Newfoundland Driving School to Stop Teaching Stick Shift - Polidicks

imo everyone should still learn to drive manual regardless of if they intend to drive manual or auto for the rest of their life. It could be a life saving thing in extreme circumstances (e.g. if only car available is manual and you need to rush someone to hospital). That and it makes life a hell of a lot easier being able to be able to get in any car and drive it with ease straight away.

[QUOTE=proboardslol;48025078]But driving a car is such a small, insignificant part of life that I don't understand why people feel superior about it. It's like me feeling superior to windows users because I use primarily CLI Linux. It's a stupid measure. Who cares? It's just a goddamned car[/QUOTE] If you don't care, just move on. For some people driving cars is a passion or at least an enjoyable hobby. [QUOTE=Leestons;48025095]In the UK if we took our driving test in an auto we're not legally allowed to drive manual.[/QUOTE]Same here really, you can pick between doing auto or manual and if you do auto you can't drive a manual legally.

[QUOTE=proboardslol;48025106]Overdrive. I have a button on my car to turn overdrive on/off. I really can't wait for Electric Cars. I think that most products should be like the electronics industry; you can buy straight from the manufacturer, the manufacturer guarantees it with some kind of warranty, and if it breaks, you take it back to the manufacturer. I don't like car culture, but owning a car means I have to be around the people who do.[/QUOTE] My biggest dislike with electric cars is the charge time. I can fill my fuel tank in about a minute, fully charging a battery takes hours.

[QUOTE=proboardslol;48025106]Overdrive. I have a button on my car to turn overdrive on/off. I really can't wait for Electric Cars. I think that most products should be like the electronics industry; you can buy straight from the manufacturer, the manufacturer guarantees it with some kind of warranty, and if it breaks, you take it back to the manufacturer. I don't like car culture, but owning a car means I have to be around the people who do.[/QUOTE] Overdrive is for fuel economy. And your car must be old. I mean, even really old auto gearboxes have a configuration like L-2-3-D-N-R-P, and like if you put it in 2 obviously it's going to try to stick to 2nd gear.

[QUOTE=Deathtrooper2;48025107]I hate driving stick, And this is why [video=youtube;S8Ms6ng6FmI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8Ms6ng6FmI[/video][/QUOTE] because you can't shift? :v:

[QUOTE=Antdawg;48025133]Overdrive is for fuel economy. And your car must be old. I mean, even really old auto gearboxes have a configuration like L-2-3-D-N-R-P, and like if you put it in 2 obviously it's going to try to stick to 2nd gear.[/QUOTE] 2009 Versa. It's got Prindle. Of course, I never use anything other than PRD

[QUOTE=Hoffa1337;48025149]because you can't shift? :v:[/QUOTE] Because the guy in front had no clutch control

