ACDC8 wrote:

AtomicGarden wrote:

a major asshole

Insert Spaceballs reference here

He probably didn't make it to major, so I'll degrade him to petty excuse for an officer

FLYFIRSTCLASS wrote:

T18 wrote:

I recently got a new 2022 GTI with a stick, it took them over a month to find it, when I looked I found 32 in the entire USA in one of the two colors I liked. Can't stand driving anything with an auto as I end up hurling obscenities at it when it does silly thing and tries to get me killed. Flappy paddles are better but don't give the same tactile feel and do not allow for easy short shifts. Honestly the lack of third pedal is the biggest hurdle for me when it comes to any interest in EVs, I want something fun to drive, a commute should be enjoyable not a soulless chore to get from A to B.

Just curious how do you like everything being controlled through touch screen? I played with the one they had (DSG) and I thought it would be confusing while trying to drive. Not sure I will be able to get one, I refuse to pay their markups. Even the Civic SI is getting $15-20K markup

The A/C is a bit fiddly to adjust but, given you set a temp it tends to be set and forget, the haptic buttons on the wheel are functionally the same as the old style imo. I honestly don't love the touch screen but it is not as annoying as I feared, would like a simple tactile button to turn the a/c on. Most anything I need can be done on the wheel and there is little reason to mess with anything else when in motion. I would second the Car and Driver review, in Sport it will drone a touch above 70mph and as stated the screens can be a bit fiddly but man is it a blast to drive and is a looker too.

FLYFIRSTCLASS wrote:

Since I am soon moving out of the high sierra and will no longer need a snow beast, I think its time to have a fun car, so I began the search this last week. I previously had a VW GTI Autobahn which was a kick to drive, not super fast but still a lot of fun. It had the all important manual transmission. I stopped by the local VW dealer to have a look at the current GTI. He had ONE with the DSG on the lot, and he said he could get one with a manual (he told me $20,000 markup-- I laughed at him told him not to his breath on that). But anyway, he told me the 2023 will be DSG only unless you go to the Golf R. That pretty much killed it for me, I will try and find one 1-2 years old with low miles and a manual.

But got me thinking there are hardly any cars that still offer a manual now. I know the new Z offers, Honda Civic SI, Civic R, Subaru WRX STI...but thats about it. Most econoboxes now are even automatics. The mentioned Honda's will exclusively be manuals, the Z will mostly be produced in auto, not sure about the STI.

Every year manuals are getting harder to find

Soon to be extinct at least in the USA. You know when Subaru won't offer a stick on the next generation Impreza. Stick shifts are going the way of green, red, aqua, blue auto interiors. My last car a 2020 Corolla had a 6-speed stick. Unfortunately, it's in car heaven so, my current ride is CVT. I believe in the US maybe 4 to 6% know how to drive a manual. I was so old school I thought I'd never drive a 4-cylinder car with auto transmission but, I'm eating my words along with turkey.

zippyjet wrote:

FLYFIRSTCLASS wrote:

Since I am soon moving out of the high sierra and will no longer need a snow beast, I think its time to have a fun car, so I began the search this last week. I previously had a VW GTI Autobahn which was a kick to drive, not super fast but still a lot of fun. It had the all important manual transmission. I stopped by the local VW dealer to have a look at the current GTI. He had ONE with the DSG on the lot, and he said he could get one with a manual (he told me $20,000 markup-- I laughed at him told him not to his breath on that). But anyway, he told me the 2023 will be DSG only unless you go to the Golf R. That pretty much killed it for me, I will try and find one 1-2 years old with low miles and a manual.

But got me thinking there are hardly any cars that still offer a manual now. I know the new Z offers, Honda Civic SI, Civic R, Subaru WRX STI...but thats about it. Most econoboxes now are even automatics. The mentioned Honda's will exclusively be manuals, the Z will mostly be produced in auto, not sure about the STI.

