Dunno if anybody has mentioned these things yet (only read the first and this page), but there are definite reasons for driving autos in my opinion:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Any other MANUAL purists out there? (parody of Posmo's thread)
- Thread starter Atlantian
- Start date
Evel
Well-Known Member
Love your thinking :lol:
FTFY.
Try driving fast in the "adverse conditions" in my part of the world. You'll end up ass-first in a ditch faster than you can imagine. One of my more interesting drives home involved a RWD 1976 Volvo estate, visibility of less than 6 feet, 5 miles of interstate, 1 foot of snow, all in the middle of the night.
I had to navigate by counting the seconds between the reflector posts, if one didn't appear at the right time I knew I had drifted away from the side of the road and was out in the middle of the freeway. Visibility was so low that I couldn't see the sides of the road. I just had to white-knuckle it and press on while looking from side to side, hoping to see either the concrete wall off my left or another reflector post off my right. Not fun.
There was a big truck behind me that just followed my tail lights, he was so tall that he could hardly see the ground. When we came out of the white-out I looked behind me and counted about 20 cars, each following the tail lights of the car in front - and I was the pilot car for the whole convoy.
Not an experience I want to repeat.
argatoga
Can't Start His Wank
Whappeh
Well-Known Member
lol that guy is such a douchebag.
Jay
the fool on the hill
Yeah.
After driving in Wisconsin/Illinois winter weather for twenty years, I have learned how to handle a car pretty well in adverse conditions.You drive at a reasonable speed, stay off the brakes, and keep your distance from other vehicles. That way you won't, you know, put other people in danger. Like your friend, who had the right idea to get the hell away from you as fast as possible.
Yeah, we can tell.
I've tried to help you make better posts, but it doesn't seem to have sunk in. Enjoy your massive negative rep, and by all means, continue acting like a douchenozzle.
Don't do this. We don't want to see you drive and talk to the camera. We don't care what you have to say and it sounds like you really need to pay attention to the road before you wad up another car.
I've tried to help you make better posts, but it doesn't seem to have sunk in. Enjoy your massive negative rep, and by all means, continue acting like a douchenozzle.
Don't do this. We don't want to see you drive and talk to the camera. We don't care what you have to say and it sounds like you really need to pay attention to the road before you wad up another car.
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Vegitto-kun
Member
I prefer a manual, I just like it because its more than just slamming down the gaspaddle.
nothing beats doing high revs and doing a perfect gear shift
nothing beats doing high revs and doing a perfect gear shift
argatoga
Can't Start His Wank
You can drive without a clutch pedal. You will have to know your shift points. Stopping would be a bitch though.
On second thought stopping wouldn't be that much of an issue (I was thinking broken clutch). Starting from a stop however would be annoying.
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LeVeL
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Evel
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A bit off topic, but it looks like Atlantian's been banned now. Out of curiosity, anyone know if this was a particular post which caused this, or just him being a douchebag in general?
LeVeL
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Oh man, you missed out on some hilarity. Go to Random Thoughts in offtopic and start on page... 2006 I think?
And yes, he got banned for being an all-round dumbass
Evel
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I was wondering what those phantom pages were all about. :lol:
argatoga
Can't Start His Wank
He was an attention whore. Erasing his posts takes the spotlight away from him.
freeferrarisdonotexist
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Dunno if anybody has mentioned these things yet (only read the first and this page), but there are definite reasons for driving autos in my opinion:
1. My sister does by choice. She has tried driving my manual car, and whilst she can (although she makes the gearbox make sounds you never want to hear coming out of a gearbox), she chooses to drive the auto. She has had coordination problems (only minor) throughout her life, but these make driving a manual dangerous for her as she has to take her attention off the road to be able to change gears. Maybe when she is more experienced she could try again, but she cannot do all of those things without really concentrating and becoming a danger in traffic, so I doubt she will.
2. Some cars are only available in auto- eg our Subaru Outback H6 3.0 when we bought it (early 2000's) was only available in auto from Subaru as "they could not fit the manual gearbox under the hood with the engine". Check wikipedia on it, it has more info. And yes, that may change your mind as to buying the car for some, but my family had had excellent experiences with Outbacks and scoobies so that was more important than whether it is auto or manual (ironically, this car has changed our opinion of Subaru and Outbacks negatively, although I think I will post about that in auto annoyances :lol
3. Towing- we used to own a Quintrex 4.75m Bayhunter Caprice, and towed it with a '99-ish Subaru Outback 2.5-ish litre (don't remember exact details, I was only about 7 at the time). It had a manual gearbox, which was absolutely destroyed by the strains of towing that thing- an auto version of that car would have done fine. Hence we got the aforementioned H6 Outback, which towed it brilliantly. We now have a much smaller boat and plan on getting a new car soon (if I get my way, a VW Golf MkVI GTI), but we will be getting the auto (albeit DSG with paddles) no matter what. Towing is just not good with manual gearboxes in our experience.
4. Health- a family friend has very limited use of their left hand, which means driving a manual is out of the question- she doesn't have the dexterity to move her hand from the wheel to the gear knob nor the strength to move it. She, like me, is an absute car freak and would dearly love to be able to drive a manual, but she agrees that the gap between a manual and an auto is much less than the gap between an auto and no car. And I agree-I wouldn't mind driving an auto, tbh. I drive my sister's car quite frquently. For what I do (city commuting in varying traffic), it is fine and a manual can sometimes even be a handicap in some situations.
I know plenty of people who drive autos and I don't think any less of them tbh (except one guy, but he's a douche anyway)
1- Physical health problems of course make a manual out of the question. I am only opposed to automatics where a person is of normal or above normal abilites, yet still has one.
2- I just wouldn't have bought it. It is as important to me as engine power, economy, drive wheels or weight. I wouldn't skimp on any of those, there is no reason to skimp on transmission choice.
3- Towing with a manual is harder and requires more skill, but it shouldn't be that hard. Alot of HD trucks have manual gearboxes and do just fine, not to mention large lorries. It's not the transmission type, it's the individual one in the car.
4- See 1.
Spectre
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Re: 2. Most post-79 Jags were only available with automatics in the North American market. Thank you, Jaguar Cars North America... you fools.
It's not enough to stop me from buying them. Besides, car manuals are so clumsy and uninvolving compared to bike manuals....
Plus, there's always flappy paddle conversions for them.
Any other serious car, though... I'd be looking askance at anyone who could have gotten a manual and didn't.
Re: 1. I will always have at least one automatic car - as an old cop told me, "You can't shoot and drive with a manual."
On a more realistic and serious note, more than once I've been banged up in motorcycle crashes badly enough that I couldn't drive a stick for weeks after, but I could drag myself into the automatic car (in the last case, an 85 XJ6) and get where I needed to go.
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