How old/young are you (to all)?

I have driven cars with automatic transmissions for several years now, but for a different reason than anyone has mentioned. I used to buy only stick shifts. I do a good bit of the work on my car and any car with a stick shift is going to have the clutch replaced eventually. Since asbestos is no longer used they don't last as long. All of my cars have transverse engines and they are difficult for someone like me to do a job like that. I have driven cars with automatics for 200,000 miles without the transmission failing. Not so with a clutch. I'm 65 now and car repair is getting harder for me to do. There is also less money available for that sort of thing. Right now I am driving an '05 Chevy Malibu. It has a 200 HP V6. It is sort of like driving a rocket, to me anyhow, and it gets 30 MPG on the highway. I've only had one car that was really faster. That was a '66 Mercury Comet Cyclone GT. It had 335 HP and got about 13 MPG at it's best on the highway. It was a stick shift. The Malibu has an automatic. The Malibu's mileage is helped somewhat by having electric power steering. Nothing hydraulic in the steering system at all. It doesn't take any power at all unless it is being used.

Dave

 

forkndave,
I'm 62 and have never worn a clutch out yet. I have bought cars that needed one and have replaced those, but I can't ever remember having to replace one of mine! I did a good bit of traveling in my work and have driven well over 1 million miles, and I still prefer stick.

BTW, the next time you get a clutch replaced, pay the money for a ceramic disk clutch and pressure plate set. They are the best and well woth the extra money! You can burn them out but it has to be intentional as with normal use it should last longer than the car!

Happy Computering,
theone

 

I have had to replace several clutches during my life. Most of them were replaced due to being oiled by a leaking transmission front seal. I won't be getting a ceramic clutch because I no longer have a car that uses one. I've gotten tired of rowing my way through traffic anyway. The last car I had with a clutch (other than locking torque converter clutches) was an '82 GMC S-15 pick up. I bought it in '82. The clutch didn't wear out, but the automatic ratcheting clutch adjusting mechanism broke several times forcing me to drive across town with no clutch a few times. It's difficult to shift without the clutch unless the transmission is pretty loose. This one wasn't and you had to get the RPMs just about exactly matched before the synchros would let the gears engage . I used to have an old worn out Renault Dauphine and I only used the clutch if I needed to stop. It shifted about the same either way. Well, I guess I've gotten pretty far off topic.

Dave

 

Lol when is this particular thread ever on topic? One post per 3 pages?

 

@ auslander about women not driving sticks, your wrong, my aunt drives one, and she drives it very good to say the least.

 

Yeah it's not entirely true, and in fact in the UK it's the opposite!

 

bluray, that was a joke. i'm not really the sexist bastard i come off as being. arg.

 

I agree with Neph; sticks all the way. I think a lot of that also depends where you come from. Lots of folks at home drive sticks as they are much better in the snow. Easier to rock yourself out if you get stuck and it's also easier to slow down without using the brakes; assuming you know how to clutch properly.

 

oh, and as theonejrs said, it does make you pay more attention to the road. you can't sit there, drinking coffee, eating a danish, and chatting on your cell phone when you've to have one hand on the wheel and one hand the shifter. in fact, i think all SUV's should be stick-shift only. i've been victim of the way morons drive when they get in those tanks. the road is theirs. and it's every distraction known to man while their on it. f***in' kelly roberts smackin' into my old car. arg.

 

@Auslander, ok it was a joke

i would let women ride my stick any day, as long as they are good looking women.

 

anyone can ride my stick, but i'm the only one i let drive it. wait....that doesn't come off sounding too good...

 

L O L - Now now, this is moving into new realms of off-topicness!

 

yh Sam Morris is right, i am not old enough yet.
Just one more year and its legal.
But breaking the law has never felt bad has it, well not this particular law anyway.

 

LOL now that's just getting worse!

 

????????? how did this conversation come up? i thought this thread was asking the ages of people? by the way im 14

 

57 and feeling every day of it!

 

I wish I was 57... I am only 48

when you're 57 you get to do so many 'cool' things!

 

Awesome I'm 13 turning 14 this december 13! I hope to get a Dell XPS 600 too.

 

What kind of cool things do I get to do, that you don't?
If I could trade ages with you, I certainly would, without a second thought..........

 

JVC.

Yeah! Someone please tell me what "cool" things you can do when you are 57. I'm 62 and I would give my right arm to be 57 again. As I see it the main difference between 57 and 62 is just a lot more pain, and a lot less mobility!

Happy Computering,
theone