are simply automatic transmissions with planetary gearsets and torque-converter and all that, many of which will still override your gear selection, especially to downshift under acceleration.
Exactly. Driving a manual transmission versus a high-end automatic is not simply about which can shift faster. Torque converters in automatics aren't as power efficient as a clutch and manual transmission. I like the ability to put my car into exactly which gear I want, when I want, with the ability to modulate throttle and slip the clutch when the conditions demand it. You can't do this with a car that does not have a clutch pedal.
Exactly. Driving a manual transmission versus a high-end automatic is not simply about which can shift faster. Torque converters in automatics aren't as power efficient as a clutch and manual transmission. I like the ability to put my car into exactly which gear I want, when I want, with the ability to modulate throttle and slip the clutch when the conditions demand it. You can't do this with a car that does not have a clutch pedal.
You don't think many cars now have computers that are faster than you are at making the gear change?
Don't get me wrong...I was a die-hard stick person.
I agree there have been alot of advances in automotive technology, like take Nissan for instance with their SMGs they just started putting in their production cars. These transmissions are not simple and there for are harder to fix when problems arise. the simpler design is always tougher and more reliable. Also might i add manuals are more reliable because they require almost no electrical signals. Automatic transmissions are also alot more intricate and delicate. they are proven to be less strong than a manual transmission in todays cars with some exceptions of course.Manuals are easier to diagnose and take care of because of the simpler design. They still give you more control over your vehicle where as an automatic wont alow you to vary the gear ratio as much as a stick depending on the engine speed. On an auto you can select the lowest gear to get up a hill and hope by feeding it enough gas you'd get up the speed relying on horsepower that cannot carry weight ( unlike torque). in a manual you can put it in the lowest gear possible and get up a hill, but if you need more torque you depress the clutch a little and increase the gas getting you an even lower gear ratio resulting in more pulling power.
For these reasons, its almost as if autos and manuals are almost different animals entirely. I do like autos for commuting purposes. Say if im in SF i actually prefer my manual better as horrible as that sounds, lol.
The Volkswagen DSG and the Porsche Tiptronic WILL NOT over ride your gear selction at any time, but both still have a fully automatic function if you don't feel like shifting.
^^^ The Tiptronic is also universally panned by critics as dreadfully slow to respond, so it's no surprise that Porsche has now completely abandoned it in favor of the dual-clutch setup (or "PDK" as Porsche calls it). Like the PDK, Volkswagen's DSG is also a traditional clutch-flywheel setup with a dual-clutch system rather than a torque-converter setup. I don't know of any automated clutch-flywheel setup yet that does not hold your gear selection, which is why I specifically aimed my ire at the torque-converter-and-planetary-gearset-based "autostick" setups.
It seems to me that the fancier transmissions are attempts to be more fuel efficient. There are many times when my stick will allow me to "waste" a bit of fuel because I want more power -- sometimes more than what an automatic might want to give me.
Certainly, highway traffic should provide no difference in fuel economy, because I'm driving at a steady rate of speed, thanks to my cruise control (which, BTW, saves a lot on tickets, but that's another story!). So I guess we are mostly talking about the lower gears, right?
I used to have a 99 Camaro SS....6 speed stick. Loved it. I miss having a stick. I love my GTO I have right now, but a 4 speed automatic ? sheez. I wish I had done the 6 speed instead. Why I chose an auto over a stick I have no clue. Must have been a brain fart
I used to have a 99 Camaro SS....6 speed stick. Loved it. I miss having a stick. I love my GTO I have right now, but a 4 speed automatic ? sheez. I wish I had done the 6 speed instead. Why I chose an auto over a stick I have no clue. Must have been a brain fart
Stick shifts are stupid and unnecessary!
I was a Truck Driver in the Army and civilian world. About 99% of all military vehicles in the US are automatic. I never had to waste my time driving a stick. Besides, try driving through Iraq and having to shift gears, while, at the same time, you have to concentrate on looking out for the enemy, IEDs, Snipers, the vehicles in front of you and other things. On top of that, you're also being shot at by the enemy. So why give yourself something like a stick shift to make things more difficult? That makes no sense to me at all!
In the civilian world, I also drove an automatic transmission tractor trailer. I refuse to drive a stick shift ever again! I hate them that much!
I don't even know why they are still making stick shifts at all now. They've had the technology to make automatic transmissions since the early 1950s. They are slowly but surely phasing stick shift out of existence! That's good news for me. GM, for example, only makes a few models of new cars that have the option of stick shift. Most GM and other American cars only come with automatic or sometimes automated. A few come with an "aoto-stick" option. In those, you flick a switch and choose whether you want to drive it as an automatic or stick.
