With the advent of technology and progress that has been over the past few years, we have witnessed a number of technological breakthroughs. However, are they all as beneficial as they claim to be? Let’s take a closer look into the matter and for the discussion we shall use manual transmission. Ah yes, sounds like something from the past but trust us, it still outweighs and outsmarts the automatic transmission.
Let’s start off with how a manual transmission works, shall we? Simply put, the process begins when you depress the clutch pedal. Once you press the clutch pedal, the throw-out bearing is pressed against the diaphragm spring, which in turn releases the hold of the clutch disc between the flywheel and pressure plate. When this happens, the engine and transmission’s link is broken. The first gear is selected by moving the gear shift into place thus forcing the selector fork to mesh the collar between gears one and two into the first gear. The driver presses the accelerator lightly now and releases the clutch simultaneously. Gently, the accelerator is pressed more as your foot comes off the clutch and the car begins to move and the link between engine and transmission is established again. The same process is used when you have to move to a higher gear, you take your foot off the throttle and press the clutch, followed by selecting the gear via gear selector and then taking off foot from the clutch while you hit the accelerator. Once you come to a stop, you should switch to neutral gear instead of keeping the clutch pressed all the time to avoid wearing out the throwout bearing.
So what are the advantages of manual transmission? First off, it is fun to drive a manual transmission car. Why so? Because it imparts more control to the driver and allows the driver to pull off some amazing stunts.
It is easy to work on and also easy to design and manufacture and therefore much easier to spot and fix the fault if and when something goes wrong. Oh and it requires less items therefore, again, easy to build and fix. Since it requires less complexity, the cost automatically comes down. The end result is that you can buy a car for less price if it’s manual transmission. Since manual transmission cars like Subaru WRX do not need huge subaru parts with torque converters or the complicated planetary systems and clutch, the weight is quite less. For example, the manual 2015 Subaru WRX weighs in 160lb less than the CVT twin. Manual transmissions are more efficient in terms of wasted energy. Last but not the least, if your car battery is out of juice and you can’t start the car then having a manual transmission will pay off since you can simply have it pushed and then pop the clutch a number of times thus forcing the engine to spin and the car coming to life.
So, there you have it folks. Let us know what you think of manual transmissions.