I’m more of an extremist myself, for me, it’s manual ONLY, and a manual consists of a user-operated shift lever AND a foot-operated clutch pedal, if it doesn’t have those, it’s not a manual, it’s a semiautomatic/manumatic which I still consider an automatic
if the transmission shifts out of the selected gear and to the next gear without driver intervention (do DSG’s do this?) then it’s an automatic
when I become Overlord of the Multiverse, my first decree will be the outlawing of automatics unless the driver has a legitimate MEDICAL need for one (missing/paralyzed/nonfunctional left leg for example), my second decree will be the outlawing of cell phone use when driving, violators will be lowered into a pit filled with radioactive, rabid, zombie chickens)
You’ll get better mileage with a hybrid with an infinitely variable transmission.
With today’s technology there is no need for a clutch. The idea that a clutch gives you more control is just absurd. Very high performance cars and race cars don’t use clutches because they are just a hindrance. If anything, they use paddle shifters.
Using a clutch is like saying a slide rule is more accurate than a computer or that electric starters on engines are inferior to crank starters.
I learned on a stick shift and can use them well. In city traffic they are a total PITA. They are distracting and it’s a good thing that technology has made them obsolete.
Yeah, my parents had a manual (1978 Fiat… aw yeah) but it dies before I was old enough to learn. I can drive automatic, but I’d like to learn stick, if only for the bragging rights of being able to parallel park a manual on a 30% grade.
I drive my stick not because it gets better gas mileage, but because I love it. I’ve told SpouseO that I’m only getting a hybrid when I can shift it (which will probably be never). I’m sad to see the manual transmission die out - I love mine. And yes, I drive in rush-hour all the time, stop and go, and I still wouldn’t trade. 'Bout the only places I’d think about going with an automatic is in San Francisco. Or Duluth.
Those manumatic thingamajobs are for the birds. You wanna shift, you buy a standard.
Jeremy Clarkson said something to the effect of: “In England automatic transmissions are considered acceptable for the invalid and the elderly.” Which mirrors how I feel about the automatic transmission.
Really? Race car drivers don’t use foot clutches anymore? I find that kind of hard to believe.
I’m not trying to say that a paddle shift doesn’t shift more efficiently (though I’ve never used one), but what about having more control over the car when you’re trying to go very slowly? When you’re trying to manoeuver your way out of a snow bank, you don’t want to engage the clutch the entire way. You need to get the tires spinning very slowly. Having not driven a paddle-shift car, I don’t know if you have the same kind of control. Do you?
Years ago, I read about a guy who had pateneted a power-assisted clutch pedal. He used th engine vacuum to actuate the clutch-so that your foot would only have to press a little rubber bulb.
Seems like this would be the anser-a lot of people don’t like the effort that the clutch spring cuases.
After you drive one for a while shifting becomes automatic.
Actually it scares the hell out of me. Cell phones and 4 speeds sound like a dangerous combination.
I’ve owned 6 cars and they’ve all had manual transmissions. The only time I’ve ever driven an automatic was when I had to rent a car on a trip. I hated it, and I kept reaching for a non-existent shifter and pressing my foot on a non-existent clutch pedal. I almost freaking killed myself.
As far as cost is concerned, every car I’ve ever bought has been less expensive than the automatic version.
Another advantage of a manual transmission, which I actually had to do a few times with my old 1989 Honda Civic, is if the battery dies you can get the car started again by rolling it and popping the clutch.
And like MacTech said, if it doesn’t have a hand shifter AND a foot clutch pedal then it’s an automatic. Period.
I learned how to drive school buses on a 1957 Gillig. The clutch was supposedly one of those you mentioned - a power assist clutch.
According to all the literature, you were simply supposed to be able to take your foot off the clutch. No “feathering” required - just lift the foot off. The power assist would smoothly engage the clutch and you would be rewarded with a smooth takeoff.
Yeah, right.
I had to find the exact point where the clutch was engaging - and then hit the accelarator and even so, 9 times out of ten the bus would jerk and shudder. It was so bad that the nickname of the driver who normally drove this bus was “Lurch.” No, he didn’t look like Ted Cassidy.
Good idea, lousy implementation.
