• Meowoem@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    It’s funny manual is the standard here so there’s no ego boost to driving one, people always tell me it’s because we have more corners which has never made any sense (I e. You need to go into second or third at roundabout which I think older autos would have a little lag with or something, certainly not a problem in cars from this century)

    I would love an automatic, i think it would make my driving safer in several ways, for a start not having to focus on gears at key moments like navigating road changes and corners or pulling away in a busy carpark. When I drove in the US it was so nice not having to constantly be doing stuff in traffic that I wasn’t anywhere near as tired which again is a big safety issue

    • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      I grew up in the UK, learning on stick, moved to us drive a manual.

      i live in a city, I work in an office, I don’t have any hobbies that require something I can’t lift with two hands (except my piano, but I hardly take that around with me).

      I can’t for the life of me think of a reason why I would need a stick. its so pleasant to be able to drink coffee or water while driving, have an arm out the window, or even just being at rest driving.

      I dont get the appeal.

        • TheHarpyEagle@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Out of curiosity, how far do you drive on an average day, and what’s considered a long drive for you?

          I’m wondering if the popularity of automatics in the US is affected by longer commutes on average, which makes manual driving more exhausting. My personal feeling is, on a 5 hour drive to my parent’s house, I really want to be able to relax and listen to some podcasts without getting too weary to drive, but I’m not sure if it really makes a difference.

  • SimonSaysStuff@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Well, jokes on you because Range Rover do not refer to the middle picture as a “gear stick”. Probably because there is nothing stick like about it.

    • wewbull@feddit.uk
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      1 year ago

      You’ve still got one, it’s just there’s only one gear ratio, a pretty big reduction gear to turn the high speed motor into the speed the wheels rotate at. Pretty sure even reverse just runs the motor backwards.

      It’s the one set of oil to change.

      • Tak@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Does that count as a transmission if it doesn’t change gears?

          • Tak@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            But in cars a transmission is typically regarded as a device that has many gears that let you get optimal efficiency for the ICE. An electric car is more similar to a one speed bicycle in that it doesn’t really shift or change gears and I wouldn’t say a one speed bike has a transmission.

            Arguably wheel size is a transmission if you can get more RPMs and less torque by up sizing the wheel size or obviously the reverse. Would a wheel not be a rubber gear that interfaces rotational force into the flat road for linear force? Does that make every car have multiple transmissions via the use of wheels?

  • Jannis@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    Driving stick is fine, but I still prefer automatic. It’s just more convenient.

  • bigschnitz@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    All of these people responding that they prefer auto so they can eat or otherwise not pay attention in the car are the best (only?) argument for why everyone should drive manual.

    Whatever your transmission preference is, if you’re not engaged in driving you shouldn’t be on the road!

    • cizra@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I can drive my manual and eat at the same time just fine, thankyouverymuch :) I think I once submitted a pull request while on the road…

    • littlecolt@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I assure you, as someone who has been driving a manual for years now, I can definitely eat a burger and drive while my mind wanders heh

      • bigschnitz@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You don’t need to assure me of the blatantly obvious. My point wasn’t that you can’t eat and drive manual at the same time, it was that all these people claim automatic is a better transmission on the basis it facilitates their choice to drive distracted shouldn’t be on the road. I didn’t see a single person saying “oh I like driving manual better because it makes it easier for me to be an irresponsible road user”.

        • littlecolt@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Jesus Christ, I’m just goofing around, what the fuck is up with people on this website being so goddamn serious all the time?

          • bigschnitz@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            You came across as super patronizing so I responded the same. It’s not that big of a thing man, chill out.

            • littlecolt@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              But I even put the heh T_T me big American eat cheeseburger and drive car… How could it be patronizing?

    • Tak@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      You can eat and not pay attention with a manual transmission, I don’t know why we’d pretend you can’t. If you’re just on the highway cruising both are just going to be in one gear all the time.

      Either way, the problem is that people have to drive even if they don’t want to engage. The popularity of automatic transmissions proves that (to most Americans at least) cars are an appliance and something people do because they have to. Fuck cars.

      • bigschnitz@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You can eat and not pay attention with a manual transmission, I don’t know why we’d pretend you can’t. If you’re just on the highway cruising both are just going to be in one gear all the time.

        I never claimed you couldn’t eat and drive a manual. I said that people who claim autos are better because they make it easier to choose to drive distracted (alternative phrasing - who choose to drive like a reckless asshole) shouldn’t be on the road.

        Either way, the problem is that people have to drive even if they don’t want to engage. The popularity of automatic transmissions proves that (to most Americans at least) cars are an appliance and something people do because they have to. Fuck cars.

        Well, yeah, that’s always been the case. There are some enthusiasts sure, but for the most part a car is seen as a more convenient bus. But people riding the bus seldom choose to behave dangerously while commuting, there’s something about the mentality of these people (choosing to drive distracted) that is at odds with normal, acceptable behavior

    • bigBananas@feddit.nl
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      1 year ago

      This is why I trust motorcyclists more than cars. A manual doesn’t change this problem, a motorcycle does.

        • histic@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          yea I actually do cause he probably has more skill then the rest of the drivers on the road and plus he ain’t gonna kill anyone but himself if he crashes horribly

          • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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            1 year ago

            Won’t kill any other people nah, just cause irreparable traumatic damage to the car driver and the schoolbus of kids that drive by.

  • Scrof@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    If I was a driver I’d drive an automatic just to spite manual elitists. Cars are cancer anyway.

    • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      That would only help us. We can’t be elitist unless the majority lacks the good taste necessary to appreciate what we like.

      (I mean, I also think wheels are great but I’m not a wheel elitist because everyone agrees with me.)

