I know it's a meme, but I'm going to rant for a bit.
The MT version of the air conditioner is the two knobs, one for temp and the other for fan speed. The AT is the temp setting where you pick a temp and the air blows until it's that temperature.
And the MT is far superior in every way. Most car trips, you're not in your car long enough to stabilize the temp, and if you're like me, you never bother with anything between max cool and max heat anyway.
If you're not in the car long enough to stabilize the temperature, then you're close enough to bike.
“Max cool / max heat only” is for troglodytes. While I agree that the auto-settings are ~useless, the One True Method is to keep the fan speed on low to maintain airflow and adjust the temp for comfort.
That's my strategy most of the time except during prime time Oklahoma Summers and Winters. Once it's over 100 or below 10, it becomes a max heat/cool game otherwise it would do nothing to combat the temperature
Nah. I like just leaving it on Auto with 70-72 °F. It blasts the fan to cool off or warm up quick in extreme temps, then calms down once it gets closer to the temp.
Preach. I much prefer it heating and cooling faster than it throttling itself because you don't have it set high or low enough.
It doesn't heat or cool faster, this is simply the interface we're talking about. They both do heating and cooling at the exact same speed and power, and they both stop heating and cooling the instant the ambient temperature reaches whatever temp you set the controls to. The only difference is one is controlled by a dial and the other uses buttons.
if you’re like me, you never bother with anything between max cool and max heat anyway.
I am very much not like you. I want the air to be a comfortable temp so if I can't roll the windows down because of rain or crazy weather I set it to the temp I want and let the fan circulate the air.
So what's your ideal temp? Is it the same if you've been to the gym while your car bakes in the parking lot on a summer day? How about when it's been snowing all night and your windows are completely fogged and your gloves are wet from clearing off the snow?
You're saying in those situations, you don't just set the temp as low or as high as it can go and have it run full blast? How frequently do you need air conditioning while it's raining, but not to clear fog from the windshield?
Sure, I suppose if you're in the car long enough, you might want to turn the temp to a moderate level, and turn down the fan speed, but those are things you can do without taking your eyes off the road. God forbid your "auto" aircon is controlled via a touchscreen.
The transmission doesn't control the air conditioner
My 98 automatic truck has 3 knobs. Fan speed, temperature, and source (head, feet, both, etc.).
MT isn't superior in stop and go traffic in a city with a lot of hills.
Completely and wholly agree. I fucking hate driving automatics with transmissions that don't shift like I do. Especially ones that let the engine rev way up before shifting even when not really accelerating fast. Such a waste of gas.
Don't get me started on those fucking temperature settings... If it's 100+F, I don't want fucking 75 degree air coming at me at any point in time. I want ice cubes. I also enjoy not accidentally cracking my windshield with heat stress in the winter when the half-defrost setting randomly turns to high heat.
Transmission choice is very condition dependent. America has a lot of flat straight roads. This fits automatic transmission very well. The car can easily predict when you will want to change gears.
Conversely Europe has a lot of curving and/or hilly roads. This changes the dynamics. You often want to hold off on a gear change, due to road conditions ahead. This is easy in a manual car, but is frustrating in an automatic. You either change too early, and so have to downshift when you enter the corner or hill, or it over revs on the straights.
It's a dying question however. Electric cars don't need either manual or automatic gearboxes.
I dont know if youve recently used an automatic but my 2017 Audi A3 shifts extremely well on european streets, never had any problems or efficiency issues. I would say it shifts way better than most people could manually. Also with automatics theres not even a need to 'hold back on a shift', it can just shift and then shift back in a split second without any noticable change in momentum. I think what you are describing might have been a problem years ago.
Right. Modern, well-tuned AT can out shift about 95% of drivers on the road, in every situation. Plus a lot of them have sport mode and steering wheel paddles for manual control, if you want to roll that way.
It's definitely improved, but it feels distinctly different to drive. Also, not all cars do it as well as that, some (cheaper) cars are still quite clunky with it.
Beyond that, their inertia effects. If you're used to manual, an automatic feels "wrong". Therefore most car buyers buy manual. This means most 2nd hand cars are also manual. This makes automatics more expensive and so even less desirable. I suspect America has the opposite situation.
It's not about the shift itself. It's about how long it takes from the input of my foot, to the power at the wheels.
A great example is spontaneous overtaking. For my taste, it takes way too long for the AT to shift down, while with MT I can shift down before I press the accelerator.
That, and getting stuck in snow or dirt. With MT you can also sort of sway yourself out of a problem.
Anyway, preference, etc. Both has pros and cons, it's up to the driver to decide what pros matter to them.
You'd be surprised at how good the tech in modern cars is.
In addition, another thing rarely mentioned, automatic transmission works better with automatic security features, making them a safer choice.
