.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

BOV: Manual or Automatic Transmission?




 
Anonymous said...
    Nice vehicle. Hondas are pretty reliable vehicles. I would offer one thought though: how do you drive a standard transmission if one of your legs or arms is incapacitated ? Twenty years ago, I pulled a rotator cuff tendon on my right arm, forcing me to keep it slung for two weeks for it to heal. If I had to shift a manual transmission, it would have been very difficult. Likewise, a foot / leg injury would not allow me to disengage the clutch, not without some difficulty.
Just food for thought.
.
.
That’s actually a valid point.
On one hand manuals are more durable, simple and allow greater control of the car and engine. Having used nothing but manuals my entire life (other than some rentals here and there) I can drive one using one hand or even one foot. Granted, not exactly something I recommend doing.
On the other hand an automatic is easier to use if an arm or leg has been injured. It’s also better regarding fuel efficiency in most cases. The ease of use by drivers that don’t know how to drive manuals and the ease of use when injured are probably the reasons why military vehicles such as Humvee have automatic transmission.
FerFAL
 Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Original Anon here - I meant no criticism of your vehicle and hope you didn't take it as such. I was just pointing out to everyone that you might want to purposely handicap yourself by limiting yourself and finding out beforehand what its like to drive with an arm or leg unable to respond.

This advice goes with many other tasks. Try cutting wood with only one arm (axe or saw), or driving nails with same handicap. Practicing now will give you an advantage if you find yourself in that predicament.

Thanks for the post.

Anonymous said...

You can shift gears on a stick shift without using the clutch, just take your foot off the gas and shift, re-apply gas. I did it many years ago in both a toyota and a huge dump truck. I've also started cars with the clutch engaged and just turn on the engine while in 1st gear. I think modern cars may not let you do that anymore...

Anonymous said...

stick less likely to get stolen
stick can be coasted or bump started if the battery is low
stick doesn't have transmission cooler lines and radiators springing leaks
stick can be shifted with left hand, elbow or partner in the passenger seat