How America lost its love for the stick shift

Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by pssflops on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @06:20PM (#17963910)

My previous car, a 2008 Subaru WRX, in manual had cruise control; while it wasn't adaptive, it was the most important thing I will consider in any other manual transmission going forward. Stop-and-go traffic to my previous job made driving a chore and weekends weren't enough. I miss having that kind of control over the car, but the automatic Mazda3 I replaced it with has made that traffic an afterthought.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by bunderbunder on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @06:36PM (#17964019)

Would adaptive cruise control in stop-and-go traffic work at all with a manual? When the speed of traffic is vacillating between 0 and 30mph, there's never any one gear that you can stay in for long.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by ptaipale on Wednesday September 12, 2018 @05:07AM (#17966719)

It works in highway traffic, it's not unusual in new cars where I live (Finland). Most cars are manual shift, almost all have cruise control, some of the cruise controls are adaptive.

Of course, in city traffic the adaptiveness is not very useful with manual transmission.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by function_seven on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @06:40PM (#17964044)

No, it wouldn't. Technically you could have it adapt within a narrow range of speeds, but it would be annoying, fuel-wasting, and worse than just dealing with the speed yourself.

CC on stick shifts works fine at steady highway speeds over a consistent grade.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by gsnedders on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @07:58PM (#17964499)

Various manufacturers do sell cars with adaptive cruise control in manuals, but obviously it's limited to whatever gear the car is currently in.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by dkr88 on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @07:48PM (#17964421)

I test drove a 2008 WRX a while ago and the clutch was pretty heavy, IIRC. I remember thinking to myself "this would be a major pain in traffic".

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by rrdharan on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @08:15PM (#17964579)

I tried to learn to drive stick on a Subaru WRX, I believe it was a 2002 or 2003 model year. It did not go well. Almost ended a friendship and I had leg cramps for days. Fortunately I managed to get the hang of it later on a more forgiving Mazda Protege.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by sngz on Wednesday September 12, 2018 @02:15AM (#17965958)

i learned to drive stick on my WRX and it was the only manual I've ever driven for 5+ years. It wasn't until I had to pick up my brother in laws car from the shop where I noticed how heavy my clutch was and how boggy the first and 2nd gear are at low speeds.

but i never had the cramping problem and love driving it in stop and go traffic. keeps me entertained / sane with something to do. recently noticed my left calf is bigger than my right

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by bluedino on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @09:16PM (#17964835)

If you think any modern hydraulic clutch is hard to push you should try an old z-bar clutch from the 70’s or early 80’s

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by rrdharan on Wednesday September 12, 2018 @11:54PM (#17975877)

It actually wasn't hard to push all the way down, it was just hard to feather. The spring back near the top is really aggressive.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by Declanomous on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @08:25PM (#17964620)

I test drove a manual 2010 Impreza before I bought mine in automatic. The automatic has a 4EAT which sucks, but the clutch on the 5 speed would have sucked so bad in traffic.

As one of my friends with the same car said "it's a heavy clutch. It's not that bad to use if you are a tall guy, but if you are a short woman who weighs less than 120 pounds, you are going to have to stand on it or pull the steering wheel to use it"

He has the Saabaru, and his GF can't drive his car at all because of how heavy the clutch is.

Now that I only use my car for errands in the city I wish I had the manual, but I am so glad I didn't have it when I had a 1 hour commute each way in stop and go traffic.

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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by Sophistifunk on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @08:03PM (#17964529)

Definitely. I drive a 6 MPS (Mazdaspeed 6 to the US), and the clutch was a nightmare stuck in Melbourne traffic back when I was commuting.

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