Manual or Auto. What's your choice?

[ResAlien]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Oh boy, I'm just about to enter this hell. I'm buying a car with the intention of teaching my girlfriend. I'm not very patient, and she doesn't like being told what to do. Should be interesting.

I much prefer manual. I learned to drive manual when I drove my most recent car off the lot. As a teen I couldn't get it, but with a simple explanation of the theory behind it at 25 I drove no problems. For everything except rush hour manual is better, especially in winter conditions.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I've tried the tiptronics before, which were fun for the first half hour or so, but then sort of became boring. I think if I had one with tiptronic, I wouldn't really bother using it after a while.

I have it on my bmw and never use it at all. I say go all the way manual or forget it. My car is still great fun in auto anyway.

[bigtmac19]

Originally Posted by BlackEleven

Just don't teach your significant other to drive manual. Have someone else do it. All the build up frustration over the first hour or so can be a near relationship ender right there. I speak from experience.

I've never owned a car that wasn't manual. First thing I do when I'm driving someone else's auto car is push the invisible clutch with my left foot before I go to turn the key...

Or teaching your kid - not looking forward to that fun time next February.

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I have yet to meet anyone who has learned how to drive a stick, and not love it...and yet it seems like only a good 10-20% of cars out there are manual transmissions.

So a little informal survey here....manual or auto, what's your choice?

In my younger days, I drove a manual volkswagon Beetle, a manual Pontiac Sunbird and I even knew how to drive a manual grain truck . . . . .

I cannot believe anyone - anyone - would find a manual transmission "fun."

More recently, one of the vehicles I was driving was a Chrysler 300 C with a V-8 hemi and, as an automatic, it was a helluva lot of fun.

I think what strikes me is that even a modest sedan can usually peel out of a stop light faster than a manual hot rod.

Cowperson

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by bigtmac19

Or teaching your kid - not looking forward to that fun time next February.

You can actually take a quick course (I think 2/3 lessons) at a driving school to learn as well. This way you get a patient instructor and a car where you can freely ruin the clutch! I don't remember it being that much.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by edn88

My A4 is automatic, but it has Tiptronic - which is sort of manual, and has a sport mode where the computer shifts at as high an RPM as possible to maintain torque.

I used to be a big fan of manual, but the way the automatic works on my A4, I am pretty happy with it.

the tiptronic is one of the most useless options for a vehicle.
It's like for people who don't know how to drive a manual to be cool.

I wish the Honda Odyssey would come in a manual. It would be my dream car! hehe.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

I think what strikes me is that even a modest sedan can usually peel out of a stop light faster than a manual hot rod.

Since when? Almost every manual transmission car out there has quicker 0-60mph numbers then then auto counterpart.

I guess to each his own, but to me being more in tune with my car, and having control of it is pretty fun. Being able to shift down to get more power, coast down a hill, or balance at a stop-light....all that stuff is pretty enjoyable for me.

[Bertuzzied]

One thing i find odd is that the TSX has worst fuel mileage for their standard than their automatic.

Is there another car out there like that?

[bigtmac19]

Originally Posted by Table 5

You can actually take a quick course (I think 2/3 lessons) at a driving school to learn as well. This way you get a patient instructor and a car where you can freely ruin the clutch! I don't remember it being that much.

I would definitely prefer him grinding someone else's gears.

I would imagine most reputable driving schools should have a couple of cars with manual transmission. I will definitely be looking into that.

[You Need a Thneed]

Had to trade in my manual Jetta a few years back, because my wife was pregnant, and couldn't handle taking the bus to work any more, and couldn't drive a manual.

When/if we get a second car sometime, I hope I can get a manual, they are fun to drive.

[The Ditch]

I've never owned an automatic car. Only time I ever wish I wasn't driving a manual is when I'm in a huge traffic jam where it's stop and go, but I much prefer driving a manual.

[REDVAN]

I drive in traffic everyday... and my car wasn't available in manual.

But when I buy a car just to drive it around for fun, I'll get a manual transmission.

[Coach]

I like manual. It helps you concentrate on driving better and its more fun. I also feel that its an important skill to learn and the best way to do it is to buy a car that is manual. If you need to learn how to do it in order to get yourself around, you learn fast

[BlackEleven]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Oh boy, I'm just about to enter this hell. I'm buying a car with the intention of teaching my girlfriend. I'm not very patient, and she doesn't like being told what to do. Should be interesting.

Sounds like my situation exactly. Brace yourself, my friend, you're in for it. Best advice I can give is try to remain calm.

[Buzzard]

I've been manually shifting gears every day for a living for 20+ years. Jumping into an automatic at the end of the day is like settling back into a lazyboy for me. Auto all the way.

[octothorp]

I'd agree that manuals are overall more fun, but at the same time, a powerful automatic is more fun than a gutless manual. It would be one of the lower features on my priority list. I've got tiptronic on my Volvo, and I agree with what others have said, it's really not worth the effort. It would have been useful on my old car that had a dumb automatic that would occasionally get stuck in the wrong gear (such as when trying to pass while going up an incline). But any car new enough to have tiptronic is also likely to have a very smart automatic that will always be in the best gear, anyway.

[ken0042]

Automatic for me. I've put in over 400,000km driving manual transmission cars- I'm done.

The odd time I swap cars with a buddy I do find it to be fun change for the first few minutes; the same way I enjoy booting up my Commodore 64 from time to time. (Load "*",8,1) But soon enough the nostalgia wears off and I realize that I have better things to worry about than shifting gears.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by ken0042

But soon enough the nostalgia wears off and I realize that I have better things to worry about than shifting gears.

I guess that's the difference. Those of us who like manuals do so because it puts the emphasis on driving itself. Driving is what we want to be doing, and it enhances that experience. Those who prefer automatics have other priorities... the cars is a means to do something else. Both have their uses of course.

[Dion]

Automatics cab be fun to drive too. Back in my teens I had neighbour who owned a 1968 Dodge Superbee. He was kind enough to give me driving lessons. For an auto that car was quite fast off the line.

The only time I drove manual was when I had a summer job as a car jockey for a Honda Dealership. I remember applying for the job and the guy asking if I knew how to drive a standard. I said no and he tossed me some keys and said there was a car out back to learn on. By the end of the summer I was the only one in the dealership that could squawk the tires in all four gears.

In the end I still prefer an automatic.

[an_album_cover]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Oh boy, I'm just about to enter this hell. I'm buying a car with the intention of teaching my girlfriend. I'm not very patient, and she doesn't like being told what to do. Should be interesting.

Originally Posted by BlackEleven

Sounds like my situation exactly. Brace yourself, my friend, you're in for it. Best advice I can give is try to remain calm.

There are worse things. Feel lucky that you're not teaching them how to ride a motorcycle. lol

As for the original topic, I prefer standard. I've only had 6 cars over my life, but they've all be standard. Probably for all the reasons already mentioned.

That said, I can definitely see Tiptronic/paddles/whatever taking over. Look at a company like Benz for example. They have what, a couple models left that they offer with a manual? Early tiptronics suck, that's for sure. They lag on upshifts and don't revmatch on downshifts.

But some of the newer ones will smash any manual. Your body can only engage the clutch and throw gears so fast. Some of these newer computers will switch gears in fractions of a second. More fun than a manual? Probably not to me, but when manuals are all but extinct, no new drivers will care anyways. Add to that the convenience of automatic when you want it (ex; traffic) and I can see the appeal.

That said, I'm too old school and I'll probably always think that a real car has a manual.