      • mineapple@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        We have very beat up VW T5s at my company and sometimes I do exactly this to practice. I have no empathy left for these, I don’t feel bad for the gearbox. It surely will be the last thing to fail on these cars.

  • athaki@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It’s even worse now. My mom’s new car just has buttons on the dash next to the radio for park reverse neutral drive and sport mode.

  • IndiBrony@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Come at me bro - I TEACH people to ONLY drive automatic cars. Muahaha! I get paid more to do it than manual instructors AND I don’t have to worry about learners constantly making bad gear changes, bunny hopping and stalling my car all the time!

    • ALostInquirer@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      bunny hopping

      Hol’ up, you mean to tell me we could have hoppin’ cars all this time? And you’ve been helping hold us back? Forget bumper cars, I want the hoppin’ cars!

  • negativeyoda@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I got pulled over a couple of months ago and the cop told me to put it in park. I wiggled the stick back and forth to show it was in neutral and they thought I was fucking with them and kept saying to put it in park. Idiots

    • biddy@feddit.nl
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      1 year ago

      Isn’t it best practice to park in 1st? So that if the handbrake fails the engine brake slows the car a bit rather than it being a free falling projectile.

      • IDontHavePantsOn@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Late reply, but no, not unless you are parked on a steep hill without any sidewalks. Leaving it parked in gear puts a great deal of stress on the clutch. Clutches aren’t very fun or easy to replace. If you’re on a hill with a sidewalk you should turn your front tires away from sidewalk on the incline, and towards the sidewalk on the decline.

  • yojimbo@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    For me the only reason to drive manual was becase automats used to be less effective. With current generation, the computer with its 12 gears is much more ecological then my macho hand lovingly stroking my cars stick can ever be…

    • UPGRAYEDD@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      My biggest thing is that they make people pay more attention. I dont think better drivers drive stick, i think the stick makes YOU a better driver.

      Less eating, drinking, phone holding, texting etc. You have to know speeds and rpms for which gears. It keeps me from speeding knowing this street is a 4th gear street. When i end up driving a auto car, i will often loook down and wonder how i got to the speed i am at, though that may also be due to the fact its not my car and im just not used to the sensation of speed.

      On another note, i think on average manual trans are less prone to failure. I know alot of cars that have essentially been junked due to an auto trans problem, but a manual just needs a new clutch every one and a while. Though this might be less common on newer cars compared to 90’s and early 2000’s cars.

      • Alto@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        i think on average manual trans are less prone to failure.

        As far as I’m aware this is still true. They’re also significantly cheaper to repair/replace if need be.

      • Meowoem@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        For speed control I wish every car had easy to use cruise control and speed limiting, I hate having to constantly worry I’ve crept above the limit and will get a ticket especially on long boring roads littered with speed cameras.

        Imagine just being able to concentrate on what’s around you and where you’re going without needing to be endlessly worrying about engine revs, speed enforcement, and the potential cost of getting either wrong.

      • SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        And with the rise of EVs auto transmission failures will be a thing of the past. Except for the few sports EVs that for some reason have a multiple gears.

          • biddy@feddit.nl
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            1 year ago

            Electric motors have so much torque even at low revs that a gearbox is unnecessary for most people. If you can get enough torque for a fast start in 5th, there’s no reason for the gearbox, you might as well save the extra complexity and keep the car permanently in 5th.

            Combustion cars have gearboxes because they only work well at a narrow range of revs. Bicycles have more gears than cars because humans have an even narrower range of revs where they work best at.

            • ShittyRedditWasBetter@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              EVs still have peak operational variables, things like heat. Having 2 gears solves the heat problems. Quicker acceleration and better efficiency. Just because it’s expensive right now doesn’t mean you won’t continue to see them on high end vehicle and start to trickle into the mid range stuff.

              • biddy@feddit.nl
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                1 year ago

                Why is a electric motor overheating dangerous? Surely any electric car is going to have a system to throttle itself if overheating is an issue, and it will need that with or without gears.

                The fastest accelerating electric cars are single speed, presumably because it’s not worth changing gear when you only have 2 seconds.

                I can see why it might be useful in specific product categories, but when it’s not helpful for price or performance or reliability, that’s going to continue to be niche. The real problem electric cars need to solve right now is cost and a gearbox isn’t helping with that.

                • ShittyRedditWasBetter@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Nobody buys a 600bhp car to have itself throttle its performance. Well nobody with half a brain which says a lot about Tesla sales.

                  As far as acceleration is concerned most drivers who care about performance don’t really care about 0-60 these days. It’s about 70-120 and how they perform at the upper end. Single gear EVe suck at anything above those speeds. Only the high end models are fast enough to hide it.

                  Also acceleration isn’t power limited. It’s traction. It’s not gear shift or power that keeps everything with normal sized tires at about 2.5.

                  A second or third gear in sport cars will be a thing. There are plenty of valid use cases once you make it past, “this is a boring commute appliance”.

      • DarienGS@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        i think the stick makes YOU a better driver.

        It doesn’t make me a better driver, it’s a continual distraction. I recently switched from a manual to an automatic car and I now have far more available headspace to pay attention to the world around me.

    • freebee@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      i very recently learned how to drive. Learned manual because it is still the majority of cars on the roads here… Looking forward to the majority of the vehicles being automatic! It makes a lot more sense

    • AttackPanda@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      I drive a manual because all through the 90s a manual was a lot more reliable and cheaper to fix than an automatic. I also hated the automatic gear selection. It was always in a gear I didn’t want. I recently had a rental car which was a Ford with a 10-speed automatic and yeah they have come a long way. I’ve only ever owned manuals but I think my next car will be an auto. I hear reliability is good now.

  • Charlatan@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Wow. #1 ‘get off my lawn’ post of the day. There is nothing wrong with auto… It’s the drivers.