Adios manuel

[V8Granite]

If I didn’t have to drive the Defender or TT I’d chop my left leg off to save weight and use a Segway.

I drive my Defender more than any other car. Mainly as you are always doing something by changing gear and having to plan ahead. I love my 500e and ML but that’s for big journeys or with the family.

Dave!

[JLv3.0]

Mainly as you are always doing something by changing gear and having to plan ahead.

Dave!

Sounds utterly hateful. All of that involvement! How outdated.

[V8Granite]

Mainly as you are always doing something by changing gear and having to plan ahead.

Dave!

Sounds utterly hateful. All of that involvement! How outdated.

Well I do find it a struggle to sync my spoticontactaddresstwitter but you know what, the world keeps on turning.

Dave!

[Mito Man]

Can we go off on a tangent and discuss tyres. I reckon they’re actually the most polluting thing in terms of the impact on the environment. They’re a non biodegradable plastic polymer for the most part and every time you drive you’re depositing microscopic granules of the stuff on the roads which then gets washed into streams, rivers, oceans etc.
We must go back to wooden chariot rims with a band natural rubber.

[Mito Man]

Mainly as you are always doing something by changing gear and having to plan ahead.

Dave!

Sounds utterly hateful. All of that involvement! How outdated.

I stopped having to think and plan about my next gear change about 2 months after passing my driving test as it became second nature.

[John]

Can we go off on a tangent and discuss tyres. I reckon they’re actually the most polluting thing in terms of the impact on the environment. They’re a non biodegradable plastic polymer for the most part and every time you drive you’re depositing microscopic granules of the stuff on the roads which then gets washed into streams, rivers, oceans etc.
We must go back to wooden chariot rims with a band natural rubber.

Don't forget break pad pollution. Bring back wooden blocks, much more environmentally friendly.

[integrale_evo]

I'm sure manufacturers are happy that autos have finally got decent enough that the majority of customers will chose them.

They can charge more for them, it reduces the chances of the idiot behind the wheel misjudging changed or abusing the drivetrain, lowers emissions on the government tests, but I expect the main reason they're trying to shift people towards them is because it makes the integration of hybrid power trains much easier.

[PaulJ]

Don’t worry, they’re not a million miles off perfecting fully auto driving - so we won’t have to undertake any of the horrid chores associated with driving soon.

Why anyone would want a big round wheel and a whole host of foot pedals and levers to control when a computer will be able to do it far more efficiently is beyond me....

Why does anyone bother going anywhere, seeing anyone or experience anything when it's all been done and available to digest on the 'net? We're just not thinking far enough outside the (gear) box here...

[Orange Cola]

Can we go off on a tangent and discuss tyres. I reckon they’re actually the most polluting thing in terms of the impact on the environment. They’re a non biodegradable plastic polymer for the most part and every time you drive you’re depositing microscopic granules of the stuff on the roads which then gets washed into streams, rivers, oceans etc.
We must go back to wooden chariot rims with a band natural rubber.

Don't forget break pad pollution. Bring back wooden blocks, much more environmentally friendly.

Brakes are the sound most polluting thing on a car after the ICE.

[Rich B]

Can we go off on a tangent and discuss tyres. I reckon they’re actually the most polluting thing in terms of the impact on the environment. They’re a non biodegradable plastic polymer for the most part and every time you drive you’re depositing microscopic granules of the stuff on the roads which then gets washed into streams, rivers, oceans etc.
We must go back to wooden chariot rims with a band natural rubber.

Don't forget break pad pollution. Bring back wooden blocks, much more environmentally friendly.

Brakes are the sound most polluting thing on a car after the ICE.

in car entertainment sound pollution.

[Orange Cola]

Don't forget break pad pollution. Bring back wooden blocks, much more environmentally friendly.

Brakes are the sound most polluting thing on a car after the ICE.

in car entertainment sound pollution.

The shit people will listen to these days is beyond me.


*Internal Combustion Engine

[Rich B]

Brakes are the sound most polluting thing on a car after the ICE.

in car entertainment sound pollution.

The shit people will listen to these days is beyond me.


*Internal Combustion Engine

I quite like that ICE has been claimed back from max power to mean that!

[Orange Cola]

It certainly has in the industry but your post reminds me that not everyone has that interpretation yet!

In car entertainment has moved on to “infotainment” in my mind.

[John]

I don't get any in car entertainment now that I'm old and married

[David_Yu]

As has become my stock answer, indeed entire life philosophy: it's all about context.

