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A comment on Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions. Parent comment

Re:Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transm... by astrodust on Thursday November 17, 2016 @02:32AM (#12975208)
A shifter isn't just for acceleration. It's also for picking which gear you want to be in when anticipating something you're trying to do.

When racing you'll know exactly what gear to be in for what section of each corner. You'll have a plan going into the corner, coming out of the corner, and it'll be complicated enough that there's no way an automatic can keep up.

Unless you're going for quarter mile times, you'll eventually have to down-shift and performance there will be key.

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Re:Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transm... by sliken on Thursday November 17, 2016 @02:44AM (#12975273)
Automatics are the same. Sporty cars usually have flappy paddles to control the automatic. So you can pick your gear for the next corner if you want. All the while enjoying better acceleration, faster shifts, and better mpg.

Can't push start the car when the battery dies though.

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Re:Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transm... by jaggederest on Thursday November 17, 2016 @02:49AM (#12975307)
Yeah, unless you've tried them both extensively, you can't compare them that way.

The feedback provided by the clutch pedal is integral to the process of driving a manual car - it's not just 'engage' or 'disengage', it's a fully analog feedback mechanism about the state of the drivetrain linkage.

Especially the paddle shifters are like trying to tie a fly fishing lure while wearing welding gloves. No connection to the machine or feedback from the engine, no ability to change the engine state independent of the state of the drivetrain.

I miss manual transmissions every time I drive, and I drive a car with a really, really good paddle shift dual clutch transmission.

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Re:Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transm... by astrodust on Friday November 18, 2016 @05:55PM (#12990755)
High-end sports cars with paddles use an automatically triggered manual transmission, it's a sequential shifter, not a classic automatic transmission.

There used to be a pretty wide divide between "manual" and "automatic", but now that gap has narrowed and the terminology overlaps.

This is an example of a what's inside a paddle driven engine: http://eng.kaps-transmissions.com/products-si-full-sequentia...

It's "clutchless manual", not automatic.

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