Why so many automatics in the US?

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Olas

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I might be wrong but aren't the majority of cars in America auto? Do you guys generally prefer automatic to manual?

Whats the reason for the US auto vs. Europe manual bias?

IMO, automatic is easy to drive but boring, and being less involved gives more opportunity for being distracted whereas a manual is more involved, more precise and lets you control the car better. From a maintenance standpoint I'd rather change a clutch than rebuild an auto, but thats personal choice.

People are creatures of habit and its easy to go with what you know, but what happened at the start of mass production that caused the uneven distribution we see today?
 
Up here in the Upper Midwest I find that four-wheel drive vehicles with automatics are easier to drive in our winter driving conditions.

I would prefer a manual transmission, four-wheel drive vehicle but they are difficult to find up here, or you have to order a very expensive option.
 
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Perhaps I represent a typical American - I love to drive but don't fancy moving a shift lever and left foot hundreds of times each way on my commute. Sure, it's fun for a while but it would get real old real fast with a couple of dozen stops to make each way, day after day.

And I would turn the tables on your concentration argument. Seems to me constantly shifting gears correctly takes its own concentration, which distracts from driving. If all the shifting is automatic, your full concentration can be directed to potential obstacles.

I like to manually shift my automatic on occaision for fun, but I sure am glad it'll do the work for me 90% of the time.


I'll bet the reason Europeans embraced manuals is that they used to be more fuel efficient - more gears than the typical automatic. Important since fuel in Europe is so much more expensive, and probably has been for a long time. But nowadays, many automatics in the US provide just as much or greater fuel efficiency than their manual counterparts.
 
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First off, "the majority of cars in America auto" is the understatement of the year. I'd guess 95%, and I'd take the over if that was the number to bet on.

Gas here is cheap. Cars here are big. Big stick shift cars aren't very "fun" to drive. Highest selling car in the US is the Ford F150... not available in stick. Most importantly, people who shouldn't even be riding a bike drive cars here, while talking on the phone no less.

There is little benefit to longevity, and even if there was to a person buying a new (who will likely not keep it until it's scrapped) why would they care? It will be more difficult to sell and be worth considerably less.
 
My guess is that manual tranmissions are more popular in Europe because they're cheaper and give better gas mileage. There are a lot of city cars/sub-compacts running around in Europe and people want to keep the cost down, so they forego the auto trans option. With gas also being very expensive there, they want to squeeze out as many MPG as they can.

In America, I'd say that as soon as automatics got more gears (they were 2 and 3-speed autos for a long time!) and things like overdrive, it became the more attractive option. Additionally, old automatics were awkward, such as having to actually turn the car off to shift into reverse.
 
Originally Posted By: dparm
My guess is that manual tranmissions are more popular in Europe because they're cheaper and give better gas mileage. With gas also being very expensive there, they want to squeeze out as many MPG as they can.


Just not true anymore.
 
Originally Posted By: kam327
Perhaps I represent a typical American - I love to drive but don't fancy moving a shift lever and left foot hundreds of times on each way of my commute. Sure, it's fun for a while but it would get real old real fast with a couple of dozen stops to make each way.

And I would turn the tables on your concentration argument. Seems to me constantly shifting gears correctly takes its own concentration, which distracts from driving. If all the shifting is automatic, your full concentration can be directed to potential obstacles.

I like to manually shift my automatic on occaision for fun, but I sure am glad it'll do the work for me 90% of the time.


Changing gear isn't any more effort than moving the steering wheel hundreds of times on each journey, and using the clutch is only as much of an inconvenience as either of the other pedals. On the concentration point, we're talking from our own relative experience where I feel bored if you take one of my pedals away but you feel hard done by if you have an extra pedal and an extra lever to operate because it's different to what we're accustomed to.

Do you ever feel impatient or frustrated when your auto either takes too long to shift up, shifts at the wrong engine speed or doesn't know to shift down as you approach a corner? Apart from the boredom, those were the only things that stood out in my mind from the few times I've driven automatics.
 
Originally Posted By: kam327
Originally Posted By: dparm
My guess is that manual tranmissions are more popular in Europe because they're cheaper and give better gas mileage. With gas also being very expensive there, they want to squeeze out as many MPG as they can.


