Is there anything wrong with loving stick-shifts?

Or make your own hybrid Leaf with a 13K rpm engine and sequential shifter. Best of both worlds. Scroll down to the first highway on ramp clip. Sounds like a good time.

How An Engineer Built A Hybrid Nissan Leaf With A Fire-Breathing Motorcycle Engine In Back - The Autopian

 

MY idea of a hybrid!!!

 

Opps, only skimmed the thread, but nowadays, many auto trans are missing anything but drive.....at least in my experience with work vehicles and personal.

I much prefer a manual, but the world moves on....

 

A manual is nice but with 28k miles per year I prefer to have a relaxed drive. My left leg thsnks me every day I don't have to press the clutch a gazillion times in traffic.

 

If you know how to drive you don't always need the left leg.

 

Sometimes you do though, and "in traffic" you can need it a lot.

 

You have to push the brake and gas pedal a lot in traffic also.

And we aren’t talking a 50lb clutch like a big rig, I can use the exercise anyway.

My view is that instead of the government taxing the crap out of economy cars for ma roads they should charge an automatic transmission fee and an AWD/4wd fee

Still makes more sense than a hybrid fee or too high fuel economy fee.

Heck stick shift & plug in cars under 2500lbs should have free permanent plates issued due to all the benefits to parking, congestion, road damage and even the reduction in exotic materials used in the car by weight.

Ah well

 

Juggling a clutch, accelerator, and shifter is a lot more involved than letting off on the brake and letting a car creep in traffic. The friend who taught me to drive manual gave up on them because of traffic.

 

That's why I like the adaptive CC on my Corolla hybrid so much. It is a full range system so in traffic I hardly have to do anything.

 

It seems that very many people would rather to give up the clutch and shifter than to put down their handheld mobile device.

 

The friend had no problems using both hands to eat while driving a stick. He switched to auto while his work phone was still a flip. Manual sales were well into decline in the US before smart phones.

 

I actually left my ignition off and made a game of gridlock with my stick, the very gradual downhill segments made for good silent fuel economy, releasing the brake resulted in a gentle roll. Pop the clutch, restart when needed

Going uphill resulted in pulling the ebrake or shutting off in gear as I sat growing moss

my main frustration with traffic manual or automatic is that the car usually idles faster than the traffic, making the coasting potential more attractive

 

Somewhat related and a neat perspective:

 

130mph / 210kph ?

my fathers similarly aged Grand Prix would hit 140mph / 225kph at the top end floor.

 

I’ve long speculated that a countershaft with an electric motor and electronically controlled clutch could eliminate the hydraulic torque converter. That would save +100 lbs and another hundred valves and hydraulic control parts.

Carried to small planes, a fixed pitch prop could be driven by a 2 or 3 speed, transmission with a significant performance improvement and less complex than a constant speed prop.

Bob Wilson

 

The parallel hybrids mated to an automatic step transmission do get rid of the torque converter.