|
10-22-2012, 06:32 AM | |
In Search of a Life
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: San Antonio Tx.
Casino cash: $2514454
|
Manual or Automatic transmission..which do you prefer?
Can an Automatic be as much fun as a manual?
http://jalopnik.com/5952570/a-manual...o-deal-with-it Car enthusiasts have been bemoaning the lack of manual transmissions in cars for what seems like an eternity. Every time a new car comes out and it doesn't offer a manual gearbox, it gets shunned by every card carrying member of the enthusiast community. But guess what? The manual transmission is outdated technology and there are better things out there. It's time to get over it and say bye bye. Before I get yelled at by all of you, I want to say that we're not too different. I love a good manual gearbox. If a car has one, I'm instantly more interested in it. And let me tell you, nailing a perfectly rev matched downshift instantly makes me smile. I'm absolutely for putting manual transmissions in everything. When I have a little Travis or Travisette running around I'm going to find a way to stick one in his or her Cozy Coupe. But I am totally against the notion that having a manual is the only way to properly enjoy a car. That is bullshit. Complete bullshit. 'Manual elitists,' as I call them, will shirk the notion that a car without a third pedal can be engaging to drive. They say that it isn't pure, it isn't as much fun, they don't feel connected. Bull. Take a current Nissan GT-R to a race track and drive it as fast you can. Then tell me it would be better with a manual gearbox. It just wouldn't be. Your corner speeds will be slower, your straight-line speeds will be slower, and your lap times will be slower. But you say you don't feel engaged? The point of driving a car quickly, either on a race track or a road, is to make it from the start to finish as fast as humanly possible. If you drive a GT-R on track and don't feel engaged, well, then you just aren't going fast enough. For a long, long time, a manual gearbox was the best way to do just that, to be the fastest. It just isn't the case anymore. Times have changed, and we enthusiasts need to adapt to it as well. Everyone dislikes someone who repeatedly refers to the past and says "in my day, we did it this way." That's what we in the enthusiast community are becoming. Nostalgia is our enemy, technology is our friend. Funny thing is, a bunch of manual elitists probably own an iPod, subscribe to Netflix, and own a smart phone. The rest of their lives evolved, yet they just can't let the manual tranny go. I see the manual gearbox like a film camera. When digital first hit the scene, it was terrible. People stuck with film. However, over time, digital got better and better and more and more people started switching. It got to a point where the pros and the stubborn were the only ones with film. And guess what? Now even the pros use digital. And much like how they could manipulate film better than the average person, their digital pictures are that much better. It's the same case here. Give a Porsche 991 with a PDK gearbox to two drivers, one great, one not so great. The double clutch transmission will not suddenly make the bad driver a God. He'll still be a mortal. The good driver will be able to manipulate the gearbox better and get the most out of it. He'll still be faster. And that's where I think a lot of manual defense comes from: fear and snobbery. People think they're members of an elite club just because they know how a clutch works and can heel and toe. Guess what? You're alienating possible enthusiasts by being that way. As enthusiasts, we should want to welcome everyone, not be scared of others suddenly being better at driving than us. First off, they won't be. Secondly, more competition for the fastest time is better. It's more fun. And having people interested in driving faster makes more enthusiasts. Giving them access to the tools to be quick breeds enthusiasm. With people caring less and less about cars, we need to make more enthusiasts. We aren't helping by lambasting anyone that can't drive a manual gearbox. By making exciting cars more accessible to people that may not be as skilled creates passion. Passion builds bonds. Bonds create friends. That's what we need in the enthusiast community. What we don't need is snobbery and fear of the new. |
Posts: 66,914
|
10-22-2012, 12:11 PM | #76 |
Psycho Bag Of Squanch
Join Date: Sep 2001
Casino cash: $9594244
|
Cool, sounds like we're on the opposite end of the deal. I mainly drive highway though, maybe that's where we differ. I'm up to merging speed quick fast in a hurry in auto, that's about all the acceleration I need.
__________________
“Education is a weapon whose effect depends on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.” Joseph Stalin |
Posts: 69,591
|
10-22-2012, 12:17 PM | #77 | |
Blame it on the Henne
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Donk-town
Casino cash: $6533231
|
Quote:
I am basing most of this on my personal CO driving experiences which are not typical for sure, situations where I just hit neutral (exceeding the speed limit and coasting distance certainly come into play here) and coast for miles then the road evens out and I definitely would have had to get back on the gas earlier in an auto. This is mostly what drives me crazy about now being in an automatic here. Oh, and I was basically talking a little point 1 and 2. I know #1 savings would be minuscule but they are savings none-the-less, #2 is interesting to me as if this actually held up that neutral at 800rpm would burn more fuel than the entire drivetrain spinning at high rpm. It makes sense until you engine brake an s2000 down a mountain road at 8000 rpm and realize it might be more efficient than sitting quietly at idle at 800 rpm. Know what I mean? |
|
Posts: 2,979
|
10-22-2012, 12:28 PM | #78 |
2 Legit 2 Colquitt
Join Date: Sep 2010
Casino cash: $3635754
|
Automatic transmissions are for women. And minivan drivers.
|
Posts: 4,752
|
10-22-2012, 12:29 PM | #79 |
.