Here in Norway they plan to phase out teaching just manual transmission entirely due to these reasons. In the future, if you want a driver's license, you will get taught automatic at least.
The other reason is likely that electric cars are all automatic, teaching people manual would be extremely redundant since Norway will be phasing out ICE vehicles relatively soon.
This feels like I'm being attacked for driving a manual clapped out civic with poor AC...damn I'm broke cuz
I'm in this meme and I don't like it.
I legit drive a manual and use a hand fan all summer. Not at the same time tho
It's more fun!
If automatic transmission had come first, manuals would never be permitted because it takes away attention from driving and is less safe. The only reason anyone considers manuals okay is because they came first and it's baked into our perception that they're a normal way to control a vehicle.
People will say that soon it becomes second nature and you don't have to think about it...and this is mostly true...but it still takes up 'processor cycles' in our brain. More notably, our brains are finicky and can easily shift what they are focusing on and what they are autopiloting.
Personal anecdote: I have a manual because at the time it was the best vehicle I could find that fit my budget, it's only real issue was being manual. I have gotten used to driving it, and it is in fact second nature most of the time. The other day I was at an intersection; the car in front of me went, and my mind focused on the shifting for a moment - my brain decided to put the driving on 'autopilot' instead of the shifting. In that brief moment, when I was more focused on shifting than the road situation, I nearly drove out in front of an oncoming vehicle. Had they not honked I may have failed to notice until a collision occurred.
That distraction could have been any number of things. A wholly undistracted driver is an impossibility. But in this case, it was shifting, something that could have been wholly unnecessary and therefore not been there to distract at all.
This post is hilarious. You obviously have no experience with manual transmission. Following your logic radios an anything you handle there should be forbidden too.
Do you have to look away from the road every time you push the blinker stalk? Do you accidently flash incoming traffic everytime it starts to rain? There's a lot of things you already have to do in a car at once. Operate at least two pedals, a steering wheel, a few stalks and buttons, observe and obey traffic signage, observe and predict the actions of other drivers, navigate, deal with passengers, adapt to road conditions, etc. There's so much to think about, and frankly operating a clutch and stick is easier to do than a lot of these individually.
The other day I was at an intersection; the car in front of me went, and my mind focused on the shifting for a moment - my brain decided to put the driving on 'autopilot' instead of the shifting. In that brief moment, when I was more focused on shifting than the road situation, I nearly drove out in front of an oncoming vehicle. Had they not honked I may have failed to notice until a collision occurred.
Clearly it's not second nature yet. Keep practicing. I know that feeling you're talking about, that draw of focus. It's not your brain picking a new focus willy-nilly - it's a lapse in your shifting muscle memory, forcing you to engage more consciously. I get that feeling every time I get a car new to me, manual or not. You just have to learn it.
Hell, I've been driving manuals for pretty much my whole life, and I can share counter-anecdotes of me having similar lapses when I had to drive an auto. Last time I did, I slammed my left foot into the brake pedal to instinctively press the clutch that wasn't there, and was momentarily distracted from the road when I tried to shift into low with the wiper stalk (mountain road). And this was a car that I had daylied years prior. You just need to get familiar with your car. Practice practice.
So you're arguing that anything invented for cars that make them less easy to operate would never be permitted? So like, have you never seen a sports car? Those are 100% irrelevant for road use but are still quite legal. They have lots of features and more you can turn on that make driving it more effort than standard cars.
And before you say, "sports cars have a purpose that call for those features". No, they don't actually. Sports cars don't need any of those features for normal road use and actually making use of many of them would cause you to be driving illegally. They are track-only as designed. But manual transmissions do still have uses that automatic transmissions fail to cover: Non-standard roads. High-grade hills, non-paved surfaces, cold-weather, etc.
My CVT does a great job on steep cobblestone roads in winter. It allows me to also keep two hands on the wheel to help keep the car pointed in the right direction when snow pulls me around.
I think you need a little more practice with your manual. If you're focusing on going, you should already be in first, and just managing the throttle and clutch. Once you're rolling, it takes no brain power at all to disengage the clutch, pop straight down to second and engage the clutch. You're not doing 16 shifts to get through an intersection Fast and Furious style.
Sorry. You're just bad at manual transmission... I'd argue the required extra attention needed to drive with manual transmission might actually be positive to make sure you're not zoning out
Man, so many people on Lemmy just don't live in reality. Everything some of you guys say is just theory on paper based on a vision of the world that doesn't and never has existed. The shit some people on this website suggest is just comical, like they've really never thought about what they're even advocating for more than a second and realized all that it actually entails. Y'all need jobs and bills to pay.
new copypasta?
I learned to drive with MT and now I drive with AT. It's just way too much comfortable.
It's also a cultural thing. Here manual transmission for fuel powered car cars is the most popular choice by far. People here sort of think that automatic is for people that can't drive or old people.
