Thread: Value of Manual Cars

Originally Posted by johntins

Not yet in Europe, or the sub continent.



Well, the manual in my FIAT 124 was sweet. The original MX5/Miata had a gearbox that neared perfection. A good manual can give a sense of satisfaction that no auto can match, IMO. That said, my cars all tend to be auto now, except the Series of course.

When I was offered a choice of a Detroit engined truck with an 18 speed Roadranger, or a V8 engined Scania with Opticruise it was a no brainer. I had to do a fair bit of driving in various built up areas up and down the east coast. Who the hell wants to change 6 or 7 times away from the lights, only to miss them and have to do it all again? And on the highway it is far more relaxing to let the truck do the work.

I'd love to learn to drive something with a roadranger crash box in it .... There is something to be said for being able to pick the revs and drive something like that.

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

I'd love to learn to drive something with a roadranger crash box in it .... There is something to be said for being able to pick the revs and drive something like that.

Do it, it’s satisfying.

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

I'd love to learn to drive something with a roadranger crash box in it .... There is something to be said for being able to pick the revs and drive something like that.

Drive a Series I or II for practice, crash 1st & 2nd. 1st isn't a problem as it's so low you don't often need to select 1st on the move.
I had problems getting the hang of double de-clutching from 3rd to 2nd, eventually worked out that I was approaching junctions too fast and not allowing enough time ! Drove to Cooma with the Father-in-Law in 2008 and he double shuffled on the way up & down the gears, 2nd nature for him.

In the UK 35 years ago I was in industrial sales covering Essex & East London, manual gearbox on virtually all cars back then. High end exec. cars had autos along with little old ladies.
Last car there was a Renault Espace, 212,000miles, manual box, prior to that a Renault Savannah (21 estate) that was about 180,000 miles on a manual box.

I come to Australia and they listed extra costs for auto but then you have to specially order a manual so they knew most buyers wanted an auto. I've had mostly company vehicles here and they wouldn't let me have a manual ! I'm on my 3rd Ford Territory now and there was no manual option !

As already stated, once it's a few years old it's not worth much, the only thing is that an auto has a bigger buying market.


Colin

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

I'd love to learn to drive something with a roadranger crash box in it .... There is something to be said for being able to pick the revs and drive something like that.

RR's are dead easy. Single clutch, double clutch, no clutch. Go try an oldie with a twin stick Spicer and when you master that you are a driver.

Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

RR's are dead easy. Single clutch, double clutch, no clutch. Go try an oldie with a twin stick Spicer and when you master that you are a driver.

Or a fossil

My biggest challenge with a roadranger is not pushing the clutch too far and hitting the transmission brake. It gets very frustrating knowing what you are doing wrong and not being able to stop doing it....

Regards,
Tote

For interests sake, number of vehicles sold in UK in Auto config has risen by 70% in the last decade.

Europe runs around 80% manual and still has the stigma of Automatics being an expensive luxury many cannot afford often adding €1000 to the price of a manual vehicle. This was the #1 reason given.

The #2 reason given is the terrain of Europe and the ability to “stick in a gear” on narrow, winding roads.

It must be noted their uptake of modern automatics is increasing, just slower.

Anybody ever drove a truck with the clutch in the middle instead of the brake?

Had a mate that drove a semi(an old Reo), he taught me to drive in with the clutch in the middle.

Was very interesting for the first few miles(as it was back then).