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 ...
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.
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.
Now, there’s a pic that tells a story. Or maybe even a novelette.
Awesome! Such a way with words
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.
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.
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.
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!
Never drove anything but a stick, ever, on the column or on the floor.
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.
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.
No problem. I don’t particular care for them, but driving one is no problem. My wife won’t drive anything else.
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