Jalopnik sure knows how to keep readers

I, like the most of you that used to be Jalopnik readers, have stopped going there because it's probably one of the worst auto blogs on the web. It's gone down hill in the last couple years and it's just annoying now.

http://jalopnik.com/5952570/a-manual-transmission-is-not-the-only-way-to-enjoy-a-car-and-you-need-to-deal-with-it

Someone from another board I'm on linked this and I just shook my head. While I don't necessarily disagree with the original thought, it's just a stupid rant. Especially for the fact that the only two cars he uses as an example cost over $80k. DCT style transmissions aren't available. VW probably has the best one out there for the middle class folks, but that's really it.

This could have been written much better, but they let it get posted.

They're getting close to the Clarkson school of publicity: Shock Value.

I thoroughly enjoy their pieces on how to drive fast /sarcasm. Honestly I only go there for the morning shift which has links to other auto news. The classic ad watch is good for killing time on a weekend. Other than that it's just drivel.

I find it amusing all the people here that DON'T read Jalopnik, yet they continue to post links to Jalopnik talking about the terrible articles on Jalopnik that, presumably, they didn't read.

maybe its like a train wreck? so awful yet you have to keep looking.

red5_02 wrote: I thoroughly enjoy their pieces on how to drive fast /sarcasm. Honestly I only go there for the morning shift which has links to other auto news. The classic ad watch is good for killing time on a weekend. Other than that it's just drivel.

Try Redwood's news instead. He's been doing it since email lists were the rage.

http://www.vorshlag.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=4

"The point of driving a car quickly, either on a race track or a road, is to make it from the start to finish as fast as humanly possible."

Well, this appears to be the assertion at the heart of the argument. If you accept that, then yes, manual transmissions are not as efficient as good paddle shifters.

I disagree with that core assertion. The point varies. To me, the point is a certain visceral and mental experience. I want to be transported to a sort of place of zen where my focus is entirely on the experience of driving, and the rest of the world is left behind. When I race, I want to challenge myself to mentally and physically outperform what I previously thought was possible.

Edit: I was going to argue the advantages a manual offers over flappy paddle, but I'd just be preaching to the choir.

I wish people would stop linking them cause then I wouldn't feel compelled to read the stupid things and face palming.

Sometimes a car is not to get from point A to point B. Sometimes it is the point.

It's a preference. While DCT style transmissions are awesome in many aspects, I prefer the feel of a manual.

One of the winter projects on the race car is paddle shifting. The word is that it's worth between 1 and 2 tenths of a second/shift - with 6 up shifts + 5 down shifts/lap at Summit point I'd theoretically pick up a big chunk of time. More likely I'd go a tiny bit quicker, but more easily, and I'd free up some mental bandwidth. At the pace I'm running, I'm genuinely taxed mentally - like the processor is maxed out.

Paddles would help alot.

On the street, however - I'm not racing. If anything the faster I get on track the slower I am on the street. A 1'15" lap at Summit is an order of magnatude faster that any mortal will ever be able to go on the street. Subsequently I just try to be a smooth as I possibly can. I strive to drive ~better~ not faster.

And for this a manual transmission and good vehicle dynamics make for a rewarding experience.

So - other than my truck, aka "The garbage scow/the race hauler/the boat carrier" - everything is manual, and will be so long as I'm physically able to use 3 pedals, a wheel and a shift lever.

Plus manual transmissions are cheap, simple, and reliable compared to everything else. Those are big advantages.

Pretty simple for me:

When I'm driving an automatic, I often wish it was a stick.
When I'm driving stick, I very rarely wish it was an automatic.

I am very impressed with the DSG in the VAG lineup. Performance wise I would take it over a stick any day.

But like Beer Baron said, the cost and maintenance will keep me a manual fan for a long time.

Jalopnik is a car blog for people who act like they know about cars.

My friends with the following cars read Jalopnik
Lotus Elise (bought it because it was cool)
Audi S5 (wife's lease car, he owns a 4Runner)
Grand Prix (his dad has a classic Camaro)

My friends with actual car knowledge read Car Craft (the magazine)
2002 Corvette (me)
1989 Fox Mustang (12 second burnout machine)
1992 Galant VR-4 (Closet domestic lover)
2003 EVO VIII (11.1X street car)
1972 Chevy C10 (12 second daily driver-ish)
1984 S-10 (11 second daily driver)

There you go.

Beer Baron wrote: Plus manual transmissions are cheap, simple, and reliable compared to everything else. Those are big advantages.

So true right here. The rest is just drivel. I could care less if my track car had paddle shift or a traditional manual. I do not surrender my testicles by not having a third pedal.

As motomoron pointed out, if you are going for lap times, you want to shave time off as best you can within the rule book. If I remember correctly, it is a Radical he has. With a car like that its pretty difficult to lower lap times. More power to him.

93gsxturbo wrote: Jalopnik is a car blog for people who act like they know about cars.

+1.

My earlier take on that:
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/toyota-commercials/55673/page1/

JoeyM wrote: In a nutshell, the reason I avoid jalopnik is easy to understand: GRM is for people doing stuff. Jalopnik is for talking smack about people who are doing stuff. "The man who really counts in the world is the doer, not the mere critic - the man who actually does the work, even if roughly and imperfectly, not the man who only talks or writes about how it ought to be done." - Theodore Roosevelt

In reply to JoeyM:

That's sort of a butchering of Roosevelt's words. I like TR too much not to post the full excerpt.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. "

-Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic" delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910

Paddle shifting = test tube baby, 3 pedal manual shifting = proper hair pulling wet sex.

Will wrote: In reply to JoeyM: That's sort of a butchering of Roosevelt's words. I like TR too much not to post the full excerpt. "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. " -Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic" delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910

Thank you for the clarification. I was not the originator of the butchering....but I clearly passed it on. I plan to fix the error where I have the ability, starting with an edit of the referenced post

Cone_Junky wrote: I am very impressed with the DSG in the VAG lineup. Performance wise I would take it over a stick any day. But like Beer Baron said, the cost and maintenance will keep me a manual fan for a long time.

My coworker has a 2010 GTi with DSG. It's about $200 just for the parts and fluids to do the transmission maintenance service on it himself. Apparently, the trans fluid is something silly like $18 a liter. Yikes. This also apparently needs done every 40,000 miles.

Aside from that DSGs are pretty cool.

I drive a 5-speed in my daily driver. I prefer manuals to automatics.

That said, the BMW M3 Gertag dual-clutch is a better shifter than I am. If I could put one of those in my Forester, I would. The only thing that concerns me is the price of maintenance or replacement if one fails.