on 4/23/02 10:34 AM, IMNewtMan_at_aol.com at IMNewtMan_at_aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 4/23/2002 10:13:10 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
> fyzycyst_at_comcast.net writes:
>
>
>> Agreed, but have you ever tried to negotiate daily, heavy, stop & go traffic
>> with a stick shift. Besides ending up with a left thigh that's
>> significantly larger than the right ;-) , some folks end up with
>> near-perpetual muscle spasms in the left side of their abdomen, which can
>> have unpleasant side-effects. If/when I retire out of an urbanized area,
>> I'll probably return to stick shift, but for now, it's just healthier to go
>> with automatic.
>>
>> - Eric.
>>
>
> If the traffic is crawling, my car will actually allow me to leave it in gear
> and the engine management system will give the car enough gas to keep it from
> stalling (creeps along kind of like an auto). Of course, this still does you
> no good in stop and go traffic, but it helps sometimes.
>
> -Tom
>
The who?? Engine management system? You mean your right foot, correct??
(Admittedly, I'm probably a bit outdated on stuff like this, my pickup
recently gave up the ghost after ~16 years...)
Actually, the real problem is twofold. First, automatic transmissions all
seem to shift at speeds quite different from those where my 5-speed stick
naturally needed to shift. That means that the speeds of traffic consisting
of largely automatic cars tends to quantize around speeds that are at the
break point between, say, 2nd and 3rd gear on the 5-speed. And that means
LOTS of shifting up & down, unless you find yourself on level ground.
Second, at least in the DC area, there's a psychology that says "Mustn't
leave any space! Hurry and catch up even though they're going to be stopping
in a second." I.e., hurry like hell to reach the stopped traffic. Instead
of trying to average things out. Driving a stick around here isn't so bad,
even in heavy traffic, on those rare occasions when folks are leaving
adequate space and trying to stay at an average speed (such as in really bad
visibility conditions). But if you try to pick an average speed during
normal rush hour traffic, you're going to catch all kinds of crap from the
other drivers. (Although a surprising number seem to think you are Number
One! :-) )
- Eric.
--Eric Strobel (fyzycyst_at_NOSPAM^mailaps.org)
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