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To: C19fan

Not practical here with our crazy terrain. You would never quit shifting.


2 posted on 10/09/2014 6:51:32 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Drive nothing but manuals and live in NYC. You can be sure about one thing; no texting and driving.


3 posted on 10/09/2014 6:54:51 AM PDT by cumbo78
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Some of us actually prefer manual transmission driving in crazy terrain. The control one has going uphill in a lower ratio / higher torque gear and down hills in the same without burning up the brakes, as well as downshifting through curves are things that we like about it. It used to be difficult to rent a car in Europe with automatic transmission and I know one friend of mine had to pay extra to get one when he was in Italy on vacation. The learning curve to drive stick was too much for any of my three kids to pick up and they can only drive a car if its auto transmission. Sort sad to some of us old timers who had no choice but to learn because that was the only kind of car we could get our hands on.


16 posted on 10/09/2014 7:07:00 AM PDT by katana (Just my opinions)
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To: Buckeye McFrog; C19fan; All
Not practical here with our crazy terrain. You would never quit shifting.

Hmmmmm ... not sure where your terrain is, but San Francisco, a city of VERY steep hills, and any freeway in So Cal during rush hour with stop-and-go traffic, there's constant shifting. I've driven both in sticks all my life ... and still insist on having a manual for my personal car -- my sweetheart's car is an automatic.

In cities especially, a manual helps protect from carjacking and car theft -- most of the hoods that do that kind of thing don't know a clutch pedal from a bag of Fritos.

On very winding, hilly roads, sticks are FAR superior because you use the compression of the engine in down-shifting instead of the brakes to slow down. I often see automatics using their brakes going UP HILL (!!!!) to slow down for curves, which is nuts; for fun, when driving such roads, I challenge myself to use the brakes as little as possible and shift up or down instead. Another great thing about stick shifts is that if the battery goes dead or even if the starter craps out, as long as you've got either a push or a hill to coast down, you can put 'er in second, pop the clutch, and get the engine going!

You steer an automatic. You DRIVE a manual!

44 posted on 10/09/2014 8:17:17 AM PDT by Finny (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -- Psalm 119:105)
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