Manual trannies (was: [V8] RE: Worthwhile Bimmers....... )

[Unka Bart]

Roger ponders the perennial pergunta...

> I am constantly amazed at the desire expressed by a lot of people for
> manual transmissions.  Especially so in a car like a 928.  I have had
> two 928s now, and although when I searched for my first one, I thought
> it should have an automatic, after I got the first car I came to 
> realize
> that the car was really designed and intended to have an automatic.  
> The
> Mercedes four speed automatic in that car works exceptionally well, and
> although a five speed might give slightly faster acceleration times and
> a tad better fuel mileage, I can't imagine why having the liability of 
> a
> clutch would be desirable.

Two issues come to mind, the desire to exercise CONTROL, and the 
increase in performance that accompanies it.  But before expanding on 
that, allow me to digress.

I last went shopping for a serious toy back in '93.  I had a list of 
candidates that would not appear related to the casual observer, being 
in order 1. '63 Lincoln convertible, 2. '65-'67 Corvette, 3. Lincoln 
Mark Vii LSC (with a $12K Kauffman motors built-motor), 4. 928, 5. 911.

I was commuting in a car-pool from Annapolis MD to DC in those days and 
had to leave my car at a remote "kiss & Ride" lot out in the country 
for 4 weeks out of 5 (my week in the barrel to drive). That meant that 
my wife (at the time) would have the toy as her driver during my non-in 
the barrel weeks because there was no way I would leave the toy to the 
vicissitudes of fate in a remote lot.  This being the case, I gave her 
"first right of refusal," meaning that she could turn thumbs down on a 
candidate if she decided that she could not live with the car as her 
driver.

She nixed both Lincoln candidates out of hand, she had some thing about 
the brand.  Ditto the Corvette, which left only the Prokers.

So, off we went to look at 928s.  When we tried the first one, she 
hated the seating position of the 928, which like the 944, puts the 
legs nearly straight out at a near-90 degree angle from the torso.

More to the point, I was appalled to discover that this seating 
arrangement made it impossible for me to get one with a manual tranny 
because, having taken a bullet right through the sciatic nerve and 
having no control over my right ankle, I could not move my foot from 
the gas to the clutch without moving my entire leg more than there was 
space available to do so.  I passed on looking at an autobox version 
because of that issue of control I mentioned earlier.  And fortunately 
for me, the seating position of the 911 is comparatively much more 
"conventional," requiring much less of a leg movement for me while 
providing ample space to execute it.

As to the second issue, this is especially relevant to the V8Q.  I've 
owned both a '90 V8Q and a '91 V8Q5 and can state that there is an 
enormous difference in performance between the two, and that difference 
is due entirely to the transmission.  I was happy with the '90, but 
ecstatic with the amount of improvement  that the '91 provided!  So 
much so that I paid top dollar for your '93, sight unseen, and will end 
up with well more than than twice that cost in it when I pick it up 
from AudiConnection next week, just for the sheer joy of driving a V8Q 
with significantly more of that quality (that puts that stoopid grin on 
my face) that is the reason I buy an automotive toy in the first place.

I reckon it all boils down to what one wants from his or her toys, and 
what price one is prepared to pay for the pleasure to be derived from 
it.

I know what I want from mine, and the price I uncomplainingly pay 
(including the ordeal that stop and creep traffic jams impose on me) is 
just part of the gestalt.

YM, naturally enough, MV...

yer kindly ol' Unka Bart