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elfsI came across a report recently that said that the number of cars sold with manual transmissions had dropped from 18% in 2000 to 15% last year, and that driving schools across the country were disposing of their manuals and not giving classes in them anymore. This was true despite the fact that manuals are 5-10% more fuel efficient and, when push comes to shove (literally, in some cases), safer than automatics.
One of the driving school teachers stated that she had driven a manual for many years, but had switched to an automatic recently because "stop and go city driving took the fun out of a manual." I found that bewildering, because driving a stick is so instinctively easy for me that I find myself rarely thinking about what gear I need to be in. My cars for the last fifteen years have been manuals.
An automatic transmission is a computer with hydraulics instead of electronics and is powered by the torque from your engine. It's so inefficient a system that it eats a significant amount of the power your engine puts out-- more than your air conditioner, in some cases. It's also making decisions over a gross range of options-- four or five, in most cases. It doesn't take much brain power to replace that, which is why I've always been puzzled by the prevalence of automatics beyond, say, people missing their right arm.
The article went on to surmise that the reason so few people drove a manual was because in our high-tech, multitasking age, people wanted their right hand free to fiddle with their cell phones, the radio, their GPS, and their lunch. I suppose that makes sense. Not safety sense, but human sense.
I wonder, though, if you'd find a higher acceptance of manual transmissions among Linux users. Both, after all, have similar profiles: they offer more power, but to be capable of doing so you have to have a slightly higher skill level than the average user. I would think they'd have a similar amount of attraction.
One of the driving school teachers stated that she had driven a manual for many years, but had switched to an automatic recently because "stop and go city driving took the fun out of a manual." I found that bewildering, because driving a stick is so instinctively easy for me that I find myself rarely thinking about what gear I need to be in. My cars for the last fifteen years have been manuals.
An automatic transmission is a computer with hydraulics instead of electronics and is powered by the torque from your engine. It's so inefficient a system that it eats a significant amount of the power your engine puts out-- more than your air conditioner, in some cases. It's also making decisions over a gross range of options-- four or five, in most cases. It doesn't take much brain power to replace that, which is why I've always been puzzled by the prevalence of automatics beyond, say, people missing their right arm.
The article went on to surmise that the reason so few people drove a manual was because in our high-tech, multitasking age, people wanted their right hand free to fiddle with their cell phones, the radio, their GPS, and their lunch. I suppose that makes sense. Not safety sense, but human sense.
I wonder, though, if you'd find a higher acceptance of manual transmissions among Linux users. Both, after all, have similar profiles: they offer more power, but to be capable of doing so you have to have a slightly higher skill level than the average user. I would think they'd have a similar amount of attraction.
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Date: 2006-06-25 11:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-25 11:32 pm (UTC)mind you - the only people i know who drive automatics are either web designers, or .NET developers :)
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Date: 2006-06-25 11:32 pm (UTC)OS wise, I'm running Mac OS.
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Date: 2006-06-25 11:55 pm (UTC)~E
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Date: 2006-06-25 11:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-25 11:58 pm (UTC)1. I live in Pittsburgh, where the hills are legion.
2. Every time I've had a choice in finding cars, it's been an automatic, except the first one. And I was heartily glad to stop driving that one, see again #1.
3. I've injured both ankles at one point or another, and because of that would be unable to drive a manual. I *can* drive with either foot at this point, so I greatly prefer an automatic.
4. And I can drive with one thing in my other hand (usually a soda from the drive-through that doesn't fit in a cupholder) without needing to shift.
I started with a DOS machine (Tandy, baby :), used Macs and Unix at school, Windows when I had to, and eventually bought my own Macs, and own several now. I like the fact that the new macs allow me my pretty GUI, but also let me do unix-things like grep.
As for driving - I've picked up several things from driving a manual, and I often use (and abuse) the transmission by coasting a lot, sometimes in neutral even ;)
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Date: 2006-06-26 12:00 am (UTC)But I still liked Neal Stephenson's linux car metaphor:
"And over there, the linux guys are making tanks. These are not old-fashioned, cast-iron Soviet tanks; thse are more like the M1 tanks of the U.S. Army, made of space-age materials and jammed with sophisticated technology from one end to the other. But they are better then army tanks. Thev've been modified in such a way that hey never, ever break down, are light and maneuverable enough to use on ordinary streets and use no more fuel then a subcompact car."
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Date: 2006-06-26 12:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-26 12:22 am (UTC)That was a long time ago, and I never actually completed my full driver's license.
My wife on the other hand, does have her license but can't drive a manual, and this is why: She's clumsy. She has trouble with awkward user interfaces (she could never get the hang of Starcraft, for instance), and has a tendency towards being incautious. I can imagine how well trying to drive an automatic would go for her.
However, we've been shopping around for a car lately, and I noticed that some of the newer automatics are way more efficient than those of yesteryear. The Honda Fit is an example of this - its milage with an automatic is almost as good as with a manual. And then there are some of the CVTs that are coming out of late, which (in theory anyway) should be more efficient than a standard since it keeps the engine at its best power production all the time.
