I actually was a real advocate for gears, then I drove my wife’s new car for some time. Modern automatic isn’t only comfortable, it’s actually more (fuel) efficient, especially in the city. Now I’m an automatic guy. And - the circle of life - my daughter, looking for her first car this year: “No, I want gears!” Now she’s got gears. In a car that weighs less than my phone, but hey, what do I old 🥔 potato know.
I’m resigned that manual transmissons are a thing of the past, but man, it’s such a huge part of the enjoyment of driving for me.
Getting that perfect shift, especially if accelerating quicky or going up a steep hill is just so satisfying… Or the “minigame” of balancing the clutch and throttle from a full stop uphill without using the handbrake… And that feeling when you smoothly downshift going down a road and the revs pick up, while you ease up on the brake…
Learned automatic then later manual out of necessity and this is just nuts to me. People enjoy that? Driving is already fairly obnoxious just getting around traffic and the extra tedium of having to shift gears at every stop and go was awful. This has to be some kind of Stockholm syndrome or nostalgia or something
I cycle to work from time to time, even tough I own a (manual) car.
It takes longer to go by bike, I get sweaty, it might rain in the afternoon but I still take the bike over the car. Because it’s fun. (Even more then driving a manual.)
I actually was a real advocate for gears, then I drove my wife’s new car for some time. Modern automatic isn’t only comfortable, it’s actually more (fuel) efficient, especially in the city. Now I’m an automatic guy. And - the circle of life - my daughter, looking for her first car this year: “No, I want gears!” Now she’s got gears. In a car that weighs less than my phone, but hey, what do I old 🥔 potato know.
I’m resigned that manual transmissons are a thing of the past, but man, it’s such a huge part of the enjoyment of driving for me.
Getting that perfect shift, especially if accelerating quicky or going up a steep hill is just so satisfying… Or the “minigame” of balancing the clutch and throttle from a full stop uphill without using the handbrake… And that feeling when you smoothly downshift going down a road and the revs pick up, while you ease up on the brake…
Yeah I really like driving.
Learned automatic then later manual out of necessity and this is just nuts to me. People enjoy that? Driving is already fairly obnoxious just getting around traffic and the extra tedium of having to shift gears at every stop and go was awful. This has to be some kind of Stockholm syndrome or nostalgia or something
I cycle to work from time to time, even tough I own a (manual) car.
It takes longer to go by bike, I get sweaty, it might rain in the afternoon but I still take the bike over the car. Because it’s fun. (Even more then driving a manual.)