I don't know what the stats are like in NZ, but here in the US, sales of manual shift cars is down to like 10%. I think it's rather obscene, and were I Emperor of the USA, one of the mandates involved in the much more difficult driver's license examination would be that the prospective driver would have to pass the driving test in a manual transmission car. [My attitudes in this area were formed by my mother, who always preferred a stick shift and only bought an automatic in later years when the arthritis in her shoulder and elbow made the stick impractical - and even at that, she then referred to the new car as her "old lady car."]
Here in LA, lots of people buy cars like that for status and have no idea how to properly drive them. One time I was coming over the Cahuenga Pass from N. Hollywood in a drizzle, and on the straight bits some jackass in a Boxter was tailgating me. Then I hit a curvy part and happily (and safely) swooped through it in my Civic Coupe with its excellent Bridgestone Turanza tires. When I hit the next straight bit, the Boxter was not to be seen - until just before I hit the next section of curves. Now, I know Porsche puts good stock tires on a car like the Boxter, so the only explanation is the idjit simply didn't know how to drive properly.
I wish two things: that people who buy vehicles with automatic transmissions who don't have some physical problem with using a stick would be laughed at as wimpy twits, and that people going through their mid-life crisis would go back to sports cars from gigantic SUVs that they can't drive EITHER... but a Boxter (et. al.) is less likely to roll over and much less dangerous to everyone else on the road than a Chevy Subdivision or the like.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2005-06-29 11:06 pm (UTC)Here in LA, lots of people buy cars like that for status and have no idea how to properly drive them. One time I was coming over the Cahuenga Pass from N. Hollywood in a drizzle, and on the straight bits some jackass in a Boxter was tailgating me. Then I hit a curvy part and happily (and safely) swooped through it in my Civic Coupe with its excellent Bridgestone Turanza tires. When I hit the next straight bit, the Boxter was not to be seen - until just before I hit the next section of curves. Now, I know Porsche puts good stock tires on a car like the Boxter, so the only explanation is the idjit simply didn't know how to drive properly.
I wish two things: that people who buy vehicles with automatic transmissions who don't have some physical problem with using a stick would be laughed at as wimpy twits, and that people going through their mid-life crisis would go back to sports cars from gigantic SUVs that they can't drive EITHER... but a Boxter (et. al.) is less likely to roll over and much less dangerous to everyone else on the road than a Chevy Subdivision or the like.