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Transportation

Despite EVs, People Are Buying Manual Transmission Vehicles (go.com) 492

Posted by EditorDavid from the shifting-gears dept.
Manual transmissions are "the ultimate driver-car connection," argues the chief marketing manager for Nissan's Z sports car, "where you really feel like a part of the vehicle and can control it in ways you wouldn't be able to with an automatic." He tells ABC News that "As long as there are still new internal combustion engine vehicles on the market, there will be an interest in manual transmissions."

Ah, but isn't that just another way of saying that "It's inevitable EVs are going to take over and people are getting misty-eyed that the manual won't be around forever." That what Bob Sorokanich, editor-in-chief of Jalopnik, tells ABC: "That's why people are flocking to these specialty cars. Young people are interested in the opportunity to experience them as internal combustion engines come to a close...."

The car community has been decrying the death of the manual transmission for nearly two decades, said Henry Catchpole, a longtime automotive journalist who now hosts videos for Hagerty. As more automakers allocate resources to building electric vehicles, drivers are choosing engagement over pure performance, he argued. "People are reassessing what they want and are going back to analog cars. It's a big story in the industry," he told ABC News. "There's a shift in terms of how we look at performance cars. We don't wax lyrical about paddle shifters as we do about manual gearboxes. Drivers are enjoying the manual again...."

Catchpole said the unrelenting pressure on automakers to keep the manual alive has benefited an industry that's rapidly closing the door on gas-powered vehicles. "Some people see manuals as a chore but they're not. They bring more color to life," he said. "Porsche listened to enthusiasts and brought back the manual in the GT3. I hope other manufacturers will listen too."
"Porsche, Acura, Toyota, Nissan, BMW, Honda, and even Ford continue to make models which have manual transmissions," writes Slashdot reader quonset.

"In some cases it is the only option."
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Despite EVs, People Are Buying Manual Transmission Vehicles More

Despite EVs, People Are Buying Manual Transmission Vehicles

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  • Nostalgia hipsters (Score:4, Funny)

    by gosso920 ( 6330142 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @12:11AM (#63030567)

    Manual transmissions are "the ultimate driver-car connection,"

    This is no different than the "vinyl sounds better" douches.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by rsilvergun ( 571051 )
      Vinyl sounded better for first generation masterings of most pop music. I've got a few first generation metal CDs and the recordings are kind of flat. To be honest a good quality cassette tape played on a good quality deck sounded just as good. Although most cassettes didn't last as long as well cared for vinyl

      What's to be honest by the mid-90s mastering techniques had gotten to the point where CDs were as good or better.

      I'm not a huge fan of the sport but the last I heard auto racing has gotten to

      • I'm not a huge fan of the sport but the last I heard auto racing has gotten to the point where computer controlled shifting is better than what humans can do. And certainly it's better than what anyone but a professional race driver is going to pull off.

        Isn't this really automatic / computer-controlled shifting of a manual transmission, rather than what would be a conventional automatic transmission?

      • Re:Nostalgia hipsters (Score:4, Insightful)

        by MDMurphy ( 208495 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @01:19AM (#63030725)

        I'm not a huge fan of the sport but the last I heard auto racing has gotten to the point where computer controlled shifting is better than what humans can do. And certainly it's better than what anyone but a professional race driver is going to pull off.

        Once upon a time sports were about what a human could do. Auto racing has been just as much a technological competition. At some point, they'll just be drones.

      • Re: Nostalgia hipsters (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Blymie ( 231220 )

        You're missing the point. It has nothing to do with shift speed. It has to do with control, and feel.

        You have far more control with a manual transmission, and this influences the feel of the drive.

        You may not care, you may disagree, you may think it silly, or pointless, but regardless that's what people are after.

      • Re:Nostalgia hipsters (Score:5, Informative)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @04:44AM (#63031091) Homepage Journal

        It's usually the opposite for CDs. First generation ones sound the best, it's later pressings that lack dynamic range and detail.

        When CDs first came out the mastering process would make full use of the entre dynamic range that CD could offer, which was much greater than vinyl. A famous example is Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms, which had exactly one sample on the entire disc that was the maximum digital value (+32767 or -32768). Later releases had the sound compressed to make the quiet parts louder, and the loud parts were clipped (i.e. distorted). The result is that there's a lot less slam on the drums, the guitars sound flat, and it has that "wall of sound" effect that obscures all the subtle details.

