Auto stop/start is big with Ford. I wouldnt have it. Always defaults on
unless you mod it or buy a kit. Ford says they have a better starter &
battery so no extra wear. Begs the question why not put the better
stuff in ALL the cars ?

With manuals I almost always started in 2nd. Only time for 1st was
when you were doing comparative driving or a smoke show. Another
feature lost on automatics is the D2 that skips 1st. In snow both my
Crown Vic & Roadmaster would just spin the tires in 1st the second
you let off the brakes.

Interesting thing on gearing. The Mt. Washington Auto Road uses
GMC vans as limos.
https://mtwashingtonautoroad.com/guided-tours
They are geared so you have to accelerate to go DOWN hill. Let off the gas
& you come to a stop.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

Kinda late here, But I have a 1990 Dodge w250 with an NP435 granny 4 (and likely 4:10 gears in the diffs) and I never take off out of first unless I'm ripping small trees out of the ground. 1st is like 6:1 or something ridiculous like that. It even says in the manual to take off out of second for normal driving.

I'm also not crazy about the old 4 speeds. my truck is at 3000rpm at 65mph in 4th.

Whatever floats your gears blokes.

There's a series of videos on YouTube of a school bus that was refitted with a 5-speed main and a 4-speed auxiliary. The two guys I saw drive it took off in second/low except for when demonstrating granny low and later on pulling out a badly stuck 4x4.

A car we used to have had a really wide gap between third and fourth, the latter only being used at highway speeds. I suppose one's level of satisfaction with 4-speeds depends on whether or not fourth is an overdrive.

Early on when I was practicing on a manual, that particular car was tricky to get into low so I accidentally ended up in third a couple of times. Once I actually succeeded in taking off in third which really bogged down the engine as I had pulled onto an incline. Once I realized what happened I made the mistake of downshifting all the way into low; the engine roared and when I shifted back in second the tires screeched a bit, prompting a chuckle from the guy who owned the car. Nevertheless, even then I was better at driving a manual than Captain Kirk.

I know! I actually had a 54 or 53 Chrysler New Yorker in the shop once. Was the first model year for Chrysler's first actual automatic transmission (not counting the manual with a torque converter [although ironically, this transmission WAS a manual with a torque converter, just automatically shifted by a coffee-can-sized solenoid]). The service manual was with the car and I read up on the transmission. You had to change the engine and transmission oil altogether, because they shared the oil. Must've been an expensive oil change.

My new to me 2017 Jeep Compass seems to act that way. The second you decelerate it seems to downshift, almost like you're braking. I guess it's easier on the brakes.
It also has what they refer to as "Autostick". You can go through the gears like a manual.

On the Auto Road you run 1st all the way up for cooling & all the way down for braking. There are some cars that cant stay in 1st & they wont let them up.
I was told once they used to do brakes every 2 weeks about 675 miles !
The new vans never need brakes, you only have to use them twice per trip.
Anyhows its abt 4000 feet up in 8 miles & really tests the cooling, brakes
& tranny. You can actually smell a car coming !

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !