Death to the Manual Trans !!

This guy does sound like a complete tool. What he describes here as a negative is one of my favorite parts of driving and if you have trouble coordinating your two feet then you shouldn't even be allowed to walk let alone drive a high performance car

"To start from standstill, the driver must coordinate both feet, using the right foot to bring up the engine speed and the left foot to slowly engage the clutch. At the same time, he has to judge the engine speed to anticipate the change to another gear. This he does aurally (listening to the revs) or visually (watching the tachometer)."

I have seen the future and I did not like it. I drove a M3 SMG for two years and just felt there was something missing. It is a great feature but was not for me. It seems that car makers are starting to force the issue down our throats but not even offering a clutch pedal on some new models and that is starting to piss me off

 

IDIOT! Did he ever think that driving stick becomes second nature and many people don't need to watch the tach b/c they can feel and hear how the engine is running. Plus it keeps your attention on what is happening, in an automatic you aren't as involved and can easily get bored leading to being tired etc. much quicker than driving stick.

 

Talking on the cell phone (no. 1 distracton listed by the insurance institute) while driving an automatic easy! Talking on a cell phone while driving a stick, impossible. So, people driving sticks arn't as likely to be talking on cell phones (no. 1 distracton listed by the insurance institute) which makes them safer.

How about getting these God $%$% SUVs off the road? That would help safety.

Jesus that article pissed me off!

 

Bumper sticker paraphrase:

"You can have my stick when you pry it from my cold, dead hand"

 

Ok, two things; First, the most important...

What car is that in the second picture...? The one burned to a crisp that the fireman is putting out...? The rear wheel looks like an NNO wheel... Someone help me out here...

Ok, on to the article... This guy's a real putz... i didn't read much more after i came across this wonderfully fecal piece of journalism: "Today's manual clutch is the same antiquated system that's been around for the last 100 years, and it's a fundamentally unsafe way to control a car."

i can't believe a publication lets this guy represent them...! The straight shift hasn't changed at all in the last hundred years...?!? Rightie-ho there, Captian Know-Nothing... Because the 5-speed in a, let's say, BMW 530i is the same knotchy, rigid, box from a 60+ year old **** can, except that the shifter is to the right of your leg and not on the f_cking steering column... [sarcasm]& when it comes to bad weather, i'd MUCH rather let a lifeless, clueless, works-the-same-all-the-time, automatic transmission make gear change decisions FOR ME, rather than doing it myself... Because an intricately put together pile of metal knows more about what gear i need to be in, in a blizzard, than i do...[/sarcasm]


After a few paragraphs of this poor excuse of a junior high school last minute homework assignment of an article, you can start to see that King Dingleberry here has no intention of being objective at all... This isn't an article (and i use that word REALLY loosely here) of distinguished, well thought-out objectivity, this is ego... The guy obviously SUCKS at driving a straight shift automobile and, since the inception of semi automatic F1-like transmissions, has masturbated daily to their inventors...

Take heaping piles of drivel likes this:
"The amount of distraction caused by downshifting, shifting while turning a corner, and so on is even greater. Heaven help the chicken that decides to cross the road in front of a driver using a manual transmission."
...and couple with it this bowel movement:
Contrast this process with the fine art of driving an automatic transmission. The driver slips the shifter into drive and presses the accelerator. He’s free to carve a corner without reacting to changes in vehicle speed or conditions by removing his right foot from the gas pedal. The transmission’s electronic control system monitors the vehicle’s speed, lateral and longitudinal acceleration; the steering wheel position and acceleration; and changes gear ratios accordingly.
...and you're immediately struck with the lightning bolt of realization that this schmuck is one "those" people... You know, the cell-phone-using, latte-drinking, Abercrombie & ***** wardrobe-having, poser sphincters that clog up public roads going the speed limit but brags to his friends about what a fast car he owns... This guy likes the automatic-everything transmission because its represenative of other areas of his life... Like growing up, perhaps... i bet his mother breast fed him until he was 12... She probably always tied his shows and now he wears loafers so he doesn't have to do any unnecessary tying, himself... He probably orders out all the time so he doesn't actually have to prepare any of his meals and probably can't make a relationship with a woman last more than a few months... Here's a line i bet comes from his own, personal experiences:
"The manual's mechanical efficiency advantage is always lost because drivers never shift optimally for efficiency. Engines are invariably over-revved, either though ignorance or the pursuit of aural pleasure."

