Manual Tranny - why do you have a stick shift questions?

Whenever I've had people ride with me in my manual Escorts or other slow cars, they always think I've hotrodded the thing up or something. I say "nope, just a stock manual crapcan driven by someone who hates it."

I love driving slow cars fast.

Gearheadotaku wrote: Mine: Because I like to DRIVE.

So, to you, driving is ONLY wiggling your left foot occasionally and moving a little lever occasionally, and accelerating, braking and steering don't make you a driver. I see.

Chris_V wrote:

MadScientistMatt wrote: I've never driven anything with a torque converter that didn't dampen throttle response.

Then you haven't driven a domestic muscle car with a shift kit in the automatic. I have and there is no "dampened" throttle response, and in fact, I've found throttle response in so equipped cars to be enhanced.

I agree. TunaDad build a very rude transmission for a high school project. It would spin the tires in every gear change. It actually spun the tires a half turn shifting from park to drive at idle, too. I loved it.

Chris_V wrote: So, to you, driving is ONLY wiggling your left foot occasionally and moving a little lever occasionally, and accelerating, braking and steering don't make you a driver. I see.

Well...actually there are plenty of cars that will do most of that for you too... Before long the conversation won't be "Why do you drive a manual?", it'll be "Why do you still do your own braking?" I don't know whether to put a after this because I'm being sarcastic, or a because it's probably true...

Pros;

No one asks to borrow your car

I (normally) don't drive when a group of friends go out.

Cons;

If I do drive, I can't hand the keys to whoever didn't drink.

Why?

Because a 2 speed Powerglide is the suck.

Most of my car have been manual. It is easy for me since I learned to drive when that is all there was. I bought an '11 Fiesta with the dual clutch because it was different and new. After the car was totaled replaced with another. I have had no cutch or transmission problem. My next car will be a manual because the Fiesta ST only comes that way.

Wait, I thought no political threads?

Because I like pissing off motorists behind me with occasional backwards rolls and downshifting instead of using the brakes.....

Oh, and the single most important reason, so I can push in the clutch and rev at the lowly hipster in the Prius that doesn't keep right.

Chris_V wrote:

MadScientistMatt wrote: I've never driven anything with a torque converter that didn't dampen throttle response.

Then you haven't driven a domestic muscle car with a shift kit in the automatic. I have and there is no "dampened" throttle response, and in fact, I've found throttle response in so equipped cars to be enhanced. I love threads like these where the manual trans fanatics come out about how manly they are driving a stick shift, when even my grandma drove a standard trans car. My wife has a manual trans MINI and I drive a perfectly acceptable automatic trans 740i Sport.

There is something fun about a engine with a ton of torque bolted to a well matched torque converter, more so with turbo. A lightly modified 3/4 ton Dodge with the 24 Valve Cummins is a good example.

Cousin_Eddie wrote: If the people around you take issue with your transmission choice maybe you need to evaluate yourself as to why you've chosen to surround yourself with such twits. It might be time to seek out a new circle of people.

Usually customers so I usually throw down the Mr nice guy rather Mr stroke guy.

Chris_V wrote:

Gearheadotaku wrote: Mine: Because I like to DRIVE.

So, to you, driving is ONLY wiggling your left foot occasionally and moving a little lever occasionally, and accelerating, braking and steering don't make you a driver. I see.

Pfft! That's not driving. He just sits there and lets engine set the ignition timing instead of doing it himself. Hell, he doesn't even crank over his own engine, he just lets an electric motor do it for him. Probably not even able to operate the brakes himself, and has the engine help him do it.

Chris_V wrote:

MadScientistMatt wrote: I've never driven anything with a torque converter that didn't dampen throttle response.

Then you haven't driven a domestic muscle car with a shift kit in the automatic. I have and there is no "dampened" throttle response, and in fact, I've found throttle response in so equipped cars to be enhanced. I love threads like these where the manual trans fanatics come out about how manly they are driving a stick shift, when even my grandma drove a standard trans car. My wife has a manual trans MINI and I drive a perfectly acceptable automatic trans 740i Sport.

so you're saying that your grandma and your wife are more manly than you?

