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Author Topic: THIS is why.....  (Read 16989 times)

Tommy Peel

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Re: THIS is why.....
« Reply #20 on: July 13, 2014, 03:33:27 PM »

It is, and I've had 2 of them over the past 15 years, but I really wanted the new A3, and it only comes with the DSG transmission. The stick is also not so much fun in stop and go traffic on the westside highway.

Mac

Yeah the fun of a stick shift evaporates quickly in stop and go; if I lived somewhere where that was a norm I probably wouldn't have one. Most of my driving is on Farm-to-Market roads and state highways with the occasional interstate so there isn't much stop and go.
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Samuel Rees

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Re: THIS is why.....
« Reply #21 on: July 13, 2014, 03:33:40 PM »

New A3s sure look fun, Mac.!My dad had an A6 which was always a great drive.
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John Roberts {JR}

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Re: THIS is why.....
« Reply #22 on: July 13, 2014, 07:01:03 PM »

It is, and I've had 2 of them over the past 15 years, but I really wanted the new A3, and it only comes with the DSG transmission. The stick is also not so much fun in stop and go traffic on the westside highway.

Mac

Yup, it seems we need to integrate cruise control with the stop/start to save fuel, and radar to automatically manage spacing,,, But I bet if we let HAL drive (or google) and all the HALs could talk to each other we wouldn't have stop and go traffic. That is caused by humans speeding up too quickly from stopped. I have manged to avoid heavy traffic (not by accident). When I lived in Atlanta I worked from home so didn't deal with the rush hours. My current house in MS is exactly 7 miles from my first Peavey office, without even a stop sign in that trip. 

Driving a stick in rush hour is even more fun if you have a high force pressure plate, that makes for a heavy clutch pedal that is even less fun to finesse for stop and go. Back in the '60s while living in Jersey I had a co-op job, also in Jersey, but going towards NYC so I got to experience the silly everyman traffic. Leaving my house +/- 5 minutes in the morning would get me to work +/- 15 minutes early/late. One time one of the office drones circled the two times a week I was late with a red pen on my time card. So I circled the other three days I was early with a blue pen ( I was working in QC so I had colored pens too). She got her panties in a wad and complained to my boss who said stop using the red pen.  8)

JR

PS: While i don't advice doing this you can shift between gears without using a clutch by syncing up engine speed. It's easy to get out of gear by matching engine speed so you are not speeding up or slowing down with no tension on the transmission it is easy to pop it into neutral. Getting into the next gear is harder.  You kind of need to estimate the proper engine speed for the next gear then jam it in... It works, but it is not recommended if you have a working clutch. OTOH if you have just blown your clutch into a million pieces so it will never disengage, and you have miles to go to get home, you do what you gotta do. Getting into first gear from a dead stop is a bitch... If you have a strong enough starter you can start it up in first gear. Or have some friends get you rolling (park on a hill)... Once you are rolling you don't want to stop so avoid stop lights.  ;D
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Mac Kerr

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Re: THIS is why.....
« Reply #23 on: July 13, 2014, 07:08:38 PM »

PS: While i don't advice doing this you can shift between gears without using a clutch by syncing up engine speed. It's easy to get out of gear by matching engine speed so you are not speeding up or slowing down with no tension on the transmission it is easy to pop it into neutral. Getting into the next gear is harder.  You kind of need to estimate the proper engine speed for the next gear then jam it in... It works, but it is not recommended if you have a working clutch. OTOH if you have just blown your clutch into a million pieces so it will never disengage, and you have miles to go to get home, you do what you gotta do. Getting into first gear from a dead stop is a bitch... If you have a strong enough starter you can start it up in first gear. Or have some friends get you rolling (park on a hill)... Once you are rolling you don't want to stop so avoid stop lights.  ;D

I had to drive home with a broken clutch cable in my 1960 VW bug. I used the starter motor to get going at every stoplight. I'm not teaching my daughter how to shift without the clutch.

I don't pay extra for the adaptive cruise control that manages traffic spacing, I like to manage that myself.

Mac

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Bob Leonard

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Re: THIS is why.....
« Reply #24 on: July 13, 2014, 07:25:58 PM »

I'll take a pound please.
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John Roberts {JR}

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Re: THIS is why.....
« Reply #25 on: July 13, 2014, 07:26:22 PM »

I had to drive home with a broken clutch cable in my 1960 VW bug. I used the starter motor to get going at every stoplight. I'm not teaching my daughter how to shift without the clutch.
agreed... I feel a little bad about mentioning it, in case somebody wants to try it for fun.
Quote

I don't pay extra for the adaptive cruise control that manages traffic spacing, I like to manage that myself.

