Stick vs. Auto

[bhsup]

Nope. Per Wiki:

In 1979, the company became a holding company when it spun off its various businesses into autonomous companies, one of them being Fiat Auto. That same year, sales reached an all-time high in the United States, corresponding to the Iranian Oil Crisis. However, when gas prices fell again after 1981, Americans began purchasing sport utility vehicles, minivans and pickup trucks in larger numbers (marking a departure from their past preference for large cars). Also, Japanese automakers had been taking an ever-larger share of the car market, increasing at more than half a percent a year. Thus, in 1984, Fiat and Lancia withdrew from the American market. In 1989, it did the same in the Australian market.

 

[Splime]

The scary thing with me is, I've never driven an automatic, but have driven a manual, in my learning to drive. So that's the opposite of many Americans.

 

[LucyDuke]

from what I gather, it requires changing gears very often, but I'm curious to know how you can determine which gear to change it to and how you can keep looking at the road while steering and changing gears thanks

Most sticks follow a pretty standard pattern, so you don't need to look away from the road once you learn it. Once you know the pattern, you can find the right gear just by touch.

You also don't have to think "oh, I need second to go up this hill because it's this steep", or anything like that. What you worry about is just "shift up" or "shift down". You shift up when you don't need as much from the engine (like when you're going down a hill) and shift down when you need more work from it (like when you want to speed up to pass someone). It's much easier than you might imagine.

 

[bhsup]

When the tach goes into the pretty red area half way, it's time to shift.

 

[nc-1701]

When the tach goes into the pretty red area half way, it's time to shift.

ROFl

My Dad yells at me if I let the tach go over about 5k RPMs

 

[EdwardTking]

I don't fully understand this. When you change gear in a manual, you don't look away from the road and you don't even really think about it - you just do it - just like when you turn a corner. Secondly, it's not fiddly. When you need to change gear you just put the clutch down and move the gearstick - not difficult.

Well yes; if it is a good gearbox, a good clutch and your own car and
you are very familiar with it, there is not a lot of conscious activity.

However when slowing down to turn left or stop in traffic; this involves
signalling (to car behind) and changing gear. Doing this simultaneously
means that I have only one hand on wheel that is also operating indicator;
and not doing these simultaneously means that the exact timing of the
signalling is constrained by the activity involved with changing gear.

And when driving unfamiliar manual cars, e.g. departmental hire cars I
always found I was distracted by fine tuning myself (first consciously
selecting and then reprogramming my unconsciousness) to match the
particular clutch biting point of that particular model in that condition.

And people (including myself after 20 years driving) can still stall manuals.
Other people do, but are strangely reluctant to admit this. I think
that this is all to do with the macho culture in some places in England.
The kinda Top Gear "Manuals are for real men, autos are for girlies."
I'm too old for that. Better safe in girlie car than mashed in manual.

 

[SickCycle]

I'm from the U.S. an can't drive stick.. That's why they made it simple for me and made it Automatic with a side slider for + and -...

Were a spoiled bunch I know.

But honestly, Manual is waaaay more fun to drive but takes half a tank of gas to go 15 miles when your keeping the rpm just under redline.. hehe

Thats why I usually just keep my car in automatic lol, I've literally watched a quarter tank of gas drop from one off ramp to the next, just a couple minutes..

Boys and there toys..

 

[bhsup]

I'm from the U.S. an can't drive stick.. That's why they made it simple for me and made it Automatic with a side slider for + and -...

Ah, yeah! The Autostick!! At least that's what Chrysler calls it. The 300M and Intrepid and Sebring (optional on last two) that I know if offer/offered it. I think Hyundai has started offering it and calls it Shiftronic or something like that.

When I had my Chrysler LHS, I had purchased a 300M instrument cluster, shifter bezel, and all the hardware to convert it to an autostick.... and then went and traded it in on a Jeep Grand Cherokee before I got around to doing it!! (still have all the hardware if anyone wants it... hint hint hint)

 

[EdwardTking]

Wouldnt auto vis manual accident rates be thrown by the nature of the drivers. Given auto drivers in the UK are predominantly the very old and those who couldnt pass the full licence test they would show up as being more dangerous, although it would tell us very little about the relative safety of the clutches.

It would be interesting to know if the dangers of potential catastrophic human error for a manual was greater than the loss of control/ performance for an automatic. Inclined to think human error is more risky.

Yes; but it should be possible to correct for age and sex factors.

My suspicion (and I have no evidence for this) is that automatics
have a higher accident rate, but that many of these are trivial
bumps, and that manuals have the higher fatality rate.