You guys are so old and lame, I use my phone to have an autonomous EV drive me, when I'm not walking or biking. Seriously, who wants to live where you have to be in a car, and what's a steering wheel, gas and brake pedal?
You guys are so old and lame, I use my phone to have an autonomous EV drive me, when I'm not walking or biking. Seriously, who wants to live where you have to be in a car, and what's a steering wheel, gas and brake pedal?
Either they get it or they don't.
It's their loss.
Huckleberry wrote:yupididit wrote: Nor do I think its more manly to drive them.Well... we can agree on that. My mother taught me to drive a stick. She was afraid my father would have an aneurysm trying to teach me because he has about as much patience as hungry badger. It was her grocery getter. A '62 Buick Skylark with 3 on the tree. Later, my grandfather refined my skills in a '74 Super Beetle.
My aunt taught me. Mom & Pop didn't have a manual car at the time.
When I was in Driver's Ed, during the range portion of our training, the instructor asked if anyone knew how to drive with a manual. I was the only one. He designated me as the in-car "helper", for everyone to have a go at trying to operate a clutch. I e36m3 you not, all the girls did better than the best of the guys.
I love that I can drive Car 1.0. I don't spell it O-L-D, I spell it O-L-D S-C-H-O-O-L.
Needing a clutch pedal to be engaged in driving is hogwash. I drove a 6sp z28 as a dd for 9 years in DC area then a 6sp s2000 for 12 years and now have a PDK 911. I am just as engaged on the back roads with the PDK as with the other cars.
My kids are required to drive a manual as a first car. It's a skill that needs to be learned, after that, I don't really care what they drive.
My daughter still drives a 89 T-bird Super Coupe, with a 5 speed. She's thinking about moving on to another car at this point, but is still considering a manual. My eldest son, drives a auto.
As for me, for a DD, give me a auto. I'm not interested in rowing a gearbox all day, every day. I don't own a street legal manual transmission other than the Samurai. The other two I own are track cars.
Tried going back to an auto for a year and a half, couldn't stand it. I just felt like part of the experience was missing. I spend too much time every day in a car. I need to make it fun.
STM317 wrote:Brett_Murphy wrote:What's a throttle cable? You mean the wires that electrons ride between the pedal and the throttle?ebonyandivory wrote: Bottom line: a manual is NOT old fashioned. It IS the most precise method of connecting the driver to the engine.Wouldn't that be the throttle cable?
Good catch, I really meant connecting the driver to the drive axles/tires.
Im 21 and love manual transmissions, non-power steering, crank windows and cars without AC. Guess Im old at heart 
JimS wrote: Needing a clutch pedal to be engaged in driving is hogwash. I drove a 6sp z28 as a dd for 9 years in DC area then a 6sp s2000 for 12 years and now have a PDK 911. I am just as engaged on the back roads with the PDK as with the other cars.
Sure, I suppose a transmission that sells used on eBay for $9k or $19,995 new could be as engaging as a $260-500 Getrag what with all that fancy pants engineering they cram in there to avoid having to use your left foot for anything 
.
There is a huge upside of young people driving a manual that no one has mentioned.
Rowing your own gears makes it damn hard to pick up ones phone. Think about that!
NGTD wrote: There is a huge upside of young people driving a manual that no one has mentioned. Rowing your own gears makes it damn hard to pick up ones phone. Think about that!
See my post above, while sarcastic, it's the future for many
As far attitudes from teenagers, I remember two things. 1. They are teenagers. Everything that existed in the world before about 2000 is old. 2. A large percentage of the "driving" they done in their lives was probably video games. Those rarely give the full experience of driving a manual.
My 15 year old nephew specifically asked me to teach him to drive a manual. He has cousins in Argentina and various parts of Europe. He wants to be able to drive what ever is available when he is visiting.
Honestly, I'm just impressed that teenagers were interested in ANY car (sorry, G_Body_Man). I've brought it up before, but the number of students in my classes that state that their parents are "making them" get their license is staggering.
