Driving manual or automatic

[renotime]

Yeah, I meant the hand brake. We call it an emergency brake in the states because it can be a pedal or a lever. What do they call it in OZ if if the emergency brake is a pedal? A pedal brake?

Whenever I had to break in my truck I would always push the clutch in. I was once driving like a jackass in a flyover state in the middle of winter on a gravel rode. I hit a patch of ice and ended up doing a 360 in someone's front yard. Truck never even stalled out because of my compulsive clutch stomping.

I think any car that goes fast as hell should have at least an option for manual. It breaks my heart that they will never make a Ferrari with a manual tranny ever again.

 

[Zagor]

As most europeans, I drive a car with a stick shift, but I also drove a lot of automatic cars as well and the simplicity of it appeals a lot to me.

 

[VNvet]

Most Americans don't know how to drive a manual. And those that do - boomers, mostly - don't drive them. I worked as a parking valet for years, and 99% of the cars were automatics.

Also, most of the younger valets didn't know how to drive a manual, even though it was the only job requirement, so don't valet your car if you have one.

 

[Dilated]

Learned how to drive at age 12 on a manual on gravel roads in Colorado. Have never owned an automatic and don’t plan to.

Manual = driving the car
Automatic = riding in the car

 

[hv123]

Do most North Americans not know how to drive manual cars (stick shift)? One of my ex-girlfriend was an exchange student in Canada almost 20 years ago and she took driving lessons there, and it was automatic cars, because that was everything the driving school had. In Europe at that time it was the complete opposite. Very few if any took lessons for automatic only. Nowadays it is more common with automatic here, mostly on cabs where it is useful because they drive much in the cities. Still, most Euros will think you are not a "real driver" if you cannot drive manual.

North American members here, do you know how to drive manual? I believe that in the future automatic cars will be the standard everywhere in the world, because technology always goes forward and it is no point in having manual transmission, but first the snobby mentality outside N America needs to change.

I don't think it's entirely down to snobby attitude. Automatic transmissions used to be atrocious - e.g massively slowing the car down compared to manual. costing more, using more fuel, being less reliable. Not kicking down when over taking. All of which are bad in europe where cars are generally smaller with smaller engines. and yes I have driven the same car with manual and with automatic, back in the old days, and it is like replacing the gear box with a giant turd - completely ruining the car.

With all that being said from what I hear the modern automatics are really good compared to the old days. At least from what people tell me. I guess it's the computer software control. Last time I drove an automatic was in the states and they definitely make a lot more sense there due to the nature of the roads. I still got very frustrated by having to drive by committee though.

Driving a manual is as natural to me as walking just about. I've been driving 25 years, so if you add up that times the number of gear changes per year, it's obviously in the millions. I literally don't even think about doing it any more.

This leads to the other problem, which is that it's WEIRD to go from manual to automatic. If you have been driving manual for years or decades, not having a gear knob and clutch feels very very strange. People don't like change generally. Because it's so automatic (no pun intended) to drive a manual your left foot and hand get confused by not having anything to do.

Automatics are considered, well, a bit gay, when it's comes to motoring enthusiasts over here. Culturally, getting an auto is basically like openly admitting you can't drive properly. Which is back to your snobbish point, to be fair.

Automatics are also worth less and are harder to sell on the second hand market. Another point worth noting is that here, the UK, if you take your driving test on an automatic vehicle you then are not legally allowed to drive a manual car at all. Mostly people who can't pass the driving test (which is not easy) do it on an automatic. Problem being you limit yourself to only being able to drive autos, which are rarer, and if you are man you will probably never have sex with a woman.

*(using more fuel - torque converter automatics don't have engine braking like manual (and they weigh more)).

 

[RexImperator]

Engine braking is one of the reasons I like the manual for driving in snow, though modern automatic 4x4s now have things like a special snow/ice or low traction surface mode to engage.

 

[EvanWilson]

My comments on AC and automatic transmissions in cars:

1: My driving is somewhat more than average (average american drives 12K to 15K miles per year) at 25K to 35K miles per year; so I want my driving experience to be as comfortable and easy as possible. While I want a comfortable driving experience, I do NOT want or require a luxury car (BMW, Mercades, Lexus, etc) and consider spending extra to get one of those to be a waste of money. I also note, with alarm, in the past that many luxury vehicles seemed to have all kinds of problems after 4 or 5 years and one youtubeer, Scotty Kilmer, believes that the high end luxury vehicles are deliberately made like this because the thinking is that the buyers of such vehicles will just go buy a brand new one when 'everything starts to break' and not wonder why the vehicle is having so many problems after only five years.

2: While I can drive a manual transmission, all of the vehicles, except my very first one (1972 GM Impala, had automatic trans but no AC ), I have owned have had both AC and an automatic transmission.

3: In the past, people usually didn't have AC to save the $800 to $1,000 extra it would cost and get less mileage with AC on. My view is that I do not want to be melting in summer and suffering because I am being cheap. While no AC gets better mileage, even cars like a Hyundai Sonata can get over 30mpg with the AC on, where as 1980s my Impala got, at best 16mpg.

4: In the past, people usually got a manual transmission because it would cost an extra $1,000 or so plus got better mileage. In that era automatics usually were only three speed or four speed and no computer control, so the shifting was not optimal and mileage did suffer. Today, with all of the extra computer controls a Hyundai sonata gets over 30mpg and some smaller cars, like an Elantra and other size cars, can get almost 40mpg; so the need to get a manual for gas mileage is no longer really valid. Today automatics are five speed, six speed or even continuous variable in some cases, and when combined with the extensive computer controls get as good mileage as manual transmissions; plus the driver does not have to do the work of shifting constantly to the correct gear to drive; i.e. when I drive a car, I want to concentrate on driving and not having to be constantly shift gears.