[QUOTE=proboardslol;48025078]But driving a car is such a small, insignificant part of life[/quote] You say that, yet flagdog indicates you live in a country where not having a car means you are six kinds of fucked. I find it hilarious how out of touch you are with how things actually work in this country. Not having a car is viable for a handful of percent of the population. The sweeping majority of Americans could not function without a car of some sort, and most of us commute at least 15 minutes a day. Commutes of up to two HOURS are not unheard of. America could not operate without the motorcar, simple as that. Owning a car and having a license are just as important to living in this country as having a place to live. [QUOTE=redBadger;48025072]I just want to drive without having all this extra shit to worry about. I'm not racing I'm just cruising from place to place. What's the point then[/QUOTE] Hmm. Let's see here. 1: Gas Mileage. Modern automatics are still trash at efficiency and you'll see massive gains in city mileage. Lockup converters do nothing below 45MPH or so and you're always going to have losses in the rotating mass of all those planetary gearsets, clutch packs and whatnot. Oh, and losses from the hydraulic pump. None of that shit is free, guess what's gotta turn it all. Oh, and if what you're driving is a bit older and lacks an overdrive auto? It's six kinds of ridiculous how much more fuel efficient the manual version is. My '85 F150 is averaging 20-22 miles per gallon right now. 50% of that is that I'm staying on backroads and 50% of that is the overdrive [i]manual[/i] gearbox in it. IF I had the automatic, all other things being equal, I'd be seeing about 14 or 15 on a good day, realistic about 12-14. 2: Reliability. There's less shit to go wrong and what is there is far more durable. 3: Lighter. Automatics are porkers. 4: Longevity. Automatics have a LOT of wear parts in them and rarely make it past 200,000 miles. A manual transmission not beat on? Lasts the life of the car. Mine's over 300K and it still shifts like brand fucking new. 5: Anti-theft. Having that extra pedal and that odd lever sticking out of the car is a stronger theft deterrent than every alarm and Lojac service [i]combined[/i]. Car thieves are looking for easy marks and none of the fuckers can drive stick, so they'll leave your car alone and go for the one with the automatic instead. 6: Control. You have the final say in what gear a manual is in. You have almost zero control over an automatic. You pull it down into D1? Yeah fuck it the computer WILL upshift if it thinks it needs to. Doesn't matter if you want it to or not. 7: Push starting. If you've got enough power to light the dome light you've got enough power to get your engine started. With an automatic you're left waiting for a jump, with a manual your battery has to be so heavily discharged that it requires replacement outright in order for it to not be able to get the car running. This also comes in handy if your starter conks out. I had to push start my truck for a week while I waiting for a paycheck to come in to replace the dead starter on it. 8: You'll have less requests to use your car, and the ones you do get can be easily denied by 'I don't want my clutch destroyed, so no'. 9: Cheaper to buy. You can leverage the dealer to cut you a better deal on these things by reminding the salesman that 'It's a stick, nobody else is gonna buy it. You either cut me this deal or I go elsewhere and that car sits on your lot for the next year and a half or so' 10: Cheaper to maintain. They don't need the same level of maintenance automatics do and their fluid changes are much cheaper/easier to perform. [QUOTE=proboardslol;48025078]But driving a car is such a small, insignificant part of life[/quote] You say that, yet flagdog indicates you live in a country where not having a car means you are six kinds of fucked. I find it hilarious how out of touch you are with how things actually work in this country. Not having a car is viable for a handful of percent of the population. The sweeping majority of Americans could not function without a car of some sort, and most of us commute at least 15 minutes a day. Commutes of up to two HOURS are not unheard of. America could not operate without the motorcar, simple as that. Owning a car and having a license are just as important to living in this country as having a place to live.

[QUOTE=proboardslol;48025064]Get your car fixed? If my auto is broken, I just get it fixed. Don't drive around in a shitty car, it's not safe[/QUOTE] Okay sure. I'll drop it off today and pay the $300 fee associated to an "Emergency Repair", instead of waiting until Wednesday and not having to pay anything aside from whatever fuckulated the second gear in the first place. Also, how is no second gear unsafe? It it was first, sure I can see the higher risk of stalling when moving from a full stop but to jump second I just accelerate to about 4000 and then it's pretty much synced for third. [quote]Really? You can learn to drive manual within an hour. Even in a few minutes. [/quote] It took me a month to get really good at it in multiple cars. Nobody is perfect.

[QUOTE=pentium;48025170] Also, how is no second gear unsafe? It it was first, sure I can see the higher risk of stalling when moving from a full stop but to jump second I just accelerate to about 4000 and then it's pretty much synced for third. [/quote] I'm betting he jumped to the conclusion that 'If second gear is fuckulated the rest of the car must also be a 'dilapidated shitheap'. [quote] It took me a month to get really good at it in multiple cars. Nobody is perfect.[/QUOTE] Mmhm. Your problem was, in fact, multiple cars. I've no doubt you would have picked it up faster if you'd been in the same car the whole time. Different cars all have different quirks and that can throw a huge monkey wrench into the learning process.

[QUOTE=proboardslol;48025012]They don't teach Stick in Virginia here. I don't really get the cult behind stick. People who drive stick feel superior to people who drive auto because.... why? It's just a car. It's meant to get you from point a to point b. Knowing how to move a stick doesn't make you cooler. I don't get why people get their dicks so hard over a fucking car.[/QUOTE] Because you've never tracked, autocrossed, or drifted. You've never faced a tight slalom, an apex in the rain, or done donuts. Once you learn to drive stick you don't want to go back. There's just so much more you can do with the car, you have a better (and at times almost romantic) connection with the car. The first time I kicked my clutch when I was 16 and went sideways in a parking lot I had an instant boner.

[QUOTE=pentium;48024934]IMHO: People who can't drive stick are pussies.[/QUOTE] Why though? Unless you're driving certain cars that really benefit there's really no need for it

[QUOTE=J!NX;48025194]Why though? Unless you're driving certain cars that really benefit there's really no need for it[/QUOTE] You benefit regardless of what kind of car you're driving. I literally couldn't afford my fuel bills if I had an automatic, would have had to trade in a perfectly dependable, paid off, old pickup on something with a four pot back when gas was four bucks a gallon. Having a manual meant I was able to just barely eke out enough fuel mileage that I could afford to keep the thing. Not only that but I'd probably be on the third or fourth gearbox overhaul by now.

