Fiat Has Some Bad News About Youngins....

1966stang wrote: Actually from what I can tell a portion of the younger generation prefers porn to actual females as well. I can't understand it for the life of me.

Been to a college campus lately? I'm certainly not interested in chicks who are too self absorbed with their phones, facebook, twitter, and pinterest trying to outslut each other.

Seriously, you'd think university would be paradise, but now since everyone can just buy their degree, the amount of crappy people there is staggering.

Even my current girlfriend, who I love to death, I basically had to say when I am around, the phone is only for her work (she is on call), because if she kept ignoring me for every single status update or twit, I'd be moving on asap (this was early in the relationship). Luckily, she understood.

I have to agree with other posters in this thread. Whatever young folks have against cars is not so much about cars but cash. They don't have it. Cars are expensive. You can get a bigger bang for the buck by using cheaper options to socialize and integrate than cars these days.

^^^

I don't know about that Xceler8x. New cars sure, but there are plenty of used sub $2K cars out there that kids can afford to drive and own--- even with a minimum wage job.

This was nearly 30 years ago now but my first cars cost $350 (ratty 66 Chevelle)----- $350(ratty 77 Impala)-----$100 (ratty 78 Impala) and then I spent a TON of coin to get a 1980 Corolla---$1,600. This was in the mid-80s.

Craigslist is full of affordable transportation. I think it has more to do with kids just not wanting to leave the house / electronic addition.

I agree with most being said here, it was a pita to find my '08 Cobalt XFE manual.

Now a question, those that have purchased manuals new, was there anything left in them when you got rid of them?

I know for myself my DD will be manual, new, and driven to deaths doorstep. Therefore if others are like that it would be hard to find a used manual.

'89 Nissan Senta, died at 230k miles.

'96 Chevy Cavalier, traded in with over 150k miles (engine was toast, got scrap value)

'02 Honda S2000 is the exception as it wasn't a DD and I sold it with 50k miles on it.

'08 Chevy Cobalt just passed 100k miles and at the rate things are going will put a new engine in it before buying another car.

It could be as simple as car guys buy manual DDs, car guys don't get rid of their DD's till there scrap.

Thoughts?

1966stang wrote: Actually from what I can tell a portion of the younger generation prefers porn to actual females as well. I can't understand it for the life of me.

Wuuuuut? I could understand "settles for," but "prefers?"

But actually it is easier to pick up women with social media than a car these days...seriously. If you're too old to get it, it will be hard to explain, but I'll try to sum it up: Women are no longer attracted to cars, and social media is a great way to communicate, most Gen. Y women consider guys who aren't on social media to be weirdos, creeps, or rampant cheaters.

So whether you have a car or not is no big deal, but whether you're on social media or not is a big berkeleying deal.

Joe Gearin wrote: ^^^ I don't know about that Xceler8x. New cars sure, but there are plenty of used sub $2K cars out there that kids can afford to drive and own--- even with a minimum wage job. This was nearly 30 years ago now but my first cars cost $350 (ratty 66 Chevelle)----- $350(ratty 77 Impala)-----$100 (ratty 78 Impala) and then I spent a TON of coin to get a 1980 Corolla---$1,600. This was in the mid-80s. Craigslist is full of affordable transportation. I think it has more to do with kids just not wanting to leave the house / electronic addition.

Truth.

My eldest started with a free T-bird that needed an engine.

There is some truth to the previous poster that mentioned parents willing to run their kids wherever they wanted. My daughter still wouldn't be driving if we had been willing to chauffeur her everywhere. Lucky for me, I don't care if my kids like me and was perfectly willing for her to walk where she wanted to go.

GameboyRMH wrote: ...and social media is horrible substitute for real communication.

FTFY. Seriously, you believe that social media is a great way to communicate?

MichaelYount wrote:

gofastbobby wrote: I have a lot of married friends that can't buy cool cars because the wife refuses to drive a car with a manual transmission. I believe I've seen that same sad story on this website quite a few times. I won't date a girl that can't drive a standard transmission car. If they don't know how and I like them, they learn. If they don't want to learn, I don't date them. I don't need that much boring in my life. This could explain why I am a bachelor.