Most people today (about 80%) of people 19 years old and under, in the US, don't even know how to drive a stick shift anyway! Most of them don't even want to learn how either! What's the point? It's hard to learn and they are starting to get rid of them anyway.
I am willing to bet that within the next ten years or so, they won't even be making them anymore at all! The only places you'll see them is where they belong: In the junk yard or the natural History museum!
As for stick shifts getting better gas mileage, that may be true in most, but not all cars today. But, with the new technology, automatic transmissions are getting much better mileage now. Some of them get better mileage than the same vehicle in a stick shift model.
Pretty soon, all automatic vehicles will get much better mileage than any stick shift ever made.
I've done some research and found that, pretty soon, several things in this world are going to disappear, just like pay phones, one of them is the clutch pedal (and gear shifter ) in cars!
It also won't be long before everything we see in cars now will be gone to. This includes: The gas pedal, brakes, steering wheel, etc.! They will all be like the new Google car. In this, you type your destination into a computer, sit back and enjoy the ride. The car does all the work! It doesn't even have a steering wheel, gas pedal or anything else! The car doesn't need it.
Another idea they've come up with years ago is a car with an engine similar in concept to a jet plane. IDK how exactly it would work, but, jets and airplanes don't use a transmission like the use in a car (they probably don't have any kind of transmission at all). In other words, you cannot manually shift an airplane.
Twenty years or so from now, our kids and grandkids will be laughing at us when they go to an antique car show and look at a car from 2014. They will probably laugh and say, "Mom, what are those things I see inside this car?"
She will have to explain, "This was called a gear shifter, gas pedal, brakes and a steering wheel." Then, under the hood, she will point out, "This is an engine that ran on something called gasoline."
She'll also have to explain what the tires are for, because, by then, cars will be flying! They are already testing flying cars! Better yet, we may just perfect teleportation, like they use in Sifi movies.
Mark my word, stick shifts WILL be gone forever soon!
I refuse to drive a stick shift ever again! I hate them that much!
I don't even know why they are still making stick shifts at all now. They've had the technology to make automatic transmissions since the early 1950s. They are slowly but surely phasing stick shift out of existence! That's good news for me. GM, for example, only makes a few models of new cars that have the option of stick shift. Most GM and other American cars only come with automatic or sometimes automated. A few come with an "aoto-stick" option. In those, you flick a switch and choose whether you want to drive it as an automatic or stick.
Most people today (about 80%) of people 19 years old and under, in the US, don't even know how to drive a stick shift anyway! Most of them don't even want to learn how either! What's the point? It's hard to learn and they are starting to get rid of them anyway.
I am willing to bet that within the next ten years or so, they won't even be making them anymore at all! The only places you'll see them is where they belong: In the junk yard or the natural History museum!
As for stick shifts getting better gas mileage, that may be true in most, but not all cars today. But, with the new technology, automatic transmissions are getting much better mileage now. Some of them get better mileage than the same vehicle in a stick shift model.
Pretty soon, all automatic vehicles will get much better mileage than any stick shift ever made.
I've done some research and found that, pretty soon, several things in this world are going to disappear, just like pay phones, one of them is the clutch pedal (and gear shifter ) in cars!
It also won't be long before everything we see in cars now will be gone to. This includes: The gas pedal, brakes, steering wheel, etc.! They will all be like the new Google car. In this, you type your destination into a computer, sit back and enjoy the ride. The car does all the work! It doesn't even have a steering wheel, gas pedal or anything else! The car doesn't need it.
Another idea they've come up with years ago is a car with an engine similar in concept to a jet plane. IDK how exactly it would work, but, jets and airplanes don't use a transmission like the use in a car (they probably don't have any kind of transmission at all). In other words, you cannot manually shift an airplane.
Twenty years or so from now, our kids and grandkids will be laughing at us when they go to an antique car show and look at a car from 2014. They will probably laugh and say, "Mom, what are those things I see inside this car?"
She will have to explain, "This was called a gear shifter, gas pedal, brakes and a steering wheel." Then, under the hood, she will point out, "This is an engine that ran on something called gasoline."
She'll also have to explain what the tires are for, because, by then, cars will be flying! They are already testing flying cars! Better yet, we may just perfect teleportation, like they use in Sifi movies.
Mark my word, stick shifts WILL be gone forever soon!
Last edited by Davida3606; 01-01-2015 at 05:58 PM..
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