Then we move on to other, more opinionated, non-sensical fertilizer, like:
"Why do enthusiasts cling to manuals when the safety and efficiency drawbacks are so obvious, and the alternative automatic transmission so well developed? Sometimes it's ignorance. Many enthusiasts have never driven a car equipped with a state-of-the-art automatic transmission, complete with electronics that adapt to the sporting driver's shifting preferences. More often the attitude is rooted deep in the car enthusiast's psyche: "I want to be in control" or "It connects me more intimately with the car". Strip away the human vs. mechanical rationale and Zen posturing and all that remains is simple, willful resistance to change and progress."
That whole paragraph was great, wasn't it...? Professor Dipsh!t here thinks that folks who go out and drop a quarter of a million dollars on a straight shift sports car, don't know anything about driving a 'state-of-the-art' automatic transmission... Of course they don't - 'cause they probably got to the f_cking dealership via their chauffeur...!!! They're beyond Maybach-esque comfort and Bentley or Rolls Royce 'state-of-the-art' mindlessness... They want a REAL driving experience... Yeah, i have control issues, so i refuse to buy a car with an automatic transmission; wouldn't it be easier for me to date some white trash junkie with low self esteem...? Thought so.

And then, folks, our prize writer ends off this Pulitzer-quality powerhouse of garbage with this hot, steaming pile of dogsh!t:
"Though admirably sophisticated, the combined manual - automatic transmission is a technological dead-end. By the middle of the last century, many American automobiles used variations of the semi-automatic transmission. None survived the development of the automatic transmission, for four good reasons: safety, reliability, driving pleasure and, above all, common sense."
Where does Mr. Know It All get his information...? What Fiedler-run site did he take his notes from...? The automatic manual is a dead end...? Sports cars equipped with F1-style transmissions, complete with paddle shifters, are far more advanced than 'slap sticks' from the 80's and 90's...
Let's go over the four ingredients, he says, are a recipe for disaster...
Safety: What makes an automatic transmission safer than an F1 transmission...?
Reliability: This is dead in the water. i can kill (and have, mind you) an automatic transmission just as quick as a manual or anything in between...
Driving Pleasure: Uh oh. Sargeant SuckAss was never told that DIFFERENT PEOPLE LIKE DIFFERENT THINGS!
Common sense: This reason just doesn't even come equipped with any f_cking logic, whatsoever; i mean, it's not even like the logic requires some assembly - 'cause there's just none there...! i thought this over and still can't figure out what the hell he means by it...

i bet 'Bob Elton' isn't even his real name; i bet it's just a pen name... i bet his real name is Jimmy.

 

Wow, what a moron. I think NNO did a good job of alanyzing the author's comments. It seems to me that he isn't a true car fanatic, so why is he writing for a car website?

-Keith-

 

According to this guy's rationale, we should all be driving Cadillacs that speak to us reminding us when the door is ajar, have rain sensors that automatically turn on and adjust the wiper speed, along with headlight sensors that automatically turn on headlights because 75 year old geriatrics forget to turn them on when it starts getting dark....

 

i sorta skimmed the article, and i disagree though im only learning how to drive stick now. and i'm doing it to benefit myself. as much as i hate to say it though, alot of drivers on the road cant drive stick. i have a feeling that one day driving a manual trans car is going to be unheard of sadly.

 

Probably the Titty Bingo car from Houston, I would guess. A car, incidently, that does not come with a manual transmission

 

A lot of hoplophobic comments here. Same sort of arguments I hear from anti-gunners. It is not now nor will it ever be the fault of the instrument used as to why things went to sh** in any given situation. It is not the cell phones fault, it is not the SUV's fault, it is the operators fault, plain and simple. My guns just aren't capable of shooting someone, I on the otherhand am quite capable. And my SUV nor my cell phone have ever caused an accident.

 

Does this mean that all stick-shift buyers will have to take some kind of pat your head while you rub your tummy test at DMV?

 

So rifledriver you're saying no one has ever been killed by a gun that misfired? Or injured because of someone being distracted by talking on a cell phone? How about rollovers in SUVs? Or increased risk of injury to individuals in the cars/trucks they might be in an accident with?

Give me a break.

Oh, and hoplophobic is not a word. Could you have meant say, hyperbolic? Open the dictionary. Or just go to www.m-w.com

If you had any kind of a brain you'd know some machines are safer in design and use than others. If I had my way everyone who wanted to drive an SUV would have to take an extra DMV test to show they were proficient in driving the dammed thing.

 

That page is a total crock. He is using words to get his point across but his words aren't backed up by fact or logic.

A direct quote:
"To start from standstill, the driver must coordinate both feet, using the right foot to bring up the engine speed and the left foot to slowly engage the clutch. At the same time, he has to judge the engine speed to anticipate the change to another gear. This he does aurally (listening to the revs) or visually (watching the tachometer). Listening to the engine can distract the driver from important auditory stimuli (e.g. approaching emergency vehicles), while watching the tachometer removes his eyes from the road. At the same time, neither foot is available for instantaneous braking."