Join Date: Dec 2002
Casino cash: $57156239
|
I'm saying that the idea that coasting in neutral saves gas over coasting in gear, is a myth. You should coast in gear.
__________________
|
Posts: 36,130
|
10-22-2012, 12:30 PM | #80 |
Don't Tease Me
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: KS
Casino cash: $11047037
|
too old for "fun"
just give me an automatic so i can still drive with my knee while i eat.
__________________
|
Posts: 95,626
|
10-22-2012, 12:36 PM | #81 |
Go Beavers!
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Warshington
Casino cash: $5038243
|
Agreed to a point. As mentioned, you can coast much farther in neutral than you can in gear so you have to consider that. I have some hills that I can't maintain speed in gear but can in neutral so I save gas over slowing down in gear and then having to accelerate back up to speed or just driving normally. You have to figure out when each method is best.
|
Posts: 14,504
|
10-22-2012, 12:38 PM | #82 | |
Wearing ballistic dog goggles.
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: In the box.
Casino cash: $4311503
|
Quote:
With the ignition on put transmission in gear, first or second works best, push in the clutch and get the vehicle rolling. Once rolling along release the clutch and give the throttle a tap, it’ll usually fire right up. You're just using the rolling wheels and transmission to spin the motor over to start it instead of the starter.
__________________
Like "Cool Hand" Luke I'm busting rocks. __/|_/[___] |/ \\_| ---OllllO _( ))~-( ))-0--)) |
|
Posts: 25,353
|
10-22-2012, 12:49 PM | #83 | |
Go Beavers!
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Warshington
Casino cash: $5038243
|
Quote:
|
|
Posts: 14,504
|
10-22-2012, 12:50 PM | #84 | |
Supporter
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Ozarks
Casino cash: $1810564
|
Quote:
I am surprised they don't offer it in the Dart, but guess they don't. That being said, this auto in my Challenger is a pretty nice piece, guess it is made by a Daimler plant here in the states. |
|
Posts: 33,958
|
10-22-2012, 12:57 PM | #85 |
Say hello to my little friend
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Larryville
Casino cash: $9598422
|
I guess if the car has been running the day before or something like that, there could be enough residual fuel to restart it via popping the clutch. I've had a few that hadn't been started in a couple of months, so maybe that had something to do with it.
|
Posts: 47,314
|
10-22-2012, 01:50 PM | #86 |
Diablo Negro
Join Date: Sep 2003
Casino cash: $1692662
|
My daily driver = automatic.
My Hot Rod = 5 -Speed. Yea you can't out shift an automatic but damn its fun trying. |
Posts: 71,604
|
10-22-2012, 01:57 PM | #87 |
Needs more middle fingers
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: San Diego
Casino cash: $3113063
|
Paddle Shifted Automatic.
Best of both worlds. We just finished off a car (Likely, our last full build we'll ever do) that was a paddle shifted 6 Speed Auto. 392 C.I with a single Turbonetics GT-K Turbocharger making about 700HP at the wheels.
__________________
Life is like a dick. Sometimes it gets hard for no reason, but it can't stay hard forever. |
Posts: 65,618
|
10-22-2012, 01:58 PM | #88 | |
Sauntering Vaguely Downwards
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Columbia, Mo
Casino cash: $1539099
|
Quote:
If you have the horsepower and the wherewithal, nothing beats a manual for pure exhilaration. That said, that doesn't make most of the old saws about the 'benefits' of a manual any more accurate. That said, throwing a shift-kit in a 700r4 makes a torquey little beast in its own right. Sure, it downshifts into the wrong point in the power band if you're in 4th, but if can break the back end loose at 30 mph using nothing more than my foot when it drops down to first, so there's that...
__________________
"If there's a god, he's laughing at us.....and our football team..." "When you look at something through rose colored glasses, all the red flags just look like flags." |
|
Posts: 62,426
|
10-22-2012, 02:00 PM | #89 |
Sauntering Vaguely Downwards
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Columbia, Mo
Casino cash: $1539099
|
It's still not quite as satisfying as feeling that mechanical 'thunk' as you hammer through your shift points, but the flappy paddle is a nice middle-ground for most applications. And most of them will keep you from being too stupid and/or dropping from 5th to 2nd by overshooting the gate.
__________________
"If there's a god, he's laughing at us.....and our football team..." "When you look at something through rose colored glasses, all the red flags just look like flags." |
Posts: 62,426
|
10-22-2012, 02:03 PM | #90 |
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS
Join Date: Aug 2000
Casino cash: $1623385
|
If I lived in bumble**** nowhere I'd have a stick. They are fun.
They are not fun, however, when you're in heavy suburban Chicago traffic 95%of the time. |
Posts: 119,883
|
|
|