Okay so I have a 'regional' question for all you folks in UK

[Romans5.8]

UK, Europe, et al.

So I've noticed in several car videos, that folks from the UK and elsewhere are commenting on folks having an automatic vs manual transmission. But not just what they prefer, but somehow Americans are inferior due to their preference of the automatic transmission. Not that the transmission itself is inferior, or even that the man driving it is inferior, but that somehow all society is crumbling due to the fact that a fluid torque converter exists within this persons automobile. I even got a comment here that surprised me, that someone only waves at motorcycles with a manual gearbox (granted, that's nearly all).

So, what gives?

Now me? I largely prefer the manual transmission. It's a better driving experience, it's great in the snow and ice as it gives you more control over power delivery. Of course; it's more power to the wheels and more fuel efficiency as well. I do, in fact, envy the European auto market dominated by small diesel engines and manual transmissions. The former our government regulates the crap out of so we have very little, and the latter there isn't much of a market for, a lot of Americans can't drive a stick these days! So I'm not 'defending' autos'.

I guess, the point of my rant is, what's the big deal? I mean fine to discuss the advantages of a manual gearbox or even rib a guy who can't drive a stick; but what's with all of these anti-American comments based on the typical transmission? To me, that seems like the SILLIEST thing in the world.

I dunno, just a little rant I guess. I keep scratching my head as I watch videos that have a lot of European (especially UK, it seems) viewers, and even if it's not in the video or even a subject of a video, there's a debate about how the US is inferior because we have a lot of cars equipped with automatic transmissions! I mean come on; obesity, debt, divisive politics, only two political parties with any power- there's a LOT y'all could be genuinely ribbing us for if your manhood/womanhood depends on you being a part of a country that you can justify as being superior to others (Xenophobia), but why pick on the transmissions?

Anyway, just curious!

-John

 

[thunderous71]

Re: Okay so I have a 'regional' question for all you folks i

Man get off ya high horse and take of that silly hat..... <---- basically its all that crap, like all Brits have bad teeth and in every Hollywood movie the bad guy will be the first person that speaks with an English accent.

It's just one of those things people throw out as racial slurs.

Buts its true of course, Americans are terrible drivers! Indy/Nascar car, wtf we call that a roundabout and race round them every Friday night with a Kebab in one hand and a can of larger in the other.

And don't get me started on that American Football....

PS: Stick shifts work better with Europe roads as most are tight and twisty and hilly etc, no grid system here.

 

[The_Pauly]

Re: Okay so I have a 'regional' question for all you folks i

As long as people are safe to drive, I honestly couldn't give a flying fart what transmission people prefer in their cars.

I see manual as unnecessarily complicated for a first-time driver, and I see automatic as lazy. There are pro's and cons to both systems.

 

[Dr Kongo]

Re: Okay so I have a 'regional' question for all you folks i

bad guy will be the first person that speaks with a german accent.

fyp
zem germans, zey are always ze bad guise

but at leased zey no how to drive wis a manual transmission

 

[Romans5.8]

Re: Okay so I have a 'regional' question for all you folks i

Man get off ya high horse and take of that silly hat..... <---- basically its all that crap, like all Brits have bad teeth and in every Hollywood movie the bad guy will be the first person that speaks with an English accent.

It's just one of those things people throw out as racial slurs.

Buts its true of course, Americans are terrible drivers! Indy/Nascar car, wtf we call that a roundabout and race round them every Friday night with a Kebab in one hand and a can of larger in the other.

And don't get me started on that American Football....

PS: Stick shifts work better with Europe roads as most are tight and twisty and hilly etc, no grid system here.

When are the bad guys british? The bad guys are always russian. Hello! James Bond! He's like the coolest protagonist in American film! I don't remember watching a movie with a guy with a british accent being the bad guy; save for one episode of Psych! a while back, but even then he was a 'cool' bad guy. Bad teeth yeah, that gets around. That and every brit is still in the 16th century, you see that a lot. But not sure I agree with brits being the bad guy, Russians, yes, but not Brits. I'm thinking hard here, and can't remember a movie where a british guy is the bad guy. I'm sure they exist, but not enough to stick out. And in every post-apocalyptic war movie we're fighting the russians, guess we never got over the cold war?