My wife learned to drive a manual tranny 38 years ago when, in college, our only car had a manual transmission. Since then it's been only manual transmissions. In '08, as she shopped for a new Mini, she asked to test drive 4 cars. Turbo, non-turbo in automatic and manual. With a bit of embarrassment she confessed 'it might be time for an automatic.' Her car, her choice. As we pulled out of the lot in the first automatic, the car went about 25' before there was an almost imperceptible shift into second. She looked over at me and said 'what was that?' I explained that the car had decided it was time to shift into second gear. She immediately moved left to u-turn and head back to the dealer (a 400 yard test drive). She said (I'll never forget) - "That's enough of that sh!t. I tell it when to shift - not the other way around." And she bought yet another manual transmission. Our daughter made one foray into the world of automatics, but after that, back into a manual tranny again with her last new Honda Fit purchase. I ruined them. One exception - when your 82 year old mother-in-law decides to stop driving and gives you her 12 year old/18k mile owned-since-new Honda Accord (automatic) --- you take it without any questions.

The upside is that once you finish school, you can just move to Europe or anyplace in the world not named "America" and find pretty much everything with a manual. Sports cars. Diesel wagons. SUVs. Trucks. All of them.

We're the only pathetic country that is so lazy that we can't even be bothered to shift.

My first daughter will turn 16 in 10 years. She will not be learning to drive on an automatic, even if she has to learn in my 1985 BMW, 1977 BMW, or Triumph GT6 (which I learned in when it was 20 years old, lol). She won't be learning on whatever newer (manual transmission) car that I am driving at that point, lol.

Teenage driving now is just flat out outrageous. And trust me, I have experience. Whenever I finish my 1965 MG Midget (street car [back to the topic of price, my father and I already have $6,000 in this car and it will cost another $700 to make it street legal. That won't even finish the car. It's damn near impossible to find a cheap car that runs these days.]) I'm not even going to lock the car at my school because the only other person who knows how to drive a manual there is my friend, who drives a 1st Gen RX-7.

It's the most depressing thing seeing brand new Mustang's and some chick who drives a brand new Mercedes Benz CLA 45, and they are all automatic transmissions.

And then there's the trucks...

Let's see... In my life I have bought 3 new cars for myself to DD, and all have been manuals. I will NOT DD a car that is an autotragic. The car I currently drive, a 2011 Fiesta, I got for a pretty substantial discount because it is a manual. It sat on the lot and they just wanted to get rid of it. The wife's DD, OTOH is an auto. So was her last one. She can drive stick, but doesn't like to, and she is really hard on clutches. That's fine, as long as I can have my manual, I don't really care that hers is an auto.

I like to buy new cars because I am paranoid about how well previous owners cared for their cars. I know you should just buy a car with service records, but that doesn't tell you how many times they have bounced the thing of the rev-limiter or done some other weird stuff. Anyway, that makes me one of the super rare people who will buy a new car with a manual. Needless to say, I am getting a bit frustrated at how manual cars a disappearing from the market. It makes me sad. However, one amusing side-effect is the look of utter confusion on the salesperson's face when I tell them I will not buy a car with an auto.

Now, my kids, ages 4 and 7, WILL learn to drive and WILL learn to drive manual. Then they will take advanced driver training. If they refuse, then they get to walk everywhere. However, I don't think that will be an issue. My boy (the 7 year-old) LOVES cars and racing, and my girl even shows interest, despite her being a girly-princess-girl.

Geekspeed wrote: and my girl even shows interest, despite her being a girly-princess-girl.

My 4 year old daughter is the same, she always wants to ride in "Daddy's Race Car" and she found my GRM Magazine in the kitchen tonight and insisted I read it to her as a bedtime story. Still went to bed with her Cinderella doll though.

I'll have her whooping the boys at the kart track before too long.

I'm 22 and I picked up my girlfriend almost a year and a half ago now at a stop light. Well.. technicially she started the conversation because she likes subarus and top gear and I happen to have an "I am the stig" sticker on my rear drivers side door window on my wrx. She said something about nice car and we should be best friends and shouted her number out. She's hot and into cars so of course I asked her out. And she bought her first car a couple months after that. A manual civic. And makes fun of guys who can't drive a manual.

Most of my friends can't or don't have an interest in cars or driving manual. It's sad really. They all made fun if my Miata when I first got it. So I handed the key over and said if it's such a girls car why don't you take it around the block? They shut up after that haha

In reply to ouchx100:

Pics or BS.

bravenrace wrote:

GameboyRMH wrote: ...and social media is horrible substitute for real communication.

FTFY. Seriously, you believe that social media is a great way to communicate?

