Ford cancelling the F150 lightning

[TylerBeer]

People are fine with electric cars, just not electric Ford pigs. Bummer because the Lightning actually just looked like a normal truck

[Bucky Cornstarch]

Clutch, brake and gas
6 speed manual transmission.
Not as fast as modern automatics but it sure is fun.

That thing must be a blast! When I go to the track these days the kids all tell me how much faster the automatics are than the manuals; I just laugh and offer to help them learn to drive stick.

[ghuns]

That thing must be a blast! When I go to the track these days the kids all tell me how much faster the automatics are than the manuals; I just laugh and offer to help them learn to drive stick.

Keep laughing, but they're right.

No matter how good you are in a 3 pedal car, you'll never shift faster than modern dual clutch automatic.

Even the ZF8 in my Audi, which is a more traditional automatic, will beat 99% of humans shifting a stick.

Don't get me wrong, I still love to jump in my kid's 6 speed WRX/STI and show him how it's done, but it's just funner, not faster.

[Bucky Cornstarch]

Keep laughing, but they're right.

No matter how good you are in a 3 pedal car, you'll never shift faster than modern dual clutch automatic.

Even the ZF8 in my Audi, which is a more traditional automatic, will beat 99% of humans shifting a stick.

Don't get me wrong, I still love to jump in my kid's 6 speed WRX/STI and show him how it's done, but it's just funner, not faster.

I fully understand that modern automatics are faster, they just aren't for me. One car I've considered for a daily/occasional track car is an e90 BMW M3 with the 400hp V8 and the DCT; but only in a sedan. But if I want to go slow and have a blast doing it, I'll track my '72 911 or one of my older BMW manuals.

To be fair, most kids these days (anyone under 40) never had the chance to learn manuals as they just weren't available to them.

[mowens]

It truly is a lot of fun! Especially when I put it in track mode. It actually gets better gas mileage then. I've never used the line lock to do a burn out. Tires are too expensive.

What I like most about it is that when I need acceleration, I have it. On ramps to highways, passing, etc. I also like the limited slip differential.

It's kind of funny, when I take it to the car wash and the young people are wiping it down and vacuuming, I have to drive it out of the bay for them because it's a stick.

There are a lot of cars that are faster and more agile. But ever since high school in the early 70s I've wanted a muscle car and this fits the bill perfectly for me.

[ghuns]

...To be fair, most kids these days (anyone under 40) never had the chance to learn manuals as they just weren't available to them.

I tried to teach my son in my old Audi A4.

After 5 miles of jerking, stalling, and with the constant smell of burning clutch I told him to pull over and GTFO. We are done. Yeah, not a father of year moment.

A couple years later he bought his Subi WRX. Had to have his buddy test drive it and drive it home for him. They then went to a massive, empty parking lot and his buddy spent an hour or two teaching him. He was did fine after that. He was in KC at the time. Much hillier city than most would think, so he had to get proficient quickly.

[SuperHoneyBadger]

Luckily I was able to pick all Manual classes for my driver's ed ~2007, so I learned on a Jetta TDI 5 speed. Wild little car. The torque from the engine and a small car meant on a flat road, you didn't need to give it any gas from a standstill, just pull the clutch out until you felt it bite and let it out after that. No jerking, no drama, and then you give it gas. Never drove a car that behaved like that since.

My father-in-law bought a 2025 WRX 6 speed last year, holy hell is that thing quick! And still after almost 12 full months they can't get it to behave smoothly, bucking around like a rodeo, lol. The Japanese 4 bangers like to rev out to be smooth I have found, I bet the Mustang is pretty demure when you want it to be with the V8 torque?

[mowens]

I'm pretty sure issues with clutching are because of me. I have to hit the sweet spot between giving enough gas and too much. When new it had 435 hp and 400 ft lbs of torque, way more than anything I've had before. I've had a little trouble getting it tamed.

[beej]

I learned to drive a stick shift at a scary early age on a Super 55 Oliver tractor. my first manual vehicle was a 1972 dodge stepside, my friends called it the beejmobile. 4 speed with a granny low, and a 318 v8

[beej]

I'm not opposed to EV's. I really wish I had one. But it would have to be a 3rd vehicle for me because it just wouldn't have the versatility to do everything we like to do. but it would sure be nice for a daily driver.

I wonder why they haven't incorporated solar panels into those vehicles in some way. It would be really nice if those things would charge themselves in the parking lot at the lake while you are fishing and what not.

[Jeff]

I wonder why they haven't incorporated solar panels into those vehicles

They'd lose money because then the battery would be recharged for free.

They tried like hell to make EV's look so luxurious on the inside to entice us to buy them and still couldn't sell them.
That says a lot.

[SuperHoneyBadger]

I wonder why they haven't incorporated solar panels into those vehicles in some way.

You wouldn't get enough energy into the battery to make the added cost worth it. Best you could hope for is ~600w per hour at peak conditions, so not much over a day, let alone an afternoon. That's based on having 25 ft² of panels on the roof of a car in direct sunlight, perfect conditions. So about 4% of a charge per day on an 80kWh battery.

[Rstewart]

I'd love to have an EV car as my second vehicle, but I'm not willing to spend that much.  I mostly drive shitboxes

[Smit]

The rest of the world is going EV. China is dominating the market.

In 20 years there will be tourists coming to the U.S. and wondering over the internal combustion engine vehicles we have, just like people go to Cuba and look at the vintage cars they're famous for.

[beej]

The rest of the world is going EV. China is dominating the market.

In 20 years there will be tourists coming to the U.S. and wondering over the internal combustion engine vehicles we have, just like people go to Cuba and look at the vintage cars they're famous for.

I'm putting that prediction in the same box as the "Miami and Martha's Vineyard will be underwater in 20 years" box.