2) I don't have to worry about the auto shifting gears when I don't want it to, for example, driving on an freeway on-ramp with a tight curve in the rain...
That's a 25 metre radius 270 degree turn with a rise of about 30 feet onto a 5 lane section of motorway where people are doing 60 mph. I can't imagine what doing that in an automatic would be like.
Fake-Edit: I love my mixed imperial/metric units there.
You go the speed of the on-ramp, which is probably 35, then accelerate into the merge lane. Which seems to be an extremely long lane, as well, to get from 35 to 60. These kinds of off/on-ramps are pretty common in the US and I have no problem with them.
bowen on
not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
The fuel economy differences from everything I see are pretty much a wash between manual and automatic.
Just randomly, a 2010 Honda Accord Coupe:
5 Speed Manual:
22 / 31 / 25
5 Speed Automatic:
21 / 31 /25
v-6 version:
6 Speed Manual:
17 / 25 / 20
5 Speed Automatic:
19 / 28 / 22
But now we're just going to wind up in a "well if you REALLY know how to use a manual you get X/Y/Z better than listed!" debates, which are impossible to end.
I still like (on the thread topic) annoying beeping noises to prevent speeding. But while we're altering cars, I'd love those BAC testers on everyone's ignitions as well, with a felony for being busted for being the designated breather when the driver has been drinking.
well I mean listing the stated fuel economy for a manual doesnt totally reflect rality, since you can drive it in a way that will get lower or higher then that fuel economy. Pretty simple concept there.
well I mean listing the stated fuel economy for a manual doesnt totally reflect rality, since you can drive it in a way that will get lower or higher then that fuel economy. Pretty simple concept there.
The same is true of an automatic.
HamHamJ on
While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
You go the speed of the on-ramp, which is probably 35, then accelerate into the merge lane. Which seems to be an extremely long lane, as well, to get from 35 to 60. These kinds of off/on-ramps are pretty common in the US and I have no problem with them.
If you take that ramp above 30, or indeed above 3rd gear then it's brown trousers time. A lot of people try and take it in 4th then panic about half way up when they realise what they've got themselves into.
Also, it's not a merge lane, it immediately turns into the (forced) off lane for the next junction, so people are pulling into it at 60 mph.
I on the other hand am trying to get into the outside lane because that turns into my exit land at the next junction. In the space of a mile that motorway goes from 5 to 3 to 4 to 5 to 3 to 2 lanes with entrances and (forced) exits on both the fast and slow lanes.
EDIT: Also, out of interest, could you show me an on-ramp with as tight a turning circle combined with such a vertical rise as that because I've long held that that junction is the worst I know and would be fascinated to see something as worse if not worserest.
I fail to see how that's any different than most of the highways here. A lot of the time it's like that, but looking at the google maps, you have a huge distance before it exits. As opposed to this:
Now, the grade of the curve might not be steep, but make no mistake, when you have about 100 feet to go from 30 to 75+, and watch out for cars going faster than that coming off the off-ramp onto the highway where people are also doing that, it's way more terrifying than going around a 270deg curve merging with a highway where people are hopefully following traffic and leaving enough room to merge into the off-ramp or let people merge out of the on-ramp. The first one's a little better because you still have about 500 feet before you need to switch, but still, oh my god are those exits terrifying.
bowen on
not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
Now, the grade of the curve might not be steep, but make no mistake, when you have about 100 feet to go from 30 to 75+, and watch out for cars going faster than that coming off the off-ramp onto the highway where people are also doing that, it's way more terrifying than going around a 270deg curve merging with a highway where people are hopefully following traffic and leaving enough room to merge into the off-ramp or let people merge out of the on-ramp. The first one's a little better because you still have about 500 feet before you need to switch, but still, oh my god are those exits terrifying.
Fair play that first one is proper mental, although the radius of the turn(s) is 8 times my junction which makes my gradient (by my calculation) about 240,000,000 times steeper, oh an because it's a rising ramp you come onto the motorway blind whereas you first one gives you a lovely panoramic view of traffic you might be about to have an issue with. It's the combination together, the turning circle, the rise, the typical Glasgow weather, the low visibility, the extremely divergent speeds of cars on the motorway (lanes are either static or full speed which makes crossing the motorway a particular challenge) that make Jct 15 so awful. Still - I award your junctions an official Alistair Hutton sanctioned grade of "Pretty Fucking Damn Bad".
