StandardShift.com

Interesting about the 370Z. I had no idea such technology existed until I saw the article about the new Corvette.

Interesting news from Detroit Auto Show. New Corvette will have offer a manual 7-speed with automatic rev matching. This feature can be turned off. What do people here think about this? My own take is that it's a good thing, so long as the auto rev match can be turned off. New features that make man...

I came across this video the other day, which I thought i would share for amusement value. How does one do what this driver did? I gather he's revving his engine near redline and slipping the clutch, but his rear wheels aren't moving at all (although the car jerks forward briefly a couple times). Is...

I'm not sure what a weak synchro feels like, so I'm not sure. I've heard what real gear grinding sounds like, and it does not sound like that at all. There's almost no sound at all when I shift. It's just a notchy and somewhat resistant feeling, and it's not on every 1-2 shift. I've read a few other...

Hmmm, the 1st to 2nd shift in my M3 is definitely notch, although I'm not sure this is the same as gear grind. I'm probably overthinking this, but wanted to see if there is some easy way for a mechanic to check -- and it sounds like there is not.

Early this year, I took over the last 12 months of the lease of a 2008 BMW M3. This is my first standard shift car. The lease is up in January and I would like to buy it out, but want to know if it's feasible to have a mechanic check for excessive wear on the transmission. I drive pretty conservativ...

Link fixed. Weird, when I first used the WSJ.com's "get link" function, it apparently gave me the Judge Judy video link which was not my intention. Although I do think daytime time TV is also a sign of apocalypse.

http://online.wsj.com/video/ford-powers ... 7870F.html

Couldn't get the embed code to work for some reason.

Just saw the movie Senna today, which is a documentary about the Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna. This is a great movie, with amazing footage from inside Senna car. Highly recommend. This was back when race cars had manual transmissions, and there are a couple times you can see him shifting. After see...

OK, I think I've come to my senses, especially since I don't want to be married to Robin Williams. I love the overall look of the Spider, but $18.5k is pretty steep, given that you can find some for under $5k (but not in nearly as good condition). I've been thinking about Alfa Romeo, because Alfa is...

Somebody stop me from running out and getting this 20-year old Alfa Romeo. Anyone here have a sense of how difficult/expensive an old Alfa 5-speed is to maintain?

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/ct ... 87856.html

Standard set-up would be my guess. I assume so too, but haven't seen any further info on it. BTW, from what I've read, the purpose of the 7th gear is to have an extremely tall gear for better gas mileage and less engine noise, and the first 6 gears will be more or less the same as they are now. Not...

Porsche is supposed to roll out a 7-speed manual on the next generation 911, which I think is being introduced this fall.

I see you're driving a current model (E9x) BMW M3. Second gear in the M3 can basically take you up to 70mph, which means a couple things: (1) your synchros won't necessarily try to stop you from doing a 5-2 downshift if you're under 70mph, and (2) you won't necessarily redline your engine unless of ...

Driving a manual transmission car in traffic really isn't bad. I've been driving stick in LA city traffic for 3 months now and don't find the stick shift to be a problem in traffic. My sole caveat is that I've largely managed to avoid creeping uphill traffic thus far. So I don't understand the big d...