Standard Transmission?

[SolarFlare]

Thanks Diesel So ya mean your standard has a clutch?

 

[vtunderground]

Oh! I just remembered another thing I love about stick shifts.

When you're driving anywhere but the highway, it's impossible to (safely) talk on your cell phone! I wish more people drove stick shifts, inattentive cell phone users **** me off.

 

[ABTOMAT]

I prefer manual for regular driving, but I think automatics have their place in the world. I'm surprised VTunderground mentioned off-roading as a plus for manuals. Usually I've heard autos are better for rockcrawling--no clutch slipping or jerky takeoffs. You can cool an automatic transmission, but not a manual clutch.

The biggest inefficiency with autos is the TC, not the shifting. You don't get a direct connection to the wheels until it locks at speed.

 

[Diesel_Bomber]

Mr. Flare-

Yep, my standard has a clutch.

Years ago I had my clutch linkage break on me. Turned out to be four ~$2.50 parts, but couldn't get to it at the time. Was ~500 miles from home. Couldn't engineer something, couldn't afford to have a shop fix it there. So I drove it home turning off the engine at every stop and restarting it in first gear to go, and floating all the gears. Luckily it was mostly highway, not much shifting.

Glad I'd be able to afford to have it fixed now, that was NOT a fun trip.

 

[nerdgineer]

BTW, putting in a new clutch used to be simple and inexpensive for typical rear wheel drive cars. Nowadays, it is quite complex and expensive to do in front wheel drive cars, so they've become less interesting to me now. An automatic with good servicing (every 25K miles or so for $50 each) should outlast 2 clutches (every 80K miles at $700 or so for FWDs around here) easy, although YMMV...

 

[tebore]

BTW, putting in a new clutch used to be simple and inexpensive for typical rear wheel drive cars. Nowadays, it is quite complex and expensive to do in front wheel drive cars, so they've become less interesting to me now. An automatic with good servicing (every 25K miles or so for $50 each) should outlast 2 clutches (every 80K miles at $700 or so for FWDs around here) easy, although YMMV...

Yeh no kidding, either having to pull the engine out or droping the Tranny/axle assembly or both.

 

[James S]

I far prefer driving stick. But it SUCKS for driving around town in rush hour traffic and with picking up and dropping the kids off everywhere for the next few years that is going to be my life. Also it's just not possible to drive and shoot properly while driving stick I also needed my wife to be able to drive it and if I keep this car as long as I did my last car my daughter will be getting driving lessons on it. And while I learned on a stick, she doesn't need to though I will teach her to drive one. My wife can drive stick, I taught her, but if she has to drive it while I"m in the car too, an automatic is better

So my latest car is my first automatic and I'm really OK with that. You can put almost all modern automatics into "auto-manual" mode where you click up and down to change gears, it's not good for reglar driving as it's slow and mushy, but for something like downshifting into a stop which I always do or downshifting prior to passing someone or something or forcing it to stick in 3rd going up a hill that works fine.

So my little red Mazda 5 is an automatic. The 5 is unique among wagons/mini-vans though in that it is offered with a manual 5. So if you're a guy with a family and refuse to go the full sized mini van route, you could check out the 5 with the manual transmission. I drove one before I bought the auto and it was really cool!

 

[Flying Turtle]

Don't CVTs have a belt which may or may not last the life of the car? By the way, I learned to drive a manual on old "3 on the tree" Falcons, Darts, Larks, and Chevy IIs that my father had for company cars. He'd let me go up and down the driveway when I was about 12.

Geoff

 

[BigHonu]

Love shifting my own gears! Too bad no one makes a minivan with a stick...

 

[Biker Bear]

Oh! I just remembered another thing I love about stick shifts.

When you're driving anywhere but the highway, it's impossible to (safely) talk on your cell phone! I wish more people drove stick shifts, inattentive cell phone users **** me off.

Actually, I think it's people wanting to do all kinds of things they shouldn't be doing while driving (using a cell phone, eating, putting on makeup, etc.) that is part of what's driven the stampede to slushboxes.

As someone who's nearly been run down by idiots on cell phones, I'm with you on that. I've been told that in Australia, they have two officers per car - because down there, even the cops aren't allowed to drive and operate the car radio! I like that.

 

[PEU]

Funny, I used manual cars all my driving life (20 years) and now that I can afford them, I said my next car will be automatic

Every time I went to the USA and rented automatics I loved them, Im a city guy, in my last 6 years of owning the actual car (mercedes A-class) I did only 4 long trips (1000km / 600mi)

Driving an automatic car in a crowded city is far more relaxing than shifting all the time.


Pablo

 

[Delvance]

I've been told that in Australia, they have two officers per car - because down there, even the cops aren't allowed to drive and operate the car radio! I like that.

Yet, just the other day...i saw a cop driving and talking on his mobile phone (cell phone to most on this forum) by holding it...wasn't even using a earpiece or anything

Between manuals and autos...tough choice for me. I think i enjoy both styles the same amount. The manual sure can get boring during traffic though. And as for auto boxes, depending on the programming and the torque available on the car, they can also be very entertaining, especially if you select the gears yourself instead of using the gas pedal.

That said, i am driving a manual car atm, because it is fun playing with the gears and engine, plus it gives faster 0-60 times (unless you're comparing a manual to a DSG box equipped car etc). I used to drive an auto and that was actually just as entertaining though, although the box was fairly dumb on that car so it would hold onto a gear if i selected one, even bounce off the rev limiter, would happily downshift to 1st doing 30km/h, wouldn't go gear hunting and it was fun having a torque converter at red lights.

