Car-jacked by Whiteface Employee

I love driving MT!  I think automatic is so boring.  Hopefully in about 10 years when I need to replace my awesome Tacoma with another awesome Tacoma, they'll still be building manual transmissions!  

Got my first auto ever in our most recent car a 2012.  Did this because the CRV is no longer available in a stick.

I have to admit the auto has advantages:

Better highway mileage (our CRV is almost 100% highway car)
Better for traffic jams
Better for descending a steep icy driveway.

Still... miss my stick, double clutching etc.

ScottyJack wrote

I love driving MT!  I think automatic is so boring.  Hopefully in about 10 years when I need to replace my awesome Tacoma with another awesome Tacoma, they'll still be building manual transmissions!  

Better buy one now and store it, MT's are going buh-bye

Not sure I'd prefer an auto for descending steep, icy...  I put the Tacoma in 2nd, 1st if its real steep and icy and no need for brakes.  braking is the worse on snow and ice.

I had to get the four cylinder instead of the six cause in 2010 they only made standard in the 4 cyl...  

I love shifting.  It is so cool!  

why?  that's awful!!

I find that if my wheels lock on a slick surface, with a stick, the engine stalls.  With the auto I put it in low and ride the breaks down our driveway.

ScottyJack wrote

why?  that's awful!!

Only a few crazy fulks like you and me buy them.

people are just soft and lazy!  

Computers, computers are the reason they are going away. Everything we humans can do with a bolt-action, a computer can do bigger, badder, faster, more efficient in a CVT trans. It's sad but true.

My first real car back in '90 was a LeBaron coupe with a manual transmission mated to the V-6 engine.  That car was a lot of fun to drive.  Driving stick is becoming a lost skill, I fear.  The manual feature on a lot of today's automatic transmissions can make for some fun and let you wind the engine a bit, but its nowhere near the same.

JTG4eva! wrote

My first real car back in '90 was a LeBaron coupe with a manual transmission mated to the V-6 engine.  

OMG -- how is it even possibel you can use "real car" and Lebaron in the same sentence


<quote author="JTG4eva!">
 

JTG4eva! wrote

My first real car back in '90 was a LeBaron coupe with a manual transmission mated to the V-6 engine.

Was it formerly owned by Jon Voight?

ScottyJack wrote

I love driving MT!  I think automatic is so boring.  Hopefully in about 10 years when I need to replace my awesome Tacoma with another awesome Tacoma, they'll still be building manual transmissions!  

I'm betting that by the time you replace your Taco they won't offer MT.  Last year, I was considering replacing my 02 Taco (it has some rust on the rear bumper) with a 14.  I was also looking for an MT.  The dealer put me under the impression that I would have to pay a premium for a manual trans, and it would take 3 months for delivery.  

I think this is a scam Toyota uses to stimulate artificial demand for the Tundra.  Take care of your Taco... It should run forever.  Mine has 225000 on it, and the only issue is with the disintegration of the rear bumper.  From what I hear, the new ones are not nearly what the old ones are in terms of hutzpah.

Remind me in the future to take my auto discussions somewhere where people have a clue!

The Seinfeld reference was funny though.

Yeah, the LeBaron sedan in its various iterations was not a performance car.  However, by the time '90 rolled around they were beyond the K car platform.  The 3rd gen in '90 saw the introduction of the 3.0 liter Mitsubishi V-6.  For the coupe and rag top that meant a big engine in a sleek body.  Mated to the 5 speed manual I'm sure it would have held it's own against any "real" car you ever owned.  Bet you didn't have a clue that the coupe was only a couple inches wider/longer than both the Nissan 240SX and Eagle Talon (the other cars I considered at the time), and it had a lower profile/height than either of the two.  Fast and stable.  Late 80's through the mid 90's the LeBaron platform actually acquitted itself well on the racetrack.

campgottagopee wrote

JTG4eva! wrote

My first real car back in '90 was a LeBaron coupe with a manual transmission mated to the V-6 engine.  

OMG -- how is it even possibel you can use "real car" and Lebaron in the same sentence

Mine was a (very used) '78 Dodge Omni.  What a piece of shit.  Definitely not a chick magnet.

My then girlfriend/now wife had an early 80's Reliant back in high school.  That thing was a piece of shit of the K-car platform!

Sorry dude

It's obvious you really enjoyed your Lebaron. I didn't mean to hate on your whip.

JTG4eva! wrote

  big engine in a sleek body.    

There you go again --- big engine, sleek body. Lebaron??? Really???

Adk Jeff wrote

campgottagopee wrote

JTG4eva! wrote

My first real car back in '90 was a LeBaron coupe with a manual transmission mated to the V-6 engine.  

OMG -- how is it even possibel you can use "real car" and Lebaron in the same sentence

Mine was a (very used) '78 Dodge Omni.  What a piece of shit.  Definitely not a chick magnet.

Had both the Dodge Omni (bought one new) ..total POS, and a few LeBarons..not as big POS, but still POS. Picked up the LeBAron for 100 bucks and frequented Belleayre often, and took it to WF once (~700 miles r.t.), just hoping it would make the last 28 miles to LP off the Northway. In the end I put 40k on it and sold it to some dude for $700. Originally bought it to use as a donor (needed trans for my dad's LeBaron woody), and wound up putting the thing on the road. Still see a few of those LeBArons around my area, mostly the convertibles.

In law school during the mid-90s I had an '83 Aries K that my wife's (then fiance) grandfather sold me for $1.   Late one Friday night driving from DC up to Rutgers for a weekend visit, the car stopped responding to the gas pedal.  I managed to get over to the shoulder.  When I got out and popped the hood, I noticed a reddish hue coming from underneath the car.  I looked underneath and the catalytic converter was glowing red hot.  Bright, fiery red.  I ran away down the shoulder, and when I convinced myself the car wasn't going to explode, I went back.

Apparently raw fuel was being dumped straight into the converter.  

A Maryland trooper called a tow guy, who took me to the Chesapeake House rest stop, where I waited until my wife came to pick me up.

Petronio

Harvey wrote

ScottyJack wrote

why?  that's awful!!

Only a few crazy fulks like you and me buy them.

This confirms my whole family, and yours truly is crazy. Thanks, I needed this!