Manual = penis extension

good memories learning to drive that way

The thing that bothers me most about the new hybrids and super efficient vehicles is that they all have effing CVT instead of manual. Without manual, I tend to arrive places without any memory of the drive. Manual keeps me involved in driving.

/am a girl
//know more girls who can drive a stick than boys

Stanbot:
/am a girl
//know more girls who can drive a stick than boys

One of the reasons I married my wife was her ability to handle a stick...

... and drive a manual transmission.

/bah dum dum

Stanbot: //know more girls who can drive a stick than boys

How YOU doin'?

Fark needs a homoerotic tag for these type of stories.

I think I've seen a car or two with automatic gear-shift

Whatcha all talking about?

If you cannot drive a manual you need to turn in your Man Card and declare yourself a "Nancy" for all related male abilities and start sitting down to urinate.

If female and have owned and operated a vehicle that had a manual, please retrieve Man Card from said Nancy and ask him how he liked his Vanity Mirror.

/Thank you.

Maybe in America. But I think that in Europe, where normal people buy basic cars (not ones with $2-4K+ automatic-manual shifting systems), manuals will be around for a very long time.

I thought that in the States, nearly all cars were already automatics, and that the only people who drove manuals were sports car fans. Out of my friends, I know that only a handful of them can drive stick.

I never understood the reason for driving manual. Unless it's some kinda construction/Hauling thing.

I wish I learned on an manual, but really I don't understand the need for it anymore.

Stanbot:
/am a girl
//know more girls who can drive a stick than boys



Agreed.. Every car I've ever had has been a stick shift :)

Makes me feel like everyday is the Indy 500! :P

/Vrooooooooooooooooom

My car has a 6-speed stick. Great anti theft device. How many times have we read about car jackers who can't drive a stick?

I've bought two automatics. I apparently drive like a madman, because they burn out so farking fast.

My old Toyota pickup with the manual transmission ran forever.

Darth_Lukecash: I never understood the reason for driving manual.

For one it is much easier to give annoying passengers an unpleasant ride without having to drive recklessly :)

I can drive a manual, but I prefer auto, so sue me.

pffft manual, automatic? worthless distinctions of pride for little people who cannot afford chauffeurs

/in my bentley slathering grey poupon on my balls

The new computer controlled transmissions will help you achieve lower lap times on track days, but at the expense of driving pleasure on every other day. A good manual transmission will always enhance driving pleasure.

My current car is the first automatic I've driven since I turned 16 (many years).

Whereas I like the ease of driving, I miss the control of a manual. Especially in the snow.

It's too early for me to make some penis joke.

FTFA

Manually shifted transmissions are an endangered species. In 1980, more than 35 percent of cars sold had a stick; in 2007 the number had dropped to 7.7 percent.

What!! 7.7 percent??

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!!

Oh, wait....

A Michigan native raised and forged in Detroit and a former auto critic at the Detroit Free Press, Lawrence Ulrich now lives in Brooklyn, New York.

USA, phew - who cares.

Likes cars that go around corners, not fat armchairs on wheels.

3 pedals? That's like a baby's toy
(couldn't find a picture of those damn kids, sorry)

I've owned exactly one automatic in my life. When the transmission went out the third time I just parked it and left the kys in the ignition and the title in the glove box.

My 2001 Toyota Tacoma has manual transmission. So did my 1978 and 1990 Toyota trucks. Besides the gear shifter, the 2001 Tacoma also has a small shifter for 2WD -4WD(High)-4WD(Low).

If you think that's alot to keep up with, try driving a dump truck.

If you don't know how to handle your stick
/forgot where I was going with this

Half Man Half Biscuit: Likes cars that go around corners, not fat armchairs on wheels.

Just remember that next time our silly corvettes and vipers beat your blessed ferraris AGAIN.

There's nothing like watching everybody's favorite car sucking the exhaust of an American classic (and then catch on fire).

Would be scared to have an automatic transmission in my 450 hp beast. Besides, real men grow up with alot of clutch, dirtbikes and such.

Automatic transmission = vaginal expansion.

I'm a controls engineer, so I am totally not sad about this. People who drive sticks are dinosaurs. Your pitiful human reaction times are no match for my spiffy embedded control computer that can shift faster and more optimally than you.

(Technically speaking, right now, the only advantage a manual has over a decent automatic is earlier anticipation. A human can downshift when they see a steep hill approaching, whereas a computer doesn't know there's a hill until the car's already on it.)

Manuals are more fun, but they are also simply inferior ro modern stuff.

Riding a horse is fun too, but it's not sad that we don't use them for serious trasnport anymore.

Mad Scientist: My car has a 6-speed stick. Great anti theft device. How many times have we read about car jackers who can't drive a stick?

Didn't stop the assholes who stole my car.


/Learned to drive a stick at 21.
//about ten years after I learned to shift my own stick

Manuals are for Drivers. Autos are for people who'd like to think that they can drive.

/far too many idiots on the road that cant drive
// wonders how said idiots got license in first place

aerojockey: I'm a controls engineer, so I am totally not sad about this. People who drive sticks are dinosaurs. Your pitiful human reaction times are no match for my spiffy embedded control computer that can shift faster and more optimally than you.

So you're saying that when I get all nostalgic, I shouldn't be accelerating by switching from 1-2-3-D in my automatic? Because sometimes I do.

I ALMOST bought a manual, but I do too much city driving for the fun to outweigh the constant 1-2-1-2-1.

Arcanum: Manuals are more fun, but they are also simply inferior ro modern stuff.

Riding a horse is fun too, but it's not sad that we don't use them for serious trasnport anymore.

ride this horse??? (new window)

Half Man Half Biscuit: FTFA

Manually shifted transmissions are an endangered species. In 1980, more than 35 percent of cars sold had a stick; in 2007 the number had dropped to 7.7 percent.