Why do we still use gears, anyway? By this point, I'd have expected my jetpack to only use one gear that changes diameter across a continuum, like an inside-out version of the iris from Stargate SG1. Of course, it looks like some cars already have lower tech versions of this.
Also, does anybody know of any advantages manuals have over semi-automatics?
Now, the grade of the curve might not be steep, but make no mistake, when you have about 100 feet to go from 30 to 75+, and watch out for cars going faster than that coming off the off-ramp onto the highway where people are also doing that, it's way more terrifying than going around a 270deg curve merging with a highway where people are hopefully following traffic and leaving enough room to merge into the off-ramp or let people merge out of the on-ramp. The first one's a little better because you still have about 500 feet before you need to switch, but still, oh my god are those exits terrifying.
Fair play that first one is proper mental, although the radius of the turn(s) is 8[/i] times my junction which makes my gradient (by my calculation) about 240,000,000 times steeper, oh an because it's a rising ramp you come onto the motorway blind whereas you first one gives you a lovely panoramic view of traffic you might be about to have an issue with. It's the combination together, the turning circle, the rise, the typical Glasgow weather, the low visibility, the extremely divergent speeds of cars on the motorway (lanes are either static or full speed which makes crossing the motorway a particular challenge) that make Jct 15 so awful. Still - I award your junctions an official Alistair Hutton sanctioned grade of "Pretty Fucking Damn Bad".
Yeah the 2nd one is terrifying, the 1st is only terrifying if you have some jackass who is a jackass just being a jackass.
But still, in rush hour, that 2nd one is honest to goodness a deathtrap. I'm actually surprised the first one has more accidents on it during rush hour than the 2nd one.
bowen on
not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
Why do we still use gears, anyway? By this point, I'd have expected my jetpack to only use one gear that changes diameter across a continuum, like an inside-out version of the iris from Stargate SG1. Of course, it looks like some cars already have lower tech versions of this.
Also, does anybody know of any advantages manuals have over semi-automatics?
Assuming the semiautomatic to work like BMW's SMG's, I see no performance advantage of a manual over a semiauto, other than the hard-on I get from heel-toeing. I suppose there's a marginal weight disadvantage.
My colleagues and I have debated this matter a lot, trying to decide whether to implement a pneumatic autoshifter in our FSAE race car. The conclusion that we came to is that it's faster (Shifts go from 0.5 seconds to 0.1 seconds and the driver no longer has to take his hands off the wheel), for a weight gain of about 1 kilogram (Scale up X5 for a street car, I guess). The issue was reliability. Adding an extra system to a car always reduces reliability. This isn't a problem for supercars made by professional manufacturers who can get shit right, test it properly, and have a user base who can pay lots of money to have other people repair things for them, but for low budget racers and guys like me that like to fix everything themselves, a theoretically less optimal, but simpler design is more suitable.
I guess that's another reason I prefer manual to auto... Auto valve bodies are crazily complex things and the seals are always dying. Manuals are so much simpler, which I as an engineer prefer... but I'm going way too far off topic now.
Why do we still use gears, anyway? By this point, I'd have expected my jetpack to only use one gear that changes diameter across a continuum, like an inside-out version of the iris from Stargate SG1. Of course, it looks like some cars already have lower tech versions of this.
Also, does anybody know of any advantages manuals have over semi-automatics?
Because CVTs don't sound or feel like they're going fast.
That "VRRR-chik-vrrrrrrrRRRR-chik-vrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRR-chik-vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRR" noise is very compelling to people who like cars, inefficient though it may be.
2) I don't have to worry about the auto shifting gears when I don't want it to, for example, driving on an freeway on-ramp with a tight curve in the rain...
That's a 25 metre radius 270 degree turn with a rise of about 30 feet onto a 5 lane section of motorway where people are doing 60 mph. I can't imagine what doing that in an automatic would be like.
Fairly easy. You make the turn, then you accelerate.
I mean, really, have you Manual Evangelicals even driven an automatic?
Also 60 degree parking is a fucking cancer everywhere I see it. Instead of parallel parking where I can actually see the traffic I'm pulling out into on a main street, I get to fucking guess the traffic because of somebody's gigantic SUV parked to my right, and they haven't invented rearview mirrors yet that curve light from around solid objects.
