Best shifter/ clutch feel ever?
 

What car have you ever driven, that stands out in your mind to be a really easy fun manual clutch, and or; a sweet silky shift linkage? The worst?

For a manual clutch pedal, a '54 Chevy does it for me.

I have NEVER shifted anything nicer than the '64 XKE I got to drive, once!

Ford trucks and vans in the '60's and '70's had VERY stiff gas pedals!
They would wear you out on a long trip!

The ergonomics of '70's to early '80's Dodge vans (full sized) made me want to run far away from.

Though I admire the well built 'mid to late '60's International Travelall's, the ergo just didn't work!

Had a '71 240-Z; loved it, but at 6 "4; I thought the shifter was mounted way too high!


VW Quantum wagon: love the diesel 52-57+ mpg on trips, but felt like the seat was poor, and any car that has an offset steering wheel not squared up w you, gets old on a long trip!


General car guy advice handed down to me by reading car magazine's: run, do not walk away from any British, Italian, or French car unless you just enjoy working on it instead of driving.

I would hope for the most part, that would in modern times, the above paragraph would be outdated at least somewhat; though generally; in appearance sake, I'm a push over for '50's-70's looks!


Worst car I ever owned which drove me nuts w issues? '72 VW Superbeetle. I liked the '62, and '64 Bug's I had earlier, but not this.
The so called handling was goat cart like... yes,,,GOAT!!!

Worst car I ever drove: I delivered a '74 GREMLIN from Boston to central California! Terrible suspension and ride quality!



NEXT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

larrybuck -

I guess I never really notice the clutch pedal, but the best shifter ever was my 1989 Honda CRX. It was "broken in" like butter from the first day I drove it. The worst was my Dad's 1987 Ford Escort GT and his present ZX2. Here is my breakdown :

1 : 1989 Honda CRX (new)
2 : 1972 VW Karmann Ghia (Dad's, already long broken in)
3 : 1997 Saturn SC2 (new)
3 : 1999 Saturn SW2 (used) Same tranny and engine as SC2, so they are tied
4 : 1976 Datsun B210 Honeybee (Sister's hand-me-down). Not really a good shifter, but you get what you pay for.
5 : 1999 Ford ZX2 (Dad's)
6 : 1987 Ford Escort GT (Dad's)

CarloSW2

My first new car was a 1985 Honda CRX (hi cfg83!) and I agree, the gearbox was "like buttah" from day 1. Effortless intuitive clutch. It was my 2nd favorite.
My favorite was my '98 BMW M3, the E36 sedan version. The gears were a sensory delight! The clutch was a Mama Bear - not too firm, not at all mushy ... just right. It had this excellent feel to it, like the draw on a compound bow. (And it was mated to a great great engine.) It was just so easy for me to minimize differential acceleration aka "lurch" or "jerk". The effort was such that I never got bothered at a long light or when enjoying Gravity's Gift clutch-in on a miles-long downslope. My only wish in that car was for a 6th gear. Top gear at 60mph yielded a very unnecessary 2800rpm indicated.
The worst clutch I had belonged to a 1989 Acura Legend coupe. The thing was novocained! I had the WORST time finding the very narrow sweet spot between a lurch or a shuddering drag. I developed a "chameleon eyes" habit with that car when launching in first ... I actually watched the tach with one eye to see when the clutch would bite. The gearbox on that car was neither great nor awful.
larrybuck: I drove that car from Boston to the Bay Area!! The driver's window was a bad design ... frameless. It would lift from its gasket and whistle LOUDly at 70mph. Safety feature? :(
I test-drove a Lexus SC300 with the manual back in '93. I really wanted to like that car but it had a clutch that reminded me of the Acura's. No sale.

The Poop Wgn has a pretty sweet light clutch for a truck, but the gearshift is lloonngg in its throw and kinda notchy. The synchros are a little ratty into 2nd and 3rd. Sometimes I bobble a shift. :rolleyes:

cheers apo

Miata, bar none.

I find modern Porsches disappointing, I even prefer my Formula to a Porsche; I like my shifters to go right into a transmission.

80s Hondas get honorable mention for being the best FWD shifters.

aporigine -

I think you mean "Baby Bear" just right. I like to call that "Goldilocks" because she always picked Baby Bear's "just right" things. There's even a principle for it (that I never knew about until just now) :

Goldilocks Principle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ha ha, I would prefer a "class Goldilocks" planet to a "class M" anytime :

Class M planet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Man, I'm living life in the tangent tonight.