I've never driven an auto. Manually switching gears feels pretty satisfying though. Also a good skill to have, you don't know if one day you will need to drive a stick (rental car on holiday, or an insurance cover car or any car you happen to find if the apocalypse happens). It's easy and once you learn it you don't forget it.

[QUOTE=Aetna;48025184]Because you've never tracked, autocrossed, or drifted. You've never faced a tight slalom, an apex in the rain, or done donuts. Once you learn to drive stick you don't want to go back. There's just so much more you can do with the car, you have a better (and at times almost romantic) connection with the car. The first time I kicked my clutch when I was 16 and went sideways in a parking lot I had an instant boner.[/QUOTE] Some people just want to use their vehicle to get to work and back. Does that make them any less of a person than you?

[QUOTE=redBadger;48025088]I wonder is there a stick / auto hybrid yet where you can change what mode you want[/QUOTE] My Saturn has this. It's auto primarily and has a manual mode where you can shift the gears by moving the stick left or right in the Manual gear.

[QUOTE=proboardslol;48025012]They don't teach Stick in Virginia here. I don't really get the cult behind stick. People who drive stick feel superior to people who drive auto because.... why? It's just a car. It's meant to get you from point a to point b. Knowing how to move a stick doesn't make you cooler. I don't get why people get their dicks so hard over a fucking car.[/QUOTE] because, believe it or not, its a hobby. It's like asking "ugh why would anyone build a PC, just get a prebuilt its just a computer"

[QUOTE=Headhumpy;48025225]Some people just want to use their vehicle to get to work and back. Does that make them any less of a person than you?[/QUOTE] I assume the idea is that the people who only use manuals is that they either don't want to see/believe that knowing how to use stick has its own benefits.

[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;48024992]"Hey guys, look at these losers who don't drive like I do! What pussies, amirite?"[/QUOTE] I know he feels special because he drives a stick but in all reality it is just a preference. But in all reality sports cars, drag cars, race carts, etc use automatics (or sequential). Yeah manuals have their charm to a certain degree, but i much rather sit in an automatic then have to baby sit a manual while in traffic.

[QUOTE=Headhumpy;48025225]Some people just want to use their vehicle to get to work and back. Does that make them any less of a person than you?[/QUOTE] Yes, yes it does. We are subhumans. The thing you have to understand about car culture is that it's literally like any other culture out there: gun culture, gym culture, sports culture, etc. For most people, it's just a matter of personal interest; for some people, however, it's a passion that's offputting to the rest of us who don't care that much. It's really offputting when they feel the need to turn everything into a dickwaving contest of "I know more than you do", but the thing to do then is to just learn not to care. If you can learn something useful from them, great; otherwise, who gives a fuck? I never learned to drive stick because nobody taught me how. That's how simple it is. In the meantime, I don't care. I love my car, it does what it needs to do (it transports me), it's reliable, and it's cheap for me to fuel and maintain. And that's all I care about at the end of the day.

[QUOTE=proboardslol;48025012]They don't teach Stick in Virginia here. I don't really get the cult behind stick. People who drive stick feel superior to people who drive auto because.... why? It's just a car. It's meant to get you from point a to point b. Knowing how to move a stick doesn't make you cooler. I don't get why people get their dicks so hard over a fucking car.[/QUOTE] Lots of cars are manual, it's good knowledge to have in case you get into a situation where you have to drive one. I hear that automatics are extremely common in the US though.

[QUOTE=paul simon;48025315]Lots of cars are manual, it's good knowledge to have in case you get into a situation where you have to drive one. I hear that automatics are extremely common in the US though.[/QUOTE] Automatics are very common, I only know one or two people outside my family that drive manual transmission. When I was learning to drive, I had a rough time since I drove stick at home and automatic with the instructor and it was initially confusing. In my last lessons automatic made me feel stupid since there was less to pay attention to.

it took me literally 10 hours of lessons to manually shift and i was fucking SHIT at it to start [editline]22nd June 2015[/editline] 10 hours! of driving pleasure! to learn how to drive all cars!

[QUOTE=proboardslol;48025064]Get your car fixed? If my auto is broken, I just get it fixed. Don't drive around in a shitty car, it's not safe[/QUOTE] What does a broken gearbox have to do with the overall safety?

Autos are hilariously common here in the states because the stereotype is true, a lot of the average chucklefucks here couldn't figure out 2+2. It also depends on the car though. On my big 4x4, I prefer an auto with a nice, fat torque converter. Having to ride a clutch while offroading fucking sucks, and an auto ensures that there is always power to the ground, even when idling. That said, motorcycles are the most fun vehicles to ride. A true hobbyists toy. You are part of the machine, not just sitting in it. It's as close as you can get to your machine. I love it.

