Originally posted by Fmr12B:


If you hadn't noticed the majority of Americans live in big cities and commuting sucks in stop & go traffic with a heavy clutch.
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Actually I don't believe that many people do live in big cities in the US, a lot more people live in suburbs and the never-ending sprawl. Large "old" cities in the US like Boston and NYC you don't even need a car really.

Most europeans prefer manuals (I forget what the exact number is but I thought someting like 75%) despite all the cities and traffic. Same thing with the Japanese.

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With a 5spd Auto standard in most cars now-a-days you get the same fuel economy as a manual trans as well.

The fuel economy might be close but it still cost more to purchase initially.

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And anyonje who has driven a great Automatic like that in the Lightning or 92-95 SHO understand autos can kick down and hold to redline just fine............. Just imagine how good the auto-trans are in high end luxury sports cars. BMW's SMG comes in mind.





I have never driven a lightning but the Automatic in the 2nd gen SHO is not nearly as good as the manual, especially in reliability. Even the better modern automatics still aren't that great, IMO. My mother has a 2003 BMW 530i slushbox and even in manual mode or sport mode it doesn't shift fast enough for my tastes.

I guess it boils down to Americans being fat and lazy...

"Bros before Hoes" <-- More men need this mentality.