CarloSW2

cfq83 -

All these years ago I was told what appears to be a variant on the story!! Since the way I do remember it is a fond childhood memory, I'll hold onto it, but I'm crestfallen that I can't use the term Mama Bear anymore!

The way I heard it revolves around "This one is too big. This one is too small. But THIS one is just right." I googled the story just now, found out otherwise, and imagine my shock.

Re tangent: science fiction (the real, hard stuff, nothing with Chicks with Swords) is one of my favorite things. The Goldilocks Zone is an old friend. 'course, wrapping my old dog head around the new trick of calling Mama Earth a Baby Bear ... ow ow ow. I Blame Society. :)

cheers apo

best car ive driven, is the one im in now, out of all the cars i have driven, none of them chabhge as easily as that starlets,

worst was a 1992(ish) nissan bluebird (might be called something else in the states)

worst clutch ever!!!

The best clutch was in a 70 Duster. I upgraded it to a Hays clutch and 3200 lb pressure plate. The car originally had a diaphragm style clutch I changed it to a three finger. It was so smooth. Hydraulic setups do not have the same feel but imo are an improvement. Don't remember any standout shifters.

Best gearchange of one I have owned would be a original style Mini I had in the late 80s. Unfortunately BL cost cutting meant that some gearbox components that were originally pressed metal were re-worked in high-strength plastic which wasn't quite strong enough, so I managed to brake it chasing a SAAB 900 Turbo over Hardknott pass in Cumbria - well as close to chasing as 998cc and 40 bhp can do. :D

It got me home and lasted another 5 k miles though, I just had to "force" it across the gate from the 1-2 plane to the 3-4 one. Oh and turn off the engine to get reverse.

Despite my valve bouncing cross country jaunt, BL repaired it under warranty.

Don't ever drive a manual BMW!

You will have to redo your posts!

My KW W900 with a 15 speed after the clutch was done. The guy that put the trans back in ( different than from the guy who put the clutch in ) did such a good job putting the shifter back in, that it was "snick-snick-snick" going thru the gears. Very precise, no slop, you could feel every gear pop in with no grinding, no fighting. It was better than any car transmission.

aporigine -

You're telling me. Last night I went to get some ice cream out of the fridge, when what do you know, SOCIETY had finished off the last serving. No class at all.

I could easily imagine Mama Bear replacing Baby Bear as the "middle way" between two extremes because Papa Bear would be the largest and Baby Bear would be the smallest :

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/45300/453...3_bears_md.gif

The subtle(?) distinction in all of this is that Goldilocks was the same size as Baby Bear and Baby Bear had "mild in-between" food.

CarloSW2

best shifting had to be the audi s4 silky smooth, worst thats a tie between my inlaws hotrod translates woreout mustang, and my brothers 93 scoop he had in high school on of the syncros was always acting up. oh and the 66 chevy p/up straght 6 three on the tree. if you didnt shift it right the linkage would pop apart then you had to get out open the hood and reconnect it sitting in the middle of the road.

S2000.

Worst clutch hardness ever...Nissan Patrol, the same one the UN uses. My left calf grew rips by using it. You have to stomp down on it to push the lever down and hold it down.

The best one I have driven would be a '01 VW Jetta TDI it was also is the only one I have driven that you can teach someone to drive a manual and not have it stall.

The worst I have driven was a 95ish Corolla.

Worst would be the 1.4 TDi Fabia I tested. I stalled it. Never stalled a TDI before.

The 83 280Z 5 speed in my 76 280Z with the original 3.54 rear end. .75 overdrive gave it a 2.65 final drive which worked out to 3000 RPM at 85 MPH. It would have been neat to see what that car could have done if configured for hypermiling, since you could add a resistor in line to the water temp circuit then tighten up the spring in the flap air flow meter and have dash adjustable lean burn for cruising.

The old tech EFI on that 76 Z was very basic but the car had no catalyst, EGR, or air injection from the factory and that configuration was legal in 49 states in 1976, because the exhaust was clean enough to no require any after treatment.

Transmission had internal linkage and when it had fresh bearings and good synchros it was one sweet setup that could handle the available engine power. Nissan did upgrade the gearbox for turbos to a T5 BW tranny, but the stock 5 speed was a beautiful lightweight transmission.

regards
Mech

Thanks for the great info shared liked reading it.
:turtle: