Daily Podcast: Talking 'Bout My Education
I was hanging-out with Dad yesterday, waiting for Mom to come out of [minor] surgery. When he mistook a passerby's ringing cell for his own, I said it's hard to imagine that he grew up in a time when no one had a phone. (The device had been invented; it just wasn't available to the average Hungarian.) For my generation, being born pre-Internet renders us digital dinosaurs. Well fair enough. How did we grow-up without it? Truth to tell, I'm jealous of today's youth, who don't have to rely on Car & Driver, the library and their local mechanic/nut/dealer to satisfy their curiosity about all things automotive. In some sense, I run this site for that young kid I once was, desperate to learn at the feet of as many masters as possible. To probe their experience, wit and wisdom. To know more. So I'd like to take time out to thank all of TTAC's contributors and commentators and all three listeners for joining me in this endless quest for insight. If you could spread the word, emailing a link to anyone who might benefit from our intellectual inquiries, I'd be much obliged. If not, same thing.
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Yup, pretty sure the Mini is the first cheap 5-star car. I gave the Z06 a 5-star rating too...before the new format ate all the old stuff up.
Why can't the car companies put in racing manual trannies? There is no 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. Gear. It is always or . Real easy.
@ RyanK02; Well, even when they stop offering them in the US, you'll probably be able to import a car with manual transmission from Europe and other parts. I think the percentage of cars sold with manual in Europe is, though slowly declining, still at above 80%. It would be fun to have real sequential gearboxes in road cars, but I think this can just not be made reliable enough for more than a couple 1000 kilometers...
JJ: I just enjoy choice. In college, I looked at buying a Focus. As a manual, it was a much more enjoyable car. I don't like being consigned to only (fill in the blank) cars because the more complicated trannies sell better.