Is there anything wrong with loving stick-shifts?

No, that was after he got out. It may impact his ability to return next year.

 

Thanks for that. I found the relevant section, and it only applies to multi speed transmissions. It could be argued that the Prius has a CVT, I.E. one speed. Here's the quote from the standard:

S3.1.2 Transmission braking effect. In
vehicles having more than one forward
transmission gear ratio, one forward
drive position shall provide a greater
degree of engine braking than the high-
est speed transmission ratio at vehicle
speeds below 40 kilometers per hour.

 

In your opinion, does having variable ratios not qualify? A Prius does not have multiple fixed ratios, but it has continuously variable ratios between the internal combustion engine and the wheels.

 

Did you quote the wrong post? Your response below has no connection to my post that you quoted.

The Prius eCVT has an infinite range of wheel:ICE gear ratios, literally zero to infinity (technically undefined because of the divide-by-zero issue, when the vehicle is moving while the ICE is stopped). It is clearly multi-ratio, not a single fixed ratio. It has many more ratios than any ordinary geared transmission, and a wider range of ratios than any purely mechanical CVT.

At one end of that ratio range, in D mode, the degree of engine braking is literally zero (ICE halted), or minimal (ICE at idle rpm, when higher speed protection of MG1 forces it to spin). B-mode provides the required "greater degree of engine braking".

 

That is a big advantage of a plug-in. The non-plugin Prii batteries and regeneration and engine compression just aren't big and strong enough to avoid friction braking on those mountain descents.

I can't portray a true manual transmission as the best, but do dispute than a DCT carries "All the advantages of a manual transmission." It is missing some.

 

Interesting.
To me, a manual makes me feel less connected to the road.
In an EV the response is instant. If I think, "go", the car goes. It doesn't have to 'gather' itself, or wait for gears to mesh (or worse, slip).
The more clutches, gears, relays, etc you put between me and the motion of the car, the worse it feels.

Every sound, every bit of heat that I feel from an ICE is that much less that is going into propulsion. I'd rather not pay to make sound, nor excess heat.

I completely understand what you mean about performance. I typically am one of the slower end of average traffic speeds.
However, when I am merging onto a freeway, or need to get out of the way of an impending accident headed my way, I very much appreciate the ability to accelerate quickly.

 

Prior to the Prius, I have driven the smallest, manual station wagons available. I now drive the most frugal station wagon available. Not that much a change, really. I expect that my next vehicle will plug in. And resemble a station wagon as much as possible.

 

For many years, I wished Chinese taxis (mostly VW Santanas and Jettas) had one of those. The number of drivers who thought they were getting better economy by staying in a high gear as the engine chugged and strained....

Even worse were Taiwanese taxi drivers (mostly Mazda 323s and Ford Lasers) in the 1990s, after a rumour got round that you could save lots of fuel by not turning your lights on at night. I mean, yes, you don't burn much fuel after you've been killed by a truck when its driver couldn't see you, but still...

 

I rented a Skoda Superb with DCT, and I've driven a few other VW Group cars with it.

As far as driving skills are concerned, yes, it's an automatic. In countries outside the US, you can get a restricted driving licence that allows you to drive automatics but not manuals, and you can drive a DCT on an auto licence. You drive it just the same as you'd drive an auto.

But it tends not to be as smooth as a traditional slushmatic, especially in heavy low-speed traffic. It can get a bit jerky.

The VAG DCTs are notorious in Australia for dying.

 

Going back to the original question....

In Britain, most cars are still manual. I learned in a manual: if you pass your test in a manual, you can drive anything, but if you pass your test in an automatic, you are not licensed to drive a manual.

In Australia, most cars are automatic. But there's still that same distinction as in Britain with driving licences.

I like driving a manual on a country road or on a track: I like having that degree of control. But for everyday city driving (and I live in a big, congested city), a manual is a pain in the arse (specifically, the left bum-cheek and the left leg). An auto is a lot less effort.

I'm going to Italy in January for a week, and I'll be hiring a car for some of the trip. It costs a fair bit more to hire an auto, and many Italians will probably question whether I am a real man, but I will pay the extra and deal with the shame.

Much as the mountain passes I'll be driving through for some of the time would be fun in a manual, I'll be with the kids, so I should be careful. And I'll be driving through Rome and Naples: if I'm already dealing with Italian traffic and with driving on the wrong side of the road, having to deal with a manual as well when I've had an auto for the last 10 years or more will just be an added distraction and could make things a bit more dangerous. I hired a manual in Germany (so, wrong side of the road again) just before Covid, and that was fine, but the challenges of Italian driving just make it that bit more challenging, so I'll play it safe and hire an auto.

 

Maybe American cars are different, but - with the exception of my Prius and some EVs (both of which have a B mode or similar) - all the auto cars I've driven allowed me to select a low gear so I can use engine braking going down steep hills.

 

So when did driving on the right side of the road turn into driving on the wrong side of the road?

 

Right is wrong. I should think that would be clear to everyone.

 

They're not selling the MG5 in the US, are they? That would have been ideal, I suspect.

 

... and probably geared (and engine sized) for better efficiency than American manuals.

Alternate solution: change one's commute.

We rented a car in Italy a bit less than a decade ago. Though already on my second Prius, we both regularly drove manuals too. So after noticing that automatics were running almost triple the cost of manuals at that time, our choice was obvious.

Automatics here have the same, generally with enough engine braking to do the job. As Jimbo pointed out, it is a federal requirement. Though not all drivers use them properly.

Yes, right-hand drive is wrong, except for postal carriers.

But, why do the Brits and the French have to do so many things different, just to be different? It sometimes seems as if there is some international spite.

 

Yes. My sister's car is a 1.0 litre six-speed manual, IIRC. My dad's previous car (he's got a DSC Tiguan now) was a six-speed manual 1.6 turbodiesel Passat.

Yes, although that would involve not living in a town I really like.

Yes, I agree. This is just such a combination of things - Italian traffic, wrong side of the road, lack of manual practice - that taking one thing off the list of challenges made sense.

I suppose having learned in a manual might make this more of an instinctive thing to do. I assume people don't get taught or tested on engine braking when learning?

That is a clever thing in America. We have normal (RHD) postal vans. It would make sense for them to be LHD. Having postal vans the "wrong" way round is a great idea.

I should have thought this was obvious. We do it differently because we are right. The French do it differently because they are wrong.

 

Manual gated shifters are all about the nostalgia for me. The sequential cassette gearbox is where it's at for rapid shifting. The pizzazz connected to that shuts off the fuel supply during the shift and really makes it fast