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Comment by golemiprague | Hacker News Reader

I don't think manual everything is really practical these days, automatic gear box and windows is something most people would want even in a basic car. Even in Europe these days people move to automatic gears. But something like mid 2000 corolla or civic would be a good and reliable basic car, the question is how much it will cost to manufacture such car, if it will be around the 10k mark it will be a viable option.

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Surely the computer is better than us at shifting by now anyway, right?

Right! In Europe cars with manual transmission remain very common, it allows vendors to sell the automatic version at a higher price point I imagine. At this point I’m not even sure they’re that much cheaper to make. And it’s become a weird experience—you’ll have all these features that make it feel like you’re driving a computer anyway, lane assist etc. And the car tells you when it thinks you should shift gears! I found myself muttering “if you’re so smart, why don’t you do it yourself”.

Until it gets confused like an DSG with broken mechatronics. That might just break the gearbox itself.

After that happened I drove a Toyota Corolla hybrid with a CVT and it was awesome. High mileage, tranquil, no gaps in acceleration. The only downside was that it is smaller than a Passat (GTE).

I have a Toyota with a CVT and it's amazing.

I think for a long time CVT's suffered from a poor reputation due to the reliability of those 1970'ies DAF cars.

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