Stick or Automatic???

[Broo]

While I do prefer manual transmissions, I have driven very poor stick shift transmissions and some excellent automatics.

My daily driver (2005 Toyota Echo) is a 5 speed and drives very nice this way. When we met, my wife had a slightly older Echo with automatic transmission that did a very good job. She even had lower RPMs than me on the highway. She now has a 2004 Sienna CE (base model), its 5AT is very smooth. On the other end of the spectrum, my 2006 Ford Ranger is also 5AT, but this transmission is a letdown. If the ECU is reset, the transmission becomes acceptable. After the ECU "optimizes" the shift pattern according to your driving habits, it becomes a mess. Shifts lazily, 1st is awfully long and 4th is barely used before it upshifts to 5th. When you floor it to downshift, it seems like some negotiating takes place between the ECU and the tranny, and after a very long voting session by the members of the Gears Society, it agrees to proceed.

Overall, I prefer driving manuals, except in heavy traffic, which happens rarely to me.

However, to those like me who prefer stick shift, let's enjoy it while we can as each year a few less models are available with one. Sure, modern ATs have caught up and even surpassed MT efficiency, but I sure will miss the good old times. I will always keep one polluting, non-efficient, unconnected, non-autonomous and stick shifted car for my week-end "therapy" drive where I let the week's steam off. Currently (and hopefully for a long time to come) this job belongs to a 1984 Toyota Supra, 5MT of course.

 

[ls1mike]

I love having a manual, but traffic to get on base in morning is killer, stop and go to get through security. So I like having an automatic then.

Won't give up my six speed, by the automatic makes the morning easy.

 

[supton]

I test drove some lousy stick shifts. Chances are, their automatic versions were more lousy--but being stickshift doesn't automatically make it a good vehicle. My '11 Camry is kinda lousy--vague clutch, long shift throws, and the rpm's don't drop when you let off the throttle--have to get off before pushing the clutch.

I still like stick but my beater is an automatic and I'm starting to get used to it. But it's a 4AT and with so few gears it really doesn't have much to chose from. City driving is of course a bit easier.

 

[opus1]

The Sonata is my only automatic; the rest of the fleet is manual and I like it that way.

 

[Smokescreen]

Some manual transmissions really are terrible. Some are great. Same with some automatics.

Pure manual cars are all but going extinct in North America. You have to really look to find them or special order. Almost all sports cars, hyper sports cars are PDK or other flippy paddle automatic shifting transmissions which can shift faster and with more accuracy than any human...yielding faster 1/4 mile times and track laps. Today's muscle cars are available with automatic variants, H-cat, Demon, 2018 Corvette ZR-1 even. Buses and many big rigs are automatic as well. The longevity of well built automatics can exceed those of manuals. Some automatics yield better fuel economy as well.

Manual transmissions, nostalgia of rowing through the gears on specific cars extruding the power from each RPM. 3rd world countries are almost exclusively manual transmissions on cars that we can't even get.

I learned and had manual cars for half my driving life. There are specific times where a manual would be entertaining to drive. For all the other times an automatic is just better for me.

 

[PandaBear]

With the traffic jam here I'd totally pick auto. Stick used to be more efficient and have more speeds but today's 6+ speed auto are very good, it really has no point in choose stick. Pick a reliable auto and call it a day.

 

[gofast182]

I used to only buy cars with a manual transmission. I have absolutely no regrets about the ZF 8AT that my 340i (as well as many other RWD cars from Dodge to Rolls Royce) has. It is tremendously capable. It's smooth as can be in normal driving situations and it can bang up-shifts like a champ when using the paddle shifters in Sport mode. All of this while shifting faster than I can my S2000. At times the S2000 can be more fun but with cars getting more powerful, lighter, and having better brakes, thus requiring shorter reaction times from man and machine, I can appreciate why automatics are becoming preferable to a manual *when done properly*.

 

[MCompact]

Originally Posted By: gofast182
I used to only buy cars with a manual transmission. I have absolutely no regrets about the ZF 8AT that my 340i (as well as many other RWD cars from Dodge to Rolls Royce) has. It is tremendously capable. It's smooth as can be in normal driving situations and it can bang up-shifts like a champ when using the paddle shifters in Sport mode. All of this while shifting faster than I can my S2000. At times the S2000 can be more fun but with cars getting more powerful, lighter, and having better brakes, thus requiring shorter reaction times from man and machine, I can appreciate why automatics are becoming preferable to a manual *when done properly*.


When I took my 2er to Putnam Park I just set the car in Sport+ and the transmission in Sport. I never touched the paddles, and there were maybe two places on the course where I might have done something different. The ZF8 HP is a great transmission; I like it better than the DCTs found in the M2/M3/M4.

 

[SeaJay]

I learned to drive a stick. That skill and $2.75 gets me a ride from one end of the NYC subway system to the other end, and back again if I want.

I'll stick with the automatic tranny's which are pretty darn good, at least on the vehicles I've owned the last two or three decades.

 

[gofast182]

Originally Posted By: MCompact
Originally Posted By: gofast182
I used to only buy cars with a manual transmission. I have absolutely no regrets about the ZF 8AT that my 340i (as well as many other RWD cars from Dodge to Rolls Royce) has. It is tremendously capable. It's smooth as can be in normal driving situations and it can bang up-shifts like a champ when using the paddle shifters in Sport mode. All of this while shifting faster than I can my S2000. At times the S2000 can be more fun but with cars getting more powerful, lighter, and having better brakes, thus requiring shorter reaction times from man and machine, I can appreciate why automatics are becoming preferable to a manual *when done properly*.


When I took my 2er to Putnam Park I just set the car in Sport+ and the transmission in Sport. I never touched the paddles, and there were maybe two places on the course where I might have done something different. The ZF8 HP is a great transmission; I like it better than the DCTs found in the M2/M3/M4.

Oh agreed. I've not had mine on track but I don't assume I'm smarter than the hundreds or thousands of man hours that went into programming the driving modes. The only reason I ever use the paddles is a quick downshift if I see a cop ahead or when I want the thrill of that extra jolt on upshifts that it won't even do in Sport+.

Someone earlier said auto for a daily and manual for performance. That simply isn't the case anymore. There are any number of cars whose automatic versions are now handily outperforming their manual counterparts. I'm not saying manuals are now bad or we shouldn't have the choice, simply that the paradigm has unquestionably shifted (no pun intended).

 

[PimTac]

Automatic all the way. You could wear out the clutch on the interstate parking lots around here. Besides, my Mazda auto matches revs when downshifting as I can put it into manual mode and still leave the left foot on the rest.

 

[DriveHard]

Preference...

Cars = stick
Trucks = auto

 

[bunnspecial]

Manuals for fun, autos for the daily commute.

I can and have driven a manual in stop and go traffic. The first half hour usually doesn't bother me. After that, it's down hill.

BTW, the only manual I currently have is doubly theft proof because it also has a manual choke

 

[MCompact]

Originally Posted By: gofast182

Someone earlier said auto for a daily and manual for performance. That simply isn't the case anymore. There are any number of cars whose automatic versions are now handily outperforming their manual counterparts. I'm not saying manuals are now bad or we shouldn't have the choice, simply that the paradigm has unquestionably shifted (no pun intended).


Exactly! Manuals used to be faster and get better fuel economy- now in most cases the opposite is true. If someone had told me back in the '70s that I would own a car that ran the 1/4 mile in the high twelves and averaged over 25 mpg I would have thought that they were insane.