Every year manuals are getting harder to find

Soon to be extinct at least in the USA. You know when Subaru won't offer a stick on the next generation Impreza. Stick shifts are going the way of green, red, aqua, blue auto interiors. My last car a 2020 Corolla had a 6-speed stick. Unfortunately, it's in car heaven so, my current ride is CVT. I believe in the US maybe 4 to 6% know how to drive a manual. I was so old school I thought I'd never drive a 4-cylinder car with auto transmission but, I'm eating my words along with turkey.

What about the WRX or the BRZ? Will they be offered with manuals?

BTW, don't get the brosband started on odd-numbered cylinders. Like the Metro or Canyon. Anything with 3 or 5 cylinders. He will not shut up about how stupid they are and the firing at the wrong time and... I don't know. I tune out after a while. Heaven help me if anyone makes a 7 or 9 cylinder engine....

seb146 wrote:

Heaven help me if anyone makes a 7 or 9 cylinder engine....

Looks like some do ( seems like they are marine engines though) and of course the P&W R-1300 was a 9 cylinder.... and a radial...

T18 wrote:

seb146 wrote:

Heaven help me if anyone makes a 7 or 9 cylinder engine....

Looks like some do ( seems like they are marine engines though) and of course the P&W R-1300 was a 9 cylinder.... and a radial...

I agree with you on the odd number cylinders. I understand the next generation Corollas and Civics could go Hello Kitty with 3 bangers and turbo charger. How do you spell LEMON?
Regarding the two sportier Subaru models I'm not sure. Even if stick is an option at least in the States it will be the old supply chain and demand card. Another item about to become an automotive anachronism the manual hand brake. Electronic parking brakes are cool but, when the time comes for repair or replacement, we are talking some serious coin.

The most fun I had with a manual was a mid 70's Ford van where I used to work. It had a three on the tree.

The best anti-theft device today is a manual transmission. Today's car thieves don't know how to drive one.

zippyjet wrote:

T18 wrote:

seb146 wrote:

Heaven help me if anyone makes a 7 or 9 cylinder engine....

Looks like some do ( seems like they are marine engines though) and of course the P&W R-1300 was a 9 cylinder.... and a radial...

I agree with you on the odd number cylinders. I understand the next generation Corollas and Civics could go Hello Kitty with 3 bangers and turbo charger. How do you spell LEMON?
.

why lemon? my wife's car is a 1L 3 cylinder turbo that produces about 125hp.
I think Ford UK won some awards for the design.

Odd number doesn't mean anything unless you think that they just lop off / add a cylinder. The crank angle is devided by the number on cylinders, that's it. Volvo, audi and others have been doing it for years

seb146 wrote:

What about the WRX or the BRZ? Will they be offered with manuals?

Subaru currently offers a manual on the WRX, BRZ and some Crosstrek models. Not sure what the future is for the BRZ, but since the STI is no more, I have a feeling that this will be the last generation of the WRX in its current form.

zippyjet wrote:

I understand the next generation Corollas and Civics could go Hello Kitty with 3 bangers and turbo charger.

The Corolla GR is a turbocharged 3 cylinder pushing 300hp.

zippyjet wrote:

How do you spell LEMON?

Not sure what turbo charged 3 cylinders have to do with this comment, they've been around for a long time and they've been very reliable in most cases.

zippyjet wrote:

Electronic parking brakes are cool

No, they're not - regular hand brakes, now those are cool

Had an electronic e-brake in my Golf R, hated it. Glad I have a traditional hand brake in my current Alltrack, but sadly, it'll be back to an electronic one next year when I get my GTI.

mad99 wrote:

Odd number doesn't mean anything unless you think that they just lop off / add a cylinder. The crank angle is devided by the number on cylinders, that's it. Volvo, audi and others have been doing it for years

Yup One of the best and most reliable VW engines was the 2.5L 5 cylinder both turbo and non-turbo variants on both VW and Audi models. Seriously wish they would have put that engine in the Arteon.

