Getting Wood

Someone at Autoguide must be on something strange.

Maybe Viagra.

First I see this picture:

it goes with this story about a vibrating gear knob - one for the ladies perhaps?

 

Although the person in the photo (I'm guessing it's a man) is about to grasp it with his left hand in a left-hand drive car - looks dodgy to me.

 

Unless it is actually a right-hand drive car and the passenger fancies a grope.

 

The story is about a Ford engineer who has developed the vibrating gear-knob that is wi-fied to the engine CPU and is supposed to tell the driver when to change gear.  I guess this would require the driver to keep a hand on the gearstick all the time when driving - not a bright idea.

 

Anyway, lots of modern cars have little irritating lights somewhere near the speedo (small "s" - nothing to do with tiny swimming trunks) which light up at gear-change time.

 

Or, you can do what I do and go by the engine noise and general feel.

 

Having recovered from that shocking story, I then saw this shocking picture: 

It is from this Autoguide story.  Fortunately, it is a computer rendering - it doesn't exist in the flesh yet - but it could.

It's what happens when a Porsche Cayenne is given wood.

Automatic for the (American) People

No, not an REM story in the week they announced their retirement.

While browsing through my favourite Aussie site today I found this story about a couple of would-be hi-jackers in Maryland who could not steal the target car because it was a manual and they could only drive automatics.

However, being somewhat dubious of the authenticity of some caradvice.com.au stories, I checked on their source and found it backed up on a CBS subsidiary site here. Although that article was dated July 19th so it happened over two months ago. CBS, in turn, mentioned Associated Press so I did a quick Google-Search and found this story. This was about a similar incident in Utah in August.

I guess the American underclass don't bother learning to drive stick-shifts. But then again, automatics appear to be the norm for most Americans - not just the crims.

Certainly every hire-car I've had state-side has been an auto. It used to be true (and probably still is) that if an American passes the driving test in an auto, he (or she) can then go out and drive a manual.

This probably works OK if the vast majority of cars are autos - unless you want to steal a stick-shift.

I enjoyed one of the comments added by an Aussie reader of my first link: "Manual cars are generally safer because the owners know how to drive properly."

I certainly prefer a manual - it feels like you have more control and also gives you a sympathy for the way the engine and transmission and wheels are interacting. I've only ever owned one auto, a Mercedes C-Class which had the typical Mercedes divvy parking-brake system whereby you engage it with a pedal and release it with a lever near the steering wheel - I'd never have been able to do a hill-start if it was a manual.

Looks like MINI are doing their bit to make America less automatic, check out the great video.