You would think that cars, being a part of an industry that has such massive spending in it, innovating would be a big part of that, but it isn't. There's no reason for stick shifts anymore, and there's no reason for vehicles to get less than 20 MPG anymore, no reason for anything less than push button startup, or keyless entry, and the list goes on for what should be standard in the year 2015. But progress isn't made in this particular industry until legislature, groups with power, or in this case, schools, try to make an indentation on how these machines should be perceived. If the answer to driving stick is "you never know when you'll need that knowledge" because all the vehicles you run into are junkers, that's a really pathetic state for over 100 years of automotive progress. What a joke, good riddance.

[QUOTE=TestECull;48025157] 1: Gas Mileage. Modern automatics are still trash at efficiency and you'll see massive gains in city mileage. Lockup converters do nothing below 45MPH or so and you're always going to have losses in the rotating mass of all those planetary gearsets, clutch packs and whatnot. Oh, and losses from the hydraulic pump. None of that shit is free, guess what's gotta turn it all. Oh, and if what you're driving is a bit older and lacks an overdrive auto? It's six kinds of ridiculous how much more fuel efficient the manual version is. My '85 F150 is averaging 20-22 miles per gallon right now. 50% of that is that I'm staying on backroads and 50% of that is the overdrive [I]manual[/I] gearbox in it. IF I had the automatic, all other things being equal, I'd be seeing about 14 or 15 on a good day, realistic about 12-14. 2: Reliability. There's less shit to go wrong and what is there is far more durable. 3: Lighter. Automatics are porkers. 4: Longevity. Automatics have a LOT of wear parts in them and rarely make it past 200,000 miles. A manual transmission not beat on? Lasts the life of the car. Mine's over 300K and it still shifts like brand fucking new. 5: Anti-theft. Having that extra pedal and that odd lever sticking out of the car is a stronger theft deterrent than every alarm and Lojac service [I]combined[/I]. Car thieves are looking for easy marks and none of the fuckers can drive stick, so they'll leave your car alone and go for the one with the automatic instead. 6: Control. You have the final say in what gear a manual is in. You have almost zero control over an automatic. You pull it down into D1? Yeah fuck it the computer WILL upshift if it thinks it needs to. Doesn't matter if you want it to or not. 7: Push starting. If you've got enough power to light the dome light you've got enough power to get your engine started. With an automatic you're left waiting for a jump, with a manual your battery has to be so heavily discharged that it requires replacement outright in order for it to not be able to get the car running. This also comes in handy if your starter conks out. I had to push start my truck for a week while I waiting for a paycheck to come in to replace the dead starter on it. 8: You'll have less requests to use your car, and the ones you do get can be easily denied by 'I don't want my clutch destroyed, so no'. 9: Cheaper to buy. You can leverage the dealer to cut you a better deal on these things by reminding the salesman that 'It's a stick, nobody else is gonna buy it. You either cut me this deal or I go elsewhere and that car sits on your lot for the next year and a half or so' 10: Cheaper to maintain. They don't need the same level of maintenance automatics do and their fluid changes are much cheaper/easier to perform. [/QUOTE] I'd like to add: - Engine braking. Reduces fuel consumtion to ZERO while slowing down the car and maintaining torque. Simply releasing the gas pedal and braking will NOT have this effect, especially not in an automatic. - Jumping gears. The single most fuel conserving action you can take besides not braking and accelerating like an idiot.

[QUOTE=andrewmcwatters;48025402]You would think that cars, being a part of an industry that has such massive spending in it, innovating would be a big part of that, but it isn't. There's no reason for stick shifts anymore, and there's no reason for vehicles to get less than 20 MPG anymore, no reason for anything less than push button startup, or keyless entry, and the list goes on for what should be standard in the year 2015. But progress isn't made in this particular industry until legislature, groups with power, or in this case, schools, try to make an indentation on how these machines should be perceived. If the answer to driving stick is "you never know when you'll need that knowledge" because all the vehicles you run into are junkers, that's a really pathetic state for over 100 years of automotive progress. What a joke, good riddance.[/QUOTE] Haha yeah that guy that bought a brand new corvette with the 7 speed manual was dumb for buying a junker :^) I guess tractors and semi trucks are junkers too. Motorcycles? Yep, junk.

yes [highlight](User was permabanned for this post ("No" - BANNED USER))[/highlight]

[QUOTE=andrewmcwatters;48025421]yes[/QUOTE] Oh I get it, youre trolling.