That's really sad news.. the manual transmission is such a key element to the driving experience.. especially if you're purchasing an exotic! how the hell are you supposed to lay a patch or break out the ass end at any given time with a grandma enabled paddle shifter. I do love the idea of paddle shift. It's proven faster n all. It is a lot nicer if you're daily driving stuck in traffic everyday. But if you take your exotic out every weekend in the summer, most likely its a weekend cruise where the manual is no big deal.

I would definitely buy a manual exotic.

I bet the next next generation of kids will shitalk stick shifts :facepalm:

best music is the late 80's/ early 90's. Todays music is meh. Theres still good music out there thats made today but the mainstream stuff is a hit and miss for me.

I also bet they'll abuse plan b, and die killing each other one way or another.

Does anyone else find it sexy when a chick drives standard? I don't care if she stalls, least she's tryin!

chicks + standard transimission = hot

But I like it when they do it good, lol.

Hell has frozen over, I finally agree with a Timpo post.

Though I'm not talking about the "style" of music since that's subjective. As someone who worked extensively in the music industry throughout the 80's (recording studios and FOH mixing) I find myself sick of all the shitty processing and "fixing" of modern music.

Although products like ProTools have brought editing and production to the home studio (and therefore, a lot of lesser-known musicians), it's also resulted in a lot of crap out there. It used to be when you listened to an album you could pick out slight mistakes here and there. You knew there was a musician that originally sat down and played the entire song through (probably several times) and they picked the best take.

If they made a big mistake, then the method to correct it required a bit of work. The musician would listen to the track they layed down and play along. The engineer would literally press "record" at the point where the "mistake" occurred and record the new portion live from the musician to replace the "bad" portion on the tape. This didn't always work and sometimes the "insertion" of the new part was so obvious that it just sounded better to leave minor mistakes in the recording than to try an do an "obvious" fix.

This type of "editing" required a significant amount of skill from recording studio engineers. This along with the skills of even a simple task like finding the best location for a microphone to achieve the sound you want (so many people today don't even understand the huge difference this can make). The attitude today is "just record the tracks and we can fix it later in ProTools".


To me this is exactly the same as electronic nannies on cars. What used to take a lot of skill is now replaced by computers. Sure the end result can be "perfect" but it's also sterile. Just like most modern recorded music.

Nothing can replace heel-toe downshifting into a corner

not true,

The 370Z's synchro rev match is superior to this.

^Yea but do you use a third pedal :troll:

meh... it's just a phase shift in generation.

People from the last generation will think music was better in the 90's. Same with cars.

People from today's generation will think today's music is better than what will come out in the next generation...

Sooner or later, they won't even have sequential/dual clutch gear changes. It'll be all computer controlled for optimized gear change for the fastest lap times...

oh god i drove my friends altima CVT


takes "slushbox" to a whole new level

You can argue that quartz watches are superior to mechanical/automatic watches because they keep time better and are more reliable. That is the purpose of a watch, to be able to reliably tell its user the time.

However, mechanical watches are sought after by enthusiasts even if they have to worn to keep them moving and even if they are less reliable. These people appreciate the precision of the watch's movement and the inner mechanisms that make the watch work.

It is the same with automatic vs manual transmissions. Automatic transmissions have reached the point where they are superior to manuals. For a car to be "better" it has to go faster reliably, that is its purpose, and the newer automatics serve this purpose better.

However, manual transmissions are sought after by enthusiasts even if they shift slower and are less reliable as no one can shift perfectly all the time. These people appreciate the connection afforded by a manual transmission. The mechanical link felt when rowing through the gears one after another. A perfectly executed rev-matched/heel-toe downshift is much more satisfying than just pulling a paddle. A driver is just so much more involved when there is a third pedal and he uses both feet.

Haha I feel like one of those older people that say things were better in the good old days :fullofwin:

Some things were. I love new technology, but technology shouldn't replace everything.

- Modern fuel injection computers extracting the maximum HP out of an engine due to their precision in controlling fuel/spark = win.
- Having a car "drive itself" for you = fail.

For some people, the act of driving brings no enjoyment, ie people that are driving a prius. They aren't trying to get any type of experience out of driving aside from getting to Point A to B with A/C and a speaker system.

if automatics are so superior,

why is it you always see automatics being rebuilt all the fuckin time? all manufacturers, all models,

and they are twice as difficult to work on,

my civic has 330 thousand K's, manual transmission still rock solid,

ive never seen an auto tranny come close to approaching 300k

I don't know how a new computerized DSG or equivalent could EVER be considered more reliable than as an old fashioned manual. They're more complex, therefore more parts to break or go wrong.

I've never heard of a manual gearbox breaking from anything other than a manufacturing defect or serious abuse (IE Putting a stock Mustang T5 behind 500 horsepower).

Havent driven a manual car yet but I'm so interested in learning. Automatics boring, ugh.
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Just after they release the "worlds most emotional gearbox". Interesting.

What makes them reliable is they don't make common mistakes that people do. They don't ride or abuse the clutch and they don't "slam" the shifter in the next gear.

Of course, this is offset by the greater number of parts so I think in the end there's not really much difference.