bimbeano
11739
How lazy have we become ?
As a young man i remember my doctor driving a 911 3,0 Carrera, with manual gearbox off course, the 'notaire' had this very nice Fiat 'Bertone' Ritmo 100 Cabriolet ( and a Dino for the weekend ) ... another local doctor had this nice Golf 2 GTI 16V, my uncle travelled at light speed in his E21 323i , the 'meat-barons' all had M3's, 190 Cosworths 2,3-16, a 928 manual and my best friend gave me the keys to his X1/9 ; when you saw a 7 series BMW it was mostly manual, i think just the Merc S-classes were provided by an automatic gearbox .... .
As we (and the automotive press) constantly talks about the good old days when everybody wasn't too lazy to change gears there is actually one more pretty important difference between oldskool and modern cars we forget to mention ... and it came to my mind while developing my Fujifilm 
in iPhoto .... (answer in the 2nd pic).
in iPhoto .... (answer in the 2nd pic).Last week i went to Brussels and stopped at the sushi-bar, the young lady's car was parked in front of the shop ...
There was this cool Golf mark 2 with a 16 V badge, the car obviously had seen quite a life ... now check all the other cars in that picture ! It wasn't upon downloading this pic to iPhoto i noticed how UNCOOL all the other 'cars' are .... from left to right we have a Volvo XC90, a Cayenne first generation , BMW X6, BMW X5 an Audi A6 and another BMW X5 ... all these cars feature an automatic gearbox , but what strikes me even more are the high driving positions, especially the SUV's ... . The good thing about a high driving position is the better view you get over the road .. that is offcourse untill everybody buys a SUV
... .These cars are driven by our doctors and lawyers these days (with a few exceptios offcourse LOL) ... which makes you wonder if they are as lazy executing their jobs :-( ... .
I for instance try to do things the difficult way .. like using sticks instead of the usual fork and knife .... drinking Japanese beer instead of one of our zillion famous Belgian brands ... .
Will our children and grandchildren be thrilled as they suddenly see a BMW X6 appear in between all the electrical gliders in the year 2059 ???? Who knows, by that time i'll be 90 years old and still dreaming of driving the bones of a Peugeot 205 GTI, shifting through the gears (and missing one from time to time), revving the nuts of the engine, lifting one of the rearwheels at 80 mph .... ... .
I for instance try to do things the difficult way .. like using sticks instead of the usual fork and knife
.... drinking Japanese beer instead of one of our zillion famous Belgian brands ... .Will our children and grandchildren be thrilled as they suddenly see a BMW X6 appear in between all the electrical gliders in the year 2059 ???? Who knows, by that time i'll be 90 years old and still dreaming of driving the bones of a Peugeot 205 GTI, shifting through the gears (and missing one from time to time), revving the nuts of the engine, lifting one of the rearwheels at 80 mph ....
... .
You all know how i can be very excited about my little 200 hp Clio, it sure is a great car, but getting out of my friends 1980 911 Carrera; stepping into the Clio you really feel jerky. I think the seats in the modern Clio are placed about 5 to 6 inches higher than the Porsche's which gives you a very odd and dull feeling. When you start driving the Clio even the manual gearshifts feel soo much easier and lighter ... so even a modern manual seems uncool as opposed to an oldskool manual gearbox ..... let's call it the "LAZY MANUAL GEARSHIFT" shall we ?
..... let's call it the "LAZY MANUAL GEARSHIFT" shall we ?
So guys, do any of you have some specific thoughts on whether you prefer manual or automatic? High or low driving position ? Or both ?
If both (high + automatic), don't be offended i don't wanna be friends anymore .... .
'Lowrider' im
This message has been edited by bimbeano on 2013-08-25 12:48:51 This message has been edited by bimbeano on 2013-08-25 12:52:44
.... .'Lowrider' im
How lazy have we become ?
As a young man i remember my doctor driving a 911 3,0 Carrera, with manual gearbox off course, the 'notaire' had this very nice Fiat 'Bertone' Ritmo 100 Cabriolet ( and a Dino for the weekend ) ... another local doctor had this nice Golf 2 GTI 16V, my unc...
Very à propos, my friend, and superbly put.
And you didn't even mention the GPS, the ABS, the DSP, or is it the PSD, or the PDS, or the ESP, or the DSTVUZYM... ;) We don't know how to read a car, to brake in an efficient way, to take curves at great speed without any assistance, well, we lost the s...
