Most liked posts in thread: Do you manual?

Blipping the throttle accomplishes the same thing. When I blip the throttle you would never know I had downshifted. Now if you were talking about double-clutching.......it would be a more accurate statement

 

Wow, I totally forgot about double clutching. Growing old isn't for wimps! :smile5:

 

I'm presuming an '06 R53 qualifies now as an old classic.

 

This statement would carry more weight if it wasn't for the fact that I know you are at least a part-time paddle flapper!

 

That was me last weekend on a drive in Hocking Hills, except I was being chased by an STI.

 

one of the things that I'm amused by are the manual drivers, thinking they're so cool


Oh, we KNOW we're cool :beer

 

If you're happy with blipping you'll really be happy with the results if you strive harder to come as close to matching the revs as possible instead of blipping to just get in the ball park.

 

Do you even shift, bro?

I'm not sure I understand the point of any of these arguments. First, the flappy-paddle vs. butter-churn shifting debate is well-worn. It's fundamentally based upon the fact that with modern cars, the visceral experience (smell, vibration, noise, twitchy handling) is gone. The manual shifter debate is a proxy for driver involvement. Unfortunately, even with manual transmissions, cars are so antiseptic that the manual doesn't save them. I special ordered a F30 BMW with manual. They sent me an automatic. I rejected it and told them to find me a manual. There were two in the country. I got one of them. It's boring, lifeless, and without soul. I've done a couple of things to move the needle a little but it's still boring, manual or not.

As for the blip-vs-rev-match debate: with all due respect: shut up!:biggrin5: It doesn't matter whether you blip or match, you're not Senna, and you're not racing for 10ths of a second where your preferred technique will win you millions of dollars and the admiration of the most beautiful Southern European Nubilesse in existence. If you wanna blip, blip. If you wanna rev-match, rev-match. Either way, not even your wife cares. Ask me how I know...

 

Look, if I want to fondle my stick I'll darn well fondle my stick!

I just like the feel and control, and my left foot gets bored when I drive auto. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Do I manual? Well, in 40+ years of car ownership, I've never owned an automatic transmission car - and I plan to keep it that way, forever. (hold on a minute.... I need to chase some damn pesky kids off my lawn! ....)

But someday I might own an automatic if the aging process dictates I can't use my left leg anymore, or you know, I lose an arm or two. In the meantime, I tolerate an automatic for my wife's car, but they are just not for me.

It's important to remember that automotive tastes in the US (and Canada) are not the global norm - especially automatic cars. Most of the world drives manual cars and automatic-equipped cars are really the small minority. However, it can be argued that as the US goes regarding leisure and luxury accommodations, the rest of the world slowly, but eventually catches up to us (not being snobby, just realistic). So I have not doubt that manual transmissions will slowly be overtaken by automatics, but I think it will actually be transmission-less electric cars that kill the manual gearbox.




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It's not about leisure and luxury today, it's about fuel mileage - and currently I'll bet someone a coke that ALL auto equipped cars in the US are rated higher with an auto trans than a manual - that's why mfr's are deleting manuals - CAFE and gummint regs rule the auto world today, not enthusiasts and certainly not "the market".

New tech will replace old tech, it's the way of the world. I'm not arguing for or against a manual, it's personal choice to me - I can and do drive both. I appreciate both. There are times (not many) when I prefer a stick, but most of the time the auto is exactly right for driving conditions I'm in and the trip I'm taking. For example, if you drive every day in rush hour stop and go, slow and go traffic - a manual gets old in a hurry......letting the trans shift for itself is wonderful. Likewise, on a long highway run you put it top gear and leave it there for hours at a time.....so what possible difference does it make to have a clutch pedal?

Modern automatics are wonderful pieces of tech, they rev match perfectly on manual downshifts, they don't let you over-rev, and they give you a quicker 0-60 and better mileage, what's not to like?

 

1: Stop-go traffic is rare for me.

2: When I get to the end of that highway, I'm going to be running in some twisty hills.

 

Of the 70+ years of automatics, it’s only been in the past decade or so and with relentless technological advances that automatic transmissions finally matched, then surpassed, the fuel efficiency of the manual transmissions that have been around for more than a century. So I do agree with you that automakers prefer automatics to meet their fuel goals (and they love them to meet their profitability goals too!).

If I was forced to drive in stop and go traffic, I might consider an automatic. But before I did that, I try to find every way I could to avoid stop and go traffic! A very cool solution for that problem is on its way from Ford (and it’s amazing nobody came up with this before now). It’s an autopilot feature allows the car to automatically accelerate and brake in stop and go, bumper to bumper traffic, taking away the mindless and soul-crushing repetitive nature of that situation.


edit: for some reason, I am not able to post a link to any news story about this Ford feature. Why?


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because... Ford

 

Please clarify for me.........what is rev-matching and why is it different from blipping?