Last of their kind? Manual Transmissions and Gasoline Engines

Totally agree. But some days I look up and just want to yell at a cloud.

 

Let's do it together. Homer's dad would be proud.

 

Alright. You pick the cloud and I'll start shaking my fist in its general direction

 

Over there! Can you see it!

 

Oh yeah, I'm sure it will. We can use those solar panels that take 4 times the energy to make than they will ever produce. Makes perfect sense. I mean that solar worked out so well in Tx, right? You get a huge temp swing with drives up demand that is accompanied by several days of clouds and feel free to tell me how well that solar works.

 

Many CVT transmissions have fake shift points to make it feel like a traditional automatic. How many people still carry a Rand McNally road atlas in their car?

It's human nature to put up roadblocks as a coping mechanisms to deal with things that we don't understand.

There is no arguing with the automatics in general being superior to manual from performance and efficiency, but there are other reasons to choose one. I think the main reason to have a manual transmission these days is to feel connected to the act of driving. One day we won't drive, the car will do it for us so we can spend more time on TW commenting on threads like these.

 

Ummm...solar makes up an incredibly small amount of that grid and was not the cause of blackouts due to the incredibly low temps, no matter how much cloud cover there was. Mainly due to natural gas supply issues, but whatever.

 

Interesting. Quite often I would cruise in 6th in the city. 35-40, no problems at all. At times, I’m searching for that 7th on the highways

 

I believe that most people could adapt to owning an electric vehicle. There would need to be social changes made, such as a more robust charging infrastructure which all EVs can use and more homes equipped with fast chargers. I've owned my Taco for 2 years and only have 12K on it. I'm 30 and I work in IT from home. I only need to travel about 1 hour in any direction to do 90% of what I want to do.

I love EV drive-train technology and hate IT in cars. Unfortunately the EV enthusiasts that are buying right now love both and are driving that market forward. I do not like removing mechanical buttons in lieu of a screen that I wont be able to replace cheaply in 10 years. I do not like baking in technology for the sake of it. I don't want/need my truck to connect to the internet after Toyota stops patching their software in 5 years. My phone can do everything a head unit can, let me replace that every 5 years.

I do look forward to a day when we have 1,000 HP EV sports cars with paddle shift transmissions and no internet connection. When the batteries can last 15+ years and I can readily charge my vehicle at a charge station every 5-10 miles. When batteries are made from a less toxic substance to produce. When we are running on Nuclear and renewable energy only.

We're not there yet. Fortunately, I think my Tacoma will last me long enough that we may be there once it's time to replace it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dfyG6FXsUU

/Friday rant

 

I got my manual Tacoma last September and love it - I've had a number of manuals over the years and they're just more fun and engaging for me to drive. Past stick vehicles include 1976 Celica GT, 1991 CRX, 1985 F150, 2008 Acura TL Type S, 2004 Jeep Wrangler. The wife had a Scirocco, Saturn Sports Coupe, Civic, and Boxster. However, manuals are definitely on the way out along with the gasoline engine.

With that said, I am actually looking forward to the dawn of a new age, so to speak, with the electric vehicles. A friend of mine will be taking delivery of a Rivian pickup this summer, and if things go well with it I will seriously consider one in the near future. All the car companies are moving forward quickly with the EV technology, and what I have seen is very interesting. Who knows - if the electric Tacoma comes out in a few years, I'm down for one! Less maintenance, MUCH faster and way more torque, more cargo room, lower cost of ownership. And my Tacoma's range is only 300 miles on a tank of gas now, so today's EV's pretty much match or beat that already. I would expect 400-500 mile ranges by 2025.

 

This is a good take. Most people will be able to make the transition (if they choose). It'll take many more years before they'll make sense for long journeys that you can make with a gas car, but the majority don't need that. As tech improves and the infrastructure grows, it'll make more sense. I would also get rid of the ridiculous tv screens in the car. Give me some simple shit so i can drive quietly and accelerate with peaceful ferocity of the line. Do i love my manual turbo wagon? Hell yes. Will it be sold? Hell no. Gas cars may one day become the luxury electric vehicles currently are. We'll see what happens. 90% of my life is in town driving and if i could afford a P100d, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

 

yah we'll be pretty cool. we picked up a model s recently from my brother in law. makes up for the gas or lack of gas savings on the tacoma. the interesting things to come will be for many expo rigs how they will handle extra fuel on long trips. the biggest annoyance is not being able to drive in fill up and take off. Any longer trip takes forever compared to current methods. Around town is great. I have barely pumped gas in the past 3 months.

 

oh yah the P100D or new Plaid version would be nuts. But even the non P models (we just got a 75D used from a family member) and its pretty damn fast on the low end for a daily in any form.

 

Nice. Definitely faster than any of the previous cars I or my family have had. I like the simplicity of the interior, but have never been able to drive one, only watch the insane videos. What's the power consumption like to charge it on an average day?

 

I haven't tracked to much since we don't have a fast charger installed. I will toss on the regular which takes forrrrrrever but saw maybe $50 or so. At a supercharger, 100 miles cost maybe $6-$8. Comes out like > 50 mpg or more depending on how you drive if you had to compare it. Still having fun so a bit of a lead foot

 

I'd be a lead foot all the time, just like the truck...which is why my average mpg is abysmal.

 

I'm with you there. Supposed to get 245 or 215 at 80% charge but prob come in at 150 on average. not the quickest but 0-60 in 4.2 isn't half bad for a grocery getter.

 

That is a total contradiction in terms.

I know there are quite a few faster than that these days, but . . .


Someone posted a video about a stripped down S with some stickier tires taking fists full of $$$ from built but mostly street legal drag cars.

 

This side of high end supercars, hypercars and purpose-built non-streetable drag racers, they're nearly impossible to beat.

 

I'd agree that by and large, MT's no longer make much sense, but some of us still must have them. And it will be the same with ICE - they will become relics soon enough, but still, we will pine for them, collect them, and coddle those that remain.

I will say that judging the relevance of these technologies on strict technical grounds of efficiency, practicality etc. raises questions of context and scale at which one views the issue. For example, there are plenty of good reasons why the private automobile itself, EV or otherwise, should be banished from the planet. So if we apply the same critical eye we do the MT or the ICE, and ask, what good is the automobile itself? we might not like the answer. For better or worse (the latter surely), I suspect "the car" will, ultimately, only be pried from our cold dead hands.