You forgot .....
.. next to the ABC etc .. the SM ;-) I remember your Volvo not having assisted direction .. but i vividly remember my cousins Golf mark 2 GTI 16V not having it .. that was another issue :-) ; it was one of the first cars with a heavy engine in the front a...
The P 1800 has the same tires...185 / 55 / 15
And to park it is like having a muscular seance, I can tell you... When you know that the car is 1200 Kilos, you can imagine the effort... The direction is heavy and not very precise, too... And you have to be very careful when you are in a curve and that...
185/55/15 is also on ...
... the 205 1900 GTI :-) The 1600 has 185/60/14 :-) The 185/55/15 is a difficult to find tire these days i think, but then my Clio has 215/45/17 and the new one 205/45/17 .. so i fear the worst in a couple of years ... Bim
Yes,they are going more and more flat profile.
But don't worry, this dimension is not too hard to find. So, I thiink your tires won't be too hard to find, as well, as there is a limit the car manufacturers cannot exceed: Our back. Best, Nicolas. ...
Nice job Mr. Freudeano
With my wife in car I like manual + high :) alone I like auto + low Best Yours D
Both
My best memories are from when I had my Golf GTI 16V mark II and my girlfriend back than a Golf GTI mark I Both of course manual. We often compteted and changed cars as well :-) But normal day to day traffic, and jam I prefer a auto, or DSG or whatever th...
Best of both worlds indeed !
My workhorse is the one you have seen in Paris and it should get tiring with the hard suspension and relatively loud exhaust ... But in fact it still doesnt annoy me after 75K km .... When i bought it i tought i was going to do a max of 15 K per year but ...
I know that feeling :-)
... But for now, I am still in urgent need of a double garage I want to build to my house. On top of the garage we already have :-) That will give space for at least one or two fun cars :-) Best Hans
Always...
...a manual. Traffic is even more mind-numbingly boring in an automatic. And you regret it even more when you ezcape that traffic onto a decent road. As for the high driving position question, I don't really mind, but a high H-point is never a good thing ...
The aging population ...
You mean us ? :-) When i take that Audi Multitronic and encounter a nice road i always regret it ... but when i take the old lady Jag automatic i don't ... i'm sure i'll probably be faster on a track with the A4 but it's a dull car in many ways ... bigges...
Manual + low...I feel more in control AND
.... When sitting closer to the road gives me a better feel of the dynamics of the car.... Kind regards, Bart
Badly lazy
Hi, Others have answered already so I won't repeat too much. Yes for everyday I prefer my dual clutch 7G-DCT box on my Mercedes B180. Even with a small engine such a modern box is very pleasing and efficient. But as I think of getting a second more exotic...
Very wise decision ...
High + auto for all-day boring stuff ... Low + manual for the weekend ... mmmm, if only the weekend could start on monday and end at sunday :-) Bim
My choice is dual ...
I'm very boring when selecting a car. I drive Audi cars since mid 90's. I have one with manual gearbox and all others automatic. My last four cars are Audi A4 (I trade every 3 years) and all are equipped with "multitronic" transmission that has continuous...
Hahahaahaaa
Well Nilo ... i bought an A3 in 1996, an A4 in 1998 and another A4 in 2007. I tend to stick with cars for 10 years normally, except for our two Mini's we had. The multitronic isn't a bad gearbox ... BUT .... it actually isn't really that good either .. DS...
Mr. Bim ...
No way. Is more possible that I buy a gold watch with diamonds than a BMW. Nothing against the souls that drives BMW but the bad thing about BMW is only one: its not an Audi. I drove many BMW cars in the past and ... Transmission, multitronic ... Audi rul...
You drove BMW in the past ..
... but behold the future :-) ... . The new Beemers are ahead of Audi IMO ... what concerns driving dynamics off course. The finish of an Audi is offcourse one step higher than a BMW i must say. Bim
By and large ...
BWM and Audi are German manufacturers, meaning that they know how to make great cars. Of course, Audi knows better. he he. Cherrs, Nilo
Nilo ... are you ...
..... shareholder at AUDI AG ???? :-) At Audi they say "Vorsprung durch technik" At BMW they say "Freude am fahren" There is some truth in both those sayings ... Bim
Based on the number of Audi cars that I acquired ...
