This is really bugging me

[TallPaul]

Yeah, I occasionally forget to use overdrive on the freeway.

Left handed shifting seems like it would be very strange. Not sure I could do it without a lot of practice.

 

[Shannow]

I vastly prefer manuals in every application except the Prius (because that's a great design, and fun to play with - must build my hydraulic analogous drive one day)...

As to shifting with the left hand, I can't imagine having a clutch cylinder/linkage on the outboard side of the vehicle.

On the E30, I find having the gear stick and indicator on the same side a royal pain (most RHD cars have the indicator on the right)...if you intend to obey the road rules, and indicate coming onto and off a roundabout, fixing gears and indicators is annoying.

 

[crinkles]

Originally Posted By: TallPaul
Yeah, I occasionally forget to use overdrive on the freeway.

Left handed shifting seems like it would be very strange. Not sure I could do it without a lot of practice.


it is much smarter to chnage with your dumb hand (i.e. left)like we do than you guys who use your smart hand to change a manual. weirdos!

like shannow said you'd be wanting to drive a japanese car to have the idicators on the right (right ) side of the column

 

[Turk]

Shifting with the left hand and driving on the left side went well right from the beginning.

I was overly concerned before the trip to Ireland, but once I did it, no worries!

 

[Gary Allan]

How do the pedals lay out on a right hand drive? That would surely send me into some retraining mode. In a panic stop I'd be stabbing at the gas pedal.

 

[Turk]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
How do the pedals lay out on a right hand drive? That would surely send me into some retraining mode. In a panic stop I'd be stabbing at the gas pedal.



The pedal layout is the same in Ireland as in the States.

 

[1sttruck]

"The pedal layout is the same in Ireland as in the States."

Older bikes were different, which caused problems when switching.

 

[TallPaul]

Originally Posted By: 1sttruck
"The pedal layout is the same in Ireland as in the States."

Older bikes were different, which caused problems when switching.
Very old bikes like Indians and older Harleys had a "suicide shifter" which was a lever beside the tank. Suicide because you had to take one hand off the handlebars, I guess.

 

[1sttruck]

http://www.dansmc.com/gearshifters.htm

Most all current motorcycles shift with a lever operated by your left foot. With the transmission in neutral, gears are selected by pressing down for first and then letting the lever return to the center position. Then, hooking your toe under the lever, pulling up for second gear. Third and all subsequent gears are selected by pulling up on the lever after allowing it to return to the center position. Sounds complicated but it is quite easy to do. Things were not always so easy. In the 1970s and earlier, the British made bikes that shifted with the right foot. Some were down for first and up for everything else. Some were up for first and down for the rest. Then the Japanese jumped in with neutral all the way up and everything else down, or neutral down and all the rest up. To make things really interesting they also came up with a rotary shift, which went 1,2,3,4, neutral,1,2,3,4, neutral... etc. Supposedly this was to make city riding easier. All you had to do was shift down one more time, to get into neutral, as you come up to a stop light.

 

[crinkles]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
How do the pedals lay out on a right hand drive? That would surely send me into some retraining mode. In a panic stop I'd be stabbing at the gas pedal.


gary, from the left it is clutch, brake, gas, and i thought that all cars were like that.

so your dumb side (left side) does all the shifting

 

[65cuda]

My wife, sister and mother all have driven manuals at one time or another, but today with the automatics being on par with efficiency to the manuals it doesn't make much sense anymore. Also in town driving makes manuals a lot more of a pain to use. I know for myself even I probably wouldn't buy another car with a manual simply because I don't want to deal with the shifting all the time in town.

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: crinkles
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
How do the pedals lay out on a right hand drive? That would surely send me into some retraining mode. In a panic stop I'd be stabbing at the gas pedal.


gary, from the left it is clutch, brake, gas, and i thought that all cars were like that.

so your dumb side (left side) does all the shifting


Good. I was wondering if it was a mirror image. If so, it would be most confusing ..or so I would think. It's one thing to retrain your left arm, but both legs too? That would be a challenge for me. Just using your left foot for the brake in an automatic with any sense of proportion is rather difficult (if you don't do it often).

 

[ViragoBry]

Until something happens to my physically that prevents me from driving a M/T, I'll never own an automatic. I tried one in a 2000 Sentra and again in a 2006 Frontier, and I'm officially done. I was bored to tears.

What's nice about being a M/T fan is the deals you can stumble across when it's time to shop for a new car. Right now there's a leftover 2008 Ford Fusion 2.3 SE in Fort Worth on sale for $14,9XX which is a steal in my opinion. Very few people in Texas want a manual, which leads me to be surprised when I find one on a dealer lot. That's the other side of the coin. They're unwanted, which can lead to a great price..but they're rare.

 

[sprintman]

Manual BMW's are in hot demand and get a price premium

 

[John K]

I got excited reading a news release about the new Taurus having a 6-spd manual, but then I re-read it and it said a manual automatic. What fun is that? I had an 87 Taurus MT5 that I put over 200,000 miles on, and really liked it even though it had a 2.5L long stroke 4 that was torquey(sp?) but low reving. They say manuals don't sell but is that because there is no demand or they aren't available on many cars?