Mac

For utility driving in densely populated areas (like where you are). I wouldn't mind reading the morning paper and letting the car drive me into the city in the morning. It might also be useful for getting home from the bar after a few. I think I drive better after a few but legal officials disagree. Reaction times are slowed, but the same thing happened when I got old. Lucky for me I did a lot of training with my reaction times impaired by spirits, so I am ready.  8)

JR
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Jonathan Johnson

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Re: THIS is why.....
« Reply #26 on: July 14, 2014, 01:13:29 AM »

I really enjoy driving my manual transmission Focus; it's much more fun than an automatic car.

As I understand it, automatic transmissions in Europe are about as rare as manual (stick shift) transmissions are becoming in the United States. Or so I've been told.

I've heard that European car rental agencies charge a steep premium for automatic transmission, because they know they can get it from the clueless Americans who wouldn't be able to get out of the parking lot with only a manual.
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Tommy Peel

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Re: THIS is why.....
« Reply #27 on: July 14, 2014, 01:38:05 AM »

As I understand it, automatic transmissions in Europe are about as rare as manual (stick shift) transmissions are becoming in the United States. Or so I've been told.

I've heard that European car rental agencies charge a steep premium for automatic transmission, because they know they can get it from the clueless Americans who wouldn't be able to get out of the parking lot with only a manual.
Yeah, I've heard that too. It's a shame their becoming so uncommon here. You can get them in some cars here but they're usually limited to bottom end base models and unavailable on models most people would want to buy. You can also get them in many sport models to though.

I drove a Dodge Dakota 4-cylinder 5-speed in high school and my first couple years of college; the Focus is way more fun than it was. :-) It's probably a good thing it didn't have it in high school.

Sent from my Moto X (XT1053) using Tapatalk

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TJ (Tom) Cornish

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Re: THIS is why.....
« Reply #28 on: July 14, 2014, 07:15:25 AM »

As I understand it, automatic transmissions in Europe are about as rare as manual (stick shift) transmissions are becoming in the United States. Or so I've been told.

I've heard that European car rental agencies charge a steep premium for automatic transmission, because they know they can get it from the clueless Americans who wouldn't be able to get out of the parking lot with only a manual.
I expect that will change, as modern 6-speed automatic transmissions are now generally more fuel efficient than manual transmissions - more gears, better shifting logic than the average human.

I like driving a manual too, but my commute to work and back includes an hour a day of 5 mph or less bumper to bumper traffic. That's not a lot of fun, and pretty hard on your clutch if you have one.
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Bob Leonard

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Re: THIS is why.....
« Reply #29 on: July 14, 2014, 07:46:53 AM »

I expect that will change, as modern 6-speed automatic transmissions are now generally more fuel efficient than manual transmissions - more gears, better shifting logic than the average human.

I like driving a manual too, but my commute to work and back includes an hour a day of 5 mph or less bumper to bumper traffic. That's not a lot of fun, and pretty hard on your clutch if you have one.

100% correct Tom. No way could I work a clutch all day long with my job. I did it once with a truck I owned and promptly sold that truck within the year. In city delivery trucks all use automatic transmissions now, and even some of the fastest production cars are going automatic with and 8 speed transmissions for all the reasons you state. Many racing cars are almost there with paddle shifters located on the wheel, and some 300mph 1/4 mile cars use two speed automatics of one form or another. My own truck, a 2013 Explorer, has a 6 speed mated to a 300hp V6. It's not a race car, but shifting can also be done manually using a push button on the shifter. That and the 7000 rpm shift speeds makes for a pretty snappy of the line start.

My wish is that Ford, like Chrysler, would offer an automatic in their 600hp cars. That way I won't exclude my wife in the purchase decision and I'll have a better chance of owning the Mustang I want.

Another point now that I've mentioned the wife. I owned a 73' Malibu I bought after Vietnam. I took the car to Florida with me and after about 6-8 months the engine had been rebuilt and dyno'd at "Smokey's Best Damn Garage in Town" to just under 750hp. Back then that was huge hp, and this car was everything I thought of while in VN. I met my wife and after about a year she talked me into putting a B&M automatic transmission, line lock, etc. into the car so she could drive it, so back to "Smokey's Best Damn Garage in Town" it went. (I had plenty of war money to blow.) She could drive it alright, with both feet on the brake at a stop light. Just like a line array automatics fill a need in every type of vehicle.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokey_Yunick
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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: THIS is why.....
« Reply #29 on: July 14, 2014, 07:46:53 AM »


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