yep. in europe/UK autos are normally for disabled people only. if you
take your test in an auto its because you are missing a leg an you're
subsequently only allowed to drive autos. quite rightly so. these days
most large luxury cars have autos but when i was young, an auto was not
much different to having 'hand controls'.
however, this discussion isn't really about auto boxes, is it? the lack of
a clutch pedal doesn't make it an auto, and a sequential box is really not
that much different to a full manual - it certainly doesn't remove any
'functionality'. you may as well argue that a sports car shouldn't have
electric windows! in my rally cars i never use the actual clutch pedal
anyway unless i'm starting from a standstill or doing a handbrake turn. i
quite often find myself doing this on the road in a manual with a regular
synchromesh box too.
i think that in the US, the manual transmission has been seen as something
for a sports car because its so unusual. The E60 M5 wasn't even sold as a
manual anywhere but the US. BMW made a special version because americans
associate a clutch pedal with a sports car. fortunately, they still sold
the (far better) SMG single clutch 7 speed semi automatic. oddly (and
very annoyingly) enough they also never sold the wagon version because
americans also associate a wagon with a boring family car.
let's kill these superstitions, i say!
On Thu, Nov 28, 2013 at 5:33 PM, Scott Hutchinson <shutchin@netjets.com>wrote:
> When we take the crew bus from european airports to the hotel, usually a
> Merecedes Sprinter or equivalent. 10+ pax. It is almost always a stick.
> Diesel as well.
>
> I have seen a dodge caravan diesel manual shift over there.
>
>
> Scott Hutchinson
> Pilot, NetJets Aviation
>
> Mobile 843.290.2805
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Graham Harlowe [mailto:gharlowe@comcast.net]
> Sent: Thursday, November 28, 2013 08:24 AM
> To: tigers@autox.team.net <tigers@autox.team.net>
> Subject: Re: [Tigers] Manual Transmissions
>
> ...."I was even surprised to learn that Ford offers a manual box for the
> latest Fusion, but you have to pester the dealer and swear on your
> childrens
> children that you won't cancel the order once it's placed, and that's a car
> that Ford makes a bunch of(with auto boxes)."
>
> The dominance of automatics seems to be a US/North American phenomenon.
> Manuals are still quite common in Europe where gas is 4x more expensive. I
> rented a Ford Fusion while on vacation in France that had a 4 cyl diesel
> engine with 6-speed manual. It even had an "upshift" indicator light to
> optimize gas mileage and when you put the car in neutral while idling at an
> intersection, the engine would shut itself down. Engaging the clutch to
> put
> the car in gear again would quickly restart the engine. The first few
> times
> the engine suddenly 'died' in Paris traffic was discomforting. Getting
> stuck in a 4 hour traffic jam en route to de Gaulle airport made me
> homesick
> for my Volvo automatic.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Graham Harlowe
> B382001466
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