Manual or Automatic?

[x Alex x]

Just curious as to what people prefer and why.. a manual car or an automatic one?

I prefer automatic's if i'm honest, for an everyday car they're brilliant, specially in traffic. i totally get manual gearbox's in sports cars/track day cars etc, i just can't see why the majority seem to prefer manual gearboxes in low powered run arounds. i know you don't have as much control of the engine/gearing with an automatic but does it really matter in an everyday run a round?

A car to me now is just to get me around, i don't care about going fast in a car anymore, i have a bike for that, saying that the punto is a manual.

the one thing manual's have going for them to me is they tend to be stronger gearboxes and do better MPG, although with modern automatics, it seems they're doing better than the manuals! (my mam's panda dual logic V my punto, 2mpg difference)

After being in Canada where 80/90% drive automatics it got me thinking, do people just prefer what the majority drive and know best? a lot of my mates think i'm daft for preferring automatics calling them terrible when next to none of them have even driven one

what's your thoughts?

 

[Eklipze3k]

I've driven an auto once as a courtesy car, it was a Proton Satria Neo and I actually really enjoyed it for what I was doing with it - mile munching - it was perfect, but for every day driving I just prefer to be fully in control of the car. Automatic gearboxes are just another 'gadget' designed to make life easier but you know it will inevitably break - like power steering, aircon, ABS, TCS, etc etc etc and require specialist tools to fix.

 

[x Alex x]

I've driven an auto once as a courtesy car, it was a Proton Satria Neo and I actually really enjoyed it for what I was doing with it - mile munching - it was perfect, but for every day driving I just prefer to be fully in control of the car. Automatic gearboxes are just another 'gadget' designed to make life easier but you know it will inevitably break - like power steering, aircon, ABS, TCS, etc etc etc and require specialist tools to fix.

fair point.

for me, i don't really care about being in control of the gearing in an every day car, as long as it goes it doesn't concern me.

some auto boxes are better than others, on the plus side they don't have a clutch to burn out, but that's usually the extent of problems you'd get with a manual whereas with an automatic, when they go, they go properly but most will get way past 100k miles without causing problems.

my dad put 140k miles on an old vauxhall carlton auto many years ago and it was still going when he got rid :O

 

[Shadeyman]

I like large luxurious cars and an auto box is a must, give me a Maybach Exelero and I'd be a very happy man.

 

[mzhussein]

small (cheap) car - manual

big-ish car - auto

as for the you loose power/control with auto....get the one with the next size engine up, problem solved.

dad's got 3 auto cars...previa, carina and 525i....all of them smooth as silk (the japs are only 4 speed lol) but sooooo nice and easy to drive...

 

[Soleil]

Depends if it is in a big car or a small car. Most small autos seem to take too long to change gear, I have only driven about 5 and I only enjoyed driving one of them. actually that ratio works with most small cars for me.

Big autos (which I have driven more of) are great for use on long drives, used to drive between High Wycombe and Chesterfield and autos where great for eating the miles, esp if they had cruise control, lazy driving is the way forward.

 

[jenks69]

I have both and don't really care which I drive, but both have advantages and disadvantages.

The auto annoys me when it comes to pulling out of roundabouts and busy junctions - lacks get up and go, unless you use turn off eco mode then it's just about passable, but to get anywhere quick off the mark you have to use 1st 2nd then D - might as well use the manual but that said I've driven an auto 3k miles in 10 days going over some awfull roads and terrain and in and out of all the major cities and towns on route, I'd have not been a happy man to do that much driving in a manual!

I have a manual in my daily driver pug and I don't mind it, clutch is light and it's 2nd nature to use the gears, but after lots of driving in traffic or city centres I just get bored... if people learnt to drive sensibly it would make like easier! If every one in traffic creeps along in 1st gear it's much easier - but when you get nobheads charging up and pushing in everyone accelerates and brakes every few yards :bang: that's when I want the auto......

Landy has a manual but I'd much prefer it to be automatic for daily driving, the clutch is very heavy and the distance from the top of the clutch pedal to underside of the dash is less than the length of my lower leg so my knee gets smashed several times per trip.

If it was auto I'm fairly sure I'd have better off road capability as when in gear it always has forward drive - thus less likely to stall / encounter a duff gear change and end up with wheel spin etc... a conversion is possible but can't afford it for a long time to come would also make moving from low ratio to high ratio much much easier, it requires black magic to perfect smoothly when towing something a bit heavy. Although saying that with an auto I dread to think what sort of mpg I'd get also not sure that the power to the wheel response would be as quick thus no where near as fun, for traffic light's and the times when 4 wheel drift and sideways action is perfect for a spot of stress releif

SWMBO however hates all aspects of driving, and goes for the auto everytime - unless I am driving then asks that we take the pug or landy

I got the pug in manual mainly because it gets great MPG and is a fair bit cheaper to insure. also the cost of the auto put it well and truely out of my price range in the purchase costs.

