No thanks. I switched to automatic shortly after I moved to Reading where I found in all the stop start traffic I was constantly dancing the clutch fandango and heading for having a left leg like a tree trunk.
Oh good I got here before the lemmy fuck cars brigade showed up
Hi, !fuckcars mod here. I absolutely love my manual transmissions and unironically fully endorse this meme.
I think you might be surprised at just how much crossover there is between car enthusiasts and people who hate car dependency. Cars ought to be like horses: they should be available for enthusiasts to play with, but it should be wholly unnecessary and considered kinda ridiculous to use them as routine transportation, especially in cities.
Frankly, I would prefer it if all transmissions were manual, as it would help encourage people who see driving as a chore to use other transportation modes instead.
Yeah I honestly love driving, but I love walking and biking too. Just because I’m a car enthusiast doesn’t mean that I don’t wish that my city was more walkable or had actual public transport.
LET’S FUCKING TAKE THE BUS
Seriously the funniest thing talking to immigrants in the US is them reminiscing about being able to buy high quality produce, food, tools, clothing, gifts, books, etc by walking down the street or taking a bike a few blocks away. Also people daily taking vans, busses, and trains to get to work or school.
Meanwhile our transport setup is so bad, people have successfully marketed ship to your house meal prep boxes which is actually such an insane first world problem when you think about it.
We should also get rid of starter motors. Who needs them? We can just hand crank the car to start it, like real men did back in the day.
I love when it backfires and accidentally breaks your arm! So manly!!!
i miss my stick
Happens at higher age
There must be a trans joke in here somewhere.
don’t eat the crab dip!
I hate the knob. I can’t decide if that or the Nissan “orb of motion” as Garbage Time put it is my least favourite. I miss my manual car, but I’m on the electric train now, as computery as it gets.
Ours has a stick configuration. Fellow Frank supporter
• Wanted to Start on a Steep Hill? We had a Tool for that: it was Called “Flooring the Gas while letting go off the Clutch”
I miss the Smell of Burned Clutch…
We’d park my buddies Mustang on a hill wherever we went in case it wouldn’t start. LOL, everyone made fun of him saying it was a Pinto. (<- it was this, but really, really shitty)
Ah the Mustang II. What a historically bad letdown.
I was going to say, I always had my e-brake on when I parked my car and so I always started the car with it on.
Does he mean slowly let off the clutch while releasing the e-brake? Does he put on his e-brake if he stops on a hill, in traffic too!
If you’re on a steep hill, yes sometimes you need to use the handbrake to get moving. This had to be demonstrated when I got my licence, but to be fair some manual vehicles now have automatic hill start. Still a good technique to learn because it doesn’t always activate.
I’ve had to use the ebrake method before for a hill that was wayyyy too steep and a fence gate closed behind me.
You basically just let off the clutch and press on the gas until the car wants to move forward, then you let off the e brake and go without going backwards.
There are some steep stop sign intersections in San Francisco that I’ve had to use the e brake for.
That’s when you are supposed to use Mr_Mofu’s technique!
that’s mr mr.mofu to you, kind sir.
The driving school I went to would fail people that used the “handbrake start” on a hill.
And also fail people that tried to drive backwards by looking back instead of using the mirrors.
And also fail people that tried to drive backwards by looking back instead of using the mirrors.
Huh, that’s interesting because I was tought to do the opposite. In practice, I do whichever feels right, usually mirrors but I’ve noticed in pickups I’d rather just look back
Handbrake start is only if you sucked at driving a manual ;-)
Depends on how steep the hill is and how precise you need to be with your position. Parallel parking in San Francisco almost requires the handbrake.
You can use one foot for the gas and brake at the same time. I’ve drove manuals for over 20 years. Including split shift commercial trucks that didn’t have hand brakes.
i like automatics for easier to crank the driveshaft
This is a tip for people that don’t drive automatic transmission, if you ever try it, put it in R and really floor it. The R stands for racing mode!
I used to drive stick in one of the most dense cities and worst traffic on the planet. My left calf muscle is noticeably larger than my right. Manual is enjoyable and freeing, but at this point I prefer an automatic in urban areas with heavy traffic. The volume knob shifter is still weird though.
I live in a city famous for it’s bad traffic, but prefer driving a manual anyway (when driving a car, at least – actual first place goes to riding my bicycle).
Yeah, but when it takes an hour to drive 4 kms, it gets old pretty quick.
Hence,
actual first place goes to riding my bicycle
PUT IT IN “H”
She’ll go 300 hectares on a single tank of kerosene.
What country is this car from?
It no longer exists.
Lol that handbrake start is utterly useless if you live anywhere that’s actually hilly all over.
You’ve got to learn the proper clutchwork from the very start or you’ll be taking years on every hill.
Unless you’re starting from a cold start on a hill without ABS, I guess it could a safety precaution.
I’m curious, how do u do it? I mean you need a foot on gas and one on the clutch to start, how do you keep your car still without handbrake (other than just being quick after moving away from the brake)?
It’s a quick motion, but the essence is that while moving from the brake to the gas, you’re also starting to apply the clutch to grab even at the still idle speed of the engine. It’s not several steps but a fluid motion, and as weird as it sounds, it’s something you pick up by feeling what the car needs to maintain the right engine speed while also not engaging the clutch too much and causing lugging or a stall. It’s why most new manual drives start in a empty level place like a parking lot and practice just going from stop to moving slowly, over and over. I also told both my boys the first time they got behind the wheel the same thing my dad did - you WILL stall out the first time. And they did. :D But they both have and love driving stick now, and hate if they have to drive someone’s automatic.
I see thanks, tbh my car is pretty crappy but if the uphill is too steep I will back up a little without handbrake and the guy behind me wont be happy :D
Oh yes, it’s absolutely dependent on the car’s abilities. But honestly there’s nothing wrong with using the handbrake if you need to in a bad situation. I’d say it’s a sign of a good driver to know the option is there and to use all of them together to get going safely.
I had to use the handbrake once on a 73 Beetle to prevent disaster. I was coming to a stop sign near home, pressed the brake, and it went to the floor. The sensor on the brake cylinder had shorted out and melted a hole, and the brake fluid went right out. Terrible design. But my awareness of what was left made me go straight to the handbrake and slowly come to a stop just in time, then I limped back home and figured out what had happened. So it’s not there just for a parking backup.
Yeah, I’ve heard tons of tricks over the years.
Just be fast. That’s the trick, practice and you’ll get fast at applying just the right amount of clutch in an instant.
I live in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and regularly drove my standard transmission in San Francisco (one of the hilliest cities in North America), and used my hand brake all the time to maintain my position while I engaged the transmission. I’m not really sure what you’re on about…
that handbrake start is utterly useles
In my native country that was a requirement for the driving test.
My Volkswagen flashes a message when I put the key in the ignition; “Depress clutch to start”
So I tell it that the majority of Yanks don’t know how to use it and it starts every time.
I actually like the volume knob shifter. The buttons ones I can live without.
Joke is that it is an automatic
If an automatic is good enough for the 70 Series Land Cruiser, it is good enough for me.