ACDC8 wrote:

Yup One of the best and most reliable VW engines was the 2.5L 5 cylinder both turbo and non-turbo variants on both VW and Audi models. Seriously wish they would have put that engine in the Arteon.

AFAIK you can still get that beast in an S3 and I think one of the CUPRA models. Unfortunately it does not sound as cool anymore as the one in the Audis from the 80s... these 5 cylinder engines were amazing.

Classa64 wrote:

I work at Honda dealer, 22 years now. Manual trans Honda's nobody wants anymore, at least not in my area. I despise Auto and CVT and as I have to drive them daily for work I have to say getting back in my Civic Si with it's 6 speed is so much more fun. Unless its a Type R or a Si, we will never purposely order a Manual to put on the lot, no one will want it. The next best thing for me would be a DCT, just for the sheer speed at the shifting and no delay. The paddles in an and Auto or CVT are just a bad joke, its a CVT , what imaginary gear are we going to pick today and they don't take well to abuse. I have always had Honda products and always manual, my wife as well she cant do Auto lol. For most an Auto is convenient and simple and for them that's great, for me its just more fun to do the shifting myself. Autos are what the Manufactures want in their cars to get the fuel econ numbers where they want them to be, best gear best RPM etc.

I had an Audi A6 with S-tronic, Audis name for a CVT, it worked really well, when you wanted to use the paddles it pretended to be an 8 speed, that worked ok but I mostly left it to do it's own thins. Only a long trip that car was super efficient it could easily manage 1300km from a 73 liter tank.

In February we will say goodbye to our manual A1, to be replaced by a MINI Cooper SE, our first electric car.

seb146 wrote:

BTW, don't get the brosband started on odd-numbered cylinders. Like the Metro or Canyon. Anything with 3 or 5 cylinders. He will not shut up about how stupid they are and the firing at the wrong time and... I don't know. I tune out after a while. Heaven help me if anyone makes a 7 or 9 cylinder engine....

The 5 cylinder engine in the Audi RS3 and TT-RS is an amazing engine, one of the best on sale today, just think of it as half of the v10 used by the R8 and Lamborghini and it will make you smile.

ACDC8 wrote:

Yup One of the best and most reliable VW engines was the 2.5L 5 cylinder both turbo and non-turbo variants on both VW and Audi models. Seriously wish they would have put that engine in the Arteon.

The VW 5 cylinder and the Audi 5 cylinder are completely different engines. The VW unit is a vr5, made by removing a cylinder from the VW vr6 engine, the Audi unit is a straight 5, essentially half it's v10.

It took me a year to really get comfortable with the electronic parking brake. We have become 'friends', but it took a while. Here is a tale from the Pacific. The guy (this is in the old days) on the deck who isn't doing anything is the captain of the boat, or if he is sleeping the appointed Officer of the Deck. Said person doesn't do the actual steering, accelerator pedal, gearing, or even most of the watching, radar, sonar, etc etc. He is maintaining total situational awareness of the whole thing. Driver assist features are akin to those persons on the deck who are doing things to carry out the mission. My now four year old RAV4 has almost all of the driver assist features (not so well coordinated as I would like) I spend most of my cognitive energy when I drive doing that Total Situational Awareness, intervening as I see necessary. I have also noticed that when I am intervening in any area, my TSA over other aspects declines. Safe driving, to my mind, is using all of the tools available to to the best job.

PS that captain is totally responsible for anything that goes wrong on the boat.

This is the first I am hearing about electronic parking break. So, I looked it up and what a worthless feature. Our dog likes to sleep across the center console between the driver and passenger seats. She could activate this if her paw moves in just such a way.

As far as lane departure or driver assist, hate it with every fiber of my being. I get why it is there but I hate it. I rented a Huyndai last year for a few days and, after about 20 miles, I pulled over and turned the stupid thing off. I felt like I had no control over the car at all.

