Manual or Automatic


Manual or Automatic?  

354 members have voted

  1. 1. Which type of transmission do you prefer?

    • Always an automatic
      74
    • Automatic for daily driving, stick for weekends or sports cars
      72
    • Stick shift normally unless it's really heavy traffic or for a pure family car
      38
    • Stick shift in nearly all cases with rare exceptions
      46
    • Stick shift always
      124


Recommended Posts

The eternal debate on which would you prefer to drive? A stick shift or an automatic. There's lots of different reasons why people prefer one or the other but what's your view with these 5 options?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also prefer a stick shift and would probably not switch to an automatic unless I really needed to do other things while driving that required a free hand, like eating food or holding a map. (which is really not recommended to begin with ;) )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Manual all the time... Even in daily driving theres always a point where you can nail the throttle and have some fun. I Mean if the auto has a sports mode then maybe, otherwise, its not all that fun. I just like Manual more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Manual for the feel, power, and control. I love how it feels when you Know the car will do what you want, well not the car but the Engine.

Anyway, yeah Manual unless like stated above, you need a freehand. I just use a Bluetooth headset for my phone. I hate people that drive and talk on the phone, but bluetooth is out of the way and safe.

Cheers,

-Sikh.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

SMG is Both Manual and Automatic. It has no Clutch yet you can pull back or forward on the stick to change gears. It also has a Rev limiter and it downshifts on its own.

Ive heard about it, but there's no point. Paying so much for it. Because as of now, or as of what I know ITS only for BMW's. There's no point to it.

I would rather chooese Manual. But Thats me.

Cheers,

-Sikh.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of newer vehicles offer automatic transmissions that allow manual clutchless gear changes. My mom's Mazda 3 has it, for example.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Manual for me. I travel 150 clicks total a day for working. All highways or autoroutes. Heavy Mountain Area. So its a must when climbing steep 60 degrees incline. With my automatics I would be just about stopped when I got to the top. Better control in the winter for those damn slippery roads.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

it's both ways for me.

Automatic is nice because you can do so many more things in the car while driving.

Manual you could have a lot of fun with (unless you dont know what you're doing)

The down side to an auto tranny is the life of it.

My subaru has 93K miles and i notice a lag in shifting. I'm afraid I'll have to spend a lot of money on either getting a new one of rebuilding it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Automatic because I dislike shifting with the manual transmission and the automatic transmission is smoother for me, I can concentrate on other things when driving apart from shifting with the clutch and gear stick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If your a driver in the uk nothing but stick shift can do unless you drive on the moterways "highways i believe for americans" cos lets agree british roads have 90degrees turns and twists and 100stops and too tight parking, if you drive an atomatic it changes a gear then you slow down for a turn the gears change you put your foot down and bang its a racing track. not good enough control, and parking with a atomatic my god i tryed it a couple of times **** i nearly crapped it in my pants, rolling up and down half the street. plus all the cars in britain are stick shift hardley any atomatics unless your posh or a HGV driver. do u agree ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

... and SMG is??? For all us non BMW people...

SMG is a electrohydraulic sequential manual transmission. It is not clutchless as some people may say, because it does have a clutch. It does not have a clutch pedal but the transmission has a clutch; a computer controls it through hydraulics. Advantages are insanely fast gear changes and perfectly rev-matched downshifts at the push of a button.

BMW's SMG, Ferrari's F1 transmission, and Maserati's Cambiocorsa are all sequential manuals.

SMG shouldn't be confused with StepTronic. SMG is a true manual transmission. StepTronic is an automatic that lets you choose a gear.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They both have their place but I prefer a stick. I've come around on the 'stick is more to think about' in that I think that is a very good thing, especially for new drivers. It seems to me that autos make it too easy to get into bad driving/cornering habits and makes it tempting to drive/corner faster (but lacks the precision to get you out of a jam if something goes wrong).

Plus in traffic, you just gotta learn to putter right above the stall point in 1st and not keep riding the ass of the car ahead of you (safety)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.