The traffic light Grand Prix, car in front pulls away sharply and I give gas in the Range Rover, smooth up change from the Range and the car in front then dips the clutch to change gear and I have to back off the gas, yep even the heavy 3 ton SUV has a smooth and fast gear change, and that is just matching the acceleration of the vehicle in front and letting it get out to a safe braking distance from you.
The MG (supercharged Mustang 4.6l V8, 400bhp) has a heavy clutch and a slow almost agricultural (read Mustang) gear change, the gearbox is a modified 5 speed Tremec from the Mustang, with a hydraulic clutch rather than the cable operated one as was fitted to the 2004 Mustang GT, gear ratios are a little different with 5th being not quite the high ratio overdrive as per the Mustang, top speed is down to 170mph compared with the theoretical 200mph+ on the Mustang.
BMW? well I don't like them, it was the gear change on a manual 530i that put me off getting one and going for the MG instead, there is a restrictor valve in the clutch slave cylinder that regulates the speed at which you can release the clutch, you could not do a fast shift with it at all. Dump the clutch and look down and you could see the pedal slowly rise up off the floor
Wife would rather have her Ford Focus back, she keeps saying how much she misses it, the injector pump failed on the 1.9l turbo diesel, I told my son to leave it alone but no he got a can of brake cleaner and sprayed it in the intake and tried to start it, it screamed it's nuts off rev counter went up to 6,000rpm and the needle was pegged on the stop past that then it went clunk and stopped, bye bye Focus. He has had to chip in some cash for the BMW.
Chlanna nan con thigibh a so's gheibh sibh feoil Sons of the hound come here and get flesh Clan Cameron
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#4504705 - 01/23/2004:35 AMRe: Anyone still driving a manual transmission car
[Re: oldgrognard]
Joined: Oct 1999 Posts: 15,786Haggart
I Fought Diablo
Yep. First car I drove from when I was in high school to just a few years ago (1999-2015) was a manual 1993 Honda Civic Coupe EX. My current car, a 2014 Honda Accord Coupe LX-S is also manual. It's the only way to drive.
#4504801 - 01/24/2012:31 AMRe: Anyone still driving a manual transmission car
[Re: oldgrognard]
I'm in my mid-50s and grew up on a farm. I was driving tractors at age 5, plowing fields myself at age 8. The first pick-up I drove was at age 6 or 7. Not only was it a standard, it was a three-on-the-tree. It also had a floor starter. If you want real fun, try driving a truck with a 6x4-two gear shifts, twenty-four forward gears and NOT synchronized. Been there, done that, too.
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#4504875 - 01/24/2003:22 PMRe: Anyone still driving a manual transmission car
[Re: oldgrognard]
I learned to drive when we were stationed at Fort Ord in CA in my Moms stick shift VW Super Beetle, my Dad taught me the basics and then would let me take off to the back part of the base and just drive around and get better at shifting. After that it was 15 years before I had a stick shift car of my own and I have had one of my ever since. Currently have a 240sx as a 2nd car and an ol' pick up truck as my daily.
I have a 2005 Ford Escape. 149,000 miles on it and still has the the original clutch. The car runs great, looks terrific and I see no reason to get rid of it. Hell..it still has the original brakes!
"From our orbital vantage point, we observe an earth without borders, full of peace, beauty and magnificence, and we pray that humanity as a whole can imagine a borderless world as we see it, and strive to live as one in peace." Astronaut William C. McCool RIP, January 29, 2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia
#4504880 - 01/24/2004:04 PMRe: Anyone still driving a manual transmission car
[Re: oldgrognard]
Joined: Nov 2005 Posts: 1,961arthur666
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arthur666
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Originally Posted by oldgrognard
arthur666, do you ever find yourself trying to shift your automatic of forgetting that you had to shift in your manual.
I mix between my cars so much that I find that I will lose myself in other thoughts and fumble as to which I am driving; automatic, manual, or F1.
Yeah sometimes. I often do shift my automatics. Wife's Escape has paddle "shifters". It annoys her when I do that.
But my DD is a new Ranger, and while you can shift up/down with a toggle, going thru 10 gears is just ridiculous. Though I will downshift by pulling lever back into sport mode, which drops a couple of gears. When I'm on an exit ramp or coming to a stop at the bottom of a hill for, example.
Never driven an honest F1 style with real paddle shifters.
Last edited by arthur666; 01/24/2004:06 PM.
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#4504881 - 01/24/2004:07 PMRe: Anyone still driving a manual transmission car
[Re: arthur666]
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 19,581Raw Kryptonite
Beat the Kobayashi Maru
Raw Kryptonite
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Originally Posted by arthur666
I don't drive one every day any more, but my "weekend" car is a manual.
Nice! I had a '96 and a 2000. Sold the 2000 2 years ago and I miss it. Reeeally thinking about another one. That RF would be nice, but I could be happy in another NB.
Joined: Nov 2005 Posts: 1,961arthur666
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Originally Posted by Raw Kryptonite
Nice! I had a '96 and a 2000. Sold the 2000 2 years ago and I miss it. Reeeally thinking about another one. That RF would be nice, but I could be happy in another NB.
I bet! S2000 is one of the coolest cars ever made, IMO. I'm a Ford guy at heart. But old Miata was the cheapest way to go. For $ amount I've put in to have a track-ready RWD car, I would have had a Mustang that still needed tons of work. Miatas have a really low running cost: easy on tires and brakes. And I love the situational awareness of having the top down. It's still slow though.
Last edited by arthur666; 01/24/2005:05 PM.
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#4504890 - 01/24/2005:30 PMRe: Anyone still driving a manual transmission car
[Re: oldgrognard]
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 19,581Raw Kryptonite
Beat the Kobayashi Maru
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I miss our 5-speeds (we've owned more sticks than automatics). Even Atlanta traffic didn't phase us both driving manuals.
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#4505027 - 01/26/2003:47 PMRe: Anyone still driving a manual transmission car
[Re: oldgrognard]
I learned to drive in a 1962 Falcon wagon with a 3 on the tree. That was 47 years ago. I have owned at least one manual shift car ever since. My latest is a 82 Mustang GT that I have been hammering on for the last 20 years or so.
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#4505042 - 01/26/2006:11 PMRe: Anyone still driving a manual transmission car
[Re: oldgrognard]
Joined: Nov 2001 Posts: 24,078oldgrognard Administrator
I like seeing people having old vehicles that they are holding onto. I keep vehicles a long time. Not because I can’t afford to change, but I like buying something nice and retaining it. I have old stuff.
1969 Cessna 177 2001 Jaguar XK8 convertible 2006 Maserati Spyder CambioCorsa And just sold my 1994 Harley
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#4505049 - 01/26/2007:33 PMRe: Anyone still driving a manual transmission car
[Re: oldgrognard]
RedToo
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I agree OG. Daily runner - Toyota Starlet 1999. Summer car - Triumph Spitfire 1970. Gone are the starting out days when I was penniless and had to buy super cheap auction cars with a few months legality and then throw them away.
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Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts. C.S. Lewis, 1898 - 1963.
#4505070 - 01/26/2009:31 PMRe: Anyone still driving a manual transmission car
[Re: oldgrognard]
Joined: Nov 2005 Posts: 1,961arthur666
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Yeah I love owning an old car. I know it's a cliche, but you CAN actually work on them. It's OBDII, but other than that, as simple as it gets. I plan to hold onto it indefinitely.
Mine doesn't even have a radio or A/C anymore. Power windows and power steering though. But if those ever go, switching them to unpowered is not very difficult.
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