And in reference to this thread - I enjoy, and am very good at driving manuals. I enjoy driving automatics.
Hell, I just enjoy driving. Let’s leave it at that.
For those of you saying modern automatics are more fuel efficient than manual transmission models, the numbers for mileage I see are almost always on manual versions of the vehicles - I doubt they would be using the manual version in their lists if they weren’t the more efficient version (given that few people drive manuals). For example, here’s a PDF of the most fuel efficient vehicles in Canada for 2008. From that site:
In other words, I’m going to have to ask for cites on automatics being more fuel efficient than manual transmissions.
Why? With a paddle shift you can keep both hands on the wheel at all times, and you can use your feet for the brake and accelerator. In fact you can keep the throttle mashed flat and still change gear, letting the computer manage the change within the absolute minimum amount of microseconds.
Formula 1 has used paddle shifters for a long time (early nineties?), World Rally Championship probably since at least 2000 - I believe even saloon/touring car races have long since adopted them. If you scroll down this short list of Le Mans endurance racers there isn’t a single ‘traditional’ transmission.
Going very slowly isn’t nearly as much a concern as trying to go very very fast - if they need manual clutch control for some reason, it’s most likely to be handled via button on the dash or steering column.
For the past (and only) 17 years of my driving, I have only had a manual transmission. In fact, I frustrated the dealers in my last search for a car, as I insisted on a manual.
Regardless of whether a manual is technically more fuel efficient or not, whether you personally actually get better mileage out of it will depend on how you drive it. Many people don’t drive manuals with an optimal mileage technique.
I don’t think they’ll make a comeback. In spite of gas prices, far too many North Americans have never driven one, or don’t know how to drive one, or are just plain afraid of driving one.
FTR, both my wife and I like driving stick. When I first learned to operate a car, it was on a stick tranny; and with the exception of what I’m driving now, I’ve always driven a stick. I wish our current car had one, but it was either take the nearly-perfect-for-us car sitting on the dealer’s lot, or put in an order for the fully-perfect-for-us car, which would, of course, have a stick. But we didn’t want to wait the four months or so it would have taken for a special order, so we took what was available.
It has something to do with how the car is designed as well, or at least it does according to the salesperson who witnessed my jaw hitting the floor. Something about having to run an extra linkage or some such shit. I dunno - I was in a daze, considering that I thought selecting a manual option would SAVE me money.
So I wonder whether some of today’s automobiles are being designed around automatic trannies as a default and whether manual (if it’s even offered) is something of a retrofit in these cases.
Modern F1 cars only have two pedals now, as slaphead said - throttle & brake; this has been the case for at least a decade. The “clutch pedal” is a paddle on the steering wheel, and it’s normally only used when starting from a dead stop. Up- and down-shifting while moving are done merely with the paddle shifters - I believe the car handles throttle blips and declutching on its own (and stunningly fast). More and more teams are introducing seamless-shift gearboxes these days.
One of those “starting from a dead stop” moments is the start of the race - when positions can be gained or lost more easily than just about any other time - so it gets quite a bit of attention. Fully-automated launch control* has been banned for a couple of years, but teams have come up with some pretty clever legal ways to get off the line fast without spinning the tires.
If continuously-variable transmissions weren’t specifically banned by the rules, I think at least some F1 teams would be using them by now. They were being tested in the mid-90’s, but development halted when the rules were changed to outlaw them. AFAIK none raced.
With that, the driver just released a button when the lights went out, and then steered while the car accelerated itself through the gears. I believe the system typically cut out when the driver braked for the first time.
By the way, when did Americans switch from manual to automatic?
And how did it happen? I’m asking that because I think over here most drivers would be almost ashamed to drive an automatic (not manly enough or something like that), besides the fact that almost everybody would assume without thinking that manual transmission is better (whether or not it’s the case) so I see no way such a transition could occur over here barring a ban on manual transmission. So, assuming that American people had originally a similar attitude (which seems likely to me), what caused the change?
The change took place rapidly-the first automatic was available on Chrysler cars in 1938. The torque converter was developed in the 1940’s, and by 1955, most cars in the USA were automatic. because of traffic conditions, manual transmissioned cars are not fun to drive, and presently, less than 5% of all cars are manuals.
