Shifting Habits

[Standardshifter]

"A hot new sporty hatchback had been dropped off for him to drive to a studio for a photo shoot. But there was a problem: the car had a manual transmission, and the editor couldn’t drive a stick.

At first everyone in the conference thought he was joking. He wasn’t. His magazine isn’t a car magazine, so there’s no professional reason for him to know how to drive a stick. But I’d always thought it was a basic life skill, like rock, paper, scissors, and shuffling cards. I’d always taken it for granted."

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10 ... ng-habits/

[Johnf514]

Great find! I'm lovin' the comments.

[Prodigal Son]

Wow. 300 comments. Didn't read them all, but just by scanning I see that the number one thing we could do to revive the fortunes of manuals in North America is to teach people how to drive stick in stop and go traffic. So many people see that as the weak point for manual, but I would much rather have a manual than a slushie in traffic.

[Azrael]

Wow. 300 comments. Didn't read them all, but just by scanning I see that the number one thing we could do to revive the fortunes of manuals in North America is to teach people how to drive stick in stop and go traffic. So many people see that as the weak point for manual, but I would much rather have a manual than a slushie in traffic.

That is because people tend to drive sticks like they do slushies in traffic and stay 3 feet off the car in front of them. If they actually learned that you can keep a buffer and ride "putt" along in gear without wearing out the clutch and your left leg then it would not be an issue. The problem is that most people are in the mode of cramming themselves, and their cars, in the drafting space behind other motorists and then complaining when the accordian effect slows traffic down.

If more people would drive like an experienced manual operator, then the accordian effect on traffic would be reduced and traffic would actually flow better.

I see it all the time though, the manual car 3 feet off the bumper, and the annoyed look on the face of the pilot. Heck my own brother used to drive his Ford Focus that way and it always irritated me. Within the last year I took him out in my car and taught him how to forward think driving with a clutch. Although it may have been a mute point since he sold the 2003 Focus, and I gave him my 2001 5.4L (which only come with an auto) F150 to help get him out of debt.

[Prodigal Son]

I was stopped at a long light on a slight incline the other day. In the lane next to me there was a Saturn that was obviously manual. He kept gently rolling back and pulling forward, over and over again. The thing was, the slushie SUV behind him would follow every time he pulled forward, so that every time he rolled back, they got closer and closer to each other.

I wish the light had stayed red for just another minute so I could have seen if they would eventually get close enought to touch.

[wannabe]

in the comments:

In fact, I’m glad the auto option is there, because it is a quick and decisive way to separate real drivers from traffic sheep.

[Leedeth]

Some people will never understand:

#14

Gosh, let’s bring back computer punch cards while we’re at it.

The point of technology is convenience. Know why the graphic user interface Apple developed won out over MS-DOS’s “enter the following string of file names with backslashes between them after you finish reading the 400-page manual”?

Because it’s more convenient to have the machine handle more of the tedious things.

An homage to stick shift is just plain wrong. I’m sure some “purists” love the feel of “control” it gives them.

Puh-leaze.

It’s a car. Which means it’s a way to get from here to there. Why no articles about the joy of turning a crankshaft to get the engine started? How about something about the pure feeling of control you get from having to hunt, kill, gut and dress every single piece of meat you eat?

Oh, for an article extolling the down-to-earthiness of a city without a sewage system, like back in the good old days …

I can’t drive a stick. Nor am I able to can vegetables, swordfight, or make a spearhead out of a piece of flint.

Let us finally put away these artifices of over-extended adolescence. It’s a car. If you need “control” that badly, buy a bigger remote for your televisions.

— Posted by Alex Dering

Anyhow, I prefer to drive in traffic. It gives me a chance to shift all the time instead of staying in one gear.

[.insane]

To a large part, I am really happy I learned to drive stick. In fact, one of the reasons I decided to do it was because I sort of considered it a basic "man skill" (no offense to the SS ladies) that would definitely give me an extra skill that is just "necessary".

Propels me past many other men

right on brother

[.insane]

evo with slushie man thats just nasty just plain wrong wow

[six]

Some people will never understand:

#14

Gosh, let’s bring back computer punch cards while we’re at it.