        By the late 90s, most CD recordings were awful. Sometimes the Japanese pressings were a bit better, but mostly it all sounded terrible. In the 2000s interest in vinyl started to come back as people realized that the limitations of the format were forcing engineers to master the songs with more dynamic range and very little clipping. There were also competing formats like DVD Audio and SACD, the main advantage of which was usually just that the mastering was done with more care.

    • Re:Nostalgia hipsters (Score:5, Informative)

      by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @12:21AM (#63030589)

      Manual transmissions are "the ultimate driver-car connection,"

      This is no different than the "vinyl sounds better" douches.

      While I don't know if the connection is "ultimate", I disagree.with your assessment. There *is* a difference; manuals provide a direct connection to the driver train that can be felt and automatics feel "mushy" in comparison. That said, I haven't driven a vehicle with a CVT, but suspect it's actually worse.

      (Said as someone who's driven manuals for 40+ years.)

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by c-A-d ( 77980 )

        I own a CVT vehicle. It's not bad but definitely not designed for performance. Most of that is how the transmission computer is programmed. It's definitely on the bottom of my preference list for transmission shift systems.

        I'll agree that the stick shift does provide more of a "connection" to the vehicle and the driving experience.

      • I also drove manual for decades. It was a matter of fuel efficiency and maintenance cost.

        I have an EV (6 years now) and its fine.

        Personal opinion, the vast majority of people who consider themselves good drivers... aren't. The sooner we have laws requiring all new cars be self-driving and a global shared training and testing database for said cars, the better

        • Personal opinion, the vast majority of people who consider themselves good drivers... aren't.

          Generally agree, even w/o counting the number of people I've seen driving while: putting on makeup, eating a sandwich, looking at a fold-out map, reading a book -- the latter two perched on the steering wheel -- etc... I did read an article (can't find reference) speculating that a manual transmission may be better for people with attention issues as it requires engaging all four limbs -- both arms/hands and both legs/feet, but can't remember if it was a scientific article. (I have a nephew with slight A

        • Re:Nostalgia hipsters (Score:5, Insightful)

          by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @06:45AM (#63031255)

          The sooner we have laws requiring all new cars be self-driving and a global shared training and testing database for said cars, the better

          I'm gonna give you $10 to fuck off. Technology has sucked the joy out of life with people believing everything needs to be automated to the nth degree. There's no room for individuality, no room divergence actions. Everything must be done this way and only this way.

          Thus why I, as long as I can, will purchase a manual transmission car. The suck that is automatics and now EVs is mindnumbingly boring and does little to make people safer drivers. In fact, by not forcing people to understand how to drive a car, automatics and EVs make people worse drivers. If you doubt that, look at the vast majority of drivers on the road and guess what type of car they drive.

          Manual transmissions allow people to have a little enjoyment in their life before it's sucked away by the overbearing menace of technology.

          • I don't agree, mainly because of the inherent dangers associated with driving. In the aggregate, driving causes a lot of death, and most of it comes from bad drivers (and while most everyone agrees they're out there, nobody seems to think they are one). I very much believe that if all vehicles were automated, the roads would be a lot safer and we'd have far fewer deaths and debilitating injuries from vehicle accidents.

    • Re:Nostalgia hipsters (Score:5, Informative)

      by thatkid_2002 ( 1529917 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @12:26AM (#63030599)

      If you stop to think for a second about how these transmissions actually work and how people use them it should be obvious that auto does not offer the same control and experience as manual.

      With a manual you can keep the engine and transmission in the appropriate state for what you intend on doing and for the road conditions and terrain you are in. With auto the system is always playing catch-up and so it is often in an incorrect state, and so it feels (and is) unresponsive to the driver. Having proper control at the right time results in more responsive and often *safer* driving experience because the car does what you tell it to do. Without super advanced computer vison and AI (that doesn't yet exist) auto can't even come close to offering the same experience to the driver.

      • Re: Nostalgia hipsters (Score:5, Informative)

        by AcidFnTonic ( 791034 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @12:47AM (#63030649) Homepage

        This 100%. Everyone is stuck on how fast they shift with realizing its trying to predict what my brain wants to do when my brain is faster because it already was in the right gear before any inputs were given to the ecu to "catch up" with its supposedly fast shifting.

        • This 100%. Everyone is stuck on how fast they shift with realizing its trying to predict what my brain wants to do when my brain is faster because it already was in the right gear before any inputs were given to the ecu to "catch up" with its supposedly fast shifting.

          With modern dual-clutch or even torque converter automatic like the ZF-8HP, you can just tell to change gears in advance with a paddle or something. If the manufacturer didn't fuck up, it'll stay locked in the gear and bang it off the rev limiter even.

          At this point other than weight and cost, I can't think of any actual advantage. But those two factors are still important for small, light and affordable cars (like Miata/BRZ or just cheap econoboxes). More importantly it's just the engagement with the car, d

      • Re:Nostalgia hipsters (Score:4, Interesting)

        by CaptainLugnuts ( 2594663 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @12:53AM (#63030679)
        There was one auto that was pretty cool. Jaguar had one that took extra input from GPS and map data, it knew upcoming corners and elevation changes and used that to help make shifting more intuitive.

      • Re:Nostalgia hipsters (Score:5, Insightful)

        by shilly ( 142940 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @02:12AM (#63030839)

        EVs offer this same capability as well, but better because it's even more immediate than a manual. On top of that they offer a much more linear response (ie, the degree to which you depress the accelerator is exactly proportionate to the amount of torque you apply). It's one of the great pleasures of driving an EV.

    • Manual transmissions are "the ultimate driver-car connection,"

      This is no different than the "vinyl sounds better" douches.

      Perhaps a better comparison would be nostalgia for steering wheels in 50 years when all cars are Level-5 autonomous with no steering wheels. I'm okay with manipulating a stick and clutch, but what I really enjoy is steering on winding back roads.

    • https://news.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org] Vinyl can't participate in the loudness war very well, because it'll toss the needle right out of the groove. So... I mean... Vinyl does sound better, but just because audio engineers are dicks.

    • COMPLETELY different. More like painting vs photog (Score:5, Insightful)

      by raymorris ( 2726007 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @12:38AM (#63030621) Journal

      It's a COMPLETELY different thing. It's more like "I enjoy painting more than photography". The camera will automatically make a picture, as opposed to you making a picture. That's the difference between a manual brush and an automatic one.

      Some would say, what's the fun in watching a machine make a picture? Or listening to an mp3 rather than playing your own music? Or sitting there while the machine drives?

      The fact that you're unable to understand that other people enjoy different things than you do shows just how very small your mind is. You might try being a tad less closed-minded and self-centered, because when you can see as far as your own nose, you miss 99.99% of what the world has to offer.

      • It also increases attention to the road. Cite: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.go... [nih.gov]

      • It's a COMPLETELY different thing. It's more like "I enjoy painting more than photography". The camera will automatically make a picture, as opposed to you making a picture.

        Nailed it.

        Baudelaire described photography as the “refuge of failed painters with too little talent” Maybe comparisons will be made between people who can drive and those who only know how to type in an address for a self-driving car.

    • So youve never driven a manual. Let me go ahead and explain it to you. The control you have is unmistakeable and theres many reasons why automatics are not in racing vehicles. Every gear has a range in rpms that allow you to power up and down the vehicles above what the gas pedal can do. This allows for better cornering, acceleration, and efficiency not too mention fuel efficiency since your saving a few hundred pounds for your engine to haul. This isnt about being hip or being cool, its common sense.
      • Man, I've been racing shitty vehicles since I was 18 (it's cheap and fun if you have a track near you)
        Personally, I haven't owned an automatic car (unless you count my wife's) since my second vehicle.

        However, lots of racing classes use semi-automatic (clutchless autos with manual gear select) or fully automatic transmissions.
      • Now many automatics in the same vehicle get better EPA gas mileage. While better mileage is nice, I just assume that's because the transmission mapping is biased toward mileage vs doing what you want it to.

        Years ago I had a car with a slipping clutch. I did my commute in it for a few weeks. I actually got better mileage since I had to accelerate more sedately to keep the clutch from slipping. I'm not sure I'd have called that an improvement.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dargaud ( 518470 )
      All the wrong reasons. There is one reason why *I* drive manual: snowy mountain roads (where I live). When friction is sketchy, with a manual you can feel when wheels slip (particularly at low and very low speed). You don't want an automatic shifting gear at the wrong time. You can also drive a high gear to decrease torque and thus lower slippage.
      Caveat: I've heard good things about the more recent continuous shifters, but I've never tried one.

  • I don't really like automatic transmissions; they feel "mushy" compared to manuals. Both my wife and I grew up driving manual transmission vehicles and all our cars have been manual -- and both of the motorcycles I've had (way back).

  • Some of us just drive old cars... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by bkmoore ( 1910118 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @12:22AM (#63030591)
    Some of us just drive older vehicles and have no desire to change, especially given the recent hyper-inflation of new car prices. When I do buy an older car, I look for the most basic model, without any options that can break or be expensive to repair. No sun-roofs, fancy electronics, big engines, turbo-chargers, etc. It wasn't that long ago, the basic-model usually had a standard-transmission and the automatic transmission was an optional extra.

    • I look for the most basic model, without any options that can break or be expensive to repair.

      Which would vastly favor a manual transmission over an automatic.

      • I look for the most basic model, without any options that can break or be expensive to repair.

        Which would vastly favor a manual transmission over an automatic.

        Exactly.

      • Not anymore. Nowadays the automatic versions cost less. They don't make many manuals, and the automatics are reliable enough now that servicing will be cheaper.

        A big reason a lot of companies continued making manuals until about a decade ago was that with a professional driver they could get 1 or 2 more mpg on the EPA test. That advantage went away, which is why so few vehicles nowadays have manual options. A 90s suburban had 4 gears, but a modern one has 10 gears, the V8 in the Suburban can also shut down

        • Adding complexity also adds points of failure in the future, and maintenance expense. Manual *everything* is much more repair-friendly, and in my experience it vastly lowers the TCO of the machine. Side benefit, Manual was also (historically) much stronger in its design -- some GM transmissions are regularly abused in high-horsepower off-road racing, without any modifications whatsoever.

        • Re: Some of us just drive old cars... (Score:4, Informative)

          by CaptainLugnuts ( 2594663 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @01:44AM (#63030781)
          Many modern autos don't come with a dipstick or a way to change the fluid easily. These are marketed as "lifetime" fluids. What they don't tell you is it's not the lifetime of the car, it's the lifetime of the trans because once the fluid decays it kills the transmission. It's like that to enforce planned obsolescence.

          Modern auto do not cost less than modern manuals. Manual transmission haven't significantly changed in design in 50 years. Autos keep adding more planetary gearsets with increasing complexity in the computers and controlled valving and sensors. Since the vast majority of cars sold in NA are autos, what does cost more is the EPA certification as you pointed out.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by narcc ( 412956 )

        I look for the most basic model, without any options that can break or be expensive to repair.

        Which would vastly favor a manual transmission over an automatic.

        30 years ago.

  • The DSG auto in my very-much-missed mkv GTI was superb.

    Not a mushy torque converter automatic, but a fully-engaged power train that performed "expected" shifts in 11ms. (An unexpected shift would be like 2 to 4 or something. Expected shifts are the gears stepping up or down one at a time).

    I thought I'd use the paddles most of the time, but the automatic was so much smarter than me, and so much faster, I left it in auto almost all the time.

    And but for the clutches, it was titanically strong. There are basica

    • I've seen tons of shattered VW DSGs. It's usually the guys who upgrade the engine to within an inch of ventilating the crankcase. Stock it's not bad at all. The reason VW doesn't sell replacement parts is that there are very few shops qualified to repair them. They'd much rather you just buy a new transmission.

  • The ultimate in (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 07, 2022 @12:35AM (#63030611)

    anti-theft devices.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @12:35AM (#63030613)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Here we drive manual (Score:3, Informative)

    by simlox ( 6576120 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @12:40AM (#63030625)
    Here in Denmark most cars are with manual transmission. Tradition and price and taxes might be the reason. When I boa new car last year, I didn't even look at models with automatic. It was never even discussed with the dealer.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by ukoda ( 537183 )
      That used to be true too here in New Zealand until about 20 years ago. I only ever brought one ICEV with an automatic transmission, a horrible experience and I swore I would never make that mistake again. The last ICEV I brought was 7 years ago. They didn't have the model I wanted in stock as a manual so the sales person tried to convince me to buy an automatic version instead, trying to claim it would be just as good. A big mistake when selling to an older buyer like me. I was just about to walk out o

  • I only drive manuals, it's not just about reliability or engagement. I like to swap engines and I don't want to deal with retuning a computer to shift a transmission. I like being able to push start the car, I like being able to skip gears. I like being able to change gear ratios easily, I swapped out fifth in my TDI it was five bolts and 2 hours of work.

    When you start playing with Diesel's they can be made mechanical to not even require any ECU. This means you can swap them into anything they can bolt up t

  • Because I'm a cheap bastard. I have a 2000 pathfinder with 300k km on it. It's in decent condition and it just keeps going with minimal maintenance costs. Most automatic transmission cars will run into transmission problems and they can't really fix those / require full replacements. EVs are a great alternative for city driving - but feel the initial costs are too high compared to a good used manual vehicle

    • Most automatic transmission cars will run into transmission problems and they can't really fix those / require full replacements.

      I prefer manuals, but this statement is at least a couple decades out of date. Odds are, with a new automatic transmission you'll never need to do any major repairs - no matter how much you drive.

  • While it's slower on the track than a dual-clutch transmission, it's far more engaging.

    The racecar in the garage is a manual as well, because old autos absolutely suck on track and tend to self-destruct with regularity. While I'd love to switch the racecar to some sort of dual-clutch setup, my racing buddies and I wallets are not that deep.

    But then again, what other opinion would you expect from a guy with the username CaptainLugnuts?

  • Prepare to have your mind blown! (Score:4, Informative)

    by cuda13579 ( 1060440 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @12:47AM (#63030651)

    While everybody is clamoring for autopilots and driver assists...believe it or not...some people actually ENJOY driving.
    Some people DON'T find driving a manual transmission difficult.

    Seeking out a vehicle they personally find enjoyable to drive, is not a crime. This also does not automatically make them 'dangerous terrorists' out on the road.

    • Re:Prepare to have your mind blown! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Powercntrl ( 458442 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @01:58AM (#63030813) Homepage

      believe it or not...some people actually ENJOY driving.

      I'd venture a guess that a big part of finding enjoyable hinges on living somewhere where driving doesn't imply sitting in constant stop-and-go traffic. I've lived in central Florida suburbia all my life, and it doesn't matter whether you've dropped big bucks on a fancy sports car that costs as much as a house, or a barely-running jalopy that burns almost as much oil as it does gas - you're still gonna be sitting in the same traffic as everyone else. I'll wave to you at the next red light from my CVT-equipped econobox.

      • Re:Prepare to have your mind blown! (Score:4, Insightful)

        by chx496 ( 6973044 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @05:44AM (#63031193)

        believe it or not...some people actually ENJOY driving.

        I'd venture a guess that a big part of finding enjoyable hinges on living somewhere where driving doesn't imply sitting in constant stop-and-go traffic.

        This, so much this. Stop-and-go is annoying enough with an automatic transmission, it sucks even more with a manual one. Driving a manual transmission can be really fun if you drive on a road that has not a lot of traffic and that follows the terrain with quite a few curves, and I'll happily rent a care with manual transmission when on vacation -- but I'd never want a car with manual transmission for a daily commute in a metro region.

    • Re:Prepare to have your mind blown! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by GrumpySteen ( 1250194 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @09:54AM (#63031743)

      Believe it or not, nobody said it was a crime or called people who like to drive manual transmissions "dangerous terrorists." As I write this, your comment is literally the only one out of over 240 comments that uses the term terror. It's the epitome of a strawman argument.

      You're making up strawman arguments so that you can vent your anger and tell yourself that it's not a childish temper tantrum, but it clearly is.

      Ask yourself "what am I really angry about?" and have a good long think on what the real answer is. The fact that you had to make up points to be angry about should tip you off that the anger is internal, not external, and that's something you should work on resolving.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by ukoda ( 537183 )
      Somebody mod the parent post as funny. Hydrogen cars where the future, when I first read about them in the 1980s. Now they are a footnote in the history of cars.