Just not true anymore.



Okay, care to say why? I know that auto trans is a no-cost option on some cars, but definitely not every vehicle. We've also got auto transmissions with more gears (and CVTs) to negate the fuel savings of a manual, but with a weight/complexity penalty.
 
I don't know why Americans overwhelmingly prefer automatics. All I know is that I start laughing when they're trying to rent a car in Europe.
 
Originally Posted By: kam327
Originally Posted By: dparm
My guess is that manual tranmissions are more popular in Europe because they're cheaper and give better gas mileage. With gas also being very expensive there, they want to squeeze out as many MPG as they can.


Just not true anymore.


Which isn't true? They are cheaper. They don't give better results on the EPA tests, but historically they've had a huge advantage in fuel economy. In the US in the 90's it didn't matter, gas was under a buck a gallon.

One other thing to consider, and I don't want to sound like a jerk but I might, but when I've rented compacts in Ireland the power really wasn't there. An automatic would have been a liability. I was downshifting to 3rd gear on hills. In the US where a family sedan might have 270hp the parasitic loss of an automatic matters considerably less.
 
Texting and driving a manual trans while eating a Big Mac is, like, totally hard.
 
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Smog. A person can't lug an automatic or it'll downshift. Lugging makes crazy amounts of NOx which the US is concerned with but the rest of the world is not so much. This is also why diesel cars are rare here.

First we took the stick shifts away, but we still demanded our engines perform cleanly under all possible scenarios. This brought throttle-by-wire so we can't slam the throttle closed and have a momentary rich burp go through the system.
 
Originally Posted By: strat81
Texting and driving a manual trans while eating a Big Mac is, like, totally hard.


I think you have the correct answer!
 
Originally Posted By: strat81
Texting and driving a manual trans while eating a Big Mac is, like, totally hard.


quote of the year!
 
Originally Posted By: Olas
IMO, automatic is easy to drive but boring, and being less involved gives more opportunity for being distracted whereas a manual is more involved, more precise and lets you control the car better.

That's exactly why most Americans want an automatic. They want cars that allow them to be distracted, and not worry about the inconvenience of driving.
 
Originally Posted By: whip
Originally Posted By: Olas
IMO, automatic is easy to drive but boring, and being less involved gives more opportunity for being distracted whereas a manual is more involved, more precise and lets you control the car better.

That's exactly why most Americans want an automatic. They want cars that allow them to be distracted, and not worry about the inconvenience of driving.


Is that a commonly held sentiment among US motorists that driving is an inconvenience? I'm not representative but I see it as an indulgence, a luxury and a hobby.
 
In New Zealand autos were very rare, and like power steering and air con were considered some soft old man option. But now we source so many used Japanese cars, autos are probably more common than manual now.

I ride a motorcycle - changing gear adds to the concentration...being in the right place at the right time, the correct gear, the correct speed for the corner etc. I guess that's another reason for so many autos in the US, a lack of corners.
 
Originally Posted By: Silk
In New Zealand autos were very rare, and like power steering and air con were considered some soft old man option. But now we source so many used Japanese cars, autos are probably more common than manual now.

I ride a motorcycle - changing gear adds to the concentration...being in the right place at the right time, the correct gear, the correct speed for the corner etc. I guess that's another reason for so many autos in the US, a lack of corners.


I think we have a winner with the lack of corners remark.And I totally know whaere you're coming from with road position, speed, gear selection etc. all adding to the experience
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Olas
Originally Posted By: whip
Originally Posted By: Olas
IMO, automatic is easy to drive but boring, and being less involved gives more opportunity for being distracted whereas a manual is more involved, more precise and lets you control the car better.

That's exactly why most Americans want an automatic. They want cars that allow them to be distracted, and not worry about the inconvenience of driving.


Is that a commonly held sentiment among US motorists that driving is an inconvenience?

For a vast majority, I'm afraid it is. A car is thought of as an appliance that takes you from A to B. It's a necessary evil, and as soon as Google makes the self-driving car a viable option, the major market for it will be the US. Most people I know in the US just don't think of driving as 'fun'. Then again, most of us here sit in gigantic traffic jams on our daily commutes, so it's no fun regardless what transmission you have.
 
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