Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

Re:Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transm... by amelius on Thursday November 17, 2016 @04:53AM (#12976001)

> Sure, for professional racing drivers.

But note that the transmission in F1 cars is semi-automatic [1]

[1] https://www.formula1.com/en/championship/inside-f1/understan...

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Re:Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transm... by userbinator on Thursday November 17, 2016 @05:17AM (#12976106)

The only "automatic" part of that transmission is the clutch. The driver still has to select the gear, and I think that's what the whole discussion here about manual vs. automatic is focusing on.

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Re:Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transm... by monk_e_boy on Thursday November 17, 2016 @08:30AM (#12977226)

They drive to the beeps, so the computer is beeping in their ear when it is time to change. And they don't shift through neutral to select a gear. They may as well be automatic for all the input an F1 driver has

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Re:Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transm... by rlau26 on Thursday November 17, 2016 @02:57PM (#12980867)

The computer beeping is merely a reminder and I'm betting most drivers will even disregard it after they are familiar with the track they are on. Gear changes happen so often and so quickly that waiting for a computer to tell you when to shift is a sure sign of unfamiliarity with the track layout and it's also a hit to one's concentration (ex. if they're trying to pass the car ahead or block the one behind). Anyone that does any sort of track driving consistently should know what gear their car should be in for each corner long before a race.

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Re:Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transm... by monk_e_boy on Thursday November 17, 2016 @08:10PM (#12983452)

I'm not sure I agree, if they served no purpose the engineers would remove them. I think when they are in 'lift and coast' the gear changes are different, and I'd guess when they turn the engine modes up they would change again.

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Re:Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transm... by Annatar on Thursday November 17, 2016 @08:35AM (#12977250)

If there is no dry clutch and no clutch pedal, I consider that to be an automatic. And in such a system, I'm only allowed to signal gear selection: if I make a mistake or request a gear someone else thought I shouldn't request, the software won't comply. This implies that someone is assuming they know better than me how to drive, and enforce this assumption. This notion infuriates me. It's one thing to operate within mechanical / physical limits of the system, and quite another were someone who is not me forces arbitrary limitations. I take the "we know better than you" extremely personally.

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Re:Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transm... by dgacmu on Thursday November 17, 2016 @09:31AM (#12977703)

I suggest handling TCP packet retransmission yourself as well. Nothing beats having precise control over reliable data delivery.

Grin. But seriously, at some point, it simply becomes a question of low level control vs improved high level functioning. I love manuals, and drive one, but the writing is clearly on the wall for good reasons. Fortunately, buying a hybrid forces the issue anyway, as others have noted.

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Re:Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transm... by Annatar on Thursday November 17, 2016 @12:10PM (#12979241)

I suggest handling TCP packet retransmission yourself as well. Nothing beats having precise control over reliable data delivery.

I used to code intros in assembler on the Amiga, and did some assembler on UltraSPARC, so the joke is completely lost on me. I love assembler and low level control.

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Re:Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transm... by antisthenes on Thursday November 17, 2016 @02:11PM (#12980424)

> This implies that someone is assuming they know better than me how to drive, and enforce this assumption. This notion infuriates me.

You get mad because your assumptions about your own superiority get placed under doubt by reality and physics? Must be hell of a way to live.

Sounds like a dunning-kruger effect and some anger management issues rolled into one.

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Re:Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transm... by Annatar on Friday November 18, 2016 @02:20AM (#12984988)

You get mad because your assumptions about your own superiority get placed under doubt by reality and physics?

Now you're incorrectly assuming that the engineers' and programmers' assumptions about how I drive are correct, and they know better than me. Who are they and what do they know? Who am I and what do I know? What if I'm a professional driver or an engineer just like them, or both? You don't know either of the two parties, so how could you possibly judge this correctly? The answer is - you cannot. You are berating me for challenging what you perceive to be an authority, as if I hadn't studied physics and mechanical engineering and knew nothing about those subjects, and even go so far as to imply I'm incompetent and suffer from an illusory superiority complex based on Dunning-Kruger research.

Is this what we're coming down to nowadays, if someone says "I know what I'm doing, and I don't want someone else to tell me how to do it", they'll be sticker-slapped with a superiority complex? That's the society you want to live in? And that is okay?

Bottom line is: a car with an automatic transmission does not do what I want, how I want, when I want it, and does not drive the way I want and expect it to drive. It fails my requirements, whereas a manual transmission and a dry clutch don't try to meet my requirements or expectations - what I want, how I want it, and when I want it is solely up to me. If I mess up, that's on me as well. It's my problem, my responsibility, and that's great.

As far as I'm concerned, since driving is a very important part of my life and identity, dictating, through the use of transmission or shift points, for example, is attempting to dictate how I live. I, an individual, equate that with someone telling me what I must believe, and what I must accept, "because it's better for me", and this goes against what I believe is my basic right to self-determination. That is one of the reasons I reject the automatic. If I have no direct say in it, then at least I can indirectly vote with my wallet.

Must be hell of a way to live.

I deal with it.

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Re:Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transm... by mywittyname on Thursday November 17, 2016 @11:56AM (#12979102)

Nitpick, but F1 cars do have clutches and they can be operated manually (and must be for starting). The big difference is the cars don't have a clutch pedal, but a pair of clutch buttons.

Now DCTs in road-going cars: undeniably automatics.

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Re:Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transm... by zardo on Thursday November 17, 2016 @12:29PM (#12979444)

What does a dry clutch have to do with it? Wet clutches can be user controlled mechanical systems too, just look at the vast majority of motorcycles.

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