Nissan Versa Drops The Manual in 2017

General discussion about cars. Looking to buy a new car? Have a great driving story? Post it here!
Rope-Pusher
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 11607
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:44 pm
Cars: '08 Jeep Liberty
Location: Greater Detroit Area

Re: Nissan Versa Drops The Manual in 2017

Post by Rope-Pusher »

theholycow wrote:
Rope-Pusher wrote:Rear drums make for better parking brake systems than drum-n-hat rear brakes. I think it has to do with the brake drum and shoe being kept clean by regular dynamic use, whereas drum-n-hat drums and shoes almost never see dynamic use, aren't kept clean, and so tend to not grip as well as they could.
That's part of it.

Also, since parking brakes go largely unused they are low priority with minimal investment. When there is a secondary set of brakes (in the form of drum-in-hat) that only exists for the parking brake it costs more and gets less investment, so the system is half-assed at best, manufactured poorly, and just generally horrible. With drum service brakes they get to just hook up to the service brakes, which have to be decent and are fully invested and are maintained.

I've heard of, but not seen, rear disc systems that actuate the disc brake from the cable rather than having drum-in-hat. I'm curious about their performance and maintenance.
A lot of vehicles have eased on down the road to electic Park Brakes. They have a switch in the car apply current to an electrical cable to actuate a motor on each rear brake caliper.......and they can automatically apply them eash time you park the car.
'08 Jeep Liberty 6-Speed MT - "Last of the Mohicans"
User avatar
comingbackdown
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 7399
Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2007 3:17 am
Cars: 99 Ram 2500, 86 Ford LTD
Location: Ohio
Contact:

Re: Nissan Versa Drops The Manual in 2017

Post by comingbackdown »

theholycow wrote: The last time I looked into it, getting a loan for a used car meant a significantly higher interest rate, higher payments, and higher total amount paid than the same amount on a new car loan.
Are we talking a couple years old used car, or in general? My loan was approved at 2.7% over four years.
AHTOXA wrote:I think drum brakes get a rather undeserved bad rep. Aside from being a pain in the ass to work work as compared to disk brakes, they are perfectly fine, especially on a smaller and lighter vehicle that isn't designed for performance driving of any sort.

On a heavier SUV or truck - drums are terrible. They fill with mud offroad and that wears them down extremely fast because the mud isn't removed from the inside much and keep sanding everything down. That, and disks perform better when stopping heavy trucks with heavy loads.

On a car like the Sonic, the drums are just fine. I never had issues with them when I had my Sonic.
I must be the only person on the planet who doesn't think drum brakes are a pain in the ass to fix. Only serious issues I've ever had were bleeders that were corroded in place or utterly destroyed (possible with discs too) or wheel cylinder bolts that were rusted on so badly I had to grind them off and replace the wheel cylinder. That said, yeah they're no good on a large truck. My Ram hasn't given me too much crap, heck I even had the drums off both sides in under 20 minutes for inspection purposes, but in severe duty environments they're crap. Then again the same can be said of disk brakes if you don't take care of them.
IMBoring25 wrote:They're also more prone to grabbiness and to loss of effectiveness when wet.
^ THIS! :shock: I never had this issue on any other vehicle, but after a real heavy rain the Ram will lock the rears going down the driveway and then some if you're not careful. Once the moisture is gone you're alright. More than once I've hit the end of the driveway and slid a good ten feet with light brake application, and skidded to a stop at the intersection by my house.
theholycow wrote:Teamwork, I'm inclined to believe that your experiences aren't about drum vs. disc concept or even execution, but rather one model vs. another or even one car vs. another. There are plenty of places in a brake system to make it less or more satisfactory. I've driven good and bad rear drums, and I've driven good and bad 4w discs.
^ Same. I've driven both good and bad in disc brakes and drums.

Sad to see yet another manual die. I'm torn. While I think I would feel the sting more from a true enthusiast vehicle losing the manual option, it honestly hurts just as much to see the budget option kill the manual. Why? Because that's one more kid on a learner's permit who will never have the glorious experience of learning to drive on a MT econobox. My learning experience was split between an auto car, an auto truck and my first car which was a manual. I wouldn't change it for the world. That Cavalier brought me here and greatly influenced the course of my life as far as friends and vehicles go. I'm not buying another automatic unless it's either a total steal that I can flip or a sentimental kind of deal. They're making life hard for me in the future, that's for sure.
Image
1999 Ram 2500 4x4 360, 1986 Ford LTD 3.8L, 1983 Yamaha Venture Royale 1200
User avatar
theholycow
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 16021
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:36 pm
Cars: '80 Buick LeSabre 4.1 5MT
Location: Glocester, RI
Contact:

Re: Nissan Versa Drops The Manual in 2017

Post by theholycow »

comingbackdown wrote:Are we talking a couple years old used car, or in general? My loan was approved at 2.7% over four years.
In general, I guess, but including "a couple years old". Are new cars still offering 0% loans?
1980 Buick LeSabre 4.1L 5MT

Put your car in your sig!

Learn to launch/FAQs/lugging/misused terms: meta-sig
watkins wrote:Humans have rear-biased AWD. Cows have 4WD
Post Reply