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End of the manual transmission?
High Gear Media via Foxnews ^ | May 02, 2012 | By Thomas Bey

Posted on 06/01/2012 7:23:21 AM PDT by US Navy Vet

Go to any given dealership with 100 new cars.

On average, just four of the 2012 models will have manual gearboxes.

The trend of the vanishing third pedal is nothing new, notes The Detroit News.

Even a decade ago, just 8.5 percent of 2002 models were manuals. The paper’s own automotive reporter even confesses she never learned to drive a stick shift until it essentially became a job requirement.

It’s more than a little contradictory to automotive reviews (including many you’ll read here) extolling the pleasure of enthusiastic driving with a true manual gearbox. Likewise, purists gravitate to manuals for tackling their favorite twisting road or occasional track day. It’s the original form of in-car connectivity.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Technical
KEYWORDS: manualtransmission; stick
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To: US Navy Vet

Well if any auto reps are reading this, put me down as one that would rather drive manual than an automatic. And that’s heavy traffic or open road. There is no connection to the road with an automatic.


201 posted on 06/01/2012 11:05:48 AM PDT by stevio (God, guns, guts.)
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To: Gordon Pym

Bet it’s still working as a harvest truck on a farm somewhere, or shipped overseas somewhere. That is where many of the old units wind up.


202 posted on 06/01/2012 11:26:44 AM PDT by SpeakLittle_ThinkMuch (A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier.)
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To: dsrtsage

Now, there’s a pic that tells a story. Or maybe even a novelette.


203 posted on 06/01/2012 12:10:49 PM PDT by Erasmus (BHO: New supreme leader of the homey rollin' empire.)
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To: dsrtsage
"
It was a cold, blustery day.
Sage was trundling through the snow, his red Land Cruiser barely recognizable through the crusted white stuff.
He was driving with the top and the windshield down.
Although he was well bundled, he was drinking to fend off the cold, and to drown his sorrow over Eve.
His husky, Fang, looked on in dismay.
"
204 posted on 06/01/2012 12:18:54 PM PDT by Erasmus (BHO: New supreme leader of the homey rollin' empire.)
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To: Erasmus

Awesome! Such a way with words


205 posted on 06/01/2012 12:24:35 PM PDT by dsrtsage (One half of all people have below average IQ. In the US the number is 54%)
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To: Erasmus

Our winter camping trips are always the most fun! Now that I’m older though, I finally had to break down and start bringing a tent in the winter. The top hasn’t been on the landcruiser since 1999, however.


206 posted on 06/01/2012 12:33:32 PM PDT by dsrtsage (One half of all people have below average IQ. In the US the number is 54%)
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To: Erasmus
It was a cold, blustery day. Sage was trundling through the snow, his red Land Cruiser barely recognizable through the crusted white stuff. He was driving with the top and the windshield down. Although he was well bundled, he was drinking to fend off the cold, and to drown his sorrow over Eve.

Little did he know he had only 8 seconds to live. As the Anuudrian battle cruiser's targeting computer zeroed in on the heat from the Toyota's exhaust Captain Zog of the Imperial Bad Guys Of The Universe Fun Destruction Force changed into his jeweled battle shorts and with an evil gleam in his three eyes opened the fire control console and pressed the trigger.

207 posted on 06/01/2012 12:58:11 PM PDT by Gordon Pym (2+2=4)
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To: Gordon Pym
Do they allow tag-team entries in the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest?
208 posted on 06/01/2012 3:00:44 PM PDT by Erasmus (BHO: New supreme leader of the homey rollin' empire.)
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To: Erasmus
Do they allow tag-team entries in the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest?

I don't know, but I remember one line I stole from a past BL entry about a body hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag full of vegetable soup when he decided to take the Geronimo Express to Splatsville.

209 posted on 06/01/2012 6:15:09 PM PDT by Cowman (How can the IRS seize property without a warrant if the 4th amendment still stands?)
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To: US Navy Vet

I was thinking of posting but said, naw... then I saw your post.

Farmall @ age 10, then a McCormick tandem, and I felt really special when I got old enough for the JD 2010 (propane)and our neighbor had an old ‘poppin’-john’. Good times and I didn’t even know it!


210 posted on 06/01/2012 9:19:04 PM PDT by Texaspeptoman (Even cannibals get fed-up with people sometimes...!)
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To: US Navy Vet

Never drove anything but a stick, ever, on the column or on the floor.


211 posted on 06/01/2012 9:24:01 PM PDT by this_ol_patriot
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To: US Navy Vet

I’ve done floor, column, left foot, right foot, 3, 4, and 5 speeds, one with an overdrive unit and a couple with more gears in the rear end. And some tracked equipment with 3 clutches.


212 posted on 06/01/2012 9:30:30 PM PDT by tacticalogic ("Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: US Navy Vet

I enjoy them but the wife cannot drive them and therefore I cannot buy one.

One advantage of stick shift cars used to be that they were more fuel efficient and were a fair amount quicker. That isn’t the case anymore with a good modern automatic.


213 posted on 06/02/2012 6:29:34 AM PDT by Woodsman27
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To: US Navy Vet

No problem. I don’t particular care for them, but driving one is no problem. My wife won’t drive anything else.


214 posted on 06/03/2012 2:18:26 PM PDT by Melas (u)
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