Automatic or manual?

[C]

Both, for comfort and most of my long journeys, I'll use my automatic car. Cunningly it also allows you to keep 2 hands on the steering wheel, which for some of the population is a good thing. It would also be a good thing for the number of frightening drivers who have to look at the gear stick when they change gear. Also good, as previouly mentioned for sitting in traffic.

For weekend driving, and for the daily blast to work, manual all the way.

[Jared]

I've got a 2002 pt cruiser with a manual 5-speed transmission and a 1965 Mercury comet with a 4 speed automatic transmission.

For the daily driver (the pt) I love having the flexibility that the manual transmission offers. My parents both have the same car with automatic transmissions.

For the cruising car, the comet.....it's kind of nice to have the automatic, just pop in and cruise with no hassle with the clutch and shifting...

Also I think Id rather see sticks matched with the smaller engines such as the 4 cyl. whereas I like the automatic paired with the V8...


just my two cents..

[beaky]

Pull the handbrake when you stop on a hill. When you want to drive off again, let the clutch come up until the car starts pulling, release the handbrake and apply some gas. Easiest way to drive away on a hill. No need for jumping from brake pedal to gaspedal.

Crash

LOL- I suppose that would work fine, but the only "sticks" I've driven besides the Subaru were old trucks and the Spider, and the hand brakes were not so easily manipulated (or trustworthy) in either case, so I never tried that.
 

[BFMF]

I sold my car after I mobilized, so i'm now also thinking of what kind of car I want to get when I get back home. I've only owned two cars so far, but both of them had manual transmissions.

When I first bought my first manual car, I had no experience with a stick, and could barely get away with driving it. I got used to it, and I now enjoy driving a stick.

[beaky]

I sold my car after I mobilized, so i'm now also thinking of what kind of car I want to get when I get back home. I've only owned two cars so far, but both of them had manual transmissions.

When I first bought my first manual car, I had no experience with a stick, and could barely get away with driving it. I got used to it, and I now enjoy driving a stick.

It's just more fun. Double-clutching... I miss that, and popping the clutch in second gear. On a good day, with some weight in the trunk,I could actually lay down some rubber in the Fiat... gotta get another one of those some day.

[BFMF]

What's the purpose of double clutching?

[eno]

What's the purpose of double clutching?

Double clutching allows for smoother gear changes in a syncromesh gearbox although it is not necessary. Before syncro gearboxes you had to double clutch in order to change gear, it allows the cogs in the gearbox to mesh without grinding ......

How to change up : Release the gas, push the clutch, disengage gear, release clutch, allow the gearbox and engine speed to match, push the clutch and slip into upper gear then hit the gas. If there is a grinding sound you haven't matched the speeds properly.

How to change down : Release the gas, push the clutch, disengage gear, blip the gas to reach the revs for the lower gear, dip clutch and slip into the lower gear. Once again if there is a really loud grinding sound you've missed the optimum revs.

Changing up and down takes less than a second if done properly and it's all in the timing. It is also easier to demonstrate than it is to explain.

If you have mastered it you can do clutchless changes in syncro gearboxes  ;D