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Comment by toomanybeersies | Hacker News Reader

I've never had a huge issue with driving in stop-go traffic with a manual.

It really depends on the type of car you're driving though, I guess. Driving a sports car with a grippy clutch is going to be painful. Driving a $750, 20 year old Mazda with a 2 L engine and a soft clutch isn't too bad at all, you just sort of ride the clutch (which I am aware isn't great for it).

I think that there is nothing that beats driving a stick shift in winding hills. Autos and paddle shifts just don't feel the same. There's just something about the mechanical action of shifting manually that I love.

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It isn’t that manual is bad at stop and go traffic. It is that adaptive cruise control is really great at it, and adaptive cruise control is only available on automatics.

My manual VW Golf would like to have a word with you.

I don't drive in stop-start traffic, so I don't know how well it would work, but my manual VW Golf MK VII has adaptive cruise control. If you need to shift up or down, you just do so and cruise control re-engages.

I'm pretty much always in 6th gear when I've got ACC enabled.

European cars have cruise control on manuals.

They said "adaptive cruise control". That's where the car will speed up or slow down based on the traffic around you automatically. Sort of like self driving but not nearly as demanding.

Obviously manuals have had normal cruise control for decades.

I live in the UK, manual cars have had adaptive cruise control here for some time.

So as the parent comment said, you can go to 0 and back up to 60 with no clutch/shift engagement whatsoever?

Yes, but there are also adaptive cruise controls with manual gearbox, and it's a useful combination in highway traffic. Or even in suburban roads: I don't have it, but I use regular cruise control quite a lot on roads that have traffic lights every 1-2 km, and the speed of traffic varies between 40-70 km/h.

No, adaptive cruise control where the car changes speed based on the car in front is also present on manuals. It only works above certain speeds though.

Me too but rarely there are these hard core foot by foot stop and go traffic where I wish I had an auto, but rarely.

funny enough, my 2002 protege had a sporty clutch that def too some getting used to.

that said, I'd take it oven an automatic anyday.

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