Daily Podcast: Name That Knob

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

Capn’ Mike is back from the Middle East. Our Road Test Editor has been busy looking for something tasty to take to his next posting in Germany. MS reports that the manual Mercedes 300 is a diamond in the smooth, offering more on-tap torque than its auto-equipped sib. It’s also a depreciation lover’s ideal whip. Not only is the manual transmission dead, but cars so equipped are a drug on the market, and it ain’t cocaine. In fact, I know of automotive journalists who can’t drive stick. After trying any of the new-generation paddle shifters, you can see why they don’t bother. At the risk of reigniting the debate over the zen and the art of the manual transmission, a properly sorted paddle shifter is wikkid pissa fun. Click, clack, track attack. But then, so is not getting your car stolen; and car thieves are just as stick ignorant as the general population. OK, peace of mind isn’t “fun.” But there’s nothing worse than waking up to find your car’s been lifted. Unless you paid for the service– which is very, very wrong and I don’t know a guy who knows a guy who can make it happen. And yes, the audio quality sucks today…

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • ZoomZoom ZoomZoom on Jan 22, 2009

    I can't stop laughing from the title, "Name That Knob"... hahahaha! So no more cheerleader pics, but we get contests like this instead, huh? ;) And uh, no...I'm not going to name it. My policy, "to each his own", has served well, though I'm nearly on the floor laughing....

  • Martin Schwoerer Martin Schwoerer on Jan 22, 2009

    Oh my G*d. "In fact, I know of automotive journalists who can’t drive stick": That's one of the most disgusting things I have seen written on this site. An automotive journalist who can't drive stick should just give it up, I say. I'd even go so far as to say if you can't double-declutch, then you shouldn't be writing about anything at all automotive. What's the new equation? Corruptability + technical incompetence + sloppy dressing habits + dudeism + good writing skills = automotive journalist? It sure looks like it.

  • Zenith Zenith on Jan 22, 2009

    At the risk of being flamed by La Raza, I'm going to point out that if Farrago's chief anti-theft strategy is that thieves don't know manual transmissions, he has no experience with Mexican thieves. The last time I had a car stolen it was from a neighborhood that is 90% Mexican now, and was about 50% Mexican then. The Omaha cop who took my report diplomatically pointed out that my vehicle was probably "headed south, never to be seen again" because most people who were born in the US wouldn't steal an MT car unless it was a "high-line Mercedes or something like that," and that a vehicle like mine (a stickshift '84 Caravan) wouldn't be worth much "in the States". Anything to avoid actually saying the "M" word. Proof of how scared local politicians were, back then, of offending the " undocumented immigrant" (what we used to call illegal alien) lobby and the meatpacking industry. Their spines are no doubt Jell-o by now.

  • Ronman Ronman on Jan 23, 2009

    HI All it's been a while.... i'm ashamed to say this but i'm one of the auto journalists that grew up on automatics, however i did munch gears in a manual whenver i had the chance, especially during my short stint as a Valet. i always liked the idea of a manual, and when faced with my first supercar test drive i was dreading that it be a manual, but it had paddle shifters, somehting that made me feel like i knew what i was doing. etc.... however on a recent vacation trip to brazil, i was faced with nothing but manual rentals, that is if i was ready to shell out 200 dollars a day for a ford fusion or 400 for an edge. scratch that. got my hands on a Chevrolet Prisma with a manual cogbox and as i deduced no syncro on the reverse gear. so everytime i had to stick in in reverse, i would put all my force on the clutch and still it would do the awful grrrrrrrr sound. horrible. but in anycase after about a thousand kilometers i found myself very smooth on the shifts be it up or down, and after another thousand a week later in a Renault Sandero, i'm seriously considering a manual car now for my every day runner. especially if in teh near future a reasonably priced car will be offered with start stop because i deal with a lot of traffic on my commute. in any case, i think automatics are the way to go for an everyday car and if you dont really care about the craft of driving. if you want to pretend to care but really cant bother, paddle shifter is the way to go. if you want to be the type of driver that puts on his gloves on a sunday morning while warmning his mill to the correct temprature while having a cup of tea. i guess a manual is an obligation not a choice, but again, porshce just launched the PDK that trumps all the above..... in my humble opinion that is....

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