Brits I think are better portrayed in our media than their european counterparts. Of course you do have this little clip;

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R6_Chr2vro[/youtube]

I believe that was setup with the line, "Yeah, the worst [crime] they have over there [In the UK] is drive by arguments!"

But anyway I don't think you read my post. I wasn't talking about the virtues of stick vs automatic. Just this whole "My poop don't stick because a bunch of people in my country drive a stick" crap. I just don't get that. Why does the transmission, of all things, most commonly use- somehow determine the merit of the entire nation?

For the record; I'm not a fan of American football either. (Though I am a huge baseball fan). Not a fan of NASCAR or Indy either, but neither is a reflection of the American driver. Not saying we don't have a lot of bad drivers; but most of the folks on the road are not racecar drivers! Also, in their defense, NASCAR does have two? I think? Road courses per year, so at least they CAN.

Of course I live in a rural area, and out here rural is rural. I see motovloggers in the UK talking about riding in the 'country' or out in a 'rural' area, and their 'rural' areas look like the towns I drive to when I can't get what I need out here... what I'd call the 'suburbs'. But anyway, point being, that's an entirely different type of driver. In my experience, rural drivers tend to be a lot more laid back, not in a hurry, not fighting for position or jockeying for lanes, being reckless. There are some idiots, but not nearly as bad as there are in the cities.

 

[Romans5.8]

Re: Okay so I have a 'regional' question for all you folks i

As long as people are safe to drive, I honestly couldn't give a flying fart what transmission people prefer in their cars.

I see manual as unnecessarily complicated for a first-time driver, and I see automatic as lazy. There are pro's and cons to both systems.

I dunno, I learned to drive with a manual. My current cage is an automatic; since that's all that's available for that particular car! (There is no manual transmission on a Ford Taurus sold in the states). That is one thing where I wish more Americans drove a stick, then there'd be more of a market for it and I wouldn't be stuck with an auto! Basically, if you want a decent car it's gonna have an auto transmission. Manual transmissions are only an option on small economy cars, sportscars, and some pickup trucks. Larger sedans / luxury sedans, SUV's, etc., are auto-only. Which is a pain in the butt. BUT, again, even so- I kind of scratch my head when I see someone getting into a racial argument, and using an automatic transmission as their evidence for American inferiority... I guess I really, honestly don't get it... why does a TRANSMISSION determine a countries worth?

Figured I'd ask you folks since this seems to be a dominantly UK/European forum; wheras most of the other forums I frequent are dominantly US.

I have to admit though, I would LOVE to have your car market. I'd love to have a diesel powered full size sedan with a manual transmission. There are ZERO options for me here. Currently, only Volkswagen sells passenger cars with Diesel engines over here (and our own companies like Ford, Chrysler, and GM sell Diesels over there, but not here! Same with a manual transmission, you can get them over there, but not here on the same cars). Oh well.

Of course some have the so-called "Automatic or manual" transmissions. No, they are automatics. Torque converter and all. Just because you can push the stick left or right to upshift or downshift doesn't make it an automatic! The clutch is the WHOLE key to the thing here; that transfers more power than a torque converter, and provides more control.

 

[The_Pauly]

Re: Okay so I have a 'regional' question for all you folks i

Top 10 English Psychopaths in American Movies:
http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/14244/top-10-english-psychopaths-in-american-movies

We brits have often been typecast as the villain, in so many movies, tv shows etc. I find it quite funny really. It doesn't offend me, it just makes me laugh.

Anyway, anyway, we've gotten off-topic.

Pretty much everyone I know (bar my mother-in-law and stepmother-in-law) drives manual transmission. There's a law in this country that pretty much says 'If you pass your driving test in a manual transmission car, you're free to drive either manual or auto, but if you pass in an automatic, you'll have to pass another test to be able to drive manual'

It's pretty silly as far as I'm concerned.

 

[mrtommygunwhite]

Re: Okay so I have a 'regional' question for all you folks i

it was me who put the manual bike thing in i did that because some scooter riders dont wear proper gear and think its funny to race up and down peoples streets when they are sleeping its not the bike i dislike with scooters its the rider (sorry if i offended anyone)

 

[Bikermole]

Re: Okay so I have a 'regional' question for all you folks i

Whatever happened to the phrase 'Its not what you ride, It's that you ride in the first place.'