 

[James S]

Love shifting my own gears! Too bad no one makes a minivan with a stick...

Didn't I just say? Take a look at the Mazda 5! They DO make it with a stick! It's a little bit smaller than the traditional minivan, so it still might not meet your needs, but it's fantastic for me.

 

[LouRoy]

I've driven manual transmissions all of my life. When it came time to teach my daughters to drive, they were taught on a manual transmission. We had some fun :huh: , but they both learned and now are so proud that they can drive a stick and none of their friends can. Both of them currently drive cars with manual transmissions and much prefer them to automatics.

We are a dying breed, though. Last I heard, less than 10% of the cars made have manual transmissions.

 

[Martin]

A (German) friend of mine had visited the US. He met a girl at a NY pub and they talked abt cars. When she found out he drives a standard, she became very interested in him. She considerd him to be some kind of god, beying able to drive a standard at his rather young age.

Most cars in Germany are standard though environmentalists are now calling for more automatic ones. The new automatics are indeed more economical than standards (while they cost a bit more to buy plus another bit more for the tax due to increased engine power, so not for me).

My father once bought an automatic. Soon he learned that it was difficult to control on ice and snow. This car didn't have the fancy electronic stabilization they use today. Well, he never bought an automatic again and never will.

Is it possible at all to descent a long, steep mountain road with a heavily-loaded automatic ? The brakes alone couldn't absorb this, the engine combustion would have to help.

Standard transmission is one thing - what about an unsynchronised standard transmission ? Gearing up is easy, gearing down is where the fun starts. Anyone driving an unsynchronized transmission ?

 

[robinhood4x4]

As one of the resident off road experts here, my preference is auto tranny under certain conditions. Off road a manual tranny tends to be rough since you have to rev the engine to start out on a steep hill. But at the same time you want to go as slow as possible so that means slipping the clutch. You learn what the smell of burnt clutch smells like pretty quick.

An auto tranny is much smoother at slow speeds. I've never overheated my auto tranny off road. The downfall is that engine braking isn't very good because the torque converter allows too much slip.

Here comes the conditional part. A popular mod is to adapt 2 transfer cases so that you have double 4 low. Basically instead of the usual 10 forward speeds you have 20. The crawl ratio goes from 60:1 to over 200:1 depending on what gears you put in. Some people even have triple cases. Put it into 4 low low and you are litterly crawling along with so much torque that your brakes won't stop the truck.

Under those conditions the manual tranny has an advantage over a normal auto tranny. Going up an obstacle is smoother and going down an obstacle is more controllable because of engine braking.

But then again, people are now putting dual transfer cases in auto's too.

Many people in the off road world swear by manuals however and would never touch an auto.

For my daily driver I prefer stick because it's so much more fun. Unfortunately, the wife can't drive stick.

 

[tebore]

Having driven both, people who swear one over the other really just have an elitest attitude.

Instead of thinking you're good because you can do one thing that the 90% of people can't do is so easy to do. Doing something that 90% of the world knows how to do but doing it better is a better feeling.

I can push an auto car as hard as I can push a manual car making the car do things that people otherwise don't think is possible or common(Thank you BMW driving school). Has anyone tried Heel toeing an auto? It's just like driving a manual except you have no clutch. Keeping the revs up while still slowing down.

I applaud those who can drive with skill and finese. Not becuase you can drive a stick but because you can drive it well. You haven't really driven until you take those race car courses.

The only real advantage that a manual has over an auto is a clutch.

 

[bruddamoke]

I prefer manual to auto, just because I've been driving them almost exclusively for the past 14 years. I just bought a Mazdaspeed6, which only comes with the 6-speed manual tranny anyway. I think part of the reason I got a good deal is that the market for a manual tranny car is smaller, so the cars don't move as fast. Dealer was happy to work on the new car price, but did not want to deal as much on the trade-in (another manual). Took it anyway.

 

[bfg9000]

I tend to buy cars that are only available with manuals, but actually prefer auto.

The requirement is the car must have so much power that modulating the wheelspin would be difficult with a manual (and usually result in a lot of broken parts from the shock loading). While there's nothing like being able to spin all four tires continuously on pavement in a smoky 4-wheel burnout, aftermarket programmable traction control like the RaceLogic units allow you to accelerate away as quickly as traction allows just by tromping on the gas in "D." Using traction control with a manual isn't nearly as pleasant because it usually results in a bog or just feels like its misfiring...

So it is the opposite of what you'd expect: a manual for daily driving and an auto for weekend fun. But the daily driver must be reliable and get good fuel economy, while the toys do not.

 

[SolarFlare]

As one of the resident off road experts here, my preference is auto tranny under certain conditions. Off road a manual tranny tends to be rough since you have to rev the engine to start out on a steep hill. But at the same time you want to go as slow as possible so that means slipping the clutch. You learn what the smell of burnt clutch smells like pretty quick.

I disagree, I drive off road and get paid for it

and I'm in UK so my work vehicle is bound to be manual. Hit a slope pop it in gear an off it trundles, looks a bit muddy? engage diff lock low range an then pop it in gear an off it trundles. No gas it just goes, landrovers always have wether its old series ratchet throttle or new versions with emc they know when the revs drop (ie problems) an compensate. Get yaself one of these.