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pylon · 12-31-2020, 01:22 PM

I'm torn on manual transmissions.

I absolutely love them, and will always buy one if it's an option in a performance car. Yes, now that means slower. But 0-60 in 3.4 vs 3.9.... the average duck will never tell the difference, and the drama associated with a manual, actually makes them feel faster.

But this is the disconnect... or should I say connect. Driving a manual car of any kind, makes you feel like you are part of the machine. In essence, you do become 'more' part of it, as the mechanical movement of your right arm and left leg, are essential for the car to operate. You have now become levers in the critical architecture of the powertrain.

They are awesome fun, and provide satisfaction if you are interested in the extra work.

As less and less young people get exposed to them less and less people will get to feel this satisfaction, and less will want the experience. I'm being very generous by saying maybe 1/10 people under the age of 25 now have driven or know how to drive a stick. I would actually think it's closer to 1/20.

It used to be a job requirement to know how to drive a stick to work in this business, now you just have to be prepared to either teach them on some old $100 beater trade-in. Or simply have someone drive the car for them that knows how. And I blame the parents. They should have been snapping up these totally rad manual transmission 4runners, Audi and BMW Wagons, Japanese Sedans, Taurus SHO's and anything else that required a little more effort. They could have learned and shared this driving joy, and kept the demand high enough for it to make sense to the manufacturers.

Now that pretty much all cars have just become designed by committee transportation appliances, the days of the reasonably priced, super fun car is dying out. In 20 years, we're all going to get in our automated, sterile, iCar 8 SE, update the operating system, and dig boogers out of our noses while liking pictures of desserts on insta-hologram.

And now, this same phenomena is slowly starting to hit the motorcycle world, which is an absolute travesty.

12-31-2020, 01:22 PM	#1092
pylon Lifetime Suspension Join Date: Jul 2007 Exp:	I'm torn on manual transmissions. I absolutely love them, and will always buy one if it's an option in a performance car. Yes, now that means slower. But 0-60 in 3.4 vs 3.9.... the average duck will never tell the difference, and the drama associated with a manual, actually makes them feel faster. But this is the disconnect... or should I say connect. Driving a manual car of any kind, makes you feel like you are part of the machine. In essence, you do become 'more' part of it, as the mechanical movement of your right arm and left leg, are essential for the car to operate. You have now become levers in the critical architecture of the powertrain. They are awesome fun, and provide satisfaction if you are interested in the extra work. As less and less young people get exposed to them less and less people will get to feel this satisfaction, and less will want the experience. I'm being very generous by saying maybe 1/10 people under the age of 25 now have driven or know how to drive a stick. I would actually think it's closer to 1/20. It used to be a job requirement to know how to drive a stick to work in this business, now you just have to be prepared to either teach them on some old $100 beater trade-in. Or simply have someone drive the car for them that knows how. And I blame the parents. They should have been snapping up these totally rad manual transmission 4runners, Audi and BMW Wagons, Japanese Sedans, Taurus SHO's and anything else that required a little more effort. They could have learned and shared this driving joy, and kept the demand high enough for it to make sense to the manufacturers. Now that pretty much all cars have just become designed by committee transportation appliances, the days of the reasonably priced, super fun car is dying out. In 20 years, we're all going to get in our automated, sterile, iCar 8 SE, update the operating system, and dig boogers out of our noses while liking pictures of desserts on insta-hologram. And now, this same phenomena is slowly starting to hit the motorcycle world, which is an absolute travesty. Last edited by pylon; 12-31-2020 at 01:24 PM.