Or are we pulling in personal opinions because I don't agree with you on a completely unrelated subject again?
Yeah, at first I was really kind of against you on this, but after that pic and especially after reconsidering these abominably huge, blind spot-creating yachts that are practically everywhere around here, I consider myself in the same boat as you. Good show.
Most of the time the back of your car will be angled with the flow of traffic so as backing up, you can see oncoming traffic. They're also a lot easier to get into and out of, without impeding the flow of traffic for an hour and a half. That's my opinion of them anywhere, they're incredibly convenient for someone like me who's absolutely horrible with parallel parking.
bowen on
not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
Most of the time the back of your car will be angled with the flow of traffic so as backing up, you can see oncoming traffic. They're also a lot easier to get into and out of, without impeding the flow of traffic for an hour and a half. That's my opinion of them anywhere, they're incredibly convenient for someone like me who's absolutely horrible with parallel parking.
Unless I'm mistaking his point, it's the concern about blindly backing into traffic going the same direction as yourself
Most of the time the back of your car will be angled with the flow of traffic so as backing up, you can see oncoming traffic. They're also a lot easier to get into and out of, without impeding the flow of traffic for an hour and a half. That's my opinion of them anywhere, they're incredibly convenient for someone like me who's absolutely horrible with parallel parking.
Unless I'm mistaking his point, it's the concern about blindly backing into traffic going the same direction as yourself
There's plenty of room that only a U-haul truck would be a worry. At least around here. Even backed up halfway out doesn't put you into traffic.
bowen on
not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
Most of the time the back of your car will be angled with the flow of traffic so as backing up, you can see oncoming traffic. They're also a lot easier to get into and out of, without impeding the flow of traffic for an hour and a half. That's my opinion of them anywhere, they're incredibly convenient for someone like me who's absolutely horrible with parallel parking.
Unless I'm mistaking his point, it's the concern about blindly backing into traffic going the same direction as yourself
There's plenty of room that only a U-haul truck would be a worry. At least around here. Even backed up halfway out doesn't put you into traffic.
The angled parking I've encountered always has you backing up directly into a lane of traffic.
I like manuals because they're more fun to drive, unless you're in heavy stop-and-go traffic. I haven't bought one recently, though, because they're a bitch to find anymore.
ElJeffe on
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
Manual vs auto debate is stupid. DSG is better than both.
That's lazy man wannabe manual. Real drivers like actually driving their cars, and you're only driving your car if you're winding it up beforehand.
I was channeling this Yahoo Answer in that post, as I was actually looking up stuff on Tiptronic and DSG just yesterday (for reasons totally unrelated to this thread).
I like manuals because they're more fun to drive, unless you're in heavy stop-and-go traffic. I haven't bought one recently, though, because they're a bitch to find anymore.
I love taking my 300ZX TT to the office, but HATE getting caught in any sort of stop-and-go traffic. I try to avoid heavy traffic areas, but it seems that others are doing the same, leading to heavy traffic in areas that I used to be able to just glide through.
If I had a choice, I'd probably want to go with a semi-auto (probably paddle-operated) continuously variable transmission. I'd probably plow into a building while playing with the third decimal of the ratio setting, but I'd have fun doing so.
I am a significantly better driver with a manual. You actually need to pay attention to everything going around you, and you have much better maneuverability in traffic.
I'm with shryke. I'm not really sure what you are talking about with maneuverability. I want it to go faster, I press the gas and it goes faster. I want it to go slower, I step off the gas or brake and it goes slower.
I don't see how screwing around with gears and shit would help.
Well since I've done both, and you apparently have not, let's just assume I'm right.
I've also done both. Let's assume you're not.
Personally, I drive better when I listen to Rock You Like a Hurricane. So, all y'all best be listening to Rock You Like a Hurricane. If you've never listened to Rock You Like a Hurricane while driving, how can you possibly know it isn't the best? 9 out of 10 dentists agree that Rock You Like a Hurricane is recommended in all States except Hawaii and Alaska.
I am a significantly better driver with a manual. You actually need to pay attention to everything going around you, and you have much better maneuverability in traffic.