      And if any hydrogen car fanboys want to jump in then first show me your local sales figures of HFCVs vs BEVs to back up your fantasy, and second how far away the nearest fueling station is to you. Here there are zero public hydrogen fuels stations in the country, which matches the local HFCVs sales figures. BEVs models on the other hand have

  • Go to your local car dealership and try to buy a manual transmission car. What you'll get is a better offer on a car with an automatic.

  • While automatic transmissions are available in Europe, they are (in my experience) a pretty small minority. Occasionally, I'll get one in a rental car.
  • I've owned/driven manual transmission vehicles since my first car in high school. I enjoy driving and part of driving is controlling the car. Automatics are just a step towards what pretends to be self-driving these days. Nothing wrong with that, it just is less than actual driving

    I recognize that stop-and-go traffic is easier if you drive an automatic. When confronted with that as a daily commute I changed my hours and routes to avoid stop-and-go rather than find a way to make it "better".

    I'm in t

  • Ever driven in Los Angeles? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by saccade.com ( 771661 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @01:10AM (#63030711) Homepage Journal
    A week or two driving in LA traffic will cure you of that manual gearbox fetish *real* quick.
    • Na. Been doing it in Seattle for 20 years.

      You get used to it.

  • EV feels like a manual (Score:3)

    by jemmyw ( 624065 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @01:26AM (#63030747)
    I've got a manual car. I prefer them, I don't like the mushy feel of an automatic. I've driven some EVs, they feel like a manual because they don't have automatic gear shifting, and regenerative braking feels quite a lot like riding the gears to slow down. So I'd quite like to go from manual to EV and skip having an automatic. Not sure that'll work out as right now EVs are expensive and used manual cars in my price range are hard to find.

  • Got myself a 2013 Boxster with manual just 2 months ago. At 265hp it is underpowered really bur with the mid engine layout and being naturally aspirated, it handles and sounds fantastic. Love it, wouldn't change it for any ev.

  • I gave up on my stick after a 6 hour traffic jam on Staten Island. What a fucking pain in both legs that was.

    I do want one for fun, though.

  • You can downshift into the turns, coast down the hills, and pretend you're a racecar driver, even if it's a 1.5 L hatchback. Manuals force the driver to be more involved in the process, and the driver can shift in anticipation of the torque requirements of the upcoming terrain probably better than some of the lower level AIs. Also, they used to be overall less expensive to maintain, if the driver doesn't abuse the clutch, though I don't know if that's still true. It's the old question of "Are you driving th

  • Lately I've been missing my previous ride, which was a stick Mazda Protege5. When I bought the automatic Mazda3 to replace it, I couldn't find a stick version anywhere, I had to go with what was available because I needed a car quickly. It does have paddle shifters which helps on occasion but it's a standard automatic transmission, not a DSG.

    I was recently thrilled to find out that the new generation 3 is one of the few cars available in the American Market that is offered in a manual version.

    What I was

  • Auto vs Manual is like having sex with or without a condom. One is safe but boring; the other is much more enjoyable but will get you into more trouble.

  • I love feathering a clutch off the line and ripping through the gears as much as anyone, but manual transmission, and indeed transmissions as a whole, are obsolete with electric motors*. If anything, throttles are (or can be) a "more direct" control over the motor than a gas pedal ever could be. And throttle response is instant; there is never lag, or hesitation or waiting for a turbo to spool up. You don't need to match RPMs, and of course you can never make a money shift. Finding/knowing the right ge

  • Despite computers, people are buying slide rules (Score:3)

    by greytree ( 7124971 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @02:49AM (#63030899)
    *Some* people, somewhere.

  • Like terminal (Score:5, Insightful)

    by racerx509 ( 204322 ) on Monday November 07, 2022 @08:23AM (#63031447) Homepage

    Driving manual is a lot like using terminal. Most will prefer a gui, because it gets them where they need to go, but some prefer a "to the metal" experience that only a manual (er terminal) can give. Depending on driving conditions, it can be faster, more efficient and safer, plus the additional engagement it offers to the enthusiast is simply more fun. The same for those that enjoy linux, and find windows utterly boring and complicated.

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