Thread: MANUAL or AUTO? which one floats your boat!

Yup, also in germany.

Manual definately! I live in London and my last car was an auto and, to be honest, I got a bit bored driving it because there was so little involvement. Just stop, go, left and right and no need to listen to what the engines doing.

I had a manual Honda Civic a few years back that had VTEC (8000 rpm red line!) and it was so much fun to flick through the box up to the red and decide exactly when to change gear. So when I bought my new car a few months back it had to be a manual. Especially as its a 3 litre drop top, no point in having a sports car with a slush box on it after all!

Living in London, I sometimes get sick of the whole clutch in-out dance when stuck in traffic that crawls, but once I'm on the open road or motorway it has to be manual. More control and power when you want it, immediately, not two seconds after you floor the pedal.

That said, when I visit N. America and hire a car I do get a kick out of the different driving experience -- auto and cruise control.

The whole London/outside London thing had me considering one of those hybrids which are auto and manual when you want. Anyone got some experience of those?

[Whenever I talk to a mechanic in the UK about auto vs manual they always tell me that repairing a gearbox on an auto is much more expensive than a manual, and the clutch etc. tends to wear out quicker. So there's an economic reason too.]

If I'm a passenger I prefer an auto. Because I live in Thailand, and Thai taxi drivers don't know how to drive, manual mean getting sea sick by the time you get where you are going. Thais love to ride the cluch. Sometimes it is funny to watch someone drive who really has no idea what they are doing.

Stick definitely. I once drove a stick with one foot, the left, gas, clutch, and brake with only the left foot. Had to, I had no driver. I had just had minor surgery on my right foot and needed to keep it elevated. I did get some weird looks as I drove my Suzuki Samurai, through city traffic, with one foot on the dash.

Now this one epends on what I'm driving, and for how long. I prfer a manual car if it is a zippy thing and pun, but it might as well be an automatic if it is an underbowered boat. For larger trucks and buses and for lon trips on the open road I like an automatic. Most manual busses still have to be double cluched and thats a pain. For long long drives I like setting the cruise and going plus being able to move a bit and stay fresher which you can't do if you are going to mneed both your feet at any time.

I've had both manual and automatic transmissions over the past 40 yrs of driving. I've got one of each at the moment. I prefer automatic transmissions, especially in heavy traffic, which if you live in the South-East of the UK, is most of the time.
The problem with manual transmissions is that on very powerful engines a large clutch plate clamping force is reqd, which can result in a very 'heavy' clutch pedal. Certainly driving Aston Martin manual cars in the seventies was no fun in traffic. Modern clutch design has helped somewhat. My daughter's partner's car is the Porsche 993 Turbo with a servo assisted clutch pedal, which helps a lot. The previous 964 Turbo was murder on the left leg.
Probably the best solution for road cars is the 'Tiptronic' transmission.

In the US, if you pass your driver's test on automatic, you can drive anything (passenger cars). Three of the five cars I've owned have been manual. I prefer it for the same reasons as everybody else -- being in control of the gears.

1986 Nissan 300ZX - Automatic
1999 Jeep Wrangler - Manual
1998 Cadillac Eldorado - Automatic
2001 Corvette - Manual
2008 VW GTI - Manual

I'm back in the market for another Vette. Hopefully next year.

i wish my lancer was manual! though it is very nice when going on long trips. i am first an foremost a motorcycle guy so i am so used to manual i had to get used to auto.

i will say though, i LOVE cruise control! sure i never use it in the cuty but my city isn't very big. i had a truck that didn't have it and it sucked.

I've owned both. For me it depends on the vehicle. The '66 GTO, the MG, the 240SX are fun with manuals. Several of my trucks have had manuals also. The mini-van (I'm now past that stage in life) and the current Infiniti are fine with automatics.
Many vehicles in the US do not offer manual transmissions as options once you go above 4 cylinders, and I don't think you could find a Caddy, Infiniti, Lexis or even a Buick with a manual.