username.exe

I have a beater truck with a stick shift, and it's fun every once in a while to take it on an open road with lots of turns, but I would rather slip my toes in to an industrial shredder than ride a clutch in traffic on the 5 to work and back every day.

scrubbedexpat091

They do seem to like putting in cup holders, our Mazda 2 has a total of 5 of them....

Same with the licensing here in British Columbia, there is no licensing for auto or manual, one can drive either with the regular class 5 license.

I'd venture the only car rental companies in Vancouver with manuals are likely smaller independent type places and those that rent higher performance vehicles. I doubt Budget has any manuals though which is where are car spent its first 33k km as a rental.

SpoogleDrummer

Have you looked to see if you can buy them online and then get a local tire shop to put them on?

Steerpike

99.9% of the time, I don't ever use the ability to downshift in my automatic, but I do occasionally use it when coming down the grapevine in north LA. There are a couple of sections of that road where you descend from 4,000 ft to 1,000 ft in very short order. I find myself gaining speed when 'coasting' at 80 mph and worrying about whether the brakes are going to overheat, so I drop down to a lower gear and the engine RPM roars up to, say, 4,000 rpm and I can feel the engine-braking. However, I've heard different opinions on this; dropping to a lower gear puts wear and tear on the transmission, while applying the brakes just wears out the brake pads (and rotors). Which is cheaper to repair ...

sid nv

Does it though? 4,000 RPM is far short of the red line, so why would it place strain on the transmission?
It's probably safer to put my 20-year old car into a lower gear when coming down Daggett Pass than rely on the wobbly rotors.

Steerpike

Good question, and I don't know the answer. My car is very, very quiet; it has a V6 3.5L engine, so even when doing 80 mph on the freeway the RPMs are roughly 2,500 so when I shift into low gear going down the hill that 4,000 RPM represents a loud, angry 'roar' to me and I feel like I'm straining the engine ... but you are right, it doesn't redline till 6 or 7,000. So maybe it's just psychological. I don't think I've ever driven the car at over 4,000 rpm!

zzrmark

For a car with a larger engine, it is barely working at speeds little over tickover, one of the reasons I'd trust a higher mileage US car when compared to a UK one with an 1100cc engine that has to work it'd nuts off to get up speed and maintain it.
I'd be more inclined to put my trust in slowing down using engine braking rather than at-wheel braking, you never heard a laden dump truck going down a steep hill? You can bet he's not relying on half a dozen or so tiny pads to slow him down!!! To be fair, the racket a dump truck makes slowing down is because of the exhaust brake, which a tiddler car won't have, but he will be using engine overrun to slow him down.

Manual transmissions are so much fun to drive, unless you happen to be stuck in a two hour commute and are shifting and riding the clutch non-stop...


If you want to put a 'spark' of adrenaline in your life you need to get on a two stroke 250cc motorcycle that can rev out at well over 17k...and then think about where that tiny missile goes if it lets go of the conrod!!!

Pulaski

Well here's another opinion - our Accord still had it's original clutch which was still in good enough shape when the original engine's valvetrain failed at 296,000 miles that the mechanic at our Honda dealer agreed that not replacing the clutch while the engine was out, was a reasonable decision. The clutch has now outlived two engines, as the replacement slipped it's timing chain when the car had just passed 360,000 miles. So the suggestion that getting 280,000+ miles on a set of brake pads (also still on the car - and I have no idea why we were told that the original pads needed to be changed at 80,000 miles ), was paid for with additional wear on the transmission doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

In 2017 we bought another Accord, also a manual, and while going through the tedious paperwork of the purchase we were offered several addtional warranties, including one that covered the clutch, which the salesman told us, with a straight face, was a good idea because "clutches are consumable and don't last more than 60,000 miles." I told him that our other Accord, sitting on our driveway, still had its original clutch and had done 320,000 miles. The salesman didn't really have an answer for that, and we moved on with the paperwork. FWIW the new Accord has now done over 80,000 miles, and needless to say, hasn't had its clutch replaced.

There was a retired techy guy in SF who was a member here on BE, whose name now escapes me, but stopped posting about 3-4 years ago, who tried to tell us that clutches were consumables that only lasted about 30,000 miles.

scrubbedexpat099

The clutch on my F150 has done at least 200,000. Probably 300,000.

markonline1

After being a car nut most of my life, I now couldn’t care whether my car is manual or auto. I bought my first bike 4 years ago, and it totally opened my eyes. I used to wonder why a load of my workmates back home who rode drive round in shite boring old cars. Now I get it! That, and the combination of the roads round here being swamped with ****yards who just plonk themselves in any bloody lane and steadfastly refuse to move creating huge tailbacks in all 3 lanes means driving now bores the living snot out of me!!!!!

scrubbedexpat097

Ha! Love this.
The first few years we lived here were the longest my other half had not owned a bike since he was 15 years old. It was sad when he had to give up the 2 wheels after a serious foot injury but we then went to 3 wheels and have had a lot of fun. Now, due to other health problems, the trike is for sale. It will be a sad day when it is gone

sid nv

The Ariel Arrow 250cc 2-stroke was an OK bike, although I think it would have struggled to reach 7000rpm, never mind 17,000.

Pulaski

Mrs P owned and drove (only) a manual long before she met me.

Giantaxe

I agree with this. I downshift descending the Sierra Nevada - either east or west and on the aforementioned Grapevine on I-5. Also there are a couple of steep off ramps from freeways in the Bay Area where I do the same thing.

As for brakes, we know that they will wear out. Why decrease the mileage you can achieve on the same pads and risk brake fade?

zzrmark

I didn't own a car for many of my 30 motoring years in the UK, I was that stereotypical grungy grebo that many of the US cruiser types try to mimic with their pre-faded leathers and bovver boots, selling the amassed collection paid for all my pre-visa 3 month trips to the US, the two months prior to that 'playing' en Espana and the five months dossing around when I moved over. I haven't had a bike since moving to the US, although getting my licence endorsement was one of the first things I did, that five years is the longest I've been without a bike in my adult life and with the way the years scoot by it won't be long before it exceeds my pre-engine childhood years. Had I gotten a bike pre-naturalisation I would probably have either died on Florida's abysmal roads or picked up a rash of court convictions or both! I sympathise with your hubby, it's not easy making the full transition to a 'cage', on the plus side it does mean I haven't slid down the tarmac for over seven years now...