I'm with shryke. I'm not really sure what you are talking about with maneuverability. I want it to go faster, I press the gas and it goes faster. I want it to go slower, I step off the gas or brake and it goes slower.
I don't see how screwing around with gears and shit would help.
Well since I've done both, and you apparently have not, let's just assume I'm right.
I've also done both. Let's assume you're not.
Personally, I drive better when I listen to Rock You Like a Hurricane. So, all y'all best be listening to Rock You Like a Hurricane. If you've never listened to Rock You Like a Hurricane while driving, how can you possibly know it isn't the best? 9 out of 10 dentists agree that Rock You Like a Hurricane is recommended in all States except Hawaii and Alaska.
Buy a Fit/Yaris and drive as far as you can into perpendicular parking spaces. Then laugh as people drive halfway in befor backing out.
Do you know what happens to a Yaris trying to change lanes on the highway down here?
Probably nothing as bad when one of those Smart shitmobiles changes lanes.
krush on
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DeadfallI don't think you realize just how rich he is.In fact, I should put on a monocle.Registered Userregular
edited June 2010
I have no strong feelings toward manual users or automatic users either way, but:
When this argument is brought up around here, I always see folks arguing how they hate automatics because they don't like the car deciding their gears for them, or because they like to be in complete control, or because it helps them hit 100 mph faster and more efficiently.
I have never drag raced off a red light. I think it's incredibly stupid and everytime I see someone doing it I secretly wish they run into a light pole. I have a 68 Chevy Malibu project car I worked on (mostly watched) with my stepdad I take to Bandimere Speedway every couple of years if I want to speed.
I grew up and learned to drive in the foothills/mountains of Colorado where there is snow on the ground in June. Not once has my automatic vehicle ever suddenly mis-shifted and burst into speed and caused me to slam into a guardrail. In fact, I have never caused an accident, though I have been rear-ended twice. Both of which drove manuals, hmmmmm..... (just kidding).
So I don't know who out there is trying to hit 100 mph off a red light the fastest and most efficient way possible, but don't try to tell me that driving an automatic makes it so the car is not under my control.
I have nothing against manuals, but saying that my car will not shift or accelerate or brake exactly when I want it too is just silly.
I'm interested to see quite how different each country's licence requirements are and I must say they all sound rather onerous compared to what I had to go through back in the day in NZ.
We used to be able (I think this is about to change) apply for a Learner's Permit at age 15, which involved sitting a theory test. Then with that licence one could drive only with an experienced, licenced driver as a supervisor. After 6 months a further, this time practical test could be taken to advance to restricted, which would give the driver the right to drive alone, or with passengers (so long as supervised) and only during certain hours. Then 3-18 months later it is possible to apply for a full licence, with appropriate safety courses. So no minimum number of hours to drive or any of that marlarky. It certainly seems a lot easier than the norm.
I think I had my full licence by age 17. Which while it sounds pretty bad, it isn't as I'd been learning to drive since about age 6, as I grew up on a farm. So I'd had thousands of hours off road experience by the time I had to sit any formal tests. The issue is that not everyone has such experience so I think the lax testing regime is one reason why NZ has such a high road death rate, poor roads being another.
As a result of the high death rates we have a very strong road policing policy (probably similar to Australia I'd think). Infractions are tightly defined, heavily monitored and penalised. This, persistent and scary advertising and maybe incremental road improvements has really had a serious influence on reducing road fatalities. The death rate has gone down a fair bit since 1990, from one of the two to three highest in the OECD to about the mid range and by over half in real terms. What this means in practical terms is that if I use a main highway for anything more than about 5 minutes I have a very good chance of seeing a police car. If I'm travelling inter city then I will usually see quite a few uniformed and other police patrols and cameras. Whereas by comparison in the UK I've used the main highways a bit to travel on holiday and I don't think I've ever seen a police patrol car.
The road safety advertising we use is really rather traumatic. They have for at least the last 15 or so years gone for the horrific and graphic style, which means that it is quite likely you will see in any given night of TV watching someone being horribly maimed or killed by way of a road accident, whether due to speeding, drinking or otherwise. They really try rather hard.
