Only one of the daughters can drive this. Guess she'll get it when I die. It'll probably be illegal to own by then.
Posted on 04/10/2022 3:21:08 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Only around 18% of American drivers can handle a manual transmission, according to U.S. News and World Report. You know: the clutch pedal and the stick shift—three on the tree, four on the floor or, I don’t know, five to drive maybe. Different gears, manually engaged.
Turns out that “basically” isn’t the same as “actually.” When my father’s Oldsmobile died this month, my family replaced it as the backup car with a used Chevy. Since I’m the backup driver, I climbed in, stepped on the clutch, started the car, stepped off the clutch. The engine promptly stalled. Only by grinding the gears, smoking the clutch and jerking forward in jumps did I finally get moving.
In 1980, some 35% of cars produced in the U.S. were manuals. Today that figure is closer to 1%, and only 3.7% of Carmax sales are for stick shifts—shockingly low considering that 80% of cars sold in Europe have manual transmissions. Some car makers, including Audi, no longer offer manual transmissions in the U.S. market at all.
So why would anyone want one? Your car is less likely to get stolen, for one thing. Thieves prove as incapable of using a clutch as any other American.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
I bought an automatic. I kept wanting to shift. I didn’t care for manual in stop and go traffic.
Stick shifts save money: lower purchase prices (a few hundred $s) and lower gas cost every time you fill-up.
Took some practice but finally got the clutch feel just right on my pickup truck so as not to have to use the brake while waiting uphill for the local red light to change. Just ease the clutch up while in first. That was about 40 years ago, though.
Switched to automatic shift cars when I used to have to commute for an hour each way in heavy traffic.
Chick magnet.
I still hit the “phantom clutch” with my left foot when I have to brake suddenly.
I never heard of that. I got mine in the 60’s.
Every time I rent a car in Europe, I reserve a stick, but the sales person at the check-in desk always tries to “upgrade” me to an auto because Americans “don’t know how to drive a stick.” I learned to drive on a Chevy Nova four speed on the column (3 forward and reverse) and a McCormick tractor, and followed that with a stick Jeep (several), Datsun 240Z, and VW Quantum, among others. Unfortunately, very few luxury models in the USA come in a stick these days. But nothing beats a stick when driving in the Scottish Highlands, Western Ireland, or the hills in Southern Italy.
My parents didn’t like automatics, so all of us kids learned to drive and took our driving tests on stick shifts.
I still feel like I have more control of the car with a stick, although I have an automatic now.
Learned a lot of my driving on a “4 on the tree” Saab 96. Funny shift pattern, you had to pull the shifter out for reverse.
Only one of the daughters can drive this. Guess she'll get it when I die. It'll probably be illegal to own by then.
—” we made a felony stop, detained three suspects who had two pistols in the car, and notified CPD Tactical officers to meet us at the scene.”
A very difficult line of work...Thank you.
I recall hearing you on the radio, WLS?
B-1/11 FIRST OF THE FIFTH!!!
And I haven’t run into more than five guys from the FIFTH MECH?
I worked for a large corp with few veterans.
My wife of 41 years and I both were confirmed manual shifters until 2 things happened. First, I developed a severe lower back/sciatic nerve problem that made clutching too painful. Second, the city in which we both worked became so populous that driving a manual shift in that awful traffic was just too much. Automatics now deliver as good or better gas mileage, so I’m OK with them. There are days and certain roads where I do miss winding the daylights out of an engine with a 5 speed manual, though. (Sigh....)
Less chance of getting vehicle stolen.
Drove a stick shift for 38 years until I purchased my first auto in 2013..........
The thing is that you never forget how to drive a stick either....
My dad made me learn on a stick as a teen girl. He said, “What if it was an emergency situation & you had to know how to operate a stick shift?” Could not argue with that & my current kia is a stick. I like the control.
“ 2. Automatic transmissions have become so much more advanced that many vehicle models are now more fuel efficient with an automatic transmission than a manual one. It used to be the other way around. ”
And the new automatics are faster
True
I have always preferred driving a Manual. Well, I drove Semis for years, full time in the Army, part time for years. I mostly worked in an office, but I had to moonlight. I gave that up for good around 1996. The State took away my CDL years later because I never bothered to get a DOT Physical any more.
I ran into a Driver several weeks ago who I used to supervise. He was waiting to unload his trailer. I asked him about the latest equipment. He showed me his Cab. I was stunned to learn that his truck was an Automatic. It just seemed so unnatural.
It is pretty bad when they have to dumb down the transmissions for Drivers, but complicate things for the Mechanics.
There is no control in such a vehicle. Most of the towns around here disallow the usage of Jake Brakes. Cops will pull you over and give you a ticket if they witness you using one.
No wonder they want Driverless Vehicles as people are too stupid to handle the traditional stuff.
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