It is unheard of for a driving instructor to teach left foot braking on public roads. So you are no closer to using the brake if you have an automatic.

Bob Elton is either a liar or a total moron.

Also:
"...it's a fundamentally unsafe way to control a car."
I say I can stop a manual trans car quicker than an auto. Perhaps not by much but the braking leans toward the manual if you can learn a simple step.

Also:

"Driver distraction is one of the major causes of vehicle accidents. According to a 2001 national survey conducted by the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS), roughly 25% of all fatal automobile accidents are caused by driver inattention. Although this research didn’t examine the role of the manual transmission, its potential risks are patently obvious. Operating a manual transmission is an inherently difficult and dangerous procedure..."

I say if you are an "enthusiast" than you are more attentive to your driving compared to a new teen driver, a Mom with 4 kids, a guy on a cell phone "NICE NO HANDS ON THE WHEEL BUD!", an old driver, a scared/ timid driver, and that list goes on and on and up my a$s. So there are dozens of groups of driver I would rather not meet than a "car guy".

Quote from as$muncher special:
" Once underway, the dance of the feet begins anew-- except now the driver must use his or her right hand to move the shift lever in coordination with his or her feet. The lack of a foot available for the brake pedal is even more critical since the car is now moving faster, and the driver is now steering with one hand."

I say And what about the left foot falling asleep from not being used at all? On a long trip people get out to stretch, this "non flowing" blood factor gets worse as you get futher from the heart, so the foot gets "sleepy" first. Shifting once in awhile is a nice way to keep it awake.
Also it is a nice way to keep YOU awake, driving with the cruise on at night is perfect material for falling asleep. Shifting/ listening to proper revs, gear is a good way to keep the brain working.

THEN THE BUTT TOOL WRITES THIS!:
"Contrast this process with the fine art of driving an automatic transmission. The driver slips the shifter into drive and presses the accelerator. He’s free to carve a corner without reacting to changes in vehicle speed or conditions..."
The driver doesn't have to do WHAT?!?!?! He doesn't have to react to changes in speed or conditions!!! Holy FNCK! This car is like riding Jebus Chri$t, nothing bad can happen! WOW! Sign me up Sally!

He says this about manuals
"Engines are invariably over-revved, either though ignorance or the pursuit of aural pleasure"

I say, So he thinks all manual drivers are a$$holes? FUNK THIS GUY!

Give me an auto transmission shifter, so I ram it up his shlt spewing a$$! What a C0ck Muncher!

O, and by the way, you can use stats to prove ANYTHING! Ask me, I work in advertising!

 

You people do know what satire is, yes?

 

Where in the article is any indication of satire?

 

People on bimmerforums have e-mailed him too

 

I should have read the posts before writing a reply, it would have saved time, but the anger within would have ruined my life, so there, it's out for each one of you to obsorb in a small fraction as to not destroy you.

 

You really need to see someone about all that anger.

And no a misfire by definition is a situation where the gun has not fired when it should have, so unless that angered the operator so much that he then hit someone over the head with it no one could be killed. And by the way even in that scenario it was still not the gun it was the person holding it. A gun is an in animate object and as such is incapable of death or injury unless of course you buy in to the liberal BS that people are not really responsible for their actions and that it therefore must be the fault of an inanimate object.

And by the way hoplophobia is the irrational fear of an inanimate object.

 

Yes, I'll give you that I'm still a little pissed about this article. So, I'll apologize for any strong wording in my previous post. Point given and taken.

Good thing I don't have a gun.

As for hoplophobia,

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=hoplophobia

I'll take Webster’s word that it's not a word over anyone’s. Especially since this guy :

http://www.usrepeals.com/ca/mtbpers/hoplophobia.html

Claims he created the word over twenty years ago. Twenty years is more than enough time for a word to be in common usage and entered into the lexicon of American language. Sounds to me like a "word" thrown around NRA meetings and very rarely used outside of that culture. If it were in use within the psychiatric community as a valid term (word) it would certainly have made it into said dictionary.

My friends and I would make up words when we were in college. They would be used and understood by a small group of us. Doesn’t mean they were actual words accepted by society as a whole. Therefore, not an actual word.

 

http://www.alphadogweb.com/firearms/Diane_Feinstein.htm

And she continues to be elected to office.

Only in Los Angeles.

Sunny

 

When you drive a beige toyota camry like his, you can't feel OR hear how the engine is running. He should ride a bike. What a girlie man. I bet he can't use manual steering or brakes either.

 

What got me most is his statement that because stick drivers listen to the engine, they won't hear emergency vehicles...what kind of crap is that?! Perhaps if he wasn't a brainless, incompetent dolt, he'd be able to drive a manual. Is his next argument that no one should be allowed to listen to their car stereos because they can't hear the ambulance coming?

Some people will just never get it...