How America lost its love for the stick shift

Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by tyingq on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @04:07PM (#17962870)

4 way stop at the top of an icy hill for me.

Interesting they chose a picture of a floor shift automatic for the article.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by tough_cookies on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @04:17PM (#17962959)

I always had an easier time getting up snowy/ice hills (in Boston) than my friends did in their autos. I remember once driving up a hill in front of a friend so he could use my tire indentations to get up behind me.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by tyingq on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @04:30PM (#17963070)

Getting up was fine. Stopping at the precipice at a 4 way stop, then trying to start again was the tricky bit. With an auto you can hold the brake while you slowly press the accelerator, then release the brakes.

Need a third foot to do that (or a hand brake) with a manual.

Edit: Hill lock definitely sounds nice. Didn't exist when I was young, poor, and had crappy old American made manual shift cars...

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by MrMember on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @04:37PM (#17963141)

My WRX has hill start assist and I love it. If you're stopped on an incline and let off the brakes it will keep them applied automatically for a moment while you give it some gas.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by esaym on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @05:10PM (#17963395)

Not sure how old you are, but on my grandpa's 1950 Ford there was a hand operated parking brake (under the dash). I had to use it once after stopping to get gas and the driveway to get back onto the main road went down into a steep ditch and then out onto the road.

Of course some nitwit pulled up right behind me as I was trying to pull out into the road. I tried easing up on the foot brake and allowing the clutch to grab some as a quick test but the car still started to creep back. I said screwed it and yanked the parking brake as hard as I could while getting off the foot brake and meshing the gas while at the same time letting up on the clutch and undoing the parking brake. Not the hardest thing, but mainly made an issue by modern drivers getting right on your bumper...

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by tyingq on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @05:16PM (#17963450)

It was cars with a foot operated emergency brake that locked into place with a separate lever to release it. Not useful in these situations. Even on cars with a hand brake, it was still a bit dicey, because they only operated the rear brakes, and could be mis-adjusted/weak/etc.

Pretty common on late 60's, 70's, and some 80's cars.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by esaym on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @11:52PM (#17965427)

Whether foot operated or hand pulled, you will have to use your hand to disengage it so not seeing the difference.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by tyingq on Wednesday September 12, 2018 @07:07AM (#17967271)

You had to reach down pretty far, and look down to find the release. A handbrake is a one handed operation you don't have to look at.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by esaym on Wednesday September 12, 2018 @04:37PM (#17973034)

I agree is sucks. But the option is there.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by peeters on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @04:36PM (#17963129)

Just a note on that, most premium manual models come with hill assist these days. Automatically applies the brake while you accelerate from a stop.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by blattimwind on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @06:11PM (#17963859)

Premium is relative. By that standard, a VW Golf is premium. (Arguably you can nowadays get it with options that were very much premium not that long ago)

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by peeters on Wednesday September 12, 2018 @03:41PM (#17972403)

I said most premium models have hill assist, not that all models with hill assist are premium.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by mikestew on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @05:06PM (#17963370)

Didn't exist when I was young, poor, and had crappy old American made manual shift cars...

You just didn't go old and crappy enough. Studebaker had "Hill Holder" back in the 1930s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill-holder

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by JoeAltmaier on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @04:32PM (#17963097)

Or a hill lock feature (?) that won't let it roll back until you accelerate. My Subara Forester has something like that

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by mcjiggerlog on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @06:35PM (#17964005)

As you said - that's what the hand brake is for.

Performing a hill start correctly is often part of driving tests in the UK.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by tyingq on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @07:52PM (#17964452)

Not all cars have hand operated emergency brakes.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by mcjiggerlog on Wednesday September 12, 2018 @02:18AM (#17965980)

I've never in my life seen a manual car that doesn't have a hand brake.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by anticensor on Wednesday September 12, 2018 @11:01AM (#17969452)

He means hand brakes with direct mechanical action. Electronic emergency brakes do not count.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by mcjiggerlog on Wednesday September 12, 2018 @11:41AM (#17969879)

Yeah I know - I'm saying that in Europe every single manual car has a proper mechanical hand brake.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by tyingq on Wednesday September 12, 2018 @01:45PM (#17971160)

Many US cars had foot operated emergency brakes when I was younger. Also, in the US, pickup trucks are the most popular personal vehicles, right now...and they typically have foot operated emergency brakes.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by mc32 on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @04:17PM (#17962960)

Yep, when over the years your same 45min commute turns into an hour and a half commute, automatic is so much better. That and then getting work closer to home.

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