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Date: 2006-06-26 12:24 am (UTC)I miss the manual transmission that I had in my 1987 Toyota Supra - it was fun, even though the hills in San Francisco were ... challenging, and the traffic on US-101 was a pain. Unfortunately, if you want a Volvo with AWD (and for living in Sierra Nevada snow country as I do now, I definitely want AWD), you have to have an automatic transmission.
However, after 13 years and 161,000 miles of manual transmission driving, some habits are ingrained: I still put my right hand on the shifter in the Volvo, even though it's an automatic.
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Date: 2006-06-26 12:38 am (UTC)I dont buy the excuse of needing to keep the right hand free to operate electronica though. Its not like you need to shift constantly while going down the road. And in the cases where you are required to shift, your focus should be on the road and not what track your iPod is currently playing.
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Date: 2006-06-26 01:25 am (UTC)And I don't use Linux, and I'm a web designer. *laugh*
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Date: 2006-06-26 01:27 am (UTC)(Preferred workstation OS: OSX. Server core: All Linux except for one Windows XP file/print box. Also have and use, tho' much less often, a Win2K workstation that has licenses I haven't been able to afford for OSX yet.)
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Date: 2006-06-26 02:02 am (UTC)Fairly recent innovations in transmission technology such as Continously Varible Transmissions and technology such as the Direct Shift Gearbox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct-Shift_Gearbox) have all of the benefits of the manual transmission with none of the trouble. Audi's CVT-equipped cars are not only faster, but also more economical than traditional gearboxes. DSG is a bit difficult to explain, but it has all of the benefits of a manual and none of an automatic.
A number Linux users may appreciate the intricate engineering and manufacturing behind those technologies and enjoy all of the benefits of an automatic with none of the cons.
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Date: 2006-06-26 02:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-26 02:36 am (UTC)While this is true, it is rather hard to talk on a cell phone (without hands free devices) and shift....I tend to only talk on the phone and drive on long streaches of lonely highway.
~E
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Date: 2006-06-26 02:42 am (UTC)OSX, and an 85 Toyota PU with =nothing= automatic or power and almost 200K
A.M.
Automatic because...
Date: 2006-06-26 04:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-26 04:19 am (UTC)So they didn't understand when I bought a stick for the first car I picked for myself, and then for my second. I just liked driving the stick. I admit that sometimes getting caught in stop and go traffic was a drag - no real brain power needed, but constantly shifting and working the clutch gets old when you're in a traffic jam for an hour. But I still liked it and figured I'd always buy stick...
My new car is an automatic.
It came down to overwhelming lust for the car - and there not being a manual transmission option. The Dodge Charger is auto-only. Yeah, it has one of those manumatic things where you can manually shift, but I've tried it and it isn't the same. The car is really designed to shift itself, and I find it hard to pick up the shifting cues to do it right manually. The sound proofing is so good that I don't pick up on the engine sounds like I did in my old cars.
Increasingly I find there is simply no manual option. Back before I bought my PT Cruiser (my last car) I wanted to buy a Dodge Durango. But when I went looking I found there was no manual option, and at the time I was still set on driving a stick.
If the Charger offered a manual I would've taken it, but I was dead set on getting a Charger so I took what was available. And I really don't regret it, I love driving it.
Linux User here...
Date: 2006-06-26 04:24 am (UTC)Every single vehicle me and my mother own or have owned except for one has been, and is, a manual. The sole exception being the 1986 Jeep Comanche Pickup truck with an augmented factory towing package, which mandated an automatic with a transmission cooler with no option of a manual. 1990 Mitsubishi Eclipse GST, 1986 Honda Civic, 1987 Toyota Corolla FX, 1986 Porsche 944, and various 50's and 60's cars that my mom owned before I was old enough to even think about driving than I can remember, all of them have been manuals.
And oddly, I believe I heard recently that this trend towards hydraulic automatics is, like SUV's, something almost purely American in basis. That information was about a year to two years ago though, so it might have shifted some since then.
But I still find it baffling that more car's don't just come with some kind of electronically-clutched, electronically-shifted 'automatic' mode on a manual transmission if people want automation so much. Is the 80-100 or more moving gears and plates and parts in a pure-hydraulic automatic really cheaper to make somehow than the two-dozen parts and four or five solenoids needed to hook up a computer to a manual transmission?
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Date: 2006-06-26 04:32 am (UTC)But, yeah, I'm totally a Linux guy, and I really like driving a stick. Downtown Seattle can be crazy making occasionally, but better when you have a decent powertrain (good engine, good clutch, good emergency brakes).
Re: Linux User here...
Date: 2006-06-26 04:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-26 05:01 am (UTC)You wrote:
The not-fun part isn't about choice of gear, I don't think; it's about the shitty slog of stop-and-go that requires one to either lurch or to burn clutch, over and over again. If such a commute were my lot, I'd pick the damn torque converter.
Cheers,
- Eddie
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Date: 2006-06-26 06:55 am (UTC)Re: Linux User here...
