<story><title>How America lost its love for the stick shift</title><url>https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/05/audi-kills-manual-transmission-cars-america-lost-love-for-stick-shift.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>t0mbstone</author><text>Speaking as someone who has owned a number of sports cars with manual transmissions, I can tell you why I finally made the switch to automatic:&lt;p&gt;Adaptive cruise control in stop and go traffic.&lt;p&gt;I used to have to deal with a six-speed manual transmission in stop and go traffic for an hour every day, and it was pure torture. I mean, sure, it was fun for a weekend drive in the mountains, but it sucked the rest of the time.&lt;p&gt;Oh, and as a side note, my new car with an automatic transmission and a 400+ HP engine accelerates from zero to 60 faster and smoother than any one of my previous cars. I will never go back! And I have paddle shifters, if I ever want to manually control the gears.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>chrisdhoover</author><text>I just do like the truckers do, leave it in second and crawl. It helps to not be concerned with maintaining a 6 inch gap with the car ahead.&lt;p&gt;I truly believe that stop and go is caused by automatics. All of the brake tapping tends to bunch people up at the end of long lines forcing them to a complete stop. In a manual just let off on the gas a little and the engine brakes a little, no brake lights to create cascading braking</text></comment>
<story><title>How America lost its love for the stick shift</title><url>https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/05/audi-kills-manual-transmission-cars-america-lost-love-for-stick-shift.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>t0mbstone</author><text>Speaking as someone who has owned a number of sports cars with manual transmissions, I can tell you why I finally made the switch to automatic:&lt;p&gt;Adaptive cruise control in stop and go traffic.&lt;p&gt;I used to have to deal with a six-speed manual transmission in stop and go traffic for an hour every day, and it was pure torture. I mean, sure, it was fun for a weekend drive in the mountains, but it sucked the rest of the time.&lt;p&gt;Oh, and as a side note, my new car with an automatic transmission and a 400+ HP engine accelerates from zero to 60 faster and smoother than any one of my previous cars. I will never go back! And I have paddle shifters, if I ever want to manually control the gears.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>city41</author><text>My wife and I both have manuals and we sit in stop and go traffic every day. Having to shift in traffic doesn&amp;#x27;t even register with my brain that it&amp;#x27;s really anything at all. I simply don&amp;#x27;t notice.</text></comment>