I should. I'm on my #8 Audi. By far I am a "Vorsprung durch technik" person than a "Freude am fahren". To save a visit to Google translate: Audi: " Advancement through technolog y". BMW: " Driving pleasure ". Consider that I am a faithful person only in t...
I always look at the same car ...
... and mostly end up buying a totally different one :-) .... still with my first wife though :-) Trustfull Bim
Each car its own
I tend to say manual. But I've made already some other choises before: - Multiple 5 series with automatic gearbox. You know when spending each day an hour in some trafic jams doesn't make sense to have a manual. And in the end, it is not a fun car or a sp...
Great combination of cars !
I love the A5, one of the few Audi i would consider these days. I love the Mini, we had two. I love the DB7 ... i'm dreaming of one :-) The DB7 can be automatic (sequential); i forgive you my friend :-) Bim
personally my choice would make you disown me :)
firstly i love tiptronic auto's. i'm not such a fan of standard auto's but the ability to change gear manually helps a lot on fast bends, roundabouts( i suppose they are fast bends) and all sorts of driving situations as a lower gear and a trailing thrott...
Auto or ZF or DSG ...
.. are waaay more efficient than any manual. When i testdrove the new Clio RS i was stunned (well, a bit as i knew what was coming) on how fast the gearshifts were and the pick-up in the next gear .... but i missed the fun my RS provides me .. now if i co...
anythings possible :)...
anythings possible :) On 26 Aug 2013 18:53, "www watchprosite" *Alert from:* www:watchprosite > *Posted By:* bimbeano (registered) on August 26th, 2013 - 10:52 > > *Title: Auto or ZF or DSG ... > * > > *
Indeed :-)
Clio 3 cups have sequential boxes ... same engine, same car but stiffer suspension and roll cage ... <iframe width="560" height="315" src="/" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Bim
Efficiency?
Don't go down that path, Bim! Just remember that these 7/8/9 speed DSG/DCT/PDK/Acronym/Initialism are there as much for emissions and consumption figures as formuch as performance... they're in cahoots with the Turbos. :-)
Efficient like ...
... quicker .. but i didn't say more fun ... yet more fun than an old automatic gearbox or a multitronic .... . Anyway, if i want the best of he best ... in a couple of years there will probably be a manufacturer making a car with a 10-speed auto box and ...
Daily wearers
High cars wiggle back and forth all the time, make me "sea-sick". Don ...
Funny. For the last month, I only drove my P 1800, too.
Hard to go into a modern or civilized car, indeed. ;) Best, Nicolas
Wiggle wiggle !
Back in 2007 or so i was testdriving an ML 320 CDI along with two friends, untill the one in the back asked me to back down as he got quite sick :-) A couple of days later i sat next to a friend in a first generation ML 270 CDI, we were gently driving in ...
Nothing like a perfectly executed gear shift...
but traffic is bad where i live so a manual tranny is out of the question, at least for me. what i miss about manual: 1) you just know that you can slow down or stop the car more efficiently and with a bit more grace without killing the brakes 2) it is ju...
Well said ...
There seems to be too much traffic all around the world so the 'automatic' will become King one day ... :-) Bim
With respect Eichi , I beg to differ with you....
on using gears to slow car. I used to think that was the case many years ago, but after attending many track sessions with instructors, I was emphatically told brakes are for braking and you do not use lower gears for braking. Feedback welcome. Cheers,dre...
hi dreamer, on the track...
hi dreamer, on the track you are quite correct. use brakes for stopping. this keeps maximum speed for as long as possible then stopping as quickly as possible, dropping the required gears and into the bend with best traction. this is why brake pad replace...
Thanks Graham...
I should qualify my comments to manual gearboxes which I used on all my cars when I was doing track work. For manual boxes on the road, if used for engine braking, do you agree that you would down change one gear at a time. When driving my wifes's manual ...
hi Dreamer, yep, 1 gear...
hi Dreamer, yep, 1 gear at a time. particularly useful on steep down hill braking areas. thats how they teach driving in the UK. something quickly forgotten :) forward thinking and anticipation is not a common character trait in a lot of drivers, but if y...
Hi Dreamer8...
Of course, used in conjunction with brakes and depending also on what speeds. I think we can feel if it's going to be too taxing or not on either the brakes or the gears and apply the necessary combo :-) No expert, btw. I'm just a touchy-feely driving guy...