The point of technology is convenience. Know why the graphic user interface Apple developed won out over MS-DOS’s “enter the following string of file names with backslashes between them after you finish reading the 400-page manual”?

Because it’s more convenient to have the machine handle more of the tedious things.

An homage to stick shift is just plain wrong. I’m sure some “purists” love the feel of “control” it gives them.

Puh-leaze.

It’s a car. Which means it’s a way to get from here to there. Why no articles about the joy of turning a crankshaft to get the engine started? How about something about the pure feeling of control you get from having to hunt, kill, gut and dress every single piece of meat you eat?

Oh, for an article extolling the down-to-earthiness of a city without a sewage system, like back in the good old days …

I can’t drive a stick. Nor am I able to can vegetables, swordfight, or make a spearhead out of a piece of flint.

Let us finally put away these artifices of over-extended adolescence. It’s a car. If you need “control” that badly, buy a bigger remote for your televisions.

— Posted by Alex Dering

Anyhow, I prefer to drive in traffic. It gives me a chance to shift all the time instead of staying in one gear.

haha, I was gonna post the exact same comment. Stories about manual transmissions never fail to bring the commentor which mentions churning your own butter or milking your own cows when comparing manuals to automatics. Logic seems to befuddle a lot of people.

[Nychold]

Some people will never understand:

#14

Gosh, let’s bring back computer punch cards while we’re at it.

The point of technology is convenience. Know why the graphic user interface Apple developed won out over MS-DOS’s “enter the following string of file names with backslashes between them after you finish reading the 400-page manual”?

Because it’s more convenient to have the machine handle more of the tedious things.

An homage to stick shift is just plain wrong. I’m sure some “purists” love the feel of “control” it gives them.

Puh-leaze.

It’s a car. Which means it’s a way to get from here to there. Why no articles about the joy of turning a crankshaft to get the engine started? How about something about the pure feeling of control you get from having to hunt, kill, gut and dress every single piece of meat you eat?

Oh, for an article extolling the down-to-earthiness of a city without a sewage system, like back in the good old days …

I can’t drive a stick. Nor am I able to can vegetables, swordfight, or make a spearhead out of a piece of flint.

Let us finally put away these artifices of over-extended adolescence. It’s a car. If you need “control” that badly, buy a bigger remote for your televisions.

— Posted by Alex Dering

Anyhow, I prefer to drive in traffic. It gives me a chance to shift all the time instead of staying in one gear.

To Alex Dering:

F************* YOOOOOOOOOUUUUUU!!

And in fact, there are hundreds of articles on the joys of hunting, gutting, and dressing meat. Go down to Wal-Mart and look at the magazines for it. Guns and Ammo, Deer Hunter, The Fisherman, etc. Wow...Loser for Life must you be.

[six]

I think Alex is just jealous of the people who are willing and able to drive manuals, and is just talking about hunting and sewage systems to make him feel like less of a moron.

[Nychold]

Sadly, I know exactly where he's coming from. Back when I was an auto-only driver, I sort of had the same belief. I mean, I knew that manuals had their place, but honestly, for a daily driver, I believed that driving an auto was the only way to go.

I was wrong, and I'm willing to admit that now. But it stems only from a very ignorant perspective. If all you've ever driven is an auto, you have no right to say which is better: stick or auto. The same is true if you've only ever driven a stick.

Actually, that's true of a lot of things in life. If you haven't done it, you CAN'T honestly say which is better. It's like eating a grilled cheese sandwich, and saying "This is 1000 times better than sushi, which I've never had before!"

[six]

I loved how he made completely irrelevent points in his argument. I mean, hunting, killing, skinning, gutting, dressing, cooking your own meat is akin to mining and milling your own steel, stitching your own cloth, and refining your own oil so that you can build your own car. That is not control in the sense that manual transmissions give drivers. It has no relevance to the point of changing your own gears. No sewage system? MS-DOS? Flint spears? I laugh at him.

[comingbackdown]

I really do enjoy the dipweeds that are saying "oh, but driving a manual in 3rd gear in residential areas keeps me from speeding"... ...and wastes gas...