NY Times: Bring Back the Stick Shift

[DRuby]

March 24, 2019 Sunday Review

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/23/...l?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

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[MattyNice]

It is rather difficult to eat a taco, text, and shift while driving a manual. Thank God for Apple CarPlay!

 

[saz468]

When I lived Long Island all my cars were auto I’ve driven manuals ( friends, & work vehicles) do to a lot of traffic and hills automatic transmission is the best in those conditions ( I think) when I moved to Florida less traffic and completely flat I said my next car will have a manual. Do to a work related incident I broke my left knee after recovery I thought it was ok but when I test drove a Civic SI I shifted from 3rd to 4th my knee gave out good thing it was on a back road . So I settled for a Ext with a Cvt

 

[DRuby]

When I lived Long Island all my cars were auto I’ve driven manuals ( friends, & work vehicles) do to a lot of traffic and hills automatic transmission is the best in those conditions ( I think) when I moved to Florida less traffic and completely flat I said my next car will have a manual. Do to a work related incident I broke my left knee after recovery I thought it was ok but when I test drove a Civic SI I shifted from 3rd to 4th my knee gave out good thing it was on a back road . So I settled for a Ext with a Cvt

When I lived Long Island all my cars were auto I’ve driven manuals ( friends, & work vehicles) do to a lot of traffic and hills automatic transmission is the best in those conditions ( I think) when I moved to Florida less traffic and completely flat I said my next car will have a manual. Do to a work related incident I broke my left knee after recovery I thought it was ok but when I test drove a Civic SI I shifted from 3rd to 4th my knee gave out good thing it was on a back road . So I settled for a Ext with a Cvt

Ouch! Ext is nice. MT isn't a gold standard, just another way to drive. Feel good. Thanks for reading.

 

[gtman]

I drove stick shift cars for over 25 years. There's no question they are more engaging than an automatic. And I kind of get the authors point about a manual keeping your head "more in the game". But, even though my Civic has a CVT, I'm very hands on and alert. I live in the area with the worst drivers in America, so I have to stay 100% alert!

 

[SaintClarence27]

I drove stick shift cars for over 25 years. There's no question they are more engaging than an automatic. And I kind of get the authors point about a manual keeping your head "more in the game". But, even though my Civic has a CVT, I'm very hands on and alert. I live in the area with the worst drivers in America, so I have to stay 100% alert!

I was going to ask where you think has the worst drivers on earth, and then I saw your profile says you live in Maryland. I thought "yeah, that checks out."

 

[coopermidnight]

From the article:

During normal driving, our brains are in a near-constant state of vigilance.

Yeah, that's definitely not true for most of the population. People just completely lack responsibility for their actions on the road - sometimes they lack self-preservation as well - and having to shift gears would do little to increase their brain activity. The author himself can't even keep his wife's car safe from a mailbox without being beeped at, and he apparently drives a manual on the regular.

I'll drive manuals until emissions standards cause ICEs to be outlawed from the road, but I don't think for a second that auto transmissions have any blame in this situation.

 

[WOPSiWOT]

I was going to ask where you think has the worst drivers on earth, and then I saw your profile says you live in Maryland. I thought "yeah, that checks out."

100 (I grew up in the DMV)

 

[gtman]

Allstate did a study where Baltimore drivers were rated the worst and DC drivers were third worst.

 

[Nanook]

Both my kids have said they like a manual for just this reason. Great article.

 

[Zeffy94]

I have ADHD, and since I switched to a stick shift a year ago I have noticed a very large uptick in attentiveness when driving. I never used my phone while driving to start with, but I sure wish a lot of other drivers would put their damn phone down when moving.

Here’s to the manual transmission!

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