Yes unless it is raining or I have to do some shopping, when I drive my boring car (2009 Miata stick shift). The car was a blast when I bought it, but now that I ride it is just not any fun.
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Can you drive a stick shift car?
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Yes unless it is raining or I have to do some shopping, when I drive my boring car (2009 Miata stick shift). The car was a blast when I bought it, but now that I ride it is just not any fun.
My only car is a manual so yes I can. I learned late though (25) with all my previous cars being automatics.
It's not unique to "that situation." In most situations, automatics are better for most people.
Nonsense. DCTs provide better performance. It's just that many "driving enthusiasts" have conflated the extra level of complexity with control.
Almost any car fitted with sequential manual transmission will have plenty of soul. High end competition cars at the WRC right up to the F1 have more soul than a young Aretha Franklin having a screaming orgasm.
Anyone who tells you otherwise is listening to too many late middle aged car journos who aren't dealing well with change.
Agreed, for those who enjoy crashing and not controlling their cars.
Which is why the silly old fashioned Viper ACR and pushrod Corvette ZR1 are some of the fastest track cars you can buy, and stomp MANY of those European exotics into the ground on a performance run, and on a track. With their " old fashioned " manual transmissions.
The majority of cars with those transmissions are just track cars and not road legal, and the majority of even car lovers won't ever have one.
Oh god, at 29 years old I'm just to old to understand the wonders of ****** CVT and DSG transmissions.
Some DSGs perform better ( then why does the ' old fashioned ' ZR1 corvette stomp the 458 ).
Its not about complete performance, manual cars still perform very very well, and offer a much more fun driving experience.
Tho I doubt you could even get my 69 Camaro going without stalling it.
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I have a few bikes myself, but their all classics.
I would be more worried about being hit by a car not paying attention tho whos in front of him,
In a car I have metal to stop that rear end, in a bike I have my spine......yeahhh
Oh come on G5 you know better. Put a DCT in the 'Vette and see how it's performance improves or not. You can't say why isn't the 458 faster than the ZR1 if DCT's are so great? That's apples vs oranges. The Focus with the DCT is more fuel efficient than the manual. The M3 with the DCT is faster than the M3 with the stick.
And the reason for it is sound. Since a DCT is basically a manual transmission, you don't have a power sapping torque converter. And shifts are a whole lot faster since the second clutch has the next gear already selected.
And the reason for it is sound. Since a DCT is basically a manual transmission, you don't have a power sapping torque converter. And shifts are a whole lot faster since the second clutch has the next gear already selected.
I don't feel a DCT in the ZR1 would drastically increase performance. If it did, GM has them, why don't they put them into the Corvette.
For me? I'll take a standard transmission over a DCT anyday.
Why? They're just more fun, if you want to sit in the car and play fake F1 driver, sure. You can pretend your having fun, and in control of the car. But you aren't. Only a standard transmission can provide you with tons of fun and the " in control " feel that a DCT can't provide.
With how many track days I go to, Ive driven an F430 with the standard paddle shifters, great car.
But I've also driven a F430 with a good old fashioned manual transmission, its about 1,000 times more fun and satisfying to drive.
It's not lazy, it's just that it's hard to drive a stick with a double cheeseburger in one hand and a Big Gulp in the other.
God Bless 'Murica!
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Because I can drive a car properly?
"Fun" is completely relative. What is fun for one person may not be fun for others. Please stop all this bickering about what is more "fun". Fun for whom? You can't know what is fun for me or anybody else but yourself, so arguing is pointless.
This is true. I've started having fun by seeing how far I can drive on cruise control without needing to alter the cruise setting or drop out of cruise. It takes good planning and reading the road ahead and behind...
GM doesn't have a DCT. All of their automatics are traditional ones so far.
And the only reason why the ZR1's performance wouldn't drastically increase is due to trouble putting all that power down on launch.
GM doesn't have a DCT. All of their automatics are traditional ones so far.
And the only reason why the ZR1's performance wouldn't drastically increase is due to trouble putting all that power down on launch.
I thought a couple of vauxhuals had DCT options?
The ZR1 is probably the best performance you can buy for the money, despite that sill stick shift transmission
I thought a couple of vauxhuals had DCT options?
The ZR1 is probably the best performance you can buy for the money, despite that sill stick shift transmission
Maybe from a third party, but not in house.
Agree. I am not denying how fast the ZR1 is or anything or trying to say manual transmissions suck( I already posted how much of a joy they are to drive around a track). But, from what I have seen DCT's do improve a cars performance and fuel efficiency over sticks( Focus, M3, etc).
Just as long as "fun" for you becomes seeing how far you can drive without actually looking at the road.
I literally had fun for a month or so seeing how high I could get my MPG's... But only for a month
Just as long as "fun" for you becomes seeing how far you can drive without actually looking at the road.
I literally had fun for a month or so seeing how high I could get my MPG's... But only for a month
I'm actually concentrating on the road and other traffic more as you really need to anticipate what is about to happen to stay on cruise on UK motorways.
I've got it my my car (most cars seem to be getting it here (UK) these days) but it's very rare I get chance to use it. If I do it's only for a short period before you run into a 'situation' (caravans, robin reliants in the middle lane, a foreign truck trying to sideswipe you etc etc.)
