Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmy
The toughening emissions and low demand have killed manual trannies. With an electronic trans and electronic throttle, the torque of engine and the load change during shifts can be controlled. Whenever you lift to shift a stick the emissions spike on a gas motor or they spike on throttle apply in next gear on a diesel for an instant. Every one of these "holes" in regulating the emissions becomes a target area for scrutiny when the regs get tougher.
The stretched reg cab on f 150 was not matched by competitiors so I guess it goes as a result.
|
jimmy: i agree 100% about the emissions part of the statement. but as far as demand goes i dont agree. yes, im sure if someone got a fact sheet out and showed sales comparisions that the autos WAY outsell the manuals, but what else does the consumer have to pick from???? the manufactuers want us to be mindless puppets in our vehicels. they want as lil input from the driver as possible, this minimizes accidents and undue stress or wear on the vehicle itself. they (the manufactuers) want us to do one thing when we buy a car/truck, pick the color. it is much easier, and cheaper in the manufactuering process to make the choices as small as possible. i.e. less odd ball parts to stock, less chance for a lineworker to make a mistake installing something, ect...
dodge doesnt have a hard time selling sticks. go to a dodge lot there is usually more than one new manual diesel truck on the lot. now go to 10 ford lots......good luck. go ask a used truck salesman what is the hardest vehicle to keep on the lot. DIESEL W/ A STICK SHIFT! ask ppl that have sticks, they love em. it seems to me that ford wants everybody to have a pewter, crew-cab shortbed, lariat, diesel, atutomatic.
what really cracks me up is that autos are still more expensive.... you would think that since the auto outsells the manual by a large market it would be the other way around. they want to have their cake and eat it too. eventually they will phase out the nocost manual while we arnt even looking, and yet they will still ask 1500 bucks for the automatic.
