You guys have to end it

This but unironically.

As someone that literally spent 25 years driving a manual, including various stints in racing. Manuals have seen their day.

It used to be if you wanted better mileage, you drove a manual. If you wanted to be faster on the track, drive a manual (caveat there is drag racing.)

Today? The computer is just better at controlling a transmission. I drive a Camry Hybrid now and not having shifts is REALLY weird and the drone getting up to highway speeds is annoying, but I do like the 45mpg. Not to mention, when I sat down to learn how the Toyota Hybrid Drive works... It's a pretty clever system.

There are a lot of times that nostalgia gets the better of me and I wish I had a car with a manual. My oldest is possibly joining a skating team that is a 2 hour drive away. It's tempting to let him use my car and then buy an older manual for myself as a toy. I'd love to get a hold of another mid-80's Corolla GT-S. I autocrossed one back in the late 80's early 90's. It still remains my favorite car I've ever owned.

PUT IT IN "H"

During Covid, I put together a budget sim rig. Played a looooot of VR Assetto Corsa. Learned to drive a manual, then went and did a manual Porsche race car on a track in Vegas. It worked! It was one of the best things I've ever done. I was flushed when I got out of the car. It was overwhelming.

Anyway, I was ready. So I took the natural next step. I bought a manual 1984 Ford F-250 with a ~7L (7.4L?) engine, dual gas tanks that held more fuel than I could ever afford. It was a beast. Long story short, I was not ready. Oh, did I mention I lived in mountainous Utah at the base of said mountains at the time?

This is a tip for people that don't drive automatic transmission, if you ever try it, put it in R and really floor it. The R stands for racing mode!

I hate the knob. I can't decide if that or the Nissan "orb of motion" as Garbage Time put it is my least favourite. I miss my manual car, but I'm on the electric train now, as computery as it gets.

Funnily enough, I have a few friends who really think like this. Personally, having driven manual for 20 years before I switched to electric a year ago, I don't see it, apart from a certain comfortable nostalgia. Automatic is better in cities and it's a lot easier for kids to learn. Handbrake starts on hills? What a weird thing to be nostalgic about.

I suspect it's just these people think handling the gearstick makes them special. It's the one thing they can be smug about,completely discounting the fact that any old idiot can learn to drive manual if they just practice a bit. Reminds me of my grandpa who insisted that it's better to chop down trees with an axe and a handsaw, instead of using these modern chainsaws. He was a stubborn old dude.

my uncle learned driving with a manual and he said it scared the shit out of him because anytime he went up a hill hed start going backwards trying to get to the next gear 😭

I bought a new 2024 vehicle last year with a manual transmission. This will be the last manual I ever own. I don’t expect them to be around by the next time I get a car.

I’ve enjoyed driving stick since I was a teenager. It still makes my commute more enjoyable. A good rev matched downshift still makes me smile. I’m going to miss the experience when it finally comes to an end, but hopefully I can keep it up another 20 years.

Manual is hell for people with back or knee issues.

Electric cars have no transmission. If you buy electric, there are no stick shifts because electric cars only have one gear (with very few exceptions, and even then you'd just have 2 gears.)

Idk how this plays into the joke, but it's a neat fact.

Manuals are infinitely more fun to drive and I like to manipulate the performance characteristics of the car myself but they're probably going extinct to EV which is fine.

You're like a solid 20 years behind here bud, they don't even offer manual transmissions on high end luxury cars. People don't buy them. I get it, I miss having manual cars, and it's not as hard as people always complained, I could teach a dog to drive manual over the phone, it's really not hard.

Wife owns an automatic, it's fantastic for when you're stuck in traffic, but GOD does it make shitty decisions. Of course it cannot anticipate whether or not you're going to be climbing a slope, so it goes up a gear, but then when it struggles to climb it has to immediately go back down a gear, but you lost all speed already and it's raining and you can't pick up traction again so you slide back down the slope and try again. It's also only really effective for the most tranquil driving, and it has a huuuuuuge inertia when accelerating, like a good half second of not obeying your pedaling, which is 1.frustrating and 2.dangerous in situations where you have to get out of the way urgently. So, would only recommend for old people or people frequently stuck in traffic. The technology has ways to go still

You'll never catch me doing something that can be automated away, this includes shifting gears in a car.

But a car is just a tool to me, like a cordless drill, so i'm sure I don't get it.

