Save the manuals?
- Thread starter CharBaby
- Start date
Meh. I think it is badass. Each to his own.It’s an ugly truck. How about that.
Remember the Escalade version of the Avalanche? Don't see too many of those around anymore, at least here in the salt belt. I remember the ads for the Avalanche being really stupid.
I think it is an interesting concept. They look better with larger tires, the base models are kind of disproportionate. They look cool lifted with tube doors and the hard top in my opinion. If they offered a V8 I think it might be worth it but otherwise they are just way overpriced.
Yep - don't see them often but man they were $$$
Agreed. The engine options suck to be nice about it. Should have got a Hemi. The Rubicon looks great, the base models look silly.
And if we're getting that technical, the Ridgeline would be a crossover with a bed, not an SUV with a bed. People around here call Suburbans trucks...based solely on the platform bed or not.
So body on frame = SUV and unibody = CUV? Plenty of unibody SUVs including my old Jeep Cherokee.
4WD
$50 site donor 2024
CUT ?
You pretty much summed up my thoughts.
The Rubicons or a slightly lifted model doesnt look too bad, but to echo what you said, they are very overpriced as well. The Rubicons more so.
I wish they were offered in a 2 door. It’d look more like a Brute.
If we wanted to save manuals you would do the following
1. Eliminate platform laws that require a manual transmission to be retested @ $15million bucks for crash/epa
2. Reduce taxes on them (license/registration cheaper) like Europe does due to you “being a better driver”
These two simple steps would also allow manufacturers to offer different engines in the same body without recrashing
These laws are the only reasons modern cars rarely have much of any engine options because you have to sell a lot of product to pay the testing.
Let’s face it manual transmissions are already designed and require almost zero engineering effort to fit a given chassis, the costs are already sunk to provide what is an off the shelf item, its just the legal that is killing them along with killing “options” in general . (In the US at least)
Years ago you could offer an option profitably that maybe a dozen people would take in a run and car manufacturers did offer a degree of “customization “ from the factory due to the very low cost of existing off the shelf options
Heck the place I work can fit up and design a random transmission into our existing chassis with a few adapters and different mounts/spacers, it’s really minimal design time (under 2hours)
Too bad the legal killed custom ordering your car.
1. Eliminate platform laws that require a manual transmission to be retested @ $15million bucks for crash/epa
2. Reduce taxes on them (license/registration cheaper) like Europe does due to you “being a better driver”
These two simple steps would also allow manufacturers to offer different engines in the same body without recrashing
These laws are the only reasons modern cars rarely have much of any engine options because you have to sell a lot of product to pay the testing.
Let’s face it manual transmissions are already designed and require almost zero engineering effort to fit a given chassis, the costs are already sunk to provide what is an off the shelf item, its just the legal that is killing them along with killing “options” in general . (In the US at least)
Years ago you could offer an option profitably that maybe a dozen people would take in a run and car manufacturers did offer a degree of “customization “ from the factory due to the very low cost of existing off the shelf options
Heck the place I work can fit up and design a random transmission into our existing chassis with a few adapters and different mounts/spacers, it’s really minimal design time (under 2hours)
Too bad the legal killed custom ordering your car.
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I bought a new 1976 Plymouth Volare with a manual 3 on the tree, and because I have a messed up left leg, after a year I changed it to an automatic myself using a junkyard trany. Had to pull the radiator and get a trany cooler installed in it by a radiator shop, and I ran the cooling lines to trany. I used a manual choke cable with twist to lock, connected up to the kickdown linkage as I did not have the time during summer break from college and working in the steel mill during the summer, to pull the firewall mounts and linkage that worked with the kickdown linkage.
I also drove a friends 1968 Camaro with a 327 and 4 speed manual. That car was fun to drive. Once when I was having fun with it and he was in the passengers seat I laid tire all the way through 1st, eased up on the gas but not all the way during the shift to second to keep the RPMs up but not over-rev the engine and laid tire all the way through 2nd. I bet there was only about a 12 inch gap in the marks on the road that the back tires made from that shift. Afterwards he said "you know Jim, you can let up on the gas when you shift." And I said "I did but not all the way, on purpose just to keep the RPMs up but not over-rev the engine."
I swear that Camaro had soooo much power that once when I opened it up coming up a hill I was seriously thinking that I had to get off the throttle or it would be going fast enough to leave the ground at the top of the hill, so I let up on the throttle.
When the frame rusted out on that he bought another with a blown engine and we transferred the engine and trany to the newer Camaro. And when he finally sold it the person who bought it bought it for the motor and trany.
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Driving a manual will also make it easier to learn to drive a motorcycle.
I also drove a friends 1968 Camaro with a 327 and 4 speed manual. That car was fun to drive. Once when I was having fun with it and he was in the passengers seat I laid tire all the way through 1st, eased up on the gas but not all the way during the shift to second to keep the RPMs up but not over-rev the engine and laid tire all the way through 2nd. I bet there was only about a 12 inch gap in the marks on the road that the back tires made from that shift. Afterwards he said "you know Jim, you can let up on the gas when you shift." And I said "I did but not all the way, on purpose just to keep the RPMs up but not over-rev the engine."
I swear that Camaro had soooo much power that once when I opened it up coming up a hill I was seriously thinking that I had to get off the throttle or it would be going fast enough to leave the ground at the top of the hill, so I let up on the throttle.
When the frame rusted out on that he bought another with a blown engine and we transferred the engine and trany to the newer Camaro. And when he finally sold it the person who bought it bought it for the motor and trany.
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Driving a manual will also make it easier to learn to drive a motorcycle.
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My daughter's future father-in-law just bought a 2013 Escalade ESV in pristine condition with about 120k miles on it. He got rid of a Porsche Cayenne for it. He was tired of all kinds of mechanical issues. This Caddy has been well maintained, looks and drives like new, and has had no issues beyond maintenance. it is a darned NICE truck! My brother had a 2013 Avalanche and put a couple hundred thousand miles on it and sold it to a neighbor who put at least another 100k on it so far. It also looks new and he said it's had no issues. They were great machines. Both said they'd buy a new one if they'd make them.
I enjoy manual cars however fine with automatic. My favorite is DSG over manual/automatics.
With the reliability and efficiency of modern automatics, and the overwhelming demand in favor of automatics, I'm afraid the manual trans is on its way out except for some specific applications. I like driving manual in some circumstances but hate being stuck with it in others.
