Cars - Automatic or Manual Transmissions?

Back home in the UK pretty much everyone learns to drive a manual. It's unlikely you will find an instructor with an auto. The other thing is that if you take your test in an auto will have to retake it again if you later decide to drive a manual.

Pretty much the opposite here in California where you pretty much have to bring your own car to learn in a manual and most people seem to learn to drive a manual by trial and error after they passed in an automatic.

 

I voted #1 but I’m starting to warm to the idea of a double-clutch two pedal for the track. It would definitely be faster.

On the street though I still like to row the box. I like matching revs on downshifts, although one of my cars has auto rev match and I’ve gotten used to it. I like the burbles and pops out the exhaust off throttle, and/or when clutch is in. And there’s something to that mechanical feel in a good shift linkage. I could probably go on...

 

Depends on the car. The last 4 cars I have bought have all been manual transmissions and my current daily driver is a manual transmission. That being said, we have 2 automatics, my wife's car and my truck which I use to pull my boat around. For the sake of comfort and convenience I don't mind an automatic at all, but for fun or sport nothing beats three pedals.

 

It's harder to text, take selfies, and eat cheeseburgers while driving stick, so I prefer automatic.

 

you should change the title to "automatic vs manual transmission" or something similar to avoid having a biased poll. Naming it "Manual Transmissions" will get more clicks from people who prefer manual transmissions to begin with.

 

The last stick that I had was a Cavalier 4 banger with 4 on the floor..Real fun car to tool around in..
Broke my heart when the body rotted out and the jack went through it..

 

This'll freak you guys out. Stick - shifted with left hand

 

Good point. Automatic only for towing just about anything. Especially boats; you know this if you’ve ever hung around boat ramps (great entertainment btw) and seen a few manual transmission/clutch disasters

 

I did love manual when I had it, until I spent 2-3 hours in traffic everyday.
Been driving auto for a while.

 

I like both. I drove standards for decades. Drive one in rush hour traffic for 10 years and get back to me. Good for the weekends but tiresome commuting. I own automatics now except the motorcycle. I'm putting a 727 auto in my truck with a 2500 stall converter behind a 485 hp 440... follow me with your standard.

 

I can drive a manual but I haven't had to in probably 15 years. And I'm good with that

 

I've never owned an automatic myself. My dad's final car was an automatic, I hated it as even in sports mode it was always changing up too early, but grew to like it when I discovered that it had a mode where the lever could be flicked forwards or backwards to make a clutchless up or downshift giving back control to the driver. My brother in law has had a few Mercedes (C200, E300 TD, CLK 280, 500 SL) all of which are nice to drive, much better than the only manual Merc I have tried.
My next car will be an automatic, but all production electric cars are.

 

Just the opposite for me, the thing I hate about driving a hire car on the continent is that I keep putting my left hand in the door pocket when I go to change gear.

 

My wife and I had manual transmission cars for the longest while. She drove a Subaru while we had young kids at home but over time moved up to a Boxter. I learned to drive a three on a tree on a summer job while in college. I worked at the Holly Patterson Home, a huge County run old folks home. White kids got assigned to security and transportation, never dietary or the laundry. That was then... My first Sunday in Security I was thrown the keys to "Ford 4", a 1963 Econoline and told not to bring it back until I could drive it. So out to the parking lot I went, Scary at first but I got the hang of it. So after I demonstrated I could drive Ford 4, I was given an opportunity to prove my worth making a run every two or three weeks to the landfill with a rack truck full of whatever had to be gotten rid of that didn't fit in a dumpster. That turned out to be a useful skill to have acquired. Nowadays, my wife and I still drive cars with "manual" transmissions, but they're different. One is a 7 speed dual clutch transmission where you can use paddle shifters or let the computer take over. Mine is an 8 speed that can creep in first and from then on either shift itself or take commands from the paddles. There's really a clutch there. You can feel the engine pull and sport mode shifts can be snappy. Truth be told, the computer can time shifts way better than I can and a more aggressive drive program is a tap away. I could never manage heel and toe downshifts. In sport mode, downshifts are regulated by your speed and the pressure you put on the brake pedal. How cool is that? I don't miss the shift lever at all. I appreciate technology that works better than my brain, hands, and feet ever could. The missus says she misses the floor shift but she always drove me crazy driving the Porsche in the wrong gear... but she had fun.

 

Same here. Several hours a day in Atlanta stop-and-go traffic made manual very impractical.

 

Automatics are the devil, akin to velcro sneakers... It's a slippery slope, I tellya...

Now where's that darn cloud...

 

I have driven manuals since 1975 and my time in the motor trade taught me automatics are great if you have a larger engine.
I have owned a Merc auto now for two years and I'd rather not go back to a manual.

 

ok story time

back in the early 80s i tried learning stick by driving a honda ccvc...yea it was before they changed the name ccvc to civic...i had a hard time getting it to go...once i did i had no problem...so much for an under 100 horsepower car

next a few years later i bought a car...it was a 67 chevy nova with a 4 speed...327ci and lots of power...i had no problem driving that car...too much car for a daily driver...a few months after i got it i sold it

about 90/91 i tried again...a friend had a late 80s nissan p/u with a 4 speed...problem getting started but once i had it going i never had a problem changing gears

thats about all my driving with a stick...mainly never pursued it as i have too much stop and go traffic situations so i opted for automatics

 

After driving a semi for 20 years, I don't mind an automatic at all. Although at my last job (2008), the boss thought it would be funny to assign me to the first automatic we received for the fleet. It wasn't funny at all, it was a freaking nightmare.