I drive quite a bit for work. I think out of every week, I MIGHT see a highway patrol car once. I'm more likely to see a beat cop in his squad car than see a highway cop ever. This changes by state that I travel through though. I don't think I've EVER seen one in New Mexico, they're EVERYWHERE in California, I haven't seen one it Texas, but I'm paranoid of every car in my rearview on the turnpike in Arkansas. I HATE driving through Ohio for any reason and will make excuses to NEVER go there. NV... well, I've been pulled over in Nevada a time or two, and the cops just magically appeared outta nowhere. Michigan, I think is balanced, I don't see them so often that I get paranoid, but often enough that I keep my speed in check. The few times I've been pulled over in MI, I got off with a warning. I'm a fuckin wreck going from Kentucky to Florida 'cause I'm always followed by cops the whole way down I-75.
I am a significantly better driver with a manual. You actually need to pay attention to everything going around you, and you have much better maneuverability in traffic.
I'm with shryke. I'm not really sure what you are talking about with maneuverability. I want it to go faster, I press the gas and it goes faster. I want it to go slower, I step off the gas or brake and it goes slower.
I don't see how screwing around with gears and shit would help.
Well since I've done both, and you apparently have not, let's just assume I'm right.
I've also done both. Let's assume you're not.
Personally, I drive better when I listen to Rock You Like a Hurricane. So, all y'all best be listening to Rock You Like a Hurricane. If you've never listened to Rock You Like a Hurricane while driving, how can you possibly know it isn't the best? 9 out of 10 dentists agree that Rock You Like a Hurricane is recommended in all States except Hawaii and Alaska.
The thing that get me is that he was one of the ones who shot down the guy who came into the best/worst presidents presidents blog to tell us that we should all love Reagan because the people who were around at the time love Reagan. He may have even been the one to post that comic mocking how people "feel" about Reagan.
I am a significantly better driver with a manual. You actually need to pay attention to everything going around you, and you have much better maneuverability in traffic.
I'm with shryke. I'm not really sure what you are talking about with maneuverability. I want it to go faster, I press the gas and it goes faster. I want it to go slower, I step off the gas or brake and it goes slower.
I don't see how screwing around with gears and shit would help.
Well since I've done both, and you apparently have not, let's just assume I'm right.
Hahaha god, this argument never goes anywhere, and it comes up every time we have a car thread.
For what it's worth, as an owner of a manual and an auto car and a frequent driver of both - a traditional auto does not give you the same level of control as a manual car does. An auto reacts to conditions, while a manual can be used predicatively; this is an advantage. In general a manual is also faster 1-100 (and as a young male who drives a lot at night, this is obviously a very important figure to me :winky:). On the other hand, driving an auto is shitloads easier and unless you have the constitution of a 14 year old girl, not something that you should get embarrassed about. Proper Clutchless manuals like the Audi Direct-Shift gearbox arguably are the theoretical middle-ground, taking the advantages of both systems and combining them.
Arguing which one is more fun is fucking stupid. I'd be inclined to say that if you enjoy having more control over your car, then manual would be your preference, but that argument can obviously be taken too far as well (eg. you get more control without power steering or abs blahblahblah).
Drive whatever the fuck you want. They each have advantages.
On Speed Limiting, i see a lot of objections regarding to the impracticality of the system, but am I the only one who's opposed to it in a my car my business sense? It just seems like a very heavy-handed way of controlling things. For instance, what would a system like this do casual attenders at their local track days, who don't have their own race cars, and instead just like to take a burl around the track in their daily driver?
On Speed Limiting, i see a lot of objections regarding to the impracticality of the system, but am I the only one who's opposed to it in a my car my business sense? It just seems like a very heavy-handed way of controlling things. For instance, what would a system like this do casual attenders at their local track days, who don't have their own race cars, and instead just like to take a burl around the track in their daily driver?
A good compromise might be to allow it to be disabled and reenabled, but have the car's computer log the times when you do it. If you're caught speeding after you disabled the limiter, you get the book thrown at you. If you're caught speeding after you hacked the log to read that you hadn't disabled the limiter, you get held down and beaten repeatedly with the book.
