Manual Transmissions

[Dizerens5]

I'm happy driving a manual but my 3 year old tiny Renault Clio has a lovely 4-speed automatic.....I'm firmly in the old-fart class but even I think a manual is a bit 19th-century stuff...the Clio's auto is really good, totally smooth changes and even knows when I'm going downhill. But I just love flooring the pedal occasionally and hearing it drop one or two gears while I just relax....still, the R65's manual, or rather footpedal, is a pleasure too. (Far better than my old R60/5, tho not as good as my 40 year old BSA!)

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

My last two cars have been autos, only because I am an impatient shopper (it usually happens in the winter when I don't have my alternative transportation).

I'm chomping at the bit to get behind a 5-speed, again.

[balibeemer]

In the early '80's I was working in the UAE, training people on how to use oilfield equipment, especially high pressure pumps. some of these pumps had gearboxes ( 15 speed roadranger with deep reduction). Of all the stuents we had, we ALWAYS had to train the US and Arab citizens on how to use a manual box - normally on a Toyota pickup!. I was totally gobsmacked at the time but since having been to the US, everyone, it seems, use automatics - kinda takes the fun out of driving.

[steve hawkins]

It was not until I visited America that I realised why they all like automatics.

All those stop lights..... Stop.... Start..... Stop.... Start..... Stop.... Start .... Stop.... Start..... Stop.... Start..... Stop.... Start......

A couple of weeks driving round in the Chicago locality soon had me educated about the other side of the coin.......Oh and I was driving an auto......

Hey, ho

[Darwin_R65]

As a kid I loved the manuals, so much more hooning to be had when you can play with gears. First car I drove was a mk2 Ford Cortina with 4 on the floor. Lots of fun in the dirt when Dad didn't know.

John

[Bengt_Phorqs]

As per usual, Mr. Hawkins hit the nail on the head.  It's all of the stop lights and whilst on freeways, the stop and go, that puts one in an automatic really fast.  The best car I ever owned was a Mazda RX7 w/ 5 speed, but it sure was frustrating in heavy traffic moving about 50 feet per minute.  Might as well have been driving my mother's Cadillac Sedan deVille land yacht!

I always encouraged my daughters to learn to drive a standard in their boy friends cars so as not to ruin the clutches in my cars.  That worked well.

[azcycle]

I love maunaul shifts and wish I had one. I learned on a 1973 Ford Pinto.  We're currently starting to look at some new(er) Volvos  - S40 and C30 specifically, and are having a hard time finding a manual... they're all auto!

[Darwin_R65]

Volvo's earned a bad reputation here among motorbike riders in Australia.

To counteract it Volvo put out an ad that said look left, look right, look bike.
And "I'm a bike aware driver".

The bike clubs then put out stickers that read "I'm a Volvo aware rider"

See this web page for a selection of some stickers available from  Motorcycle Riders Association Queensland, including

http://www.cutgrafix.com/MRAQ.htm

 
John

[nhmaf]

We don't have any vehicles that are automatic transmission in our household... but wait, actually my TRACTOR is (which comes in very handy, actually, with frequent forward/reverse/forward/reverse involved with it and loading dirt, plowing, etc.
They are more of a nusiance when in a traffic jam in the cities, which we try to avoid when possible.

My father and my wife's father both made sure that we had learned to drive manual transmission vehicles before automatics.  Of course, riding motorbikes since I was 15 didn't hurt either.

Nothing puts the fear of impending chaos into me like seeing a Volvo station wagon in the lane next to me on the interstate highways...

[Barry]

Volvo's have had a similar reputation for many years here in the UK. I had no idea  that myopic Volvo drivers were the same the world over.

Actually we should worry about any vehicle driver who feels the need to buy into a  "feeling of safety"   Huge 4WD's used by mums on the school run are pretty scary on our narrow roads too.

[montmil]

...If you try and take a driving test with an automatic, you will not be able to drive a manual until you have taken another test with a manual shifting car.  

People do not want to take two driving tests,so everyone learns a manual and then you can drive an auto as well... Steve Hawkins (UK)

That's much like the Texas Concealed Handgun License range test. My wife prefers her wheel guns but tested with one of my 9mm semiautos. To legally carry a semiauto, your CHL must state "SA". With the "SA" endorsement, you may carry either style weapon.

Monte

[Darwin_R65]

My wife prefers her wheel guns but tested with one of my 9mm semiautos

I taunt my wife all the time, all in the name of love. Things like comparing the age of my 1962 Valiant and the amount of panel beating needed,  But if I knew she was able to carry a concealed handgun.......

It would be a very quiet household.  

[msbuck]

I've owned only one automatic in my life - and that was the one car that I had problem with my transmission!  I learned to drive in my Dad's '64 Austin Healey Sprite.  I wanted that car BAD, but when my mom got rid of it I had no place to keep it.  I was living in an apt complex that didn't allow non-runners, and it hadn't been run in a few years.  I didn't care, that was my favorite car!  My Dad also made us change the tire completely by ourselves before we were allowed to drive.  


Like nhmaf, the only automatic we own is the lawn tractor.  All 3 cars and 6 bikes are manuals.  It's getting tough finding a new car with manual drive these days.  

[montmil]

My brother and sister-in-law both drive Volvos. Lil Bubba sez they like them because, "They are so safe."

I counter with, "Being built in a country with such an astronomical per capita suicide rate, corporate Volvo wants you to off yourself in some other fashion less they get sued too often."

Monte

[chewy4x4]

The answer to the American obsession with automatics is laziness. Americans in general are amazing multi-taskers but try shifting while texting, drinking a cup of $7 burnt coffee, and either tying a tie or putting on make up and hell we would have the highest auto accident rate in the world....oh wait. I am 26 and up until recently only owned manual vehicles like my mini and my jeep but now try and find a resonably priced car with a stick good luck. My little brother is getting a car next Jan and Ill be damned if he cant drive a stick before then. Oh and Steve I totally agree about the stop go thing but americans would never be able to handle the amount of roundabouts yall have. If you get the oppurtunity come to New Braunfels, tx and Ill show you what I mean.