I'm surprised no-one's mentioned overtaking. I've always hated the loss of control in that sort of situation.
Now, granted, the automatics I've driven haven't been sports spec cars so the overtaking has at times been a bit hairy. One I remember with particular horror was a great big but smallish engined automatic Renault Espace we once had for a few months. (No sports mode in that thing!) You'd wind this thing up, pull out for a good look, really put your foot down then just as you're passing the caravan you're overtaking's tow bar the wretched thing would change up and you'd be happily and sedately cruising alongside the other car on the wrong side of the road. With everyone else (in both cars) screaming...
Jumping in a 1L Fiat Panda equipped with a gear stick afterwards felt like being in a sports car.
Small engines make this an issue. I've only owned 2 autos and the current one has the smaller engine. But it's still a 3l engine. With a turbo. So it doesn't really matter which gear the box is in it can get moving a bit. If your foot is flat to the floor it should not change up until it gets close to the rev limiter anyway...
I've pretty much always driven a stick...I no longer drive due to medical conditions etc. but there is a possibility that I may be allowed to drive an auto. We currently have a Pegeout coupe piña farina which we are putting back into concourse condition.,..my fiancée does all the driving at the moment.
Many people who enjoy driving aren't overly concerned with performance numbers. It is the act of driving and getting things right, being entertained/engaged and being responsible for the way the car acts yourself.
DCT removes an entire skill set (heel+toe, clutch kicks, etc) that can be used to alter the attitude of the car.
If i want to clutch the car into a smoking tail slide with a stick and a clutch pedal, I can. If i want compression lockup to back the car in sideways into a corner, I can have it.
I don't care if it is faster or slower. Those who look at 0-60 times and harp on about how DCT is 0.2 sec faster or whatever just don't get it. Don't care, DCT takes away so many options for me to play with the car. And that's what a performance car is for. Playing with. It's a big toy.
Ditto for traction control, stability control, etc.
Just like understeer tendancies are safer for a muppet. Having a car that is more neutral gives the driver more options to play with - neutral through the corner or smoking sideways into and/or out of it. Or even far more subtly, being able to adjust attitude mid corner with throttle.
For me "performance" is about how much I enjoy driving the car. Not fractions of a second in 0-60.
I ride a bike as well... every day for 6 1/2 years on the road.
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Spoken like someone who either has never driven or has no idea HOW to drive a manual. I've never wore out a clutch and I sold my ProbeGT at 140k miles on the original clutch with no slip what-so-ever. There is hardly any wear (only a tiny bit at start) if you shift properly. And shifting isn't a pain. It's pure control. My last car (an '04 WRX) had 85% of the brakes intact at 80k miles (as in the original brakes). I simply don't need to brake anywhere near as much as with an automatic because I can slow the car with the engine just by letting my foot off the gas (let alone down-shifting). Having a computer shift for you is like having some amateur tell a professional swimmer when to stroke and breathe. Yeah, it works, but you lose all control and become dependent on the darn thing. Even if somoene prefers an automatic, they should still know how to drive a stick, IMO. You'd get overall better drives that way since one who can drive safely in a manual is always going to be safer in an automatic than someone who can't drive well at all period and I put it that way because you pretty much can't half-arse a manual like you can an automatic that does everything but steer for you these days.
I've been driving a stick now for 22 years and what you are saying is a total crock. What you are doing is slipping the clutch to make what would be an imperfect shift feel smoother and that means no matter how small, you're putting more wear on your clutch disc. The only time I hold the clutch near the slip point is when starting the car from a stop. I shift smoothly and with no "jerk" or anything else through all the other gears and I do NOT even slightly hesitate the clutch at the slip point. If you rev-match properly, you can let your clutch out almost instantly and not feel a blessed thing. In fact, you don't need the clutch AT ALL if you're doing it properly (save perhaps a dead stop). I don't recommend not using the clutch for beginners or even intermediates (i.e. if you miss the right point you can grind and do damage to the gears and syncros), but it's quite doable if you know what you're doing. Pro truck drivers do it all the time because they generally have no syncros and have to rev-match anyway so the clutch is pretty superfluous once you get used to it (otherwise you have to double clutch to make the gear speed match when you have no syncros so why not just match it with the throttle and jam the gear once you know the shift points?)
Another benefit of getting a manual transmission in the US..... With less and less people knowing how to drive a stick, it's a great theft deterrent device. And it doesn't cost you a thing! They may break in and steal whatever is lose in the car, etc, but the car will still be there.
I remember hearing about a thief trying to carjack someone and having to get back out once they realized it was a stick and fled on foot, but back when I first started driving, I thought this was probably the exception, but these days, I tend to agree that most amateur thieves probably do not know how to drive one in the U.S.
I will say it's getting harder for people over here to learn a stick because as people have pointed out, you have to pretty much LOOK for one or request one. It used to be the other way around (and clearly still is in Europe). I think today's kids are less interested in cars and more in texting on their iPhones and iPads so I'm afraid the art of driving will be lost over time even in Europe. There's already mass transportation there galore and no need for a car for many people to begin with. Today's gadgets only make that more inevitable. Really, if the U.S. ever gets a decent mass transit system it will because of things like the iPad, not politicians.
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