[Cialug] OT: safe/reliable fuel-efficient cars.

[murraymckee at wellsfargo.com]

I wouldn't let my daughter get her license until she could drive a
clutch.  She's going on a missions trip this summer and the van's they
lease in Europe all have clutches for fuel economy reasons.  Guess how
many on the trip have experience with a clutch?  She's the only gal that
admitted it at any rate.  She's going to come home and practice on my
farm pickup before she heads to Europe.  

Murray McKee 
Operating Systems Engineer
WFFIS - Wells Fargo Financial Information Systems 
800 Walnut Street
MAC F4030-037
Des Moines, IA 50309-3605
WORK (515)557-6127 Cell (NEW) (515) 343-6630  FAX (515) 557-6046
MurrayMcKee at WellsFargo.com 
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-----Original Message-----
From: cialug-bounces at cialug.org [mailto:cialug-bounces at cialug.org] On
Behalf Of Jeffrey Ollie
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2009 11:42 AM
To: Central Iowa Linux Users Group
Subject: Re: [Cialug] OT: safe/reliable fuel-efficient cars.

On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 11:11 AM, Daniel A. Ramaley
<daniel.ramaley at drake.edu> wrote:
>>It's annoying how all the manufacturers do not offer manual
>> transmissions in their "higher-end" trim levels.
>
> Why is that?

Economics.  Most people don't want manual transmissions any more, so
it's not cost-effective to offer the option.

I heard on NPR last night or this morning that GM lost almost $4000 on
every car they sold last year.

Do driver's ed programs even teach manual transmissions anymore?  When
I too driver's ed <mumble> years ago, we spent maybe one or two class
sessions on driving a manual.  Fortunately my parents owned a car with
a manual transmission so I learned pretty quickly.  There's nothing
like stopping at a stop sign that's at the top of a hill with an
expensive sports car behind you to motivate you to learn!

-- 
Jeff Ollie
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