Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
I sure wouldn't be sitting waiting around just to save $5k on a car you've been dreaming about. Life is short!Still sitting out there waiting for these insane prices to come back down to normal...
I sure wouldn't be sitting waiting around just to save $5k on a car you've been dreaming about. Life is short!Still sitting out there waiting for these insane prices to come back down to normal...
I bought a motorcycle to satisfy my need for a sporty vehicle in the meantime...I'll survive...I sure wouldn't be sitting waiting around just to save $5k on a car you've been dreaming about. Life is short!
IMO modern 6+ speed automatic transmissions really do an awesome job. Even CVTs for city use are so much better than a 5 speed manual in a small vehicle. They also seem to last a lot longer than older 4 and 3 speed automatics. For the first time in 10 years I'm DD'ing an automatic and I don't mind it one bit.
Even in my hobby of going off roading - rock crawling, trails and (unfortunately) mud - the automatic works so much better. The only down side is I cant kill it in low gear to stop should I lose the brakes.
This is one of the main points the terrible article posted by @Passport1 failed to mention... The auto manufactures only install manuals in cars that most people dont want. The bare bones entry level models.
For some fun try an old English bike or early Sportster with shifting on the right and brake on the left, for a real bag of laughs try an old tank mounted hand shifter with a foot clutch, right hand throttle and left hand timing advance. HD had the shifter on the left and Indian on the right clutch was on the right on both. I have ridden them all at one time or another.What I don't get is most new motorcycles still have a manual transmission. Shifting a bike sucks but shifting something like a GTI or a Miata is much better. To me anyways.
No manual transmission option on the Corvette starting in 2023 ... the desecration !!The manuals are being saved, fret not.
The latest good news. And don't forget the new Corolla GR.
Here's a good list of cars with manuals.
There's something about a Beetle, or I expect also a Type 3, that just is a happy drive. From my personal experience with my 2 litre Type 2, VW perfected the feel and accuracy of their 4MT's on their air-cooled rear engined chassis'. Similar, I'm told, to their 5 and 6MT transaxles' feel and accuracy.If manuals die (I don't think so from a global viewpoint) it's not my fault
- I do own three of them and no auto currently.
I'd love to drive a Beetle or a Type 3 again. Had two 1303 and one Notch.
I sold my 2000 BMW 528i M-Sport with a 5 speed manual to my nephew. [I often sell my good vehicles to friends or relatives at fire sale prices.] Both of his teenage sons have now learned to drive it. On a recent road trip a stranger was admiring that now 22 year car, which left his sons beaming. It really is a lovely car.I prefer manual transmissions. I was recently in the market for a new car with a manual transmission that had a spare tire, an engine oil dip stick and that could seat 4. A GTI would have worked but they don't have a great repair record. A couple of BMWs would have worked but I like to keep my cars forever and BMWs aren't so good for that. (I forgot about a Subaru WRX which could have worked.)
So I bought a Tesla instead. If the auto makers don't make cars that buyers are looking for, they will branch out and buy something completely different. I did anyway.
Funny joke, but lest some folks not realize it is a joke - no, pedals are NOT reversed .You should get a right hand drive car, where everything is reversed....
Sadly I haven't owned a manual in 4-5 years-- my 1985 F250 was a 4 speed (3 speed if you don't count the granny gear which was next to useless for everyday driving) and that's the last one I owned, sold in 2018-ish. That vehicle was practically an automatic though, 3 gears to row through isn't enough to make it fun, and a 460 under the hood with 4.11 rear end meant you were shifting into 4th at 25-30 mph unless you like sucking extra fuel for no reason.Im another guy with a manual DD. Honestly, I love driving it everyday. 40-120 miles, highway, country, city. When I had just moved I borrowed my parents auto crossover to get to work for about a month and commuting was awful. Now it puts me in a good mood in the morning and perks me up after work.
Sadly I haven't owned a manual in 4-5 years-- my 1985 F250 was a 4 speed (3 speed if you don't count the granny gear which was next to useless for everyday driving) and that's the last one I owned, sold in 2018-ish. That vehicle was practically an automatic though, 3 gears to row through isn't enough to make it fun, and a 460 under the hood with 4.11 rear end meant you were shifting into 4th at 25-30 mph unless you like sucking extra fuel for no reason.
The wife refuses to own a manual for any type of family car (not that they're available anyways) and my current commuter car was all but given to me, so that made an auto hard to pass up.
It's terribly hard to find a vehicle equipped with a manual that has the right combination of size, performance, aesthetics, and practicality. I already put my foot down with the wife, that when my commuter car ('96 Maxima) goes belly up, some sort of performance oriented car with a manual will take its place. Problem is the current car won't die, so no telling how long I'll have to wait this out.
My daily driver, an underpowered 2.5L V6 Jaguar X-Type has a 5 speed manual.
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It's now a nearly a junk car, but I just can't bring myself to get rid of something I like so much....
The EPA testing regimen is downright stupid, in my opinion. Fuel mileage testing calls for shifting gear at abnormally high revs or roadspeeds, not sure which, whereby if you drive the car yourself, shifting gears for normal driving for normal economy, you'd shift 'way earlier. As a result, EPA tests of manuals 'way underestimates their actual fuel economy in real person use.I no longer have an automatic car on the road. All vehicles are now 5MT
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And 100% of the reason you can’t get a manual in the US are due to legal costs, flawed testing regiments and taxation.
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