Automatic V Stickshift (Manual Gearbox)

Probably because gasoline has been cheap in the US until just a few years ago, while in Europe it has been expensive for a long time.

 

Add to that the fact that many people drive everyday to work and back during 'rush' hour, which means stop and go traffic, which rapidly gets tiring if you have to shift gears frequently. Plus it's hard to do the myriad of other activities people do while driving if you have to put down your Big Mac/newspaper/eyebrow pencil every few secondshwell:.

 

Probably also that there have been some substantial taxes based on engine size in Europe and performance with older automatics driven by small engines was generally very sluggish.

 

They have stick shift Prius?

 

Americans are basically lazy slobs. We led the world in the adoption of automatic dishwashers and electric can-openers. I don't see why driving should be any different. Besides, driver's education in the U.S. is pretty pathetic. Operating a manual gearbox requires a tiny bit of skill and coordination. This goes against Americans' god given right to drive regardless of incompetence.

Tom

 

It's hard to think of a less appropriate forum to discuss this than a Prius forum.
I LOVE the feeling of control that I get from a manual gear shift. But my wife doesn't. In fact she insisted, some years ago that I had to buy automatic.
I saved my honour -- in 2003 -- by buying a 2004 Prius, a car that could not offer, and never could offer, a manual option. Nonetheless, I found it an enjoyable car to drive.
Today, with a 2010, I'm even happier. Low gear: I switch to Power. Overdrive? I go to Eco,
The thrill of manual gears is getting the best from the limited intellect of a gasoline engine. With the Prius, knowing there are no gears, I know can't compete -- I just relax and drive. It's something i could never have done with an ordinary automatic.

 

Automatic is the way to go. My gf has just bought a new car and paid £1,000 extra for the auto option.

I can't understand why the Brits stick to manual gears so stubbornly. You wouldn't buy a car without a/c or power steering or even electric windows, so why make life hard and drive a manual? The argument is automatics use more fuel, which mostly they do, but so does having your a/c on, yet nobody would buy a car without a/c these days.

Madness!

p.s. I agree that a manual sports car makes sense.

 

stick shift is going to be the thing of the past,now that automatics can be as economical as a stick shift. i the states they dont have to worry about economy so much as a rebuilt trany can cost as litle as 1500 to replace,as for here in europe a rebuilt can cost as much as a new trany. there isnt as much demand for that! and in the us any trany is ready on demand we here in europe have to be lucky to find a shop tha has them ready.i learned to drive a automatic in the states as i was born and grew up there,and i am also a very capable manual stick driver but i refuse to do it,so i have taken the risk to own a automatic to my professional disadvantage !!! but am hoping the prius will hold up decently compared to that miserable 407 peugeot tha i used to own and dropped the trany at 97000km.....

 

it's hard to eat a Big Mac while rowing through a manual

 

As I recall, it simply required steering with your knees while operating the
clutch and gas pedals with your feet, and taking your eyes off the road to
check if any of the "special sauce" had spilled down your front.

No problemo.

I for one can claim the dubious honor of having become so facile in this
nefarious art that it was successfully executed in no less than seven
very different vehicles; a '40 Ford panel truck, two VWs, two Fiats,
a BMW, and a bakery delivery truck.

In the general population of teen age drivers it was done with such
frequency that demonstrating its mastery should have been part of the
required driving test.

Nowadays, with an automatic you can do the same while also talking on a
cell phone.

Now that's progress.

 

I learned to drive in a manual-tranny small pickup.

I've driven manual vans (on the column), sporty cars (on the floor), VWs ("automatic stick shift), full sized pickups (on floor), and a 1.5 ton dump truck with split shift.

I rather like automatic tranny.

 

Time to install the steering wheel knob [/QUOTE]



thats actually called a suiside knob for a reason!!!!!!!!!1 not good advise hahaha

 

In many countries you learn to drive stick first. When you test for driver license in a stick, you're certified to drive stick and automatic.

Here in the US is the opposite. You learn to drive in automatics first, get your license, then learn how to drive a stick because a license is a license. I learned how to drive a stick first but I tested in an automatic. Been driving autos for 15 years but still never forgot how to drive a stick.

 

When I took driver education, two classes shared a manual and an auto. Our road time was split between them. That was mumble mumble ago in a rural area.

But I seriously doubt that many modern driver ed courses use manual transmissions. There have been too many stories of auto thieves who could not drive the stick shifts they were attempting to steal.

I grew up with both transmissions, but my household has been slushbox-free for a quarter century. That transmission has negative value to me, but Toyota's eCVT is a different animal.