Date: 2006-06-26 07:22 am (UTC)It's certainly true that a lot of people don't know how to change gear at the right time. Go through the twisty bits in a clapped-out Mini (the original, not the modern fake), and watch the flash cars trail far behind.
Maybe it makes a difference which side of the vehicle the driver sits. As a Brit, I'm steering with my right hand when I change gear.
Re: Linux User here...
Date: 2006-06-26 07:37 am (UTC)As at that point one could devote one's entire 'left side' to gear-shifting, as I believe you folks still have your clutch on the left side as well if I recall correctly.
And most of the studies of 'an automatic can shift faster than a skilled driver' refer to computer-controlled 'clutchless' manuals that are still, at their core, a set of gears with each pair of gears attached to a fork. Just instead of having a clutch pedal the computer does that part, and some remove the 'standard' shifter and handle moving the forks as well. Those are much faster than any human being can physically move the lever, let alone time it with the pedal. :-)
Re: Linux User here...
Date: 2006-06-26 11:28 am (UTC)On reflection, that's a bit of an artificial situation in itself. For cornering, you need to be in the right gear at the right point, and I'm not sure how the traditional auto-transmissions handle that. Kick-down? The only car I drove with an auto-transmission was in the limousibe class.
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Date: 2006-06-26 03:39 pm (UTC)If you come to a full stop while facing uphill, you can take your foot off the brake and you wont roll backwards.
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Date: 2006-06-26 04:47 pm (UTC)I learned on an automatic in Driver's Ed, failed my drivers test, and a few years later relearned on a stick-shift Jetta. My probable real "first date" with my girlfriend was teaching her how to drive stick after she accidentally bought a used stick-shift Civic.
Who else here has accidentally tried to clutch when slowing down in an automatic after driving a manual transmission for years? Stomping on the brake petal with my left foot while my right foot was coming off the gas to go to the brake is a trick I hope to not repeat.
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Date: 2006-06-26 05:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-26 05:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-26 06:23 pm (UTC)Re: Linux User here...
Date: 2006-06-26 06:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-27 01:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-27 02:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-27 02:29 am (UTC)I have problems driving automatics, even in heavy traffic. I keep shifting (usually into neutral) and I have, more than once, slammed the brake with my left foot trying to clutch with no clutch pedal. I owned an automatic (long story why, but I hated that car so much she managed to acquire the name "The albatross", as in around my neck, and she got sold as soon as I got the loan right side up) for over a year and never managed to break the shifting habit.
It is becoming more and more difficult to buy new cars with manual transmissions. My father now owns an automatic truck because he could not get a tow package with a manual transmission, which is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. Finding a larger vehicle (like a 12 or 16 pass van) with a manual transmission is now impossible. If anyone knows of any manufacturer making such a thing I really want to know.
I doubt it's the GPSes, cell phones etc that discourage people from driving manuals. They've been going down in popularity and availability for a long time -- they were already semi-rare when I started driving and it's unusual to find someone my age (28) who knows how to drive one. When I took drivers ed all the cars were fully automatic, and I was taught by an instructor who did not know how to drive a manual. His "rules" for driving would have been impossible to follow in a car with a manual transmission and non-power steering, as my first car was.
I think it's a combinations of human laziness (people not wanting to learn an extra skill or do the 'extra work' of shifting) and availability -- standard models with standard packages are automatic and have been since the late eighties or so. Getting a standard means special ordering one. Getting a standard used means looking a little harder.
I have been repeatedly told that the newer automatic transmissions are more fuel efficient than an manual transmission driven by an expert driver. I've even been shown numbers 'proving' this, but I don't think I'm going to buy it until I get to personally drive two vehicles that are identical except for transmission and check the numbers myself.
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Date: 2006-06-27 02:39 am (UTC)> or to burn clutch, over and over again
Not really. The trick is to shift into first, get going at a very slow pace, shift out of gear and allow the car to slowly coast until you're where you need to be and then brake. The problem most people seem to have in stop and go traffic is that they want to go as fast as they can when they can go, but if you're only going to move twenty feet (or whatever) then there's no good reason to hurry up.
To prevent the lurch that comes from shifting into first while coasting, shift directly into second instead.
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Date: 2006-06-27 03:47 am (UTC)~E
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Date: 2006-06-27 04:49 am (UTC)I wonder how much of the disappearance of manuals (aka the so-called 'standard' transmission, which isn't any more) is due to laziness... just put it in D and ignore it. Yet another symptom of the 'convenience society'.
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Date: 2006-06-27 06:04 am (UTC)Gmail threw and ad for these folks (http://www.learnstickshift.com/) when it saw your comment. I'm amused...all this time and I've just been dragging people to parking lots to grind gears until they work it out. I managed to teach someone in about 20 minutes well enough to take a several hour shift (erm, so to speak) on a long roadtrip, even though she'd never driven stick before. Never knew I needed a lesson plan and such to teach people how to drive stick.
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Date: 2006-06-28 04:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-02 07:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-02 07:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-02 07:51 am (UTC)My Honda Civic EX is a 5-speed stick. Apart from some uphill starts in San Francisco, I'm much inclined toward stick driving.