Manual Shifting, A Dying Technology

[Yaris Hilton]

There have been automatics blowing doors off of manual cars for 40+ years. I enjoy shifting, too, but as for "separating drivers from operators," there's no more truth to that than there was for knowing how to use a manual choke or hand crank start. Properly designed and programmed automatics will always outperform manuals as the human operator isn't up to snuff on determining the best operating conditions and can't manually perform the shift as quickly. Automatics that don't outperform manuals have design and programming deficiencies.

[tomato]

Originally Posted by Yaris Hilton

There have been automatics blowing doors off of manual cars for 40+ years. I enjoy shifting, too, but as for "separating drivers from operators," there's no more truth to that than there was for knowing how to use a manual choke or hand crank start. Properly designed and programmed automatics will always outperform manuals as the human operator isn't up to snuff on determining the best operating conditions and can't manually perform the shift as quickly. Automatics that don't outperform manuals have design and programming deficiencies.

Only one thing is missing from this argument: the pleasure you get from driving stick. I know it's an acquired taste, not for everybody, but for those of us who enjoy driving stick, it's really hard to take it away. I hate that manuals are so hard to find in this country.

I probably should have gotten an auto (many benefits to having an auto around here with all these hills, in traffic, plus if I ever need someone to drive my car in emergency it would be easier) but taking the stick out of the car changes the experience considerably and to me diminishes the pleasure

When I was a little kid (back then there was no law saying kids had to be in the back), my dad used to let me pretend I was changing gears (I'd put my hand on the stick and he put his hand on top of mine and actually changed gears, not me, but I always thought I was doing it ;) It made me believe I was helping drive the car. It was pretty cool. I loved it.

Driving an automatic isn't the same, no matter how well it's engineered

sorry for the long post. I feel passionate about my stick-shift habit

[silver_echo]

i remember that my grandpa taught me gear location at the beginning of a trip, then for the rest of the trip i was the only one to touch the shifter... period... after that i never forgot a shift pattern... manual trans FTW! slushboxes have their place, but it is not for the spirited driver... and IMO, ALL drivers should be taught how to drive a stick...

[bkrownd]

Originally Posted by silver_echo

and IMO, ALL drivers should be taught how to drive a stick...

By a competent instructor. My mother's attempts at teaching me to drive manual transmission actually made me scared of them in high school. Took 15 minutes with grandpa to get the problem sorted out.