We're all bikers.

And before you talk about people on 50cc's wearing no gear, I see just as many people riding GSXR's without gear.

 

[CurlyBlakey]

Re: Okay so I have a 'regional' question for all you folks i

Auto's just don't suit the roads round my way, too many changes in speed for it to handle, it's easier to have a human that knows what gear it needs to be in.

I don't think it's an issue, when people talk about it it's more banter than anything else.

 

[MedicDan]

Re: Okay so I have a 'regional' question for all you folks i

What a pointless and sh!t stirring thread this has turned into. :lol:

Despite that, here's my 2p/2c worth.

I prefer manual transmission cars in one sense as you can override the gearing and floor it when you need - not that easy in an auto. On the other hand, autos are easy to drive as you don't need to think about changing gear and can use 1 foot.

As for bikes, the point about 'twist and go' 50cc scooters is a generalised comment, one I tend to agree with for the larger part in the UK, but can't comment for the rest of the world. Sure some are owned by younger 'bikers' as a cheaper stepping stone, till they pass the tests and get a bigger bike, but do get bad press around most areas with a high volume of benefit swindling residents.

Not sure about it being GSXR riders wearing limited kit. I ride a Gixxer and ALWAYS kit up. :lol:

 

[Yarek]

Re: Okay so I have a 'regional' question for all you folks i

Now that I ride a bike, my car has very much turned into a "Get me from A to B" vehicle, particularly since we're carrying our dogs half the time. I'd quite happily switch to an automatic and quite enjoyed them while driving in the US. Anyone who gets arsey about it, one way or the other, needs to get over themselves and realise people have different tastes and needs. Why anyone should give a shit about how someone else changes gears is beyond me.

Being able to drive a manual transmission doesn't make you a better driver. There's just as many bad drivers in the UK than there are in many other countries.

 

[BikersReviews]

Re: Okay so I have a 'regional' question for all you folks i

At the moment I drive a manual. Due to nerve injury to my shoulder from a bike accident, it's now looking likely that I will need an automatic. Therefore I am inferior lol. Automatics are so much easier to drive too.

Yeah fair enough, manuals give better control, but I'm not going to be rallying anytime soon.

Lee UK

 

[Romans5.8]

Re: Okay so I have a 'regional' question for all you folks i

Well I wasn't really talking about the virtues of automatics vs manual transmissions. As I said before, I prefer a manual myself, though I've owned automatics as well. The reason I prefer a manual is simply better fuel economy and better power delivery. Automatics have a torque converter that rob power.

I was just referring to all the YouTube comments, forum comments, etc., I've seen round the internetz, where people really seem to think their nation is superior due to a preference for the manual transmission, superior to us in the states because we tend to have more automatics. Just never made sense to me.

Good discussion though!

 

[TriumfAnt]

Re: Okay so I have a 'regional' question for all you folks i

Some people will always criticise others from different countries for what they perceive to be a failing or different or 'not as good' as the country they're from. In most cases they've never even been to the country in question, they're basing it on what they've heard (or worse, seen in movies). A persons home country is generally just an accident of birth, hardly anything to brag about. I find it's usually not said with malice or intended to offend, sometimes it's funny, other times it's not. I try not to take offence at anything discussed on the internet. Ignorance has never had such a lofty perch.

 

[NastyEvilNinja]

Re: Okay so I have a 'regional' question for all you folks i

It's not surprising that you 'Merkins can't use a gear stick - they put your on the wrong side!!

I don't get the critisism, either. I mean, I can understand that one person may say it's one less thing for a driver to have to concentrate on so encourages them to, umm... not concentrate.

But the flip-side of that is that with automatic gears ALL you have to concentrate on is DRIVING.

A bad gearchange isn't going to kill anyone - but not driving in a straight line, or fumbling around for a gear or cahnging into first at 180mph? That may well make a mess...

 

[NastyEvilNinja]

Re: Okay so I have a 'regional' question for all you folks i

It's probably also worth pointing out that in every top level of motorsport, cars use sequential and semi-auto boxes, and never touch the clutch after they've pulled away from the start line.

Funnily enough, the noteable exception to this.... is NASCAR.