Sorry guys, long post incoming. I'm playing poker and catching up on a thread that is near and dear to my heart. Long live the car!!!
Always a stick shift. I hate automatics.
I kinda wish I went a little more upscale with another car, but I hate depreciation in vehicles.
Count me in the "love the manual for life" camp, greetings to you fine sir and a tip of the clutch as well!
Do you have to buy new?? Cars now a days are so damn reliable and stay nice for so much longer that buying slightly used is a great value. It's always nice to be able to have brand new, and even pick out options/colors/etc, but finding the right used car (like around 30k-40k on the odometer, cpo lease returns) get you so much more car for your money. Know what you want, search for it, and try to make sure it's been taken care of and you will usualy find he car you want but wouldn't have dreamed of pay for it three years ago. Let the other guy take the hit.
Hard call, but my favorite was probably the 1990 Nissan 300ZX TwinTurbo.
1988 Nissan 300ZX with T-tops.
I have a soft spot for Nissan Z's
I've never driven a Z or owned any Nissan/Datsun product, but I have always thought these were some of the coolest cars ever. Very nice!
1990 Honda CRX....I also competed in car audio when I was younger, and had a $5,000 stereo installed (won several best in shows).
This post is awesome for two reasons, 1. My first "love" drove one of these in high school (manual, thank you very much
) in the late 90's and I will forever think of good times when I see one. And 2. I was a teen in the mid to late nineties when civics and integras where the rage so I know all about having a system that is worth three times what the car is worth...
Did you choose European pick-up?
European pick up of a new M3 or M5 (model subject to change) was put on my materialistic bucket list awhile ago. I am very envious of people who have done that, great story!
I mean, if you can't heel-and-toe, and double-clutch shift without synchros, you're basically a passenger.
Very interested in your views, would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Also, Guinness, have you driven a modern automatic? Most of them come with paddle shifters so you can drive in manual mode, except clutch-less, so the response of the shifts are even faster. Way more control than in a manual. The manual transmission is dead, sorry to say. I believe F1 race cars use this same style clutch-less manual transmission now.
Yeah, those F1 drivers get no thrills these days.....
Paddles do nothing for me, my atari had paddle shifters in the 80's and the ones that come on cars now remind me of the same sensation: nothing.
Yes, you guys are right, F1 drivers have paddles, but to compare F1 transmissions to the automatic/paddles in the "average" consumer car is not very fair. F1 cars have steering wheels that alone cost more than three or four commuter cars. When the paddles are pressed in an F1 car (or any other serious race car) the gear change hits you in the back it's so quick and violent, also if you hit the paddles and tell it to downshift to first at 100mph the engine will spin itself to death. Neither of those scenarios happen in the modern automatic transmission, they are designed to be smooth so as to not feel the gear changes and you can click down shift all you want at freeway speeds, it won't let you put it in a gear that is lower than it can be for the given speed. Now, obviously I'm not saying it would be a good thing for a soccer mom to be able to paddle shift her suv to death (paddles in suv's, lol, they do this), I'm just pointing out they are two completely different animals. Plus, to say they can shift faster than a manual is also a little misleading. Sure, they absolutely can, but again, not the average one. I would be willing to bet a few bucks I could shift my car as quick or quicker than most automoatics on the road today. Might be wrong, but it would be fun.
Love the paddles if you want, its all a personal preference thing and nobody is wrong, but they don't shift faster, offer as much control, or give the sensation of what people who like to drive automatics get when they shift. It's completely different.
Now, we start talking the Porsche PDK stuff, and you have my attention.
For us newenglanders, the paddleshifters are great for downshifting in the snow for breaking with better traction control. Maybe it's just the finer grained gear ratios.
Totally get why a lot of people like the paddle/automatic vs. manual, that's all whatever floats your boat, but this surprised me. I live North of Seattle, and when we get snow in the lowlands it's a bitch because of how many hills there are around this area plus the snow is usually a wetter and heavier snow that is either ice or slush. I've driven all kinds of cars in the snow and up and down the mountain passes countless times during the winter and I would take a regular automatic or a manual over using paddle shifts any day in the snow. I've used paddles in the snow, it's how you initiate some fishtail turns.
how often do you get to REALLY DRIVE?
For a guy like myself that "feels" something from driving a car, the answer is: Every time I drive. Be it running to the store or a road trip, guys like me have fun 99% of the time. Sure, there's those times every once in a while where I don't want to drive to the store, but for every one of those times there are a thousand more times where I'm happy just to be driving. If it's a run to the store there are four round-a-bouts that I get to pretend are chicanes and down shift into second while rev matching. Or if it's a road trip I look forward to the first time I am completely alone on a deserted highway and I get to hit 100mph+ for a brief moment, probably the first time triple digits are reached since the last road trip.
I feel like to the people in this world who truly love to drive, driving is about so much more than just top speed and how fast you can go on the freeway during rush hour.
Agreed as a daily driver, it's not the best. Constant clutching in stop n go traffic, wear n tear on your knee, etc. sucks.
I've always hated the traffic excuse soldier! It's not THAT bad! Suck it up and keep fighting the good fight..
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