I have to say, people who claim to have mad driving skills because they learnt on a farm (especially as little kids) really bother me
I mean you've probably got some valuable off-roading skills there, but driving in a paddock is easy. No traffic signals, no other cars, low speeds, minimal visual distractions...even the road into town is a cakewalk. I have quite a few friends who learnt to drive out in the sticks, and when they moved to a real city that had more than one set of traffic lights and multilane roads, they were absolutely terrifying to be in a car with. Couldn't merge properly, changed lanes like they were trying get themselves killed, bewildered and enraged by dedicated turning lanes and roundabouts... gah. They improved after a while, but the fact remains that it requires a lot more skill to drive well in a busy city than anywhere else.
People around here go out to rural areas to take their driving test if they want an easy ride of it *shrug*
I know how a manual works, I can drive one, but I still don't understand how pressing a brake to slow down is measurably less safe than pressing the clutch and doing whatever the fuck you want to slow down.
Am I aware of what it takes to stop my car? Well yea, I drive it. I'm pretty familiar with it. Did I slow my car down? Yea. omgz the difference?
Improvolone on
Voice actor for hire. My time is free if your project is!
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Observe the on ramp here: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=M8,+Glasgow,+UK&sll=54.136696,-4.042969&sspn=16.995187,37.30957&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=M8,+Glasgow,+Glasgow+City,+United+Kingdom&ll=55.867191,-4.235471&spn=0.001028,0.002277&t=k&z=19
That's a 25 metre radius 270 degree turn with a rise of about 30 feet onto a 5 lane section of motorway where people are doing 60 mph. I can't imagine what doing that in an automatic would be like.
Fake-Edit: I love my mixed imperial/metric units there.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
Just randomly, a 2010 Honda Accord Coupe:
5 Speed Manual:
22 / 31 / 25
5 Speed Automatic:
21 / 31 /25
v-6 version:
6 Speed Manual:
17 / 25 / 20
5 Speed Automatic:
19 / 28 / 22
But now we're just going to wind up in a "well if you REALLY know how to use a manual you get X/Y/Z better than listed!" debates, which are impossible to end.
I still like (on the thread topic) annoying beeping noises to prevent speeding. But while we're altering cars, I'd love those BAC testers on everyone's ignitions as well, with a felony for being busted for being the designated breather when the driver has been drinking.
The same is true of an automatic.
If you take that ramp above 30, or indeed above 3rd gear then it's brown trousers time. A lot of people try and take it in 4th then panic about half way up when they realise what they've got themselves into.
Also, it's not a merge lane, it immediately turns into the (forced) off lane for the next junction, so people are pulling into it at 60 mph.
I on the other hand am trying to get into the outside lane because that turns into my exit land at the next junction. In the space of a mile that motorway goes from 5 to 3 to 4 to 5 to 3 to 2 lanes with entrances and (forced) exits on both the fast and slow lanes.
EDIT: Also, out of interest, could you show me an on-ramp with as tight a turning circle combined with such a vertical rise as that because I've long held that that junction is the worst I know and would be fascinated to see something as worse if not worserest.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
Off/On ramp that is fucking terrifying to merge into
Or this one, that is an on ramp that merges from a city street with 30 MPH limit onto a an off-ramp from another highway into the main highway
Now, the grade of the curve might not be steep, but make no mistake, when you have about 100 feet to go from 30 to 75+, and watch out for cars going faster than that coming off the off-ramp onto the highway where people are also doing that, it's way more terrifying than going around a 270deg curve merging with a highway where people are hopefully following traffic and leaving enough room to merge into the off-ramp or let people merge out of the on-ramp. The first one's a little better because you still have about 500 feet before you need to switch, but still, oh my god are those exits terrifying.
But regardless aggressive limiters on cars are stupid. 140 km/h I could see, but 100 km/h is just idiotic.
Fair play that first one is proper mental, although the radius of the turn(s) is 8 times my junction which makes my gradient (by my calculation) about 240,000,000 times steeper, oh an because it's a rising ramp you come onto the motorway blind whereas you first one gives you a lovely panoramic view of traffic you might be about to have an issue with. It's the combination together, the turning circle, the rise, the typical Glasgow weather, the low visibility, the extremely divergent speeds of cars on the motorway (lanes are either static or full speed which makes crossing the motorway a particular challenge) that make Jct 15 so awful. Still - I award your junctions an official Alistair Hutton sanctioned grade of "Pretty Fucking Damn Bad".
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
Also, does anybody know of any advantages manuals have over semi-automatics?
