Considering the billions of dollars the Auto manufactures put into R&D and marketing annually I think the process may be a little more involved than a "chicken or egg" scenario.
It's a sad reality for those of us who still enjoy driving a manual shift that they have become the exception rather than the norm. On the other hand if I'm stuck in traffic an auto suddenly feels good!
melonhead1,
Apr 18, 3:58am
I wonder if anyone has tried to put a tremec into a new car of today. The ecu would be tricky but some nerd could reverse engineer its code and modify it to work I'm sure.
elect70,
Apr 18, 4:20am
I reckon all new car makers that dont offer a manual box are too scared it will root the car by agressive drivers . Plus they use 7 speed autos to acheive the required economy & the american market dictates what they make 90% of yanks want auto as its always in stop start traffic tailbacks .
curlcrown,
Apr 18, 4:25am
There are only 11869 manual vehicles listed on trade me.
socram,
Apr 18, 4:54am
Thanks for that. I don't think it is a split hose as it has been like that from brand new. We still get good economy overall, particularly on a run, but it could be better.
tamarillo,
Apr 18, 4:58am
Scared it will root the car? Poppycock. Cars in parts of Europe are still mostly manuals, and many cars we get here are made with manuals we just don't get them as they don't sell them. The French struggled here for years as some of the best engines didn't have auto options and when they did were old 4 speeders. Like Americans we just don't want manuals.
New mx 5 has 5 speed manual. Sounds good.
tamarillo,
Apr 18, 5:02am
Will be in one set gear electrics soon anyway. which raise point about speed limits. In places with low limits like ours we won't want same gear as cars going to europe will want. Is therE a speed at which electric motors are most efficient? I know the torque is constant but if a certain revs is most efficient you would want it set to that speed at 100kmh. I think.
toyboy3,
Apr 18, 5:03am
The best of both worlds is manual with fluid flywheel
tony9,
Apr 18, 6:41am
Are you sure?
I look for manuals at times, using a key word search. Half the results are auto because the car has an owner's manual, or many think tiptronic etc. is manual.
mm12345,
Apr 18, 6:53am
There's not much European about a DSG - Borg Warner (as a result, VAG are Borg Warner's largest customer).
ema1,
Apr 18, 8:08am
Hillman Hunter and derivatives also had a decent silky knife through butter gear shift as well.
toyboy3,
Apr 18, 8:13am
Until the car had a clutch replacement and the garage replaced the 30 oil with 90 hypiod oil then the synchros gave up
richardmayes,
Apr 18, 8:15am
I remember when Top Gear did the Monaro CV8 (or was it the HSV GTO?) Clarkson was overjoyed to find a decent performance car that still had a manual box.
serf407,
Apr 18, 8:25am
Shellfish gathering and fish netting or fishing from rocks in remote locations? or fungus gathering or avoiding getting stuck in car parks at pyo orchards/ berry farms? There are some well experienced off road enthusiasts in Asia. Rainforest challenge 2014. https://youtu.be/kK7OiMG7E6Q
stevo2,
Apr 18, 8:37am
MX5 has the slickest gearshift I have ever driven
melonhead1,
Apr 18, 9:07am
A manual XR6 might be good before they stop making them but they're only sold in straya.
sr2,
Apr 18, 9:31am
One of the sweetest manuals I've driven was an MT75 running a straight cut Quaife cluster with dog syncro's and a short shift kit. With a twin plate Sach clutch in front it took no prisoners on a touring stage but when you finally got the chance to get up it there was no sweeter gearbox. Sadly our 2.4 Holbay Cosworth ate it up and spat it out on a regular basis.
Long live the manual transmission, it is one of life's rare pleasures!
trogedon,
Apr 18, 11:26pm
Long live the manual transmission, it is one of life's rare pleasures![/quote]
My wife and I think so.
gmphil,
Apr 19, 12:01am
My wife and I think so.[/quote] as in feet ?
ema1,
Apr 19, 8:36am
Garage were a bunch of "wallies" then for sure, they always ran on SAE 30 (Castrol CRB-30 comes to mind ) oil and not designed to use hypoid EP 90 or even SAE 90. Could have had a claim there for improper repair or negligence.? If a Laycock de Normanville O/D was fitted it was advisable to go use a SAE 20 grade oil.
ema1,
Apr 19, 9:00am
Rootes gearboxes all had very small oil galleries and the incorrect thick oils didn't flow well through those small galleries and overheating often resulted causing failure of syncros, plus the Rootes gearbox gears were only partially submerged in the oil and relied on splash/wash lubrication to a major extent, other common failures of these brilliant g/boxes was due to oil leakage/oil starvation and lack of checking the oil levels in them. full stop. A properly maintained and correctly oiled Rootes all syncro g/box is hard to beat for ease and smoothness of gear changing. There are various manual g/boxes that use and can be run on ATF . Mercedes Benz used ATF on manual g/boxes from way way back ex factory.
trogedon,
Apr 19, 10:01am
Ha ha.
morrisjvan,
Mar 5, 8:41pm
Manuals are great for getting the best performance out of your motor, which if you are racing and every last kw counts is just the ticket, but if you spend 99% of your motoring just going to and from work or doing other mundane errands ,an auto is just fine.
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