Why a Stick Shift Defines the Driver

You're right. There hasn't been one single fun, exciting, challenging to drive car ever made that didn't have a manual gear box and anyone who doesn't drive a manual is a sissy. /s

Grow up. Let people drive that they want and don't put others down so you can get a false sense of superiority.

At the end of the day if it puts a smile on your face, it doesn't matter what you drive. Can we just leave it at that?

My $0.02.

 

Careful, he'll sue you.

 

Haha what?

 

I miss the rotary phones. Especially when 10 digits needed to be dialed and high numeral digits. Click, click click ... clack, clack, clack... those were the days. Good 'ole Johnny chaser wishes he had paddles as the advantage to pass that clunky shifting von Neumann.

 

Google. He's his own client in many interesting publicly available lawsuits. Ever hear the band TaTu?

 

I just like to drive a stick v paddles. But it seems that I'm more and more in the minority.

 

Each to his own.
I started a thread entitled "Last Manual Transmission Ferrari" (or something similar) back when the last one was being made. Numerous people called me a dinosaur & accused me of longing for the days of a crank to start a car. I thought it was all pretty funny, & I still do.
Personally, for a road car what lights me up is involvement with the vehicle, and to some extent the less the car does on its own the more I feel involved, so you know where I fit into this discourse.
It is interesting that prices of late model manual trans Ferraris have gone stratospheric, so apparently some others feel the same way. Having said all of this jibberish, I readily acknowledge that paddle shift sports cars lap a track faster than manuals.

 

Huh....interesting!

 

BTW, Enzo91, for your 12th post that was quite a zinger!

 

Are you seriously comparing rotary phones to manual transmission?

 

If you are going to get paddle shifting, why not just get an automatic?

My Toyota highlander has an automatic, which I can manually shift up and down... So does my BMW... So did my boxster...

But I just leave it in automatic... whats the point?



Paddle shifters are faster, better, safer...

And a digital picture is better than a hand painted one...

And a new mass produced rifle is better than a hand made one...

And a Toyota is way better than any 308 ever was...

And plastic bottles are better than the glass coke bottle we had as a kid...

And a 10$ digital watch is more accurate than a rolex...

And a digital stairmaster in a gym is way better than running outside...

And PDF is ay better than holding a written magazine...


Or, are they?

If the point is just to get the job done as efficiently and technically correct as possible, we would never bother with hot sweaty sex... that's old school...we would just all have our loved ones artificially inseminated...

Sometimes the means justifies the act

 

I'm with you. However, after driving a 458, I get it. Paddles really are better suited to cars of that capability.


Mark

 

Yes. But a California would be great with a stick.

 

So would a 458, IMO

 

Not having a stick is the one thing that would keep me from ever buying one


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I would love to see Ferrari offer MT again on their luxury sports cars. But I'm sure most of their typical "New" buyers probably would not be able to drive them. That is the paradox we face, with most of the true enthusiast stuck in the "used" purchase group.

Porsche consistently offers both on all sports cars and even Jaguar has expanded its MT options on their very popular F Type model range. Porsche also yielded to angry enthusiasts and once again is offering MT on their 911 GT3 model, at the risk of screwing over the 911R collectors; most of whom probably purchased for investment purposes.

Regardless, I hope some day Ferrari does offer a Dino type car with Manual that is priced at the level where many enthusiast can get them.

 

This is a new topic/debate...I'll be watching closely for the TRUTH to come out. Where is my popcorn...

 

tastes great !
no
less filling !

 

I agree.

Like Texas Forever, that is one thing that is holding me back...

 

Actually, why not just install a CVT in all of them and eliminate shifting altogether?

Easier, faster, better gas mileage, what's not to like?

BTW, owned both stick and paddles, like both. What I don't like is when they mate "fakey-do paddle shifters" to a standard automatic transmission slush box.

D

 

Now that is a car that could use a manual.



Mark

 

Rotary phones are way more fun than driving a stick.

Racing wise the need for heel toe driving is eliminated by paddles, and auto rev matching makes it completely unnecessary-but if you are doing this in a newer gated 430 for instance that's a lot of car ($$) you are pushing to the edge so you should probably think about getting a paddle car or a non Ferrari stick dedicated track car unless money really is no issue. Also, if you're buying a newer Fcar part of what you are paying for is R&D, time, energy, racing experience, etc the manufacturer put into it hence that super fast f1 gear box.

That said I really would like to drive the crap out of a gated 430 on a track, but the reality is I'd probably be much more comfortable driving the paddle car especially if I owned them!

 

There's got to be a way to convert these F1 cars to manual even if no manual version existed. Yeah the car would lose a lot of value, but if you don't plan on selling who cares.

 

For people who really can't drive .... I agree with you.