Big oil forced that shit onto you instead of going the far superior EV route from the beginning. Now EVs are finally taking over and I'm happy my kids never have to get fuel grease on their hands and suffer those nasty fumes at gas stations. Shifters were needed for an inferior technology to work. I liked it as an experience when I learned to drive. But cars are mostly transport due to failure of better public transport infrastructure. I don't care whether they're fun. I drive for fun on the Xbox or maybe in a GoKart every few years.

Oh that felt good to rant.

All hail the Unimog!

As a classically trained driver I’ve found automatics make people drive worse because they have to think less. And they already barely think.

Daddy needs his coffee.

Seriously, the automatic is so much better for using a truck as a tool. I still drive a stick right now and I'm lucky I miss rush hour most days because we start and end early, one job site.

I'd never choose a manual for dealing with taking tools and materials around the Metro while the assholes I'm trying to service cut me off in stop and go traffic.

And IMO we need to start racing EVs, leave combustion for the 20th century old timer events

oshit I have been bamboozled by a shitpost

It’s been difficult to find manual transmisssions for a couple of decades here in the US. That ship has sailed.

While most of my life I vowed my kids would learn manual, I gave up on that idea because

• manual transmission cars are rare and disappearing
• automatics now are more fuel efficient
• CVT are reliable and even more efficient
• EVs don’t shift

My kids started driving in a world of automatics and will soon be in a world with no transmissions

I still hate to this day one of my parents cars. The gear shift is on the side of the radio and the radio controls(what isn’t touch screen) are underneath.

US: predominantly automatic transmission, low speed limits

Germany: predominantly manual transmission, higher speed limits and no limits on around half of autobahns (motorways)

US road deaths per capita twice of Germany.

Draw your own conclusions.

• Wanted to Start on a Steep Hill? We had a Tool for that: it was Called "Flooring the Gas while letting go off the Clutch"

IT AIN'T NO GOOD MORNIN' WITHOUT THE SMELL OF NICELY BURNED CLUTCH

I have never owned a car with an automatic transmission, and I am proud of that fact

Laughs in Allison 18 spd

My Volkswagen flashes a message when I put the key in the ignition; "Depress clutch to start"

So I tell it that the majority of Yanks don't know how to use it and it starts every time.

When car companies start charging for heated seats.. that’s why I stop buying brand new cars and go for older ones

You guys do realize this is supposed to be a parody of boomer bullshit arguments right?

Oh good I got here before the lemmy fuck cars brigade showed up

i miss my stick

The perfect transmission UI was the Teletouch on the Ford Edsel. And if anyone tries to argue I'll say "nuh uh," run away, and cry.

Lol that handbrake start is utterly useless if you live anywhere that's actually hilly all over.

You've got to learn the proper clutchwork from the very start or you'll be taking years on every hill.

Unless you're starting from a cold start on a hill without ABS, I guess it could a safety precaution.

Bought a new car last fall and looked everywhere for a manual, they are indeed getting rare in the US. Ended up with a Jeep Gladiator sport because it's a convertible 4x4 with a stick shift and so far the driving experience has been nice. You can tell Stellantis cheaps out on some of the plastic trim stuff and we'll see just how reliable it is after a few years. Would be sweet if Toyota would make a convertible or T-top 4runner with a stick shift in the US.

I've always had a manual car. I love them. That is until I ended up dating a younger woman and we moved in together. Several years later the manual turned into the second car only I drove. That got sold and we now have two cars she can drive.

One day I might teach her how to drive manual. We live in a really flat area with no major hills, so it shouldn't be a problem. One day maybe,

I own a 2020 Subaru WRXSTI manual and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

I drive manual every day, except when I ride my bike instead of driving.

Edit for accuracy, my bike is manual too lol

The driving school I went to would fail people that used the "handbrake start" on a hill.

And also fail people that tried to drive backwards by looking back instead of using the mirrors.

I used to drive stick in one of the most dense cities and worst traffic on the planet. My left calf muscle is noticeably larger than my right. Manual is enjoyable and freeing, but at this point I prefer an automatic in urban areas with heavy traffic. The volume knob shifter is still weird though.

No thanks. I switched to automatic shortly after I moved to Reading where I found in all the stop start traffic I was constantly dancing the clutch fandango and heading for having a left leg like a tree trunk.

I actually like the volume knob shifter. The buttons ones I can live without.

i like automatics for easier to crank the driveshaft

But what about semi auto/manual transmission like DCT (dual clutch transmission) or sequential transmission ?

What about those of us who use our triptronic transmission? I manually shift down constantly to take advantage of engine braking to make my brakes last longer. I used to ride a motorcycle so it made sense to me. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manumatic

I will continue to steadfastly drive only with my disease transmission

So glad I change gears to walk up hill