My dad knows how to drive stick, and I've been aching to get him to teach me, but we really don't have a car that is manual readily accessible, we'd probably have to rent one.
My mom's SUV is auto for obvious reasons, and my dad's is auto because he does a whole slew of stuff with his right hand, chiefly talking to execs on his cell.
Who knows? If I could learn to drive manual, and liked it, I'd get my first car as a stick, but for now, I'd prefer an auto.
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The logic train ran off the tracks when Azrael Heavenblade said:
Eh, learned on an auto because of the psychotic traffic in Seattle, never known any other kind of transmission.
Fuck the traffic, it's those bloody hills! A stoplight ever block, and you stop at almost a 45 degree angle to the transversing streets.
Ever tried to roll-start an automatic transmission vehicle when the battery is dead??
At least with a manual transmission a 5'2" 65lb midget like me can get a 1100kg vehicle started just by getting it rolling to a little belowe walking pace, jumping in and bumping the engine into action via second (or very occasionally if I cant build up enough speed, first) gear..
Oh, and just a little aside:
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Karnaj probably says this to all the girls:
And I know, most race cars use sequential gearboxes. But they still have clutches, computer controllled as they may be. They're also shifting in fifty thousandths of a second, so zipping up or down five gears is no problem.
Sequential 'boxes in a racing car are still manual. The clutch is generally only used for starts, or leaving the pits (is also why most racing gearboxes, including pre-sequential and current sequential, are also referred to as 'crash boxes').
There are some "semi-auto" boxes in use (see Formula One) but those are merely programmed for specific downshifts for particular corners on each track (ie: sixth (or seventh for Ferrari/McLaren/Williams) to third for the first turn at Melbourne). The vast majority of changes (up and down) are still made manually by the driver.
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In the offroad world, the vote is split. For rock crawling, automatics are a must, because burning your clutch in an attempt to keep constant, steady power applied is an exercise in futility.
The vast majority of TRUE off-road vehicles (as opposed to SUVs targetted to the soccer-moms) have a manual throttle which can be set at a certain level, thus maintaining a constant engine speed.
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However, stalling out when fording a river with a manual can suck, especially if you lack a clutch override switch(water between the plates, anyone?).
This generally only occurs if you fail to keep up a constant speed through the water and pause in the middle (also opens up the probability of the air intake sucking water into the engine, and pistons attempting to compress a water filled cylinder = engine go BANG!) and/or fail to take proper precautions for extremely deep river crossings (ie: setting up a tarpaulin across the front of the vehicle to 'push' water away from the engine bay while you ford the river, remembering to keep a steady constant speed...)
Sorry Karnaj, just had to point those out.
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Abbikat's fortune cookie read:
Manual.Ever tried to roll-start an automatic transmission vehicle when the battery is dead??
At least with a manual transmission a 5'2" 65lb midget like me can get a 1100kg vehicle started just by getting it rolling to a little belowe walking pace, jumping in and bumping the engine into action via second (or very occasionally if I cant build up enough speed, first) gear..
Oh, and just a little aside:This generally only occurs if you fail to keep up a constant speed through the water and pause in the middle (also opens up the probability of the air intake sucking water into the engine, and pistons attempting to compress a water filled cylinder = engine go BANG!) and/or fail to take proper precautions for extremely deep river crossings (ie: setting up a tarpaulin across the front of the vehicle to 'push' water away from the engine bay while you ford the river, remembering to keep a steady constant speed...)
Sorry Karnaj, just had to point those out.
in absence of a tarpaulin you can loosen or remove the fan belts. I've seen people forget to do this and end up with a nice slice out of their radiator when the fan hits the water and flexes forward 
Edit: Damn Necros let it die! [ 02-05-2004: Message edited by: Cysa The Clown ]
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Verily, Cysa The Clown doth proclaim:
How is this thread still alive?Edit: Damn Necros let it die!
people continue to post in it
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Kermitov impressed everyone with:
in absence of a tarpaulin you can loosen or remove the fan belts. I've seen people forget to do this and end up with a nice slice out of their radiator when the fan hits the water and flexes forward
That too. Although (at least here in Australia) most serious off-road vehicles have plastic fans that deform easily to prevent such cases (in fact the fan would probably be more damaged than the radiator in such cases).
But most serious off-roaders always carry a tarpaulin for river crossings (plus it makes a handy mat to lay on if you hafta crawl under the vehicle to fix/repair something too.. or even an emergency tent!)
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The logic train ran off the tracks when Abbikat said:
That too. Although (at least here in Australia) most serious off-road vehicles have plastic fans that deform easily to prevent such cases (in fact the fan would probably be more damaged than the radiator in such cases).But most serious off-roaders always carry a tarpaulin for river crossings (plus it makes a handy mat to lay on if you hafta crawl under the vehicle to fix/repair something too.. or even an emergency tent!)
indeed, nothing can beat a good tarpaulin.
One year we were on the new years ride here at[Glamis, CA] we stayed for 4 days and the temperature at night dropped below zero. We never had a lot of money to ride so we always slept in the back of the truck. Well it was so cold that we both got sick. Second night we rolled out the sleeping bags and spread the tarpaulin over the top of us, we stayed warm 
Glamis is the wildest ride anywhere on holiday weekends. The town normally has a population of around 150. On holiday weekends the population grows to 150,000! Unfortunately in recent years there has been a lot of drinking, drugs, and just general stupidity by the younger crowd... but back when we used to go every year man it was just like minded people out for some fun.