Mercedes Benz made a 5 cyl turbo diesel for years, that engine and those cars were bullet proof. Some of the best built cars ever.

seb146 wrote:

This is the first I am hearing about electronic parking break. So, I looked it up and what a worthless feature. Our dog likes to sleep across the center console between the driver and passenger seats. She could activate this if her paw moves in just such a way.

I never thought you would be someone stupid enough to have a dog loose in the car whist you are driving. Dogs need to be restrained in cars just like babies and children.

FluidFlow wrote:

AFAIK you can still get that beast in an S3 and I think one of the CUPRA models. Unfortunately it does not sound as cool anymore as the one in the Audis from the 80s... these 5 cylinder engines were amazing.

The S3 has the 2.0L 4 cylinder and the RS3 has the 2.5L inline 5.

I had the naturally aspirated I5 on my Mk6 Jetta, threw on an AWE exhaust and wow, day and night difference in sound. I remember when I dropped the car off at the dealership to get the exhaust mounted, I was talking to my dealer and the techs fired it up for the first time, she was like "What the hell was that?" Man, I miss that engine. The guy who bought the car off of me still has it and absolutely loves it.

Kiwirob wrote:

The VW 5 cylinder and the Audi 5 cylinder are completely different engines. The VW unit is a vr5, made by removing a cylinder from the VW vr6 engine, the Audi unit is a straight 5, essentially half it's v10.

Nope, those are 2 different engines. The VR5 ceased production back in the mid '00s and was replaced by a new inline 5 designed specifically for the Mk5 Jetta by taking the EA113 4 cylinder and throwing on a 5th cylinder using cylinder heads from Lamborghini's V10. VW then took that same inline 5, threw on a turbo and direct injection and offered it on various Audi models.

The VR6 is still around and available in the Atlas and until recently, the Passat.

Speaking of wonky VW engines, shame we don't get the W8 anymore

seb146 wrote:

This is the first I am hearing about electronic parking break. So, I looked it up and what a worthless feature. Our dog likes to sleep across the center console between the driver and passenger seats. She could activate this if her paw moves in just such a way.

Unlikely, the electronic brakes usually have to be pulled up to activate and pushed down to release. Of course, there are cars out there with different variations of electronic parking brakes that work differently, like a button the on the gear selector or just putting it into park. Also, most electronic parking brakes slowly apply pressure on all 4 wheels if you accidentally activate bringing you to a safe stop.

ACDC8 wrote:

FluidFlow wrote:

AFAIK you can still get that beast in an S3 and I think one of the CUPRA models. Unfortunately it does not sound as cool anymore as the one in the Audis from the 80s... these 5 cylinder engines were amazing.

The S3 has the 2.0L 4 cylinder and the RS3 has the 2.5L inline 5.

I had the naturally aspirated I5 on my Mk6 Jetta, threw on an AWE exhaust and wow, day and night difference in sound. I remember when I dropped the car off at the dealership to get the exhaust mounted, I was talking to my dealer and the techs fired it up for the first time, she was like "What the hell was that?" Man, I miss that engine. The guy who bought the car off of me still has it and absolutely loves it.

Kiwirob wrote:

The VW 5 cylinder and the Audi 5 cylinder are completely different engines. The VW unit is a vr5, made by removing a cylinder from the VW vr6 engine, the Audi unit is a straight 5, essentially half it's v10.

Nope, those are 2 different engines. The VR5 ceased production back in the mid '00s and was replaced by a new inline 5 designed specifically for the Mk5 Jetta by taking the EA113 4 cylinder and throwing on a 5th cylinder using cylinder heads from Lamborghini's V10. VW then took that same inline 5, threw on a turbo and direct injection and offered it on various Audi models.

The VR6 is still around and available in the Atlas and until recently, the Passat.

Speaking of wonky VW engines, shame we don't get the W8 anymore

seb146 wrote:

This is the first I am hearing about electronic parking break. So, I looked it up and what a worthless feature. Our dog likes to sleep across the center console between the driver and passenger seats. She could activate this if her paw moves in just such a way.