For an R35 GT-R, or the latest Ferrari, a manual would be utterly ludicrous. They are built for pure speed and its pursuit and the dual clutch boxes they are graced with are the best tools available for that pursuit.

Equally, a Rangie, Bentley, Roller or any executive saloon has quite rightly not had a manual option for decades now.

But for ME, for my reasonably fast everyday, practical car that happens to have a lovely straight six that is equally happy lugging from below idle in a high gear as it is working through its rev range and has been enhanced with a sonorous Akrapovic exhaust, I like it as a manual.
As someone else wrote in the Baby BMW forum, funnily enough it's because the M Lites lack the final word in feelsome steering and communicative chassis, that putting a manual in the mix raises interactivity just enough to keep it interesting.

Nobody's ever going to pretend it's the ultimate track car, so retaining a manual is the best way to make the car fun and brain-engaging.

[Swervin_Mervin]

IME there's nothing fun and engaging about the BMW manual gearbox in cars of the last 10-15yrs. Overly notchy, CDV, and just generally not nice. It's no loss imo.

[JLv3.0]

As has become my stock answer, indeed entire life philosophy: it's all about context.

For an R35 GT-R, or the latest Ferrari, a manual would be utterly ludicrous. They are built for pure speed and its pursuit and the dual clutch boxes they are graced with are the best tools available for that pursuit.

Equally, a Rangie, Bentley, Roller or any executive saloon has quite rightly not had a manual option for decades now.

But for ME, for my reasonably fast everyday, practical car that happens to have a lovely straight six that is equally happy lugging from below idle in a high gear as it is working through its rev range and has been enhanced with a sonorous Akrapovic exhaust, I like it as a manual.
As someone else wrote in the Baby BMW forum, funnily enough it's because the M Lites lack the final word in feelsome steering and communicative chassis, that putting a manual in the mix raises interactivity just enough to keep it interesting.

Nobody's ever going to pretend it's the ultimate track car, so retaining a manual is the best way to make the car fun and brain-engaging.

Can you please not sully up the forum with such utter drivel in future. You appear to have made a rational and intelligent point that shows a preference for more than one thing - are you a gay or something? We have no space for tolerance or reasoned arguments here.

To make matters worse, you don't appear to have crowbar'ed in some clunky and utterly redundant analogy that compares a manual gearbox to chokes, carburetors or men with flags walking in front of the car.

Verdict - 1/10.

Pathetic.

[David_Yu]

IME there's nothing fun and engaging about the BMW manual gearbox in cars of the last 10-15yrs. Overly notchy, CDV, and just generally not nice. It's no loss imo.

The one on my E36 M3 Evo was horrendous. Obstructive, notchy and heavy, but it did have the AC Schnitzer quick shift kit, so I don't know how much of it was down to that. But the manual boxes on all 4 of our M Lites have been fabulous. Watch my vid of me at Bedford. Not one fluffed or baulky change, just the unintentional engagement of bloody Siri (which is getting increasingly more annoying and has nothing to do with my hand straying near the wrong button).

[Rich B]

I’ve driven a few E36 M3s with short shifters, it definitely made things worse imo.

The manual on My e92 is lovely though, as was the e46 before it.

[GG.]

I hear what some of you are saying about notchy gearshifts, etc. however the rationale behind picking a manual for me is an awful lot more than the pleasure of selecting gear with your hand.

Some of the below is particular to my car but having the manuel allows me to:

- heel-toe which is a rewarding skill to master and increases driver interaction with the car;
- depress the clutch and blip the throttle instantaneously - childish but fun (pulling two paddles to select neutral then another to put you back in first again would be too much of a faff);
- apply 500 more revs when engaging the clutch from stationery which makes the engine emit a raspy burble;
- instantly decide if I want to launch the car from a stop rather than waiting for a PDK box to realise I don't want to start in second (or having to select a sport or sport + mode so that it would default to first);
- a problem with a PDK box is going to cost you significantly more in repairs than a manual one.

I'm not fussed about a manual GTR (but then again I'm not fussed about owning one full stop) but if Ferrari offered a manual box there's no way I'd buy a double clutcher paddleshift. These are road cars so interaction trumps speed - most Ferraris are fitted with paddles in large part not because they are " built for pure speed" but because it makes them more docile pottering around town posing and/or more acceptable to the NCG middle aged men that make up a significant portion of their clientele.