I've been driving for like four years now and I have finally decided to take the time to learn to drive manual, the reason its taken so long is because most of the cars in my family care are automatic. And because i didn't feel like it; honestly. I decided it looked like to much work, some people just take to it like a fish to water, I've taken to it like a fish to corn syrup. So i keep trying and not really failing, because i swear I think I've almost got it. Anyways in the mean time, and just for the hell of it i have been convincing my dad that one day in the near future automatics will rule the world and manuals will be extincted. Which is true, some day it will happen. So my continuing argument against him is that I find sports cars that are automatic, that would normally be manual. His argument is-and its a good one- "that what if someone is dieing and you are the only one that can save them, you must rush them to the hospital, and the only vehicle around is a manual." Now what?
Well in that case i guess i would have to bite the bullet and clumsily drive the herky-jerky manual to the emergency room; trying not to become a road hazard myself. While at the same time dreaming of my future which will some day be saved by one of these beauties. And anyone can feel free to disagree with me on this, but if you are proficient at driving manual and never have had problems learning to drive one, then you have no idea. Granted i am a 100% car enthusiast, and it doesn't look good for me not to know how to drive one, which is why I'm still trying. Remember this though, find something that you have had trouble doing, something you just couldn't learn, something like calculus. Have you ever wished for a better way? Well i have and that's how i feel; and automatics are my better way.
And don't go as far to call me a pansy either, i hear people that drive manual say that to people who prefer automatic. If you still feel so inclined to call me a flower at least make it a good one, like a birds of paradise, a yellow rose, or a lily, these are all good. Just make it a flower that is prettier than a pansy.
So i am in the process of compiling a list. A list of vehicles that will add themselves to my cause, even though most of them are sports cars. This just proves my point even better, if they can do it, so can normal civilian cars. One another really good point is say your a sports car and you need to achieve the best time going from 0-60, so you would want all of that torque and power you generate in one gear to more swiftly to the next with no loss of it. Well if you leave it to a regular guy, just shifting his manual, there will be a great loss, even if you leave it to a professional race-car driver there will be some loss of foreward motion. So how do you solve this problem, well here is a genius idea try building an autiomatic sports car, a car that shifts itself so fast that it loses nothing. A car like the bugatti can do just that, it shifts itself from gear to gear in 8 milliseconds, count them 8, but you can't because their so fast. A race-car driver can't do that, a normal person can't do that, because that 8 milliseconds is faster than a blink of an eye. And if a bugatti can do it then you bet your butt other sports cars will be able to do it to.
So back to the list. One of the good things here is that so far two of the vehicles on the list are two of my favorite cars. Yes ! (you say two of my favorites well that must mean that one of them is the Bugatti, and you guessed right)
1. The Bugatti Veyron can be driven as a manual or an automatic, and it is possible to switch between the two. The manual uses paddle shifters behind the steering wheel, and the automatics shifts its self in 8 milliseconds. Its a seven speed, dual clutch (like semi trucks, ordinary people don't know how to drive these), and a direct-shift gear box.
Side Note: Sequential manuals do have a clutch, but it is only used to start from a stop, the other shifting occurs with paddles, or sticks operated by the driver. That means its not an automatic, but also means that the driver doesn't need to know a H pattern shifter, just how to engage a clutch. Engaging of the clutch is something i can accomplish, so by that fact i am including Sequential Manuals in my list.
2. Bristol Fighter: six-speed manual or four-speed auto.
3. Brabus SLR: five-speed auto with Speed-Shift.
4. Bentley Azure: four-speed auto.
5. Ferrari Superamerica: six-speed sequential auto
6. Ferrari FXX: six-spped sequential manual
7. Maserati MC12: six-speed "Cambiocorsa" sequential manual.
8. Bentley Arnage: four-speed auto.
9. Rolls-Royce Phantom: five-speed auto.
The list is not done yet, i'm still researching and looking through my massive car library of books.
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