Yeah the 2nd one is terrifying, the 1st is only terrifying if you have some jackass who is a jackass just being a jackass.
But still, in rush hour, that 2nd one is honest to goodness a deathtrap. I'm actually surprised the first one has more accidents on it during rush hour than the 2nd one.
Assuming the semiautomatic to work like BMW's SMG's, I see no performance advantage of a manual over a semiauto, other than the hard-on I get from heel-toeing. I suppose there's a marginal weight disadvantage.
My colleagues and I have debated this matter a lot, trying to decide whether to implement a pneumatic autoshifter in our FSAE race car. The conclusion that we came to is that it's faster (Shifts go from 0.5 seconds to 0.1 seconds and the driver no longer has to take his hands off the wheel), for a weight gain of about 1 kilogram (Scale up X5 for a street car, I guess). The issue was reliability. Adding an extra system to a car always reduces reliability. This isn't a problem for supercars made by professional manufacturers who can get shit right, test it properly, and have a user base who can pay lots of money to have other people repair things for them, but for low budget racers and guys like me that like to fix everything themselves, a theoretically less optimal, but simpler design is more suitable.
I guess that's another reason I prefer manual to auto... Auto valve bodies are crazily complex things and the seals are always dying. Manuals are so much simpler, which I as an engineer prefer... but I'm going way too far off topic now.
Speed limiters are ghey.
Because CVTs don't sound or feel like they're going fast.
That "VRRR-chik-vrrrrrrrRRRR-chik-vrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRR-chik-vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRR" noise is very compelling to people who like cars, inefficient though it may be.
Fairly easy. You make the turn, then you accelerate.
I mean, really, have you Manual Evangelicals even driven an automatic?
You've got the strangest ideas about them.
edit:never mind
There's plenty of room that only a U-haul truck would be a worry. At least around here. Even backed up halfway out doesn't put you into traffic.
The angled parking I've encountered always has you backing up directly into a lane of traffic.
That's lazy man wannabe manual. Real drivers like actually driving their cars, and you're only driving your car if you're stepping on a clutch.
I was channeling this Yahoo Answer in that post, as I was actually looking up stuff on Tiptronic and DSG just yesterday (for reasons totally unrelated to this thread).
I love taking my 300ZX TT to the office, but HATE getting caught in any sort of stop-and-go traffic. I try to avoid heavy traffic areas, but it seems that others are doing the same, leading to heavy traffic in areas that I used to be able to just glide through.
Personally, I drive better when I listen to Rock You Like a Hurricane. So, all y'all best be listening to Rock You Like a Hurricane. If you've never listened to Rock You Like a Hurricane while driving, how can you possibly know it isn't the best? 9 out of 10 dentists agree that Rock You Like a Hurricane is recommended in all States except Hawaii and Alaska.
Do you know what happens to a Yaris trying to change lanes on the highway down here?
They get sucked into the intake/wake of a big-rig?
Probably nothing as bad when one of those Smart shitmobiles changes lanes.
When this argument is brought up around here, I always see folks arguing how they hate automatics because they don't like the car deciding their gears for them, or because they like to be in complete control, or because it helps them hit 100 mph faster and more efficiently.
I have never drag raced off a red light. I think it's incredibly stupid and everytime I see someone doing it I secretly wish they run into a light pole. I have a 68 Chevy Malibu project car I worked on (mostly watched) with my stepdad I take to Bandimere Speedway every couple of years if I want to speed.
I grew up and learned to drive in the foothills/mountains of Colorado where there is snow on the ground in June. Not once has my automatic vehicle ever suddenly mis-shifted and burst into speed and caused me to slam into a guardrail. In fact, I have never caused an accident, though I have been rear-ended twice. Both of which drove manuals, hmmmmm..... (just kidding).
So I don't know who out there is trying to hit 100 mph off a red light the fastest and most efficient way possible, but don't try to tell me that driving an automatic makes it so the car is not under my control.