 

[The Stronger Sex]

You don't have to concentrate any more than you have to concentrate on putting a foot in front of the other when you walk.

 

[mr_ks]

When you make gear changes so smoothly and effortlessly you dont even notice it, driving an auto is just sadness.

 

[ilostabet]

Manual. Automatic is boring. However I refuse to drive within city traffic. If I did I'd probably go for automatic.

 

[Greyman]

Cowgirls like it when you can drive a manual.

Literally was the closer with this 21 y.o from Texas in for WNFR in Vegas...just sayin'....

 

[Thomas More]

I own an automatic currently, but I am looking to buy a little $8000 sports car, like a 2004 350Z convertible or similar, and I will definitely be getting a manual for this. I travel to the Netherlands for work, and I've mostly had manuals for my rental cars. I find after driving a manual, even for a few days, my left foot is reaching for the clutch when I get back into an automatic, and it takes days for the reflex to do away.

I did drive manuals as my full time vehicle for years, and I drove then for work, around 30K miles a year, so I suppose the instinct is deeply ingrained, and it only takes a few days of driving stick to reawaken the clutch reflex.

 

[Mr. Wolf]

As with a lot of things in modern life, government regulations are killing the manual transmission (although it would die out even without the feds). The U.S. govt. requires that automakers test and certify all vehicles for emissions, and if a vehicle is offered with both manual and automatic transmission, then each version must be separately certified. The entire process is fairly expensive, so for many vehicles it just doesn't make sense to pay for the certification process for the manual transmission, now that almost no one wants a manual shift. Even Porsche is limiting the availability of manual transmissions for this reason.

I'm old, as are my sensibilities, but I just don't fully respect someone's driving skills unless they can drive stick, and do it well. That said, I tried teaching my wife a few years ago and it was a nightmare. She just could not come to terms with the gentle but quick, progressive release of the clutch at its friction point. She treated the clutch like a digital function, all on or all off.

My neighbor bought his teenage son an old Corolla with stick, because he didn't want him texting while driving. Now the kid drives really well.

 

[Syberpunk]

Jesus, finding out that most Americans don't know how to drive manual from this thread is just depressing.

Not the image I had in my head at all from films/tv/popular culture.
So much for complete control and rugged individualism.

I concur that they just want to remove the spontaneity of discovery from everything in the physical realm, which actually makes life worth living. I'm speaking about self driving cars as well.

 

[Teedub]

Automatics feel like glorified but boring go karts to me, possibly except if they have a triptronic (gear paddles on steering wheel but no clutch pedal) option (more like an f1 'kart' in that case ha). I love changing gear (preferably stick rather than paddles though as mentioned above) and I wouldn't consider someone a 'real' driver either if they didn't know how. That might piss some Americans/Canadians (?) on here off but it's probably the opinion of nearly every person in Europe.

I understand once you get to a certain age and have done the miles it becomes less enjoyable. I'd put my Dad in this category. Drove manual for years, but as he got into mid 40s+ always an automatic with triptronic for when he wants to feel like Michael Schumacher. Your higher end BMWs and Audis etc are usually this as standard.

Oh, and the handbrake lever being a fairly little one by the steering wheel is weird to us too. But I don't know how ubiquitous this actually is outside of tv/film.

On the plus side, if I move to the States I'll get a manual and know it'll be a lot safer than Seabass' F-150

 

[Bolly]

This gave me an ephiphany. Maybe this is the reason why americans don't wanna work on farms. They take one look at that funny looking wobbly stick looking thing and that third pedal type doohickey and run away.
:mindblown:

 

[MikeInRealLife]

I guess I'm a bit of an oddball here, in that I detest the fact that I need to own cars at all, but here I am in Phoenix and it's unavoidable. Hence, my two commuter cars (one for work, one mostly for Mexico trips) are both manuals simply because they were the least expensive options I could find at the time. Hell, my little Nissan Versa even has roller windows!

My wife and I both slightly prefer driving manuals, but I have absolutely zero ego tied up in the cars I drive. They exist solely to get us from A to B.

I'm 48 and learned to drive a manual at a young age, on an '81 Dodge Ram 4-speed pickup. Good times! But yeah, even most men my age don't know how to drive a manual, or they've just forgotten.

 

[Laner]

I feel they both have their uses.

I learned to drive an old Cummins when I was 12. I wasn't allowed to use first gear, I had to start in 2nd. Those steep first gears, the long throw of the transmission and being a kid on a long hard clutch made me understand gears better than I realized.

My grandpa was a machinist and heavy duty mechanic, as well as a farmer and rancher. I still remember the vibration of the manual between my fingers as I practiced in his million mile Landcruiser.

I have a old VW that has never needed brakes done in its 17 year life. The engine does all the stopping it needs.

My Chevy has a tow package so its got a nice cooler on its automatic. I am glad that First Class cabin doesn't have a stick. That ride can keep me comfortable for 12 hour drives - 1000+km before stopping for gas.

Some punks tried stealing my moms immaculate old Jetta a couple years ago. After putting it in neutral and getting backed down the hill at her place, they killed the battery trying to get moving. Stalled it out til the battery was done.

Like I said, a time and place for both.

 

[Kona]

I pulled a big heavy boat outta the water this morning with my new chevy. It has the hill stopper stuff. I got out and drank a beer with the thing in drive. A few years ago that things would have been underwater. A side note, the back of the trailer got a camera that shows on the dash and you can see little fishies swimming by.

Aloha!

 

[debeguiled]

When I was a kid learning stick, going into San Francisco to see how you did on the hills was a cross between a quest and a rite of passage. You had to take that foot off the brake fast, and then be really gentle with the clutch and the gas. Parking brakes were for sissies. Stop signs at the top of the hills were the ultimate test.