Why Don't people enjoy driving a manual trans??

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Hello, For simplicity I rank the features of both:
AUTO.............................................................. MANUAL
Smoother on drivetrain....................................Rougher/Jerkier
Less fatiguing
Frequently brief but economical lifespan.........Longer life (generaly)
Minimal maintenance.......................................Negligible maintenance
Less involvement/safer....................................Possibly distracting/dangerous
Really improved operation...............................Very few bought-Expensive to offer-Bad business model-Adios (too bad)
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
Hello, For simplicity I rank the features of both:
AUTO.............................................................. MANUAL
Smoother on drivetrain....................................Rougher/Jerkier
Less fatiguing
Frequently brief but economical lifespan.........Longer life (generaly)
Minimal maintenance.......................................Negligible maintenance
Less involvement/safer....................................Possibly distracting/dangerous
Really improved operation...............................Very few bought-Expensive to offer-Bad business model-Adios (too bad)


Now manuals are DANGEROUS? Give me a break! Nanny State Alert!
 
We have 3 vehicles and all of them are manuals. I would consider an auto if I ran into frequent heavy traffic, but I don't. Manuals are definitely more enjoyable in day-t0-day driving for me.

We may eventually end up with an automatic. When we buy my wife a different car in another year or so we may be considering certain cars for her that only come in automatic.

I feel bad for people who are forced to buy automatics because of their wives or girlfriends. My wife has been driving manual trans cars for years.
 
Originally Posted By: Clubber_Lang
Off topic but are things as bad in Detroit as they seem from articles/photos/video? From what I've seen you'd need some armour plating ala Mad Max to weld onto your truck for drives through scenic downtown.

Hahaha no, it's not that bad! I live outside of Detroit, but I am in Detroit every day.. It's definitely not scenic though!
 
I love driving a stick as much as the next guy, but you don't live in a major city. My commute is stop and go traffic, not the kind of traffic where you can sit in neutral. It's constant stop and go from millions of people here running around. That's the reason for a lot of people, but if my Camry were a 5 speed, I'd tough it out.
 
Originally Posted By: Bluestream
Originally Posted By: Clubber_Lang
Originally Posted By: sicko
I enjoy driving a stick, but my current car was only available as an automatic. I keep saying I want to get a project car that's fun to drive and has a manual transmission. That way I can enjoy working on a car, and have fun driving a stick whenever I take it out. Only problem is there is always traffic around where I live, so you only get to enjoy driving a stick in short bursts.


Heavy traffic is no issuue (to me) Whats the big deal, when your stuck in traffic put it in neutral.


Its the 5000 shifts in and out of neutral that are the killer...



This. If I could just put it in neutral and sit, that'd be one thing. But it's the constant stop and go as you crawl down the highway that starts to annoy you after a while.

But like I said, i keep looking into getting a second car with a manual transmission for fun. I can work on the car to keep fixing it up, and I can enjoy driving a stick when I get the chance to actually move the vehicle for more than 5 feet at a time.
 
Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
Considering the state of the Main Street economy you would think the incentive to save at least 1000$ on a car by selecting a manual would be a no brainer. Heck then the cost of maintenance goes way down as well, and the longevity of that manual box is going to be quite a bit longer than the auto/CVT/DSG anything, it could last three times longer.


As with anything mechanical it depends how it is used and maintained which effects it's reliability and life.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
The Grand Cherokee was only offered with a manual gear box in 93 and 94.


Nope. The manual gear box was just a option on the striped down 2wd models in just those years. They all had the 4 speed autos as standard equipment. After the the 94 model year no manual.
 
A further comment on driving enjoyment.

For most of his life, my Dad was a typical "I'll just get comfortable A-to-B transport" guy. His cars over the years:

- Chevy Malibu
- Ford Taurus
- Lincoln Continental
- Acura 3.2TL

Then, after a lot of very careful persuasion, he bought a BMW 128i.

His commute is about 45 minutes each way. It used to be something he just kind of lived through, like everything else. Now it's something he looks forward to. That means his 128i has converted 1.5 hours of every single work day from tedious to rewarding. That is a LOT of recovered time, especially for a successful working professional.

Dad's 128i isn't manual, but his experience speaks volumes about what a difference it can make to have a car that lets you enjoy your time on the road.

FWIW.
 
Driving a stick lets me control the vehicle. I drove a friend's Cayenne with the manual shift /full auto trans. the manual mode was the laziest shifting p.o.s. I have ever driven.
 
When I saw my Accord on the lot with a stick, I knew I had to have it.

I hardly ever see any other M/T 2008-2012 Accord on the road. People are blown away when they learn it's stick.

It's a blast to drive every day and it's all mine.
 
I drove a manual for 5 years. Haven't driven one in a long time. Just today I got stuck in traffic and I think I went about a mile in about a half hour. It also sucks if you're injured. I remember once my left foot was injured and it was painful to shift, Just did 1st or 2nd gear in the city. At least with an auto, I had a right foot injury once and then just started driving with the left foot. Took a day or two, but I got pretty good with the left foot too, couldn't do that in a manual. Plus I think a manual is actually more expensive than an automatic. I've still got the same automatic and I'm close to 200k, a manual you'd replace the clutch, pressure plate and throwout bearing as a normal part of maintenance in that time period. Some can get one to last a long time, but I don't think a clutch would last that long in stop and go traffic whereas an automatic will. Regular fluid changes are much cheaper than a clutch.
 
I shift 18 gears in a commercial semi for an average of 2800 miles a week. The last thing I want to do is shift a manual trans in my pickup. After over 30 years of shifting gears in commercial trucks, if I order up another one it will have either the new Allison TC10 automatic or one of the automated manual transmissions. If you had to deal with heavy loads, heavy traffic in Chicago, Detroit, etc every week, you would not be so inclined to feel so favorable about manual transmissions. Driving my pickup, be it for going to town or around the property, should be somewhat of a pleasurable experience. Shifting a manual messes that up.
 
Originally Posted By: TiredTrucker
I shift 18 gears in a commercial semi for an average of 2800 miles a week. The last thing I want to do is shift a manual trans in my pickup.

I drove split axle stuff for farming in my youth. Obviously, I didn't do it anywhere near as much as you do, so I'm not completely sick of it. However, I got so used to extremely high torque/low rev applications, a manual in a "normal" car is different enough to bug me.
 
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