March 22, 2010
I’m having a hard time with this (you know, on a micro scale)
As has been reported off and on for the past few years, Ferrari — in as vivid a sign of the times as when Kodak stopped selling film cameras — is phasing out the use of manual transmissions.
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That is just wrong.
I have this weird attachment to manual transmission. Were I to buy another car, I think I’d get one while the gettin’ is good.
Weird, Mike? Nothing weird about scorning pussy transmission.
orelay.
I’d never buy a car with pussy transmission, and I’d never toss my garbage into a pussy dump.
Orelay, Ruben.
What about paddle shifters on the steering wheel? Cindy and I both have them and have never used them.
I got no gripe against paddle shifters.
that’s what ferrari is switching to.
Okay, I was lazy and didn’t read.
But ‘paddle-shift’ does not invariably equal ‘automatic transmission’, does it?
it just means no clutch — or more specifically, no third pedal. the clutch is what’s automatic in that sense, but gear changes are up to the driver.
I’ve got 10 speed SRAM Rival cassette (11-25). Up front I’ve got an FSA Compact Crankset (34/50). Both with SRAM Rival derailleurs. It’s great for climbing.
I thought that was more interesting than my automatic Toyota Matrix that hasn’t even been recalled.
I’d like Deron’s difficulty with this to be spelled out a little. I can see a lot of ways that an automobile enthusiast might find this news(?, rumor?) troubling.
I like the feel of manually changing gears — it makes me feel like I’m driving. it feels good. I feel engaged. from what I’ve read, however, the ferrari shifters are faster and more efficient than a manual transmission. like I’m fucking buying one tomorrow.
oh, and it’s news.
The full-body contact with the clutch, the acceleration, the shift is the thing. Years ago, when we lived in Minneapolis, we had a friend, Kathy, who had a mid-to-late eighties Celica, who talked about her car. I went with her once on a Sunday afternoon, driving out on the hinterroads outside the city. Her Celica, she adored. It was a manual five-speed and sporty, but it was “just” a Toyota in my mind. She made me understand finer workmanship. “See,” she said. “You don’t have to force it into the next gear. You can shift with one finger.” Then she demonstrated by stopping the car. Then taking us from zero to sixty in a very few seconds, using only her index finger on the knob. That car purred. It knew what it wanted to do. She stopped the car again, told me to drive. We did a chinese fire-drill on the side of the rural road. Ran around the back of the car to exchange seats. I took the wheel, and peeled out. One finger on the knob. Zero to sixty in some seconds. And I saw what she saw, felt what she felt.
She said, “A car with a manual transmission is an experience. A car with an automatic is just a car.
In my mind, you have to clutch.
exactly.
Also: those funny things that can happen when people, um, mistake the brake pedal for the accelerator pedal — they tend not to happen when a clutch pedal comes into play.
I spent many years thinking I would never want anything but a clutch and a shifter. Now I’m a crutch and a shitter kind of enthusiast. And I like to drink my coffee while I’m driving in a way that doesn’t require me to suddenly throw it down to grab the shifter. If they are all racing around me, I’ll catch-em at the light or when they have been pulled over by the highway patrol.
I do remember my twin-carb BSA 650 (bored to 750). I could hit 60 before I shifted to second–in about 3 seconds–and when I shifted it would still burn rubber. Sheeeeeeeit.
You know, a second thought. If you’re just getting “here-to-there” sometimes with a cup-o-joe in hand, which I often am, the automatic is just fine. It’s transportation. It serves.
I think what we’re talking about “he-ah,” is driving. It ain’t about getting anywhere comfortably, it’s about the journey. Some do it with a clutch and gear-box, some do it with a camera and a lens. (Eh, Phil?) And some, like me, do it from memory, like falling off a bike.
Your car never accelerates uncontrollably in a manual transmission.
I’ve kept meaning to learn, but I live in such a terrible area for it.
I like to drink my coffee while I’m driving.
Oh, Daryl. Wait’ll Phil reads this.
Phil does not drink in the car. Phil does not eat in the car. Phil does not bank from the car.
There are precious few activities unrelated to driving that Phil will perform from within a moving — or even stationary — vehicle.
Not me. I’m hard-pressed to think what I haven’t done in a car.
I’m an American.
Come on out to the Driftless Region, Dave. I’ll teach you to drive stick.
I have done things in cars that I am not proud of.
Really? I can’t say I’m ashamed of anything I’ve done in a car.
Oh, okay. I know I’ve eaten some pretty crappy food in cars, and that’s kind of embarrassing.
And then I rear-ended someone while texting-and-driving on a two-lane country road.
It’s not that I have low standards. I reckon it’s just that I’m not easily shamed.
I mean, just last week I did kneel in the back of Deron’s Jeep and heave family memorabilia out into the primordial ooze of a humongous landfill.
A manual transmission is for driving, automatics are for riding.
I taught our daughter to drive stick in an old cemetery. She hit a tombstone. We left fast.
[...] know Deron is saying he’s only having a hard time fathoming this news on a micro scale, but this is seriously mind-boggling. Isn’t the whole point of a Ferrari, so that you have [...]
I’m a fan of shifting. And driving. I think manual transmissions afford a superior driving experience and, to some extent, promote more thoughtful driving. What I wonder is what it means to all of you goodlooking and nice-ass individuals that Ferrari is doing this. Are they abandoning the idea of the driver as a craftsperson in favor of the driver as rich super-douche? Is a paddle shifter generally acceptable in these contexts? Is the left foot free to do something else now?
from what I know of Ferrari’s motivations, they are utilizing the technology from their formula 1 vehicles in their driver / street cars. this may simply be a product of marketing. and as I mentioned, the paddle shifters get you there faster and, if I understand correctly, are more fuel efficient. but.
The left foot used to get to do a lot of things. F’instance, the headlight dimmer switch used to be on the floor. And it was a lot easier to use. The turn-signal wand now has so many things to do you can hardly use it to signal a turn without brightening the lights, squirting washer juice and turning on the wipers at the same time.
The spiffy and sporty Capri that I had in the mid-70s (Phil had one, too!) had a large round button near the clutch that would operate the windshield wipers. There was the usual knob for turning the wipers on and off, but the foot button would give you a single swipe when you needed it. I loved that–everyone who rode with me believed that I had a special sensor in the car that would wipe away spray on the windshield.
My left food was always busy with something in that car. All this talk is making me long for a standard transmission again. Except that it’s really hard on your left shoe.
grandpa had the brights on the floor and told my brother if he touched his ear the brights would come on.