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Saw in another thread a couple of people get excited about manual vehicles. My wife and I personally won,t drive anything else. We will admit it can be a bit of a drag in peak hour traffic, but other than that a manual keeps your mind on the job at hand and makes driving fun.
So which one excites you?:)
Manual! More control, more power (no power lost through a torque converter), more fun, forces you to focus on driving. My next vehicle will be a stick for sure.
Driving is for driving--not texting, watching youTube, eating etc! :soapbox:
I say manual. You wouldn't want to ride an automatic motorbike. Unless you were somehow mentally deficient.
But my wife can not drive a manual car, so our car is auto.
my boat has sails...
Manual all the way. I hate not being able to feel what the car's doing.
Manual, as God intended it.
Manual, no servo. Never had anything else.
I'm all about the joy of driving. Getting behind the wheel and feeling the feedback. So I'm going with manual. My dream car is a 1966 Shelby Cobra and you know that's manual.
Well I'm in the UK where automatics are pretty rare. Don't know why that is really.
My late father had an auto back in the early 70s that I drove occasionally. Last time I tried an auto I nearly caused a crash by hitting the big brake pedal with both feet, depressing the non existent clutch as well as the brake!
Don't know about over the pond but here in the UK, if you take your driving test on an auto, you can only drive an auto. Take on a manual and you can drive either.
As mentioned above, the only time I could see an auto being useful is in heavy, stop start traffic.
Gareth
Same here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Galopede
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.
I drive a 1950 buick special with a 3 on the tree, there is nothing better than hearing the 1st to 2nd gear wind up.
DEFINITELY manual. Although I'm confused at people talking as if you can't get manual with cruise control? My jeep is manual with cruise control. (of course I had to add cruise control and convert from auto to manual).
I'm daily driving a Caddy STS now which unfortunately isn't available in a manual. It's near impossible to find Manual transmissions in anything other than sports cars here in the US, and its even rare in them.
I still have a 73 Porsche, 96 Jeep, and Harley Sportster all of which are manual so I can at least get my "fix". Back when the jeep was an auto, and was my only vehicle I was going nuts. Always stomping the floor looking for the clutch etc.
It depends on the car. Overall I like manual, but I enjoy a quality automatic. It's nice to just down and go sometimes. I'm also finding that automatics are cheaper to work on and more abundant.
I've always driven manual though my current car is auto only because my wife wanted it that way.
What's more interesting is a manual without syncromesh and driving a truck where you have to double clutch. that separates the men from the boys.
You my friend are a LEGEND!Quote:
Originally Posted by freebird
WOW! Taxi riding in Bancok. So your into extreme sports? I,ve tried a couple, but never quite had the guts to try that one.Quote:
Originally Posted by ndw76
I have difficulty driving the wife's auto. I am often stuck pulling on the keys to get them out of the ignition. She will laugh at me and throw it in Park and pull out the keys.
Obviously, I was already in the space. Why on earth do I have to tell it to Park just to pull the dang keys out?
This is also a problem in Australia. My wife is ubout to update after 15 years. The choices nowdays are very limited here its either a little run around, wife hates them so their off the list or 5.7 litre chevy powered Holden SS Commodore (on l.p.g so its better for the enviroment and the wallet) I get the feeling I will be forking out for another Commodore!Quote:
Originally Posted by bbshriver
MMMMMM maybe I can work a new bike for me into this deal somehow?:)
Manual all the way.
Even among the large (10k lbs) trucks I have driven, I prefer the manual.
Control is everything.
The only times I can see an automatic being advantageous in terms of performance are in drag racing (which I don't do) and in rock crawling (which I also don't do).
However, if I were to need a vehicle like a minivan, things may change.
I would love to have a manual, but my job almost requires me to have an automatic. Having the best of both worlds in a semi-automatic is very enticing.
In Europe we are moving towards all cars having stability program, which is one step further from Anti-Lock braking. It senses conditions such as gross oversteer and automatically applies one or more brakes to correct the situation.Quote:
Originally Posted by Oglethorpe
Virtually all vehicles have dispensed with a throttle cable ie. a direct connection between your foot and the throttle plate.
BMW have ceased to use a throttle at all to control engine speed on some models, electronic control of the inlet valves is used instead.
To be honest with traction control, stability program, throttle intervention and various other state of the art vehicle systems, control of the gears is probably the only thing left after the steering wheel.
The car you just described sounds extremely boring.Quote:
Originally Posted by welshwizard
I prefer a manual. I like having the control over the RPM's and where I am in the torque and power bands. I've actually hardly driven autos, since I learned on a manual and my family and I have only owned manuals. A manual transmission is one of the elements of my ideal car, and even on the super cars that I drool over while watching Top Gear, the "flappy paddle" gearboxes are a huge turnoff.
I definitely agree with choosing the RPM range to shift. An automatic that I enjoy for that aspect is the CVT2- it doesn't shift. It gives surprisingly good power throughout the rpm range without the flat spots of the typical automatic.
Back to the thrill of manual however. In a rare instance, I drove my truck yesterday. Traffic here can be terrible, and people don't like to let other drivers in sometimes. It can be troublesome when driving my wife's little four banger, but my truck has zero issues with the interstate here (except for standstill traffic!). I run it throughout the whole RPM range and I'm hauling ass in no time. Speaking of, I beat a Cobra the other day. I suspect he didn't quite know how to use his vehicle, but it was a fun little run.
I was looking at a car this weekend with "paddle shifters". I think I could compromise with this idea.
Working for BMW, I've had a bit of experience with flappy-paddle trans'. When the Bavarians first introduced them, it was like the very first military tank. Crude, but it got the job done. Now having driving the latest M3 mated with an SMG (Sinquential Manual Gearbox), the shift is literally instantaneous. I'm pretty sure we're under 100 milli-seconds for shift time.
I've driven a few different makes/models with manual transmissions, but I really have to say that BMW is the sweetest. I can't pin it down to any one thing, either. The whole manual system just works so effortlessly and is in tune with your whole body. It becomes second nature, really.
As a car (and Top Gear) enthusiast, I have to choose a standard gearbox over the auto or paddle-shifted ones.
Since when is it "driving" when it's an automatic being used?? Did I miss something?
Quote:
Originally Posted by natepaint
Unfortunately for that notion, the use of the full rpm range is already available with the use of most automatic transmissions. You know that lever you slide to select "P", "R", "N", "D3" etc? Well, if you want to rev out first and second gear, put it in "D1" for the launch, and slap it in "D2" when you're ready to shift.
The real reason that a manual will always offer more control is because of the user-operated clutch.
At any moment, the user has control over what percentage of engine torque is transmitted to the transmission. This is the key difference.
Notice I didn't write anything previously about a manual performing better in common conditions. As was said before, modern performance oriented automatic transmissions have the capability to shift far faster than a human user. Faster shifts, quicker acceleration.
There is one area in which the manual transmission shines. Ultra low-grip situations where outright speed is not the goal. Think icy roads.
I'll keep my manual for the street. But, if I had a pure race car and a large budget, a dogbox would be my choice. Faster shifts than a typical manual but with the option of clutch use.
manual !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!