Amen, My Son - but Attention on What, exactly..
OK Peter, minor rebuttal-tuning follows - Oh, and condolences upon the Sceptered Isle importing Murican multi-lane parking lots :(
First, I think that the most ergonomic (common) interface twixt biped/machine is the serial manual transmission in a motorcycle. The synergy is demonstrable (though always harder to write about.) It even turns out that there's an argument - from human body layout of nerves, etc. - for having the left foot run the rear brake and the right hand handle the front brake: which does 70-90% of the important work, in the sum of all events. (Wish I could recall source of this study)
Such was the layout on Brit. bikes - the Japanese arbitrarily and Foolishly disregarded this bit of ergodynamics they were iggerant of - when Soichiro began his invasion of the US wasteland of Harley Trucks, etc. He Moved the #$^#*^ shift lever to the Wrong side!
..Still pisses moi off on the Kawasaki, which ain't no Vincent nohow.
Stepping into a 4-wheel box produces an immediate loss of connection between one's very-own CG and that of the vehicle + you - and not only via the %factor of all that wasted mass for hauling around a mere 180ish # bag of bones. In this reduced-feedback contrivance, a whole new set of stimulus/response has to be learned -- and your responses will be duller, less-instantaneous than on any 2-wheeler.
Manual VS auto (in a car) - in that milieu, such discussions oft degenerate, as does the focus upon exactly What it is you need to focus Attention upon, in that never-ending hierarchy of relative importance. (What we need here, is a few words from Juan Manuel Fangio - but he be daid.)
First, re 2 wheels, an enviro with more variables and more sensitive, direct personal controls:
Automatic trans in a 2-wheeler? I'd apply your general imprecations, in spades - to such a smarmy idea (even though there have been several such, usually in scooter-type vehicles.)
On 2-wheels, all your comments re Control apply to a fare-thee-well:
you Must know exactly how the deceleration of Your engine in That frame responds. In accelerating, you might (once an expert pilot) Want to break traction either quickly or progressively, given the power to possess this choice. (Most often not - but you'd best know when you Should.)
Braking! there the dance begins - and much more evidently on 2- than on 4- wheels. You Must know the 'braking' characteristics VS speed, RPM (by ear and feel) of all gears; this because you are adding-to the natural retardation of the engine-as-compressor: by an appropriate application of two separate brakes - at all times and on varying surfaces.
Too-many-words needed, even to attempt description of the exquisite balance of brain, hands, both feet, one's CG and that of [you + machine]. IMO and experience - only in a GP type special-purpose vehicle does the 4-wheel experience come even close to that of the feedback of a cycle.
Second; 4 wheels:
Yes, in playing boy racer - the manual xmission gives the flavour of above control of engine braking + brake-braking and the like. Cruder, but.. it's a Red Herring IMO to endow the action with clutch, gearshift, hand-off-wheel as: a boon!? ie - the distraction being justified because it somehow .. "keeps you awake?"
Pshaw - that's not an argument for choosing a manual gearbox in '05; it's an argument for playing boy racer in the twisties, but saddled with the much less legible 'feedback' from the 4- wheeler, as otherwise might have ~made your case. Note the significant difference in 'manual' shifting inside this box, VS the cycle experience:
On the cycle a mere toe-flick raises/drops a gear; either a 1/4" movement of clutch lever (or none - if you match revs) handles the changing, clutching: there, All Done. And your throttle control is also instantaneous, even before fuel injection arrived there, too.
In 4- wheel box the foot must move a mile (seemingly); the hand must come off the wheel, perhaps at apex of a chicane (!), move some clumsy lever from some memorized .. position .. to .. another
[not 1-2-3-4-n; but up-some-amount; over-another-amount.]
Some of those 'gates' look like a Maze.
Lastly re Attention:
I'd aver that, boy-racing in the twisties aside: a decent modern auto xmission, particularly one with a 'paddle' right *in* the steering wheel - allows you to place attention with better priorities than with your fav manual drill. What priorities?
Attention! is needed on the 360\ufffd environment: the weather, road surface, and #1: the antics of Any drivers near enough to suddenly careen into Your Space. It is NOT to be squandered on the mechanics of moving one's hands OFF the pointing device, dancing one's feet into taking-up-slack of brake pedals or clutch pedals, while sorting out from brain engrams: W.T.F. the next UP/DOWN gear is spatially located? on some far-away transmission hump.
As to improvements; ABS and others -
My Model has variable-rate steering; less boost at higher speeds; also more (at whatever speed) for more-Sudden action = a [+] for maneuvers. The auto-trans is alas only a 4-speed, no paddle - and while manual override permits a sort-of up/down shift control override: I agree it lacks the precision of a Manual.
But this matters little in 99% of situations I encounter on US roads - and the auto is a mondo-Boon in any stop n'go beyond a few minutes. Also, ~28 mpg at 70+ cruise is about same as the 5-speed manual version of my sled, per reports.
ABS, as mentioned is of little use as the coefficient of friction approaches that of ice (OK though, in certain grades of snow). I see it as an obv aid to the dull driver and especially for him who Slams On Brakes, in utter panic, in any Interesting situation. That was the target audience, no?
For the rest of us, it can be a [+] in intermediate slippery conditions, but will be dumb as Doze on gravel or wet leaves; it is mainly a 'smarter' arbiter of braking force, with the advantage of crudely-independent override on each of the 4-wheels - in a limited range of conditions. Sometimes.. this Can do better than a 'good' driver could have done, without ABS.
(And especially for: the very many who drive while semi-full of beer.)
For us anointed, it's probably rarely ever engaged (except when both anointed and polluted - see above ;-) I know I had to intentionally test mine, first night of rain, before the road oil was washed away -- as I'd never needed to invoke it. (Also, I figured that the seals in that complex system need periodic exercise - like All seals do). It worked. Yawn.
The Saab(s) was stick; I can drive stick. I Like my not-even paddle equipped auto xmission; it's a Gran Turismo, not a Lotus! fer Cthulu sake.
(And I affirm that this particular 5-cyl. engine is allegedly near the smoothest of IC engines ever designed .. an engineering quip I have not been able to quantify, yet.) At 7000 rpm, near-limiter: nary a vibe; Really!
(Bikes of course can more than double that - still it is Torque that is King, not 'H.P.', as we know.)
In your overall contention though, 100% agreement:
"INVOLVED" is what every cockamamie asshole within a 2-tonne baby carriage SHOULD Be - from driver-door closed --> switch off; door opened. Videos, 500 Watt audio, cel-fones should be outlawed - in the driver's even peripheral visionscape.
(But then, people who live in 'democracies' should fucking be informed actual voters, yada. Neither happy event is likely during this yuga, I wot.)
Cheers,
Bikers \ufffdber Alles in Die Welt, LLC, FRS, TFFO