Unlikely, the electronic brakes usually have to be pulled up to activate and pushed down to release. Of course, there are cars out there with different variations of electronic parking brakes that work differently, like a button the on the gear selector or just putting it into park. Also, most electronic parking brakes slowly apply pressure on all 4 wheels if you accidentally activate bringing you to a safe stop.

Unfortunately RS3s around here seem to attract a particular kind of “look at me I’m so awesome” kind of driver with phone pressed to ear (look, I’m very important), smoking cigarette and walking with a funny stagger. And also doesn’t know that the car has more than 2 forward gears.

The guy this morning floors it in the car park for 50 metres (then hard on brakes for a speed bump) just to make lots of noise and get attention. He met all those previous cliches.

cpd wrote:

Unfortunately RS3s around here seem to attract a particular kind of “look at me I’m so awesome” kind of driver with phone pressed to ear (look, I’m very important), smoking cigarette and walking with a funny stagger. And also doesn’t know that the car has more than 2 forward gears.

The guy this morning floors it in the car park for 50 metres (then hard on brakes for a speed bump) just to make lots of noise and get attention. He met all those previous cliches.

Sounds like the BMW M2/3 drivers around here

ACDC8 wrote:

cpd wrote:

Unfortunately RS3s around here seem to attract a particular kind of “look at me I’m so awesome” kind of driver with phone pressed to ear (look, I’m very important), smoking cigarette and walking with a funny stagger. And also doesn’t know that the car has more than 2 forward gears.

The guy this morning floors it in the car park for 50 metres (then hard on brakes for a speed bump) just to make lots of noise and get attention. He met all those previous cliches.

Sounds like the BMW M2/3 drivers around here

I think they are the same types.

Probably real estate agents - eager to show how successful they are in life. Look, see, I've got an RS Audi or BMW M - I've made it... Never mind it's the cheapest entry level to either brand, same with A45 AMG. Same types almost certainly will never park it in the garage of their house, always on the driveway in front of their McMansion - for everyone else to look at.

Meanwhile around my area real wealth drives around in Range Rover Autobiography, Porsche Taycan or Rolls Royce Wraith Black Badge or Porsche Taycan. Also Ferrari GTC4 Lusso or the 812 Superfast.

I see the same Wraith Black Badge very frequently when I'm on the way to work. It looks stunning. I was also very surprised at how quiet the GTC4 Lusso (a V12 one) is and how quick it can get away from traffic lights with near silence. It looked like it had a lot of performance left in reserve.

Here's another advantage of old school manuals.

Was at work today, pulled into a stop to pick up some passengers, car comes by me and the car decides to die right in front of me blocking all lanes of traffic. Newer car, automatic transmission and keyless start - he tries to restart it, wouldn't start. Had it been a manual, no biggie, put it in neutral, parking brake off and push it out of the way - but this car, dead battery, it locks itself in park, electronic brake engages and cannot be removed until it gets boosted. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

cpd wrote:

Sounds like the BMW M2/3 drivers around here

I think they are the same types.

Probably real estate agents - eager to show how successful they are in life. Look, see, I've got an RS Audi or BMW M - I've made it... Never mind it's the cheapest entry level to either brand, same with A45 AMG. Same types almost certainly will never park it in the garage of their house, always on the driveway in front of their McMansion - for everyone else to look at.

Meanwhile around my area real wealth drives around in Range Rover Autobiography, Porsche Taycan or Rolls Royce Wraith Black Badge or Porsche Taycan. Also Ferrari GTC4 Lusso or the 812 Superfast.

I see the same Wraith Black Badge very frequently when I'm on the way to work. It looks stunning. I was also very surprised at how quiet the GTC4 Lusso (a V12 one) is and how quick it can get away from traffic lights with near silence. It looked like it had a lot of performance left in reserve.

BMW M2/M3 drivers are usually young kids spending mommy and daddy's money. Usually they're driving McLaren's or Lambo's but haven't seen much of them around this last year. McLaren's used to be super popular here in Vancouver, don't know where they all went. Its amazing though, you see so many high end cars here that they don't even phase me anymore - just another car. The only one that really gets me excited is the Audi RS6 Avant - man, what a gorgeous wagon that is.

ACDC8 wrote:

FluidFlow wrote:

AFAIK you can still get that beast in an S3 and I think one of the CUPRA models. Unfortunately it does not sound as cool anymore as the one in the Audis from the 80s... these 5 cylinder engines were amazing.

The S3 has the 2.0L 4 cylinder and the RS3 has the 2.5L inline 5.

I had the naturally aspirated I5 on my Mk6 Jetta, threw on an AWE exhaust and wow, day and night difference in sound. I remember when I dropped the car off at the dealership to get the exhaust mounted, I was talking to my dealer and the techs fired it up for the first time, she was like "What the hell was that?" Man, I miss that engine. The guy who bought the car off of me still has it and absolutely loves it.

Kiwirob wrote:

The VW 5 cylinder and the Audi 5 cylinder are completely different engines. The VW unit is a vr5, made by removing a cylinder from the VW vr6 engine, the Audi unit is a straight 5, essentially half it's v10.

Nope, those are 2 different engines. The VR5 ceased production back in the mid '00s and was replaced by a new inline 5 designed specifically for the Mk5 Jetta by taking the EA113 4 cylinder and throwing on a 5th cylinder using cylinder heads from Lamborghini's V10. VW then took that same inline 5, threw on a turbo and direct injection and offered it on various Audi models.

The VR6 is still around and available in the Atlas and until recently, the Passat.

Speaking of wonky VW engines, shame we don't get the W8 anymore

seb146 wrote:

This is the first I am hearing about electronic parking break. So, I looked it up and what a worthless feature. Our dog likes to sleep across the center console between the driver and passenger seats. She could activate this if her paw moves in just such a way.

Unlikely, the electronic brakes usually have to be pulled up to activate and pushed down to release. Of course, there are cars out there with different variations of electronic parking brakes that work differently, like a button the on the gear selector or just putting it into park. Also, most electronic parking brakes slowly apply pressure on all 4 wheels if you accidentally activate bringing you to a safe stop.

You’re pretty much agreeing with what I wrote, the VW i5 is different from the vr5, it’s a detuned non turbo version of Audi’s EA855 engine. I just never knew a non turbo version existed as it never came to Europe, NZ, Australia, we only got the turbo version in the Audi RS models.

Kiwirob wrote:

You’re pretty much agreeing with what I wrote, the VW i5 is different from the vr5, it’s a detuned non turbo version of Audi’s EA855 engine. I just never knew a non turbo version existed as it never came to Europe, NZ, Australia, we only got the turbo version in the Audi RS models.

No, you said that the VW 5 cylinder was a VR5 and not an inline, which is not correct. VW did have a VR5 which was replaced by the inline 5 which was later upgraded for Audi by adding a turbo and direct injection. The VR5 is a V engine (3 cylinders on one side and 2 on the other) mounted at a 15 degree angle. The 2.5L inline 5 is exactly that, an inline 5 cylinder engine and was designed specifically for the North American market and stopped production with the Jetta MK6 in 2014 (replaced with the 1.4L 4 cylinder turbo):

The Jetta available in the Americas and the Middle East is powered by a 2.5-litre 5-cylinder 20-valve engine in most trims. This engine shares its cylinder head design with the V10 engine found in the Lamborghini Gallardo and Audi R8.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Jetta_(A5)

The engine was also used in the Mk5/6 Golf which was renamed the Rabbit for the Mk5 generation here in North America.

While the EA855 wasn't used in any VW products, the EA855 is a further evolution of the naturally aspirated VW 2.5L inline 5.

The Audi version of the engine didn't come along until 2010/11 which is 4 or 5 years after that engine made its debut in the Mk5 Jetta.