So I give thumbs up for both!

 

[dave]

Depends if it is in a big car or a small car. Most small autos seem to take too long to change gear,

try an ecvt box no lag at all, perfect for a small car.

i prefer auto coz if one leg dies you can use the other, also don't see the point in doing some thing yourself if a car can do it for you, years ago people said they didn't want pas because you cant feel the road now nearly every one has pas, one day nearly everyone will drive an auto

 

[x Alex x]

try an ecvt box no lag at all, perfect for a small car.

i prefer auto coz if one leg dies you can use the other, also don't see the point in doing some thing yourself if a car can do it for you, years ago people said they didn't want pas because you cant feel the road now nearly every one has pas, one day nearly everyone will drive an auto

bang on Dave!

i'm in for anything that makes my life easier, i don't mind driving a manual but the next car will be an automatic, the punto's such a good little car, 40 odd k miles and FSH no point getting rid just yet

 

[Shadeyman]

One day we wont have to drive, the car will do that too.

 

[Eklipze3k]

Besides which, electric engines tend to only have one gear so even we do have to manually drive the car it certainly won't have any gears to worry about.

 

[m20b25]

The more I drive my automatic car, the lazier I get They do have advantages and suit big engined luxobarges mind you. Still prefer the manual, very few autos can provide a driving experience as good as a manual

 

[dave]

One day we wont have to drive, the car will do that too.

Google Car: It Drives Itself - ABC News - YouTube

f*** focus already parks its self but on the advert there is a man driving it, that cant be right :devil:

 

[x Alex x]

very few autos can provide a driving experience as good as a manual

that's what i'm saying though, run arounds aren't for a good driving experience they're just to get you from a to b or to work etc, so anything that makes all of that easier, to me has to be better.

i know what you mean though, my bmw was an auto and i got soo lazy, you can eat and drive too

 

[Eklipze3k]

I must be wierd then because I enjoy my drive to work, because the car is fun to drive, I don't want it to be easy because then I become lazy and - by proxy - complacent...

 

[x Alex x]

I must be wierd then because I enjoy my drive to work, because the car is fun to drive, I don't want it to be easy because then I become lazy and - by proxy - complacent...

i do enjoy driving but i don't need to change gear to enjoy it either, or give the road my full attention.

i'm happy to take anything that will make my life easier.

 

[wegi]

Manual is for real drivers. Car enthusiasts.
Automatic is for people that just drive to get places and aren't bothered about much else.

 

[maddogmorg]

If it was auto I'm fairly sure I'd have better off road capability as when in gear it always has forward drive - thus less likely to stall / encounter a duff gear change and end up with wheel spin etc... a conversion is possible but can't afford it for a long time to come would also make moving from low ratio to high ratio much much easier, it requires black magic to perfect smoothly when towing something a bit heavy. Although saying that with an auto I dread to think what sort of mpg I'd get also not sure that the power to the wheel response would be as quick thus no where near as fun, for traffic light's and the times when 4 wheel drift and sideways action is perfect for a spot of stress releif

In an Automatic, i thought you don't get engine braking? you NEED that for offroading, though something tells me they have some sort of system for hill descent etc?

Don't think i could ever have an automatic, through choice. Engine braking is something i like doing along with the feeling of control of the car balanced in a corner without risk of changing up or down. and the physical act of changing gear is nice in itself. I can see the advantages in a city car perhaps where queing is inevinitable, but fortunately i don't do much of that!

My car does have an overdrive though :slayer: So you flick the switch to change up in 3rd and 4th. Which is ok for lazy cruising but you don't use it for pushing on, though to be fair it is mounted on the dash on the righthand side of the steering wheel, and taking right hand off the wheel feels quite wrong, if it was ontop the gearstick as per later models it might be different though.

 

[Kier]

In an Automatic, i thought you don't get engine braking? you NEED that for offroading, though something tells me they have some sort of system for hill descent etc?

I've done one of the 4x4 driving day things in a automatic. No problems whats so ever.

Thats the only time that I've spent any time in a auto, driven one around a car park to park it, felt really strange...and kept using my left foot for breaking!

 

[DlightSwitch]

I grew up with automatics, parents have (mostly) always had them. Then I started to get more into racing/drifting/offroading and realised the importance of a manual gearbox, and also a clutch. That's why I've always bought manuals, and I always will. I've driven some really smooth autos, including an S-Class, and some really bad autos (which were all american ) where the gear changes felt like a kick up the backside, but either way I'd rather have a manual, even if it was a Maybach. If I did spend that much on a car, I'd certainly want the pleasure of driving it.

In an Automatic, i thought you don't get engine braking? you NEED that for offroading, though something tells me they have some sort of system for hill descent etc?

You can engine brake by shifting it down from D into 3/2/L etc, but it will strain the gearbox more. Some more advanced off roaders, and some land rovers have it though, I used the hill descent option in a freelander once.