> > Driving down hill in the mountains is the best arguement for manual transmissions. My Toyota truck with a five speed still has the same brake pads that came from the factory. It has 93,000 miles and I live in a mountainous area.
> > Howard
>
> They may be paper thin, but they're the originals!

Yeah, well, one could argue that when it comes to heavy-duty braking (like when you descend very abruptly to grades steeper than 21 degrees on mountainous roads), it might be better to do a combination of controlled braking using the pads plus engine rather than using purely the engine all the way. That's because if you wear out your pads and rotors prematurely, these are a few hundred bucks to fix; but if you stress and blow out your transmission (and gearbox, pistons, etc.) early, that's a few *thousand* dollars to fix.

Wolfspirit