Manual cars face extinction as congestion triggers a clutch backlash

[Standardshifter]

The decline of the manual isn't just the US anymore. In Australia: "Figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries show just 13 per cent of all passenger cars sold in 2014 had a manual transmission, down from 33 per cent in 2000." The reasons are similar... Traffic, technology, and with fewer family vehicles with manuals, new drivers aren't exposed to them.


http://www.afr.com/lifestyle/cars-bikes ... 614-ghni7m

[Squint]

I feel like the "In Australia" should be bolded or something. I was really confused at first when they started talking about automatic licenses and having a 33% manual take rate in 2000. That seemed much higher than I remembered last time I looked up US stats...

[Rope-Pusher]

Anybody here ever read Fahrenheit 451?

Yadda, Yadda, Yadda books are outlawed

Yadda, YADDA, Yadda the fireman go around setting fire to books

Yadda, yadda, yadda there is an underground community of people who have memorized books.

Yadda, yadda, yadda when they get old, they each teach their book to a young-un so it is never forgotten.

Do I hafta go off and write "SAE 90W", or do ewes guise get the pitcher?

[Squint]

Anybody here ever read Fahrenheit 451?

Yadda, Yadda, Yadda books are outlawed

Yadda, YADDA, Yadda the fireman go around setting fire to books

Yadda, yadda, yadda there is an underground community of people who have memorized books.

Yadda, yadda, yadda when they get old, they each teach their book to a young-un so it is never forgotten.

Do I hafta go off and write "SAE 90W", or do ewes guise get the pitcher?

You're going to memorize how to download a car?

[Rope-Pusher]

Anybody here ever read Fahrenheit 451?

Yadda, Yadda, Yadda books are outlawed

Yadda, YADDA, Yadda the fireman go around setting fire to books

Yadda, yadda, yadda there is an underground community of people who have memorized books.

Yadda, yadda, yadda when they get old, they each teach their book to a young-un so it is never forgotten.

Do I hafta go off and write "SAE 90W", or do ewes guise get the pitcher?

You're going to memorize how to download a car?

You must be thinking of a different post.
W.R.T. the elimination of books, I think the corollary for the extinction of vehicles with Amish transmissions would be for we, the faithful, to preserve the vehicles and aid in the conversion of others to our faith.

[Bill B]

Bummer if you live in Australia and want a stick. They should quit offering the Automatic license so everyone would have to drive a manual. Seems to be a trend everywhere. Most today are more concerned with number of USB ports than the 3rd pedal.

[Squint]

Bummer if you live in Australia and want a stick. They should quit offering the Automatic license so everyone would have to drive a manual. Seems to be a trend everywhere. Most today are more concerned with number of USB ports than the 3rd pedal.

Porque no le dos?!? I like having USB ports AND a manual

[Jastreb]

The other day I saw an op-ed on DouchedIn, talking about how self-driving cars should be mandatory. The 1st step is convincing the public that people who drive themselves, let alone shift their own gears, are a danger to your children.

[IMBoring25]

There are absolutely those who are a danger to themselves and others, especially those who lack the sense of priority to realize driving is a little more important than their mobile devices.

[Squint]

There are absolutely those who are a danger to themselves and others, especially those who lack the sense of priority to realize driving is a little more important than their mobile devices.

There are people that definitively SHOULD have self-driving vehicles and I know people that would prefer that since they can do other things then. There's a row-your-own-gears Jeep guy at work who would love a self-driving commute vehicle so he could do whatever he wanted during his commute.

Doesn't mean all of us want it, though.

[tankinbeans]

Where's that little boy!? He's screaming wolf again and I'm trying to sleep.

[potownrob]

Where's that little boy!? He's screaming wolf again and I'm trying to sleep.

leedeth?!? kid ain't stopped by in ages!!

[ClutchFork]

"A lot of people have found that with increasing congestion they get fed up and they want the gearbox to do it for them."

If they can't put up with congestion driving a manual, then their heart is just not in it. A die-hard manual transmission guy is going to drive a manual every chance he gets. My personal vehicle has been manual transmission since 1977 and I plan to leave a manual transmission vehicle behind when I die.

Hey, maybe I should request a 4-speed shift pattern tombstone? We put a '94 Mustang on my brother's tombstone.

[ClutchFork]

The decline of the manual isn't just the US anymore. In Australia: "Figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries show just 13 per cent of all passenger cars sold in 2014 had a manual transmission, down from 33 per cent in 2000." The reasons are similar... Traffic, technology, and with fewer family vehicles with manuals, new drivers aren't exposed to them.

http://www.afr.com/lifestyle/cars-bikes ... 614-ghni7m

On that last note, columnist Kevin Cameron says,

Upmarket sports cars are becoming more available with automated dual-clutch transmissions. Why is this, when hoary tradition dictates that real men shift gears when their infallible cigar-chomping instinct tells them? It is because the vast majority of today's drivers--men and women--do not know how to drive with manual shift. If Porsche wants to sell these people pricey cars, the company must offer an automatic transmission. The alternative is commercial suicide."

...the world is moving toward automatic gearboxes for cars, trucks, and motorcycles. ...the major reason is that people are not learning to drive manual-transmission vehicles. A secondary reason is the endless legislation-driven quest for better fuel efficiency.

Quoted from Cycle World, January 2014.

[Rope-Pusher]

So, I've heard that, in an alternate universe, there is a planet like ours, except that the inhabitants ride 2-wheeled conveyances they referr to as "motorcycles".

Do any of you know if, in that alternate universe, the "motorcycles" are also tending to stray from the Amish faith?