Not me, but most people my age do. I think most of the stuff posted on there isn't worth posting.

Mitchell wrote: When I got my license 10 years ago, regular was about $1.80/gallon in my area. Minimum wage was $5.15. March's average price per gallon was $3.60, and minimum wage is now $7.25. Gas is up 100%, starting wages are up 43%.

McD Dollar menu up 0%.

How much has money inflated over the past ten years? 35%

Also, this site is my social media!

bravenrace wrote: In reply to ouchx100: Pics or BS.

He woke up about 5 minutes after that happened.

irish44j wrote: The upside is that once you finish school, you can just move to Europe or anyplace in the world not named "America" and find pretty much everything with a manual. Sports cars. Diesel wagons. SUVs. Trucks. All of them. We're the only pathetic country that is so lazy that we can't even be bothered to shift.

That used to be true, but in the last decade there has been a surge in the number of automatic, cvt and dct cars sold in Europe. It's starting from the top of the market and is trickling down. In fact, it was the European demand that drove Lamborghini and Ferrari to abandon manuals, and most of the Porsche's with manual transmissions are sold here in the US. The new Alfa Romeo 4C is paddle-shift only. Luxury cars and suvs are becoming hard to find with sticks--even in Germany. Their new freight trucks are automatic, too, even the big rigs.

rcutclif wrote: Also, this site is my social media!

One for the mag!

Xceler8x wrote: .... Whatever young folks have against cars is not so much about cars but cash. They don't have it. Cars are expensive. You can get a bigger bang for the buck by using cheaper options to socialize and integrate than cars these days.

Joe Gearin wrote: I don't know about that Xceler8x. New cars sure, but there are plenty of used sub $2K cars out there that kids can afford to drive and own--- even with a minimum wage job. ... Craigslist is full of affordable transportation. I think it has more to do with kids just not wanting to leave the house / electronic addition.

$1500 gets you a well used car that may have differed maintenance surprises. You also get spent money on gasoline that is expensive and insurance that can be really expensive for young people. In many urban areas you get the deal with horrible traffic to go where you want to.

$500 gets you brand new high-end phone. I guessing you can get a data plan with that costs less that fuel and insurance. You now have with the ability to interact with your friends and acquaintances.

As far as not getting out the house, when I was young, my parents told me to "Go outside and play with your friends." That's where the fun was. Younger generations have been told by their parents (implicitly or explicitly), "Don't go outside. There are bad people who will hurt you. Stay near me where it is safe. We'll decide who you play with in person, what you can do together, and when you can do it."

My girlfriend is partially paralyzed. She has no control of her left hand and left leg. She drives a '10 Accord EX-L with an automatic. She could no more operate a clutch pedal than she could dance the Meringue.

She has a legitimate pass to get out of the Clutch Club. The rest of automatic drivers are just lazy bastards.

GameboyRMH wrote:

bravenrace wrote:

GameboyRMH wrote: ...and social media is horrible substitute for real communication.

FTFY. Seriously, you believe that social media is a great way to communicate?

Not me, but most people my age do. I think most of the stuff posted on there isn't worth posting.

Ill admit, it's helpful for some things. Because I'm too cheap to buy and build a professional website (The online version of Grassroots to Glory right here ), I use the Facebook Athletes page as a " Website " (When I remember to get on to the page...)

yamaha wrote:

bravenrace wrote: In reply to ouchx100: Pics or BS.

He woke up about 5 minutes after that happened.

gofastbobby wrote: I have a lot of married friends that can't buy cool cars because the wife refuses to drive a car with a manual transmission. I believe I've seen that same sad story on this website quite a few times. I won't date a girl that can't drive a standard transmission car. If they don't know how and I like them, they learn. If they don't want to learn, I don't date them. I don't need that much boring in my life. This could explain why I am a bachelor.

My wife has driven a manual car a few times, all of them probably in driver's Ed. She won't learn to drive my car, but she comes from a car family and likes cars. Our rule is that we can buy cars we like as long as they make modest sense for the daily commute and we can afford them.

When we got married, my wife didn't have a driver's license. Growing up in Japan, it was easy for her to get around with out a car. As an exchange student in the states she didn't have money to buy a car.

To live in the US, she knew she had to learn to drive. The car we had was a manual. So that's what she learned. 20 years later, she still impresses friends and acquaintances when the see her drive a manual gearbox.