Re: [PLUG] Survey: who drives a stick shift?

[Guillermo Moyna <g.moyna@usip.edu>]

I have driven sticks since all my life. First thing I drove was a  
Citroen Mehari (600 cc, 2-cylinder, 4-stroke engine, basically a  
scooter with a fiberglass body). My wife's car has a slushbox (i.e.,  
automatic tranny), and I always dream of how much more fun that car  
would be with a stick.

Where I come form (Uruguay, South America) you won't find an  
automatic anywhere. Simple reason: More expensive [more expensive to  
buy, a lot more expensive to repair, less wear on break parts (you  
can do engine braking), and 10% less fuel-efficient (or more)]. The  
'fun to drive' argument is also true back home, but if manuals and  
automatics were equally expensive to buy/drive/maintain, people would  
drive more automatics. As it says in the clip, most people want to  
get from A to B in something that 'looks cool,' but have no intention  
of learning when it's better to upshift or downshift...

And it is true: In the UK they will let you take the drivers exam  
with either manual or automatic, but you will be able to drive either  
one if you took your test with a stick, but only automatics if you  
took your test with an automatic (I mean, driving an automatic boils  
down to pushing two pedals...).

G.

On Oct 4, 2007, at 1:11 AM, JP Vossen wrote:

> I drive a stick.  I hate automatics.  I convinced my wife to drive  
> a stick, and she did for 10 years.  Until...  No one makes a mini- 
> van with a stick...
>
> Why Software Sucks: Geeks Drive Stick Shift Cars
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAOTTLQ0rlY
>
> Who else?
> JP
> ----------------------------|:::======|-------------------------------
> JP Vossen, CISSP            |:::======|        jp{at}jpsdomain{dot}org
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> ----------------------------|=========|-------------------------------
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| | Guillermo Moyna, PhD                             | ._____| |___|
| | Associate Professor of Chemistry                 | |_| |_|_|___.
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