In reply to NGTD:
not true, still very easy to do. shifting only take a couple seconds to do, its a minor inconvenience if using your phone is what youre after. its a stupid decision to do, not matter the car youre in
IMHO the moment you become old is when you look back at your glory days and call all young people lazy. THEN youre old. like others have said its only car enthusiasts for the most part who want to drive manuals. think of all the old people, like you, who drive automatics; sorry but its the world we live in.
I was talking to a guy at work tonight about this. He's in his mid 20s. I taught him to drive stick on my beater miata last summer and now he wants one... to hold him over until he can get a self driving car. He's not even a bad driver!
I refuse to buy a car with an automatic transmission. (unless it's getting swapped out for a manual) After the driving pleasure argument is out of the way, I see automatics as very expensive part just begging to fail at 150K or so. Manuals last basicly forever and clutches are cheap.
JohnRW1621 wrote:Cousin_Eddie wrote: My truck is virtually theft proof. 3 speed standard transmission with column shift.I find the real humor here that of this vintage, all you need is a screw driver to break the column casing near the turn signal and the engine will start with just the pull of an internal lever. Said another way, so easy on this to overcome the ignition lock but I agree so hard for the average current criminal to actually drive it way!Now you damn kids get off of my lawn and take your fancy floor shift standard transmissions with you.
3 spd on the column, no A/C, and a vinyl bench, but you have cruise control?
Raze wrote: You guys are so old and lame, I use my phone to have an autonomous EV drive me, when I'm not walking or biking. Seriously, who wants to live where you have to be in a car, and what's a steering wheel, gas and brake pedal?
It's like you are in my head! Only I know you are being sarcastic, and I'm not.
I love manuals, I love racing cars. I do not enjoy commuting to work, maintaining cars, and general car-appliance related crap. I would jump at the opportunity to have a car-free lifestyle.
Statistically, most car thieves are in their teens/early 20's. I'm more than happy that both of my cars are manuals, as it significantly lowers the chances of them being stolen due to an "old guy stuff" aversion.
In reply to Gearheadotaku:
220k and our automatic is working fine.
You need to adjust your preconceived notions.
I've spent the last week driving Audi's at work. Out of close to 100 vehicles 2 have been manual....
Now here's the kicker, neither of them were cool models. One was an A1 4 door, the other an A3 sedan with cloth trim. Not one spec or sports model had a manual so far.
I can totally understand why people love modern autos now, it makes even a dunce able to move a vehicle with relative ease and look like a vaugley proficient driver. 1 pedal to go, 1 to stop, no extra though required.
Being able to drive manual is unfortunately fast becoming about as relevant as being able to ride a horse.
Gearheadotaku wrote:JohnRW1621 wrote:3 spd on the column, no A/C, and a vinyl bench, but you have cruise control?Cousin_Eddie wrote: My truck is virtually theft proof. 3 speed standard transmission with column shift.I find the real humor here that of this vintage, all you need is a screw driver to break the column casing near the turn signal and the engine will start with just the pull of an internal lever. Said another way, so easy on this to overcome the ignition lock but I agree so hard for the average current criminal to actually drive it way!
Aftermarket cruise control. I removed all that junk except the lever. A new lever is quite expensive believe it or not. Something like 40 bucks. I'll get there eventually. That picture is several years old. It's much nicer and cleaner now.
I was kidding about theft proof though. This truck only has 71k original miles and I'm the second owner. It lives inside of my locked shop when I'm not driving it somewhere. And when I drive it somewhere, it pretty much doesn't leave my sight. I'm pretty sentimental about this truck so I am kind of weird about protecting it. It's never even been wet as long as I've owned it. If it ever does get stolen, Haggerty will be sending me a fat check.
NGTD wrote: There is a huge upside of young people driving a manual that no one has mentioned. Rowing your own gears makes it damn hard to pick up ones phone. Think about that!
It doesn't. I easily managed shifting a 9 speed Ford truck, playing with my phone and eating lunch in city traffic. It's not rocket surgery. As far as impressing anyone by driving a manual when I was a kid my grandfather taught me to drive on a three stick Mack dump truck. Exactly 0 people have cared.
make it one, dump trucks are cool
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