Wow, this thread is old. Most people posting in it will probably never read the later responses, like this small novel (novella, novelette? Hahaha). Oh, well...
I prefer a good manual transmission in the right car. Key word: good. There's a lot of rubbish out there. There are also a lot of rubbish automatics. BUT... there are a lot of good ones, too, some stock, some modified.
Automatics were luxury items to start with. The reason we have so many of them now is that the general public believes they are entitled to every luxury feature in a car, no matter the price point. Since automatics being a luxury feature retained their value more, people didn't want to buy standards because they were harder to sell later.
Since automatics were luxury items, they were also designed, for the most part, to shift smoothly, which meant a lot of slipping. The average luxury/automatic buyer would complain about harsh shifting if the transmissions did NOT slip.
Luckily, in a lot of cases, that can be fixed with a simple shift kit. Drag racers found that out way back in the '60s. the big domestic automatics (TH350s and TH400s, C4s and C6s, and Torqueflite 727s) could be beefed up with aftermarket parts the same way the engines and suspensions could, and shift faster and more consistent than any person could, making them quicker than their manual transmission counterparts. The built automatics with their planetary gearsets could also handle more power/torque than the hypoid gears in a manual transmission. So early on, musclecars and built automatics became the hot combination.
For sports cars and road racers, transmissions had been manual for a long time. Automatics came into being about the same time drag racing did, but road racing was around since cars were first made. Manual transmissions were the only choice because, well, there
were no other choices, so there was tradition to be had (and to show how powerful tradition is in road racing, it took years for disc brakes to catch on in international road racing due to manufacturers like Ferrari stubbornly sticking to what they knew worked for years). Early automatics also had heat related issues withthe fluids overheating easlily in long distance racing (not a problem with drag racing). And of course, early automatics used a lot of horsepower to operate, and with international road racing having race car classes down to 500 and 750cc engines, there was often simply not enough horsepower to be had to work an automatic.
And lastly, and most importantly, while drag racing was done in a 1/4 mile straight line virtually every time, the only dialing in to match the track was carburation for elevation, and rear end gearing to match the engine with the mass of the car. In road racing, you had to match the car's engine's powerband and car weight to a lot of differnt tracks that had different elevation changes, differnt length straights, different corners, etc. What that meant is that for every track, a race team needed to have a lot of different gearsets on hand to match the gearbox and engine with how the track needed to be run. And a gearbox manufacturer (like ZF, Coletti, Getrag, Hewland, etc) had to make one gearbox that could mate to any engine in any car, and have hundreds of differnt gear ratios avaialble that could be easily swapped at the track (or at elast in the garage before heading to the track) to be able to match any car, any engine any weight and any track. Easy to do with a hypoid manual gearbox. Almost impossible to do with a planetary gearset in an automatic. A couple road racers tried automatics early on (like Chaparrel) to try and get the inherent advantages of quick shifts and no missed shifts, but in some cases, rules were made banning them, in others, they were unable to overcome the heat issues.
Anyhow, what does this mean now? It means that since traditionally, sports cars had manual transmissions, and sports cars were about fun in the twisties, the average person has now equated sports cars, twisty roads, and manual transmissions as a single entity. And since the average person has never expereinced an even mildly modded automatic transmission as found in so many drag race cars, they think the ONLY way an automatic transmission can be is like in mom's Accord or grandpa's Buick.
I find it amusing sometimes that car enthusiasts will go on about how they can modifiy their car's engine to make more power, or make it more efficient. How they can modify the suspension to make it handle better, or stop better. How they can customize it to make it look better. They will pick a car that has potential in all those areas, even if it isnt' fast stock, or doens't handle perfectly, stock, or needs a brake up grade, stock. BU%T, when it comes to the transmission, how it came, stock, is the
only way it could ever be, and all automatics are necessarily the same as the worst one they've ever driven.
As I said, I prefer a good manual transmission. Pretty much ANY small engine car needs a good manual to get the most out of it. But a larger engine car, a muscle car, or a luxury car, can benefit from an automatic without any of the drawbacks. Every car I've bought new has had a manual transmission, two of which I made sure were so equipped, and one ONLY came with a manual (my SVT Contour). I'm spending extra time and money installing a manual transmision behind the Lexus 4.0 liter DOHC V8 that I'm installing in my '63 Mercury Comet convertible (the Lexus V8 never had a manual transmision offered behind it, and the Comet had an automatic behind the stock 260 cid V8). BUT, my daily driver BMW 740iL has a very nice automatic with lock up torque converter, and I've installed built automatics behind powerful V8s in drag race, road race, and autocross competition cars (from the built C6 behind the 460cid V8 in my Fox Mustang, to built TH400s in older chevy's adn Pontiacs, to the modded AOD 4 speed automatic in my V8 RX7 autocross car). Actually, in a big engine autocross or road race car, I prefer a built automatic for speed of shifting, consistency, and power handling.
http://home.comcast.net/~adesso/rex3.wmv
Yes, that car had a built autbox, and if I wanted to, it would bark the tires into every gear including overdrive. It would shift manually when I wanted to, up or down, instantly with no lag. It didn't hunt for gears, even in automatic mode, but was easy to drive on the street in full auto mode.
Most people don't have "more control" over their cars with a manual, even if they think they do. And the implication is that if you have an automatic, you're not in control, you're just a passenger. Shifting takes up barely 1% of your driving time, less if you use the interstates often. Steering, braking, and accellerating take up considerably more of your time. I'm in complete control of my 740iL or that RX7 with an automatic. it goers exactly where I want it to, when I want it to, how fast I want it to. I have no less ocntrol over getting from point A to point B be it on a commute or on the track than any of my manual transmission cars. And on the street, on the commute, there's really no additional fun to be had by occasionally moving your left leg. And I got over the "look at me, I
shifted! Oh, look, I did it
again..." phase years ago. Executing a perfect heel and toe downshift entering a corner in a sports car can be rewarding, yes. Been there, done that. Will do it again.
But it's simply no longer necessary to be able to do it in a commuter or street car in order to consider owning or even driving it. As I said, I still prefer a good manual, and will buy/build more, as in so many applications, it's the better choice. But I also LIKE a good automatic, and in the right application, a good autobox can be superior.
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.
