[Lurch]

When it comes to trucks, we definitely have Europe beat in man points.









And from talking to some European truckers, most European trucks are automatics and the ones that are manuals are synchronized. Nowhere near the manpoints there.

So like, why can't European truckers learn to drive manuals?

This post has been edited by Lurch on Sunday, Jan 15 2012, 15:35

[ddyoung]

im american and im learning on a manual

[Guns N R0se]

I've never learned manual since I've never had a manual car. No one even bothered to attempt to teach me in Drivers Ed. either.

[visionist]

QUOTE (Lurch @ Saturday, Jan 14 2012, 22:57)

*Orgy of Awesome*

I want a truck now.

[*MURDOC*]

While firing shots at other drivers today, I think I finally understood why U.S. drivers prefer automatics...

[Lurch]

For drive-bys? Makes sense I suppose. Don't want to be stallin that sh*t out while you be blastin caps up in dem niggas...yo.

This post has been edited by Lurch on Monday, Jan 30 2012, 23:27

[Waste]

Driving a stick shift isn't all that hard.
I grew up driving a Subaru Outback 4 speed I think it was.
The car we have now has the "bump" shifter so I kinda still get the joy of hearing the engine hit high RPMs when I'm passing some slow f*ck. (Yay for Jetta torque.)

[trip]

I like the secure feeling I get knowing that I won't be car jacked.

[Jay]

QUOTE (Piperka @ Friday, Jan 13 2012, 18:13)

That's pretty much the same in Australia. Like 85% of people here drive Automatic cars, but then most of those people have a manual license, so they can drive a manual. I have a manual license but my car is automatic lol

That changes by state. In SA you can learn using any transmission, sit the test in any transmission, and it doesn't say on your license. You can sit your test in an auto and get in a manual and drive home. It's whack.

In filling out job applications I've come to realise I have over 7yr experience driving manual cars. Insane.

ed: after reading the rest of this thread I agree about the whole driving-auto-in-high-traffic-situation thing. The only time I've been subjected to long commutes in peak hour traffic in the past 4 years has been driving to university exams held outside the uni. Hellish in a manual vehicle.

This post has been edited by Jay on Tuesday, Jan 31 2012, 05:04

[visionist]

QUOTE (Lurch @ Monday, Jan 30 2012, 23:25)

For drive-bys? Makes sense I suppose. Don't want to be stallin that sh*t out while you be blastin caps up in dem niggas...yo.

More truck porn please Lurch!


...Now that's what I call a dashboard.


...Holy F*cking Sh*t, indeed.

I've heard about some of the myriad gauges those Ice Road trucks have: air box air temp, brake system humidity, exhaust back pressure etc. What others are there? I like Gauges

[Irviding]

I think this "lazy Americans" argument is sort of invalid here (it's valid in many other cases). The fact is they don't really offer cars with manuals here anymore. Back 10 years ago you used to be able to select manual on almost any car, but now they don't even offer it on a lot of them. I don't think there are a lot of people my age that even know how to drive a manual (I do because my dad had a car with a manual that I drove on, 59 Mercedes with the shift on the wheel). The younger generation still in High School probably don't even know what a manual or a clutch is.

[Lurch]

Petes and Kenworths usually have a lot. Obviously your speedo and tach and all your various water and oil temp and pressure gauges, but also voltometer boost gauge, pyrometer gauge, fuel pressure and fuel temp, vacuum gauge, trans temp gauge, temp gauges for both diffs, air pressure and air humidity gauges. It makes a race car's gauge list look simple by comparison.

[Guns N R0se]

The real reason American's don't like manual is because shifting might knock over our Big Gulp's

[matthew1g]

well if we're on the topic of trucks, up till september 2011, the Island I live on used to have a fleet of buses that were between 40-60 year old:







The new ones they were replaced with are sh*tboxes on wheels. Also automatic. I loved the sound of old busses with cummins and perkins engines.

Give a maltese an automatic bus, and this happens:


This post has been edited by matthew1g on Saturday, Mar 3 2012, 02:08

[visionist]

QUOTE (Lurch @ Saturday, Mar 3 2012, 01:00)

Petes and Kenworths usually have a lot. Obviously your speedo and tach and all your various water and oil temp and pressure gauges, but also voltometer boost gauge, pyrometer gauge, fuel pressure and fuel temp, vacuum gauge, trans temp gauge, temp gauges for both diffs, air pressure and air humidity gauges. It makes a race car's gauge list look simple by comparison.

Interesting. What does the pyrometer measure? By air pressure & humidity do you mean the brake line circuit to the trailer? Or is that the vacuum? And what does the "boost" in the voltmeter refer to?

Question King, that's me

I bet they don't have a master fuse temperature gauge! haha

[Desmosedici]

QUOTE (The General @ Friday, Jan 13 2012, 09:10)

Is bumper to bumper traffic, and going to work fairly long distances from where they live. Having to keep switching gears every few seconds because of the the traffic picks up or slows down.

If this was true, which it's not, then everybody in Europe would be driving automatics considering how extra-urban European cities are compared to the US.

[cold blooded]

i learned to drive manual the day i bought my first car, after half an hour it was second nature. i have had 5 manual vehicles including one three speed on the column. truth be told many cars just aren't offered with manual trans anymore. you can still get trucks (1/4 ton, half ton, 3/4 and one ton) and some SUVs with a manual trans . for the most part vehicles come with an automatic as standard equipment, now in most cases a manual is an extra cost.

[epoxi]

Could the shift to automatic (no pun intended) be because the (urban) US has a lack of curvy roads? The main comfort I have with a manual is the added control going around curved roads in a lower gear, and automatic cars I have driven don't seem to pick the correct gear a lot of the time. Plus doing tricky parking manouvres are a hell of a lot more reassuring when you have a clutch to control your acceleration exactly (instead of the automatic delivering a constant minimum torque and the only way to stop it is the brake). On my visit to the US I never experienced a tight parking situation that even came close to what Europeans have to deal with on a daily basis.

Then again, it may be purely that I'm not used to driving an auto and I am not using it properly.

This post has been edited by epoxi on Wednesday, Mar 28 2012, 12:32

[Tuff Luv Capo]

QUOTE (epoxi @ Wednesday, Mar 28 2012, 07:29)

Could the shift to automatic (no pun intended) be because the (urban) US has a lack of curvy roads? The main comfort I have with a manual is the added control going around curved roads in a lower gear, and automatic cars I have driven don't seem to pick the correct gear a lot of the time. Plus doing tricky parking manouvres are a hell of a lot more reassuring when you have a clutch to control your acceleration exactly (instead of the automatic delivering a constant minimum torque and the only way to stop it is the brake). On my visit to the US I never experienced a tight parking situation that even came close to what Europeans have to deal with on a daily basis. Then again, it may be purely that I'm not used to driving an auto and I am not using it properly.

That's to say you even need the throttle in an automatic. In most parking conditions (by most I mean on flat surfaces), you can simply put it in reverse or drive and hover your foot over the brake as the car slowly rolls in that direction. Unlike in a manual, an automatic is always engaged in that gear, which is why at stop lights you must hold the brake in or else bump the car in front of you.

[thebestgameever]

Why Americans mainly use automatic:

So one hand be used for holding the steering wheel, the other for a burger or coke.


Jokes aside , its just the way it is.