I like the 5 speed crapcans. I can find them cheap on craigslist since they're harder to sell than a car with an automatic.

Also... more fun. That's what I usually tell people.

I think people seem to be mildly impressed when they see my car is a manual. I don't think anyone has ever been confused or annoyed.

The best compliment I ever got was, "Wow, your car is a stick shift? I didn't even realize because you were driving so smooth."

ncjay wrote: Noone has mentioned this yet, but everything else being equal, a manual tranny equipped car gets better fuel mileage than an automatic.

It depends how you quantify that. With the new 8 speed automatics they are coming out with these days, I don't think that isn't always the case, but then again, the manuals in those cars usually only go up to 6 gears.

Yeah, the whole "more efficient" argument has been dead for years now. The computer knows more about how the engine runs most efficiently than you could possibly approximate. The manual probably still holds a slight gain over a planetary automatic at steady state cruise, but not enough to make up for the city gains.

A manual trans is fine for the weekends, track/autocross use, and the occasional drive to work. I drive too much to want to deal with one on a day to day basis. So, give me the auto for the workweek and a manual for the weekends. And if I could only have one, give me the auto.

At this point, the only streetable manual vehicle I own is the Samurai and it doesn't bother me too much.

I don't put much importance on what type of transmission a person uses. As long as they are driving well and paying attention to what they are doing I call them a "Driver."

novaderrik wrote:

Chris_V wrote:

MadScientistMatt wrote: I've never driven anything with a torque converter that didn't dampen throttle response.

Then you haven't driven a domestic muscle car with a shift kit in the automatic. I have and there is no "dampened" throttle response, and in fact, I've found throttle response in so equipped cars to be enhanced. I love threads like these where the manual trans fanatics come out about how manly they are driving a stick shift, when even my grandma drove a standard trans car. My wife has a manual trans MINI and I drive a perfectly acceptable automatic trans 740i Sport.

so you're saying that your grandma and your wife are more manly than you?

Grandma had a better mustache.

Out of the dozen or two vehicles that I have owned, only two have been manual. I have had just as much fun in my automatic cars as I did my stick shifts.

Unless a clutch is really stiff, I prefer a manual in traffic if I am little tired. I find having to coordinate all 4 limbs to get the car moving keeps me more alert and focused. At least I feel more alert.

In reply to Kenny_McCormic:

Well...that's...like your opinion, man.

Toyman01 wrote: A manual trans is fine for the weekends, track/autocross use, and the occasional drive to work. I drive too much to want to deal with one on a day to day basis. So, give me the auto for the workweek and a manual for the weekends. And if I could only have one, give me the auto.

Truck I used to drive for work was manual. 5 gears with a 2 speed rear. Yes, it was a "real" truck. I drove it all over the East Coast from Boston to DC, and in all the cities in between. Never had much of an issue with driving it anywhere.. except for the time I got stuck on the Cross-Bronx in rush hour traffic. Thank goodness that first and low was a real crawling gear.

In reply to mad_machine:

I can, I just don't want to anymore. I guess I'm getting lazy in my old age.

The only time I regretted having manuals is when I realized that the folks with automatics can install remote starters so when they made the 1/2 mile walk out to their vehicle when it was -20F and windy their car would already be warmed up a bit inside when they got there.

T.J. wrote: The only time I regretted having manuals is when I realized that the folks with automatics can install remote starters so when they made the 1/2 mile walk out to their vehicle when it was -20F and windy their car would already be warmed up a bit inside when they got there.

You reminded me of when I wanted to add remote locks to my Saab. Shop that wanted to do the work was insistent that they could also add remote start. No amount of me telling them that the car was locked in reverse with the key out could convince them otherwise.

They were all "we can bypass that".

Needless to say, my saab still does not have remote locks