What!! 7.7 percent??

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!!

Oh, wait....

A Michigan native raised and forged in Detroit and a former auto critic at the Detroit Free Press, Lawrence Ulrich now lives in Brooklyn, New York.

USA, phew - who cares.

Likes cars that go around corners, not fat armchairs on wheels.

my sentiments exactly, the yanks inhabit their own little world

wrenchboy: Arcanum: Manuals are more fun, but they are also simply inferior ro modern stuff.

Riding a horse is fun too, but it's not sad that we don't use them for serious trasnport anymore.

ride this horse??? (new window)

why wouldn't you? are you teh ghey?

I hope manuals don't disapear, I happen to be prefer them just for the feeling of shifting through the gears, and I'm hardly a petrol head.

Incidently, in the UK people tend to learn in manuals as if you don't take your test in an automatic you only get an "automatic licence", which means you're not allowed to even drive a manual. As well as the practicle aspect of the restriction having an automatic licence is considered to be a bit weak, especially for anyone who learnt before they're 50th birthday.

cheap_thoughts: Manual = penis extension


Bullshiat. Manual= Cheaper to buy, cheaper to maintain. Requires
more than a modicum of skill to drive.


/penis on the brain?

ThatGuyOverThere

So you're saying that when I get all nostalgic, I shouldn't be accelerating by switching from 1-2-3-D in my automatic? Because sometimes I do.

You can do whatever you want. You just shouldn't believe that you can do it better than my digital electronic control system. Your pitiful neurotransmitter-based central nervous system and myofibril-based musculature is no match for my 16-digit precision embedded control and pinpoint accurate electronic actuators.

I drive a stick, but I'd save my sadness for the loss of traditions that really matter, such as those on whose existence the perpetuation of civilization depends.

Jedekai: If you cannot drive a manual you need to turn in your Man Card and declare yourself a "Nancy" for all related male abilities and start sitting down to urinate.

If female and have owned and operated a vehicle that had a manual, please retrieve Man Card from said Nancy and ask him how he liked his Vanity Mirror.

/Thank you.

Da? Ma?

Manuals are for people who can't handle a real car, just like Apples are for people who can't handle a real computer.

aerojockey: ThatGuyOverThere

So you're saying that when I get all nostalgic, I shouldn't be accelerating by switching from 1-2-3-D in my automatic? Because sometimes I do.

You can do whatever you want. You just shouldn't believe that you can do it better than my digital electronic control system. Your pitiful neurotransmitter-based central nervous system and myofibril-based musculature is no match for my 16-digit precision embedded control and pinpoint accurate electronic actuators.

Ya, all the race cars I see are automatics, right. All the best 1/4 mile times by a particular model of car are automatics, uh huh.


Just more of the lazy liberal kids who grew up being wussies. I bet you had one of those automatic Civics with the giant fart can muffler and tinted windows with a giant wing too.

Grassy Knoll Stains: Manuals are for Drivers. Autos are for people who'd like to think that they can drive.

/far too many idiots on the road that cant drive
// wonders how said idiots got license in first place

This exactly.

If kids had to learn to drive with a manual transmission here, there would be far less of them on the road. And in ditches. And wrapped around trees. You get the point.

My wife won't drive an automatic- she says it isn't real driving. She's so damn cool it scares me.

I started out with a 73 Dodge Station Wagon with a 3 speed on the column. God, if you can drive that thing, you can drive anything.

Doh!!, meant Automatics not Manuals - need a lot more coffee.

aerojockey: ThatGuyOverThere

So you're saying that when I get all nostalgic, I shouldn't be accelerating by switching from 1-2-3-D in my automatic? Because sometimes I do.

You can do whatever you want. You just shouldn't believe that you can do it better than my digital electronic control system. Your pitiful neurotransmitter-based central nervous system and myofibril-based musculature is no match for my 16-digit precision embedded control and pinpoint accurate electronic actuators.

Once the auto industry figures out how to bring the cost of an automatic to that of manual trans just then they may go away.

With their business in financial meltdown I seriously doubt doing away with cheap manual transmissions is gonna happen any time soon.

Colonel_Colin_Campbell: If kids had to learn to drive with a manual transmission here, there would be far less of them on the road. And in ditches. And wrapped around trees. You get the point.

aerojockey: I'm a controls engineer, so I am totally not sad about this. People who drive sticks are dinosaurs. Your pitiful human reaction times are no match for my spiffy embedded control computer that can shift faster and more optimally than you.

This doesn't describe any automatic I've ever driven. An arthritic 85-year-old could shift faster.

The_Warning:

What car is that in the first picture?

Driving a manual makes the driver more of an active part of the vehicle by putting you in touch with how the car handles. It simply makes you learn how cars work.

Some people don't need to know how cars work.

That's why we have buses.

Full disclosure: My 550i's (pops)got an auto 6 ... I'd much rather have had the 6 speed manual.

/paddle shifters are for quadriplegics!

I can drive damn near anything you hand me the keys to.

I've also had the giddy pleasure of driving while in the UK and Australia, where ya gotta shift with your left hand! (And I still wish I coulda brought that little Nissan Micra back home from England.) Yes, I reached for the window crank instead of the shifter more than I'd like to admit!

But, as I live in the world of eternal highway construction projects and stop-and-go traffic, I have automatics now.

Still, I am thinking of a manual on the next vehicle; they make a great THEFT DETERRENT!

seminole87: Depends on what you drive. When I drove BMWs I wanted a manual, with my Camry I love my auto cause the Camry is no fun to drive anyway.

The newer BMWs rock even with the auto. Still miss the push I got dropping into second, tho.