I have nothing against manuals, but saying that my car will not shift or accelerate or brake exactly when I want it too is just silly.
xbl - HowYouGetAnts
steam - WeAreAllGeth
We used to be able (I think this is about to change) apply for a Learner's Permit at age 15, which involved sitting a theory test. Then with that licence one could drive only with an experienced, licenced driver as a supervisor. After 6 months a further, this time practical test could be taken to advance to restricted, which would give the driver the right to drive alone, or with passengers (so long as supervised) and only during certain hours. Then 3-18 months later it is possible to apply for a full licence, with appropriate safety courses. So no minimum number of hours to drive or any of that marlarky. It certainly seems a lot easier than the norm.
I think I had my full licence by age 17. Which while it sounds pretty bad, it isn't as I'd been learning to drive since about age 6, as I grew up on a farm. So I'd had thousands of hours off road experience by the time I had to sit any formal tests. The issue is that not everyone has such experience so I think the lax testing regime is one reason why NZ has such a high road death rate, poor roads being another.
As a result of the high death rates we have a very strong road policing policy (probably similar to Australia I'd think). Infractions are tightly defined, heavily monitored and penalised. This, persistent and scary advertising and maybe incremental road improvements has really had a serious influence on reducing road fatalities. The death rate has gone down a fair bit since 1990, from one of the two to three highest in the OECD to about the mid range and by over half in real terms. What this means in practical terms is that if I use a main highway for anything more than about 5 minutes I have a very good chance of seeing a police car. If I'm travelling inter city then I will usually see quite a few uniformed and other police patrols and cameras. Whereas by comparison in the UK I've used the main highways a bit to travel on holiday and I don't think I've ever seen a police patrol car.
The road safety advertising we use is really rather traumatic. They have for at least the last 15 or so years gone for the horrific and graphic style, which means that it is quite likely you will see in any given night of TV watching someone being horribly maimed or killed by way of a road accident, whether due to speeding, drinking or otherwise. They really try rather hard.
Virginia is probably the worst. And their reckless driving law is wayyy too easy to get.
The thing that get me is that he was one of the ones who shot down the guy who came into the best/worst presidents presidents blog to tell us that we should all love Reagan because the people who were around at the time love Reagan. He may have even been the one to post that comic mocking how people "feel" about Reagan.
For what it's worth, as an owner of a manual and an auto car and a frequent driver of both - a traditional auto does not give you the same level of control as a manual car does. An auto reacts to conditions, while a manual can be used predicatively; this is an advantage. In general a manual is also faster 1-100 (and as a young male who drives a lot at night, this is obviously a very important figure to me :winky:). On the other hand, driving an auto is shitloads easier and unless you have the constitution of a 14 year old girl, not something that you should get embarrassed about. Proper Clutchless manuals like the Audi Direct-Shift gearbox arguably are the theoretical middle-ground, taking the advantages of both systems and combining them.
Arguing which one is more fun is fucking stupid. I'd be inclined to say that if you enjoy having more control over your car, then manual would be your preference, but that argument can obviously be taken too far as well (eg. you get more control without power steering or abs blahblahblah).
Drive whatever the fuck you want. They each have advantages.
On Speed Limiting, i see a lot of objections regarding to the impracticality of the system, but am I the only one who's opposed to it in a my car my business sense? It just seems like a very heavy-handed way of controlling things. For instance, what would a system like this do casual attenders at their local track days, who don't have their own race cars, and instead just like to take a burl around the track in their daily driver?
A good compromise might be to allow it to be disabled and reenabled, but have the car's computer log the times when you do it. If you're caught speeding after you disabled the limiter, you get the book thrown at you. If you're caught speeding after you hacked the log to read that you hadn't disabled the limiter, you get held down and beaten repeatedly with the book.
I mean you've probably got some valuable off-roading skills there, but driving in a paddock is easy. No traffic signals, no other cars, low speeds, minimal visual distractions...even the road into town is a cakewalk. I have quite a few friends who learnt to drive out in the sticks, and when they moved to a real city that had more than one set of traffic lights and multilane roads, they were absolutely terrifying to be in a car with. Couldn't merge properly, changed lanes like they were trying get themselves killed, bewildered and enraged by dedicated turning lanes and roundabouts... gah. They improved after a while, but the fact remains that it requires a lot more skill to drive well in a busy city than anywhere else.
People around here go out to rural areas to take their driving test if they want an easy ride of it *shrug*
Am I aware of what it takes to stop my car? Well yea, I drive it. I'm pretty familiar with it. Did I slow my car down? Yea. omgz the difference?