file.newsgroup.cars.103070 Maven / Gradle / Ivy
From: [email protected] (Andrew A. Spencer)
Subject: Re: Manual Shift Bigots
In a previous article, [email protected] (Doug Zolmer) says:
>In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] (John G. Kissane) writes:
>|> As a matter of interest does anyone know why autos are so popular in the US while
>|> here in Europe they are rare??? Just wondering.....
>
>In many of our cities, there are traffic signals every 100 feet (unsynchronised,
>of course (well here in Ottawa anyway)) and the roads are so congested that
>shifting manually is a real pain in the left foot. Also, most Canadians are
>too stupid to learn how to shift manually (gee, I gotta co-ordinate my two
>feet on the clutch, brake _and_ accelerator, and I gotta steer, shift _and_
>operate the signals (optional) and radio with my two hands... duh... it
[i agree wholeheartedly!!]
>can't be done). Also, most North American made cars come with the automatic
>as standard equipment, so why bother with a manual when the car can shift
>for you for no addition money.
not sure about there in CA, but here in US, the manuals are quite often the
standard equipment. Of course, FINDING a car with one might be hard, but
if you read the sticker on the window, there is usally an additional 2k or
so tacked on for that lousy tranny. So you actually ARE paying more, just
that it's sometimes hard to find one that is equipped "standard". (this
applies to MOST cars, but not to the luxoyachts..eg caddilac, licolns, etc..)
DREW