Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
One thing I have always liked is you can keep the engine in it's powerband range much easier. If you want it to shift, you'll shift it. If you don't, you leave it. Nothing worse than a auto that is going in and out of gears all on it's own. Big deal, I'm 46 MPH....I don't want overdrive for that when I'm trying to climb a hill.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I prefer manuals and I wouldn't want it any other way. My first two cars were manual trans, then I had my G35 which was a 5 speed auto (it was a deal that was too good to pass up) and I quickly realized how much less pleasant it is to drive. Now I have my 6 speed manual trans Genesis Coupe and I'm in love again!
That's not necessarily true anymore. And it depends on the car.
Quote:
more power,
Transmission don't make any power. They transfer power from the engine to the rear axle.
Quote:
SUPER reliability. I have owned 23 cars in my life, and only three have had automatics. Both of my vehicles I have today are 5 speed, stick shift models.
A well-engineered and well-built automatic transmission is also super reliable.
Just wondering, does anyone even drive a stick shift anymore? why? what are the advantages?
I understand they're better on gas, also, you have better road control if you do a lot of mountain driving, but for the average driver, why even bother with a stick?
Hi MaryleeII--
This has probably been beat to death before but I'll list my reasons:
1) Saves gas. At least if you don't drive like a tool. I've test driven both automatic and manual versions of the same car and gotten 20% better mileage in the manual.
2) Hands on the wheel (or on the shifter). That means you aren't yakking away on the phone.
3) More control. The last thing you want when trying to make tight turn at speed is for the transmission to change gears on you.
And here's a new one: It sounds better.
I bought a Prius to save gas and it comes with the new CVT transmission. There's absolutely nothing heroic whatsoever about a CVT.
"Quick, this frozen kidney needs to get to the hospital in three minutes or poor Johnny dies!"
You peel out, and all everyone else hears is the "RRRRRRRRRR" of the CVT at full speed. Nothing heroic about that.
I will add that modern AT's are much better than they were even last decade. I drive a stick and prefer it but I can't ignore that automatic transmissions are starting to eclipse manual's when it comes to fuel mileage (and are still improving). The commonly used average drive train loss figures (15 and 20 percent) are no longer as relevant either as I've seen multiple dynos indicating that many modern AT's are experiencing sub 10% drive train loss. Everything is more efficient and a lot of it has to do with today’s fuel economy requirements. From a racing perspective, good automatics and DCT's can outshift even the fastest humans.
Dont care how good modern ATs are. I dont like electronics and gadgets doing things for me. Im very old school in that regards and that goes for most things not just cars.
I hate auto cancelling turnsignals, auto windhsield wipers, auto headlights, auto temp controls, auto sound leveling from the radio. I hate ESC, TPMS, throttle governing, limp mode, and the fact that most modern cars have zero physical connection to the throttle and transmission. I even go through extraordinary lengths in some cases to disable the stupid seatbelt chime. Yes i always drive with my belt, i just don't want/need a stupid chime to annoy me the second the belt is off.
I LIKE shifting, I LIKE being able to downshift from 5th to 3rd to get the hell outta the way when i need to, I like the instant feel of whatever input im giving the car and not having to wait for the car to decide to react to my input. If I had to live with a manual choke I wouldn't mind that at all. All of my yard machines and my motorcycles have it, its no big deal really.
Can I get all the reaction and control I want out of a modern AT...probably. But considering that I refuse to pay more than 10k for any of my commuter cars (25-35k miles/year), it will be a LONG time before I can take advantage of any of this "modern technology" when I can simply have a MT in my hands right now.
And MERC...i dont care that you love your ATs, I get your point that some people have made uninformed statements, but get over it. Winning a fight on the internet is like winning a gold medal in the special olympics. You may win, but your still "Special".
1) Saves gas. At least if you don't drive like a tool. I've test driven both automatic and manual versions of the same car and gotten 20% better mileage in the manual.
You either drove the automatic much harder or you were testing a 20 year old car. Modern autos get about the same MPG as a manual driven like a grandma. However most people get manuals so they DON'T have to drive that way. So odds are people with autos are probably getting better MPG than those with manuals.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hensleya1
2) Hands on the wheel (or on the shifter). That means you aren't yakking away on the phone.
Bluetooth is a standard feature on most cars today. Most phones have speaker option. Bluetooth headsets.
And most people seem balance the phone on their shoulder when they talk and drive anyway. Having to shift doesn't prevent someone from using their phone.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hensleya1
3) More control. The last thing you want when trying to make tight turn at speed is for the transmission to change gears on you.
This is correct. Though I drove many automatic cars and never had a situation where this was presented an actual problem.
Just wondering, does anyone even drive a stick shift anymore? why? what are the advantages?
I understand they're better on gas, also, you have better road control if you do a lot of mountain driving, but for the average driver, why even bother with a stick?
I drive a stick shift for every day driving. Why? Because I prefer it. It is better on gas than its automatic counterpart, but it also makes more efficient usage of engine output than an automatic car would. When I step on it, the power is right there, there is no lag time in waiting for the automatic transmission to figure out which gear it needs to be in, I have already anticipated what gear I'll need and put it in there.
I was actually in an automatic car today where that shift lag made an otherwise perfectly safe maneuver (merging into 20 mph rotary traffic) a bit uneasy when the power to match the traffic speed wasn't there when I expected it to be (the car was still in second gear, even at 8-9 mph on approach), not an issue in my standard car.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
