Posted on 06/01/2012 7:23:21 AM PDT by US Navy Vet
Go to any given dealership with 100 new cars.
On average, just four of the 2012 models will have manual gearboxes.
The trend of the vanishing third pedal is nothing new, notes The Detroit News.
Even a decade ago, just 8.5 percent of 2002 models were manuals. The paper’s own automotive reporter even confesses she never learned to drive a stick shift until it essentially became a job requirement.
It’s more than a little contradictory to automotive reviews (including many you’ll read here) extolling the pleasure of enthusiastic driving with a true manual gearbox. Likewise, purists gravitate to manuals for tackling their favorite twisting road or occasional track day. It’s the original form of in-car connectivity.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
2000 Xterra with 5 speed on the floor.
I could barely stay in the seat, nevermind find a gear.
No seat belt? They are not just for crashes.. when off roading in a lumber wagon they are there to keep you seated so you can shift the gears :)
In LA it just doesn't make sense. Too much stop and go traffic takes the fun out of it.
I’ve never owned an automatic, and I don’t think I ever will, unless some health issue or the government dictates. If I had to commute into some God-forsaken city, I would have an auto, but that will never happen.
Drive a 6-speed now, 49 speeds lifetime.
I drove a ‘63 International Harvester “rowbinder” pickup truck with three on the tree all the way through law school. Damn thing had so much torque that I had to go buy three bags of pea gravel to throw in the bed so I could get it out of the driveway after it snowed 14 inches in San Antonio.
I learned to drive (at 14) on a Pontiac Valiant with a 3-speed on the column. A friend of mine taught me and let me borrow the car sometimes, even though I didn’t have a license.
I remember that eventually the 2nd gear broke so you had to get up to a pretty good speed in 1st and then shift to 3rd, with a kind of double-shifting, double-clutching 2-step maneuver. Talk about hard to drive in traffic!
Nowadays, a vehicle with a manual transmission is almost theft proof. Most of the thugs stealing cars and trucks never learned to drive a standard.
A related question is: How many of you drive a stick and can talk on telephone or text?
Back to the government angle, even if no difference in mileage, one would think the government would ignore that and still mandate a stick.
For many years as a Field Service Tech I had to scarf down a hamburger for lunch, talk on the cell phone AND drive a stick shift.
While I learned to drive on a manual transmission, I had to teach my 24 year old son to drive a stick when he got his Mazda. We only had auto transmissions when he learned to drive so it was an experience to teach him as an adult. I have vowed never to try to teach his sister to drive a stick and have warned her husband not to attempt it either. Some people like my daughter just aren't mechanically minded enough to get the whole changing gears thing.
Yup
My first car was an MGA. Boy, did I have fun with that!
Add to that several dirt bikes and a 4 wheeler.
You may be on to something.
One of the unique things about the 72 passenger school bus was the “spring” in the body and frame when it was empty. At 55 mph, the back duals would bounce steadily off the blacktop.
A patrolman saw me doing this and strongly recommended keeping it under 50.
In 1970 the first American Z's arrived, with the 2.4L engine. I had serial #2189, built in May of that year. At that time, they were all 4-speeds. Soon we discovered through the competition preppers that there was an excellent 5-speed available on the Japan Fairladys based on a ZF design; for one thing, it had Porsche-style synchros. It could be retrofitted into the early Z's with some effort, involving custom propeller shafts and rear end mounts. Never personally knew any Z owner who did it though.
Did the 5-speed become standard on the Z some time before the 260 or 280?
I can. Have not done so for years, but expect I could pick it right up again.
——don’t worry.. they will outlaw eating in the car soon enough.-—
Yeah. I told my teenage daughter to tell her driving instructor that I tried to teach her how to steer with her knees. She was not amused. I’ve learned that girls are different from guys.
I can but a torn MCL in my left knee says I better not. I have an auto-manual in my Cherokee and it is pretty handy.
I taught my wife to drive a car with a manual transmission. Don’t I get some sort of award for that?
Have one, taught daughter to drive it last summer. I always find it curious these “green” drivers don’t opt for a stick, better gas mileage.
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