Just wait until the author learns about CVTs.
Bureaucrats really need to stay out of the automotive world
Oh, but they aren’t staying out of it.
Articles like this absolutely drive me nuts. So do the ones that blame “speed” for every accident.
I would bet that the driver mistook the accelerator for the brake. There was a similar accident at DFW airport a few years ago that looked almost the same and that was the cause.
In the grand scheme of things, maybe upping the requirements and a bit more practical training for drivers than our current Driver’s Ed system might help.
Slate is perfect reading for people who wish they still had three on the tree.
Hmm. A three on the tree manual is just about as good an anti theft device as anything else, at least today
Good thing my 2500hp 2-speed powerglide drag car is safe!
Why on earth would someone want to own a car—one meant to be driven on regular old roads in, for example, upstate New York, where its driver operated a small local chain of hardware stores—that can go a reported 175 miles per hour?
Why on earth would we upgrade brakes, to be able to stop from farther when we can just have shittier breaks that don’t work as well? That’s the logic I see here. This article is trash. The driver just fucked up. Tired of people blaming other shit other than themsevles.
Dudes seriously trying to fearmonger based off an “8 speed transmission”.
I think it’s only the lack of low-end torque that makes transmissions a necessity, right?
Slate has always been very sickle and hammer.
Wait until they hear about electric cars with no transmissions!
Such a dumb article.
Slate is garbage and this article is further evidence of my claim.
OK; so the OP’s original comment may not make total sense.
But I heartily agree that, too often, the fixation on HP has lately gotten pretty ridiculous. I drive a 250-ish HP Saab, and its acceleration is WAAAY sufficient for any scenario + occasional entertainment. A friend recently got a BMW i4-M5, and I wonder (if don’t say) “why”? (And I get it: EV.) Bur how many sub-4 sec pulls before it gets old?
Yup: card-carrying dinosaur, but give me handling over power any day.
People still read Slate?
More gears are usually used in a car with lower engine power to maximize acceleration. After having a 9 speed, it feels like driving a tractor when I get in my 4 speed pickup
Clearly written by a moron
A shill article for mandatory “smart” speed governors. Sweet. There was a thread about the same topic on this subreddit a week and a half ago, and the mods locked it without giving any kind of justification: https://old.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/17xffc2/ntsb_wants_speed_reduction_tech_in_every_new_car/
From my perspective, a car that doesn’t allow you to speed is a bit like a phone that doesn’t let you send texts with hate speech. On the implementation side, it’s likely to be imperfect, but more importantly (to me), a car that doesn’t let you accelerate to whatever speed you want is like a phone that doesn’t let you type whatever word you want. I’m neither a street racing nor racism enthusiast, but I think those are less evils these kinds of heavy-handed government mandates.
For what it’s worth, I live in an EU country, where I’m going to have to deal with the EU mandate requiring governors, and I’m not looking forward to my next new car purchase.
The recent discussion around speed limiting has really brought out the idiot in a lot of people