Why so many automatics in the US?

[ClutchDisc]

One word: Lazy.

Driving an auto is much harder for me...I haven't driven an auto for over a year and a half, and that was only for a month until I got my license. But if I try to drive an auto it's not good. It's totally foreign to me.

 

[supton]

Should driving be fun? Make a mistake, and you've got a 4,000lb missile on your hands.

I'm not sure that driving a large vehicle with a stick is "fun". But a small car with a stick certainly is. A big vehicle, I dunno, while making it lug down and work properly would be nice, it seems that big vehicles just don't have that vibe that makes you want to be all that connected.

Speaking of which, we have larger and slower turning engines. Fun to wind out a stick, less so to wind out with an auto--and kinda unnecessary when a big motor barely has to wind up in one gear to get the job done, then can just tick over the rest of the time in top gear.

 

[bigjl]

The Met Police and London Ambulance service have used automatics for immediate response vehicles since the 90's

Met did the research and LAS followed their lead

The thinking was as mentioned, with an auto you can devote more concentration to hazards and maintaining progress.

Anybody that has had to use lights and sirens with a manual box, which I have done several times, will completely agree with this.

You can't swap siren modes or indicate with one hand off the wheel.....and you might drop your Pepsi.

 

[A_Harman]

When I went on a business trip to England in 2009, I was at the rental car counter, and the salesperson said to me: "Do you prefer a manual or automatic trans...oooh, I see you're American, so you must want an automatic." (So that stereotype exists over there, and applies probably 90% of the time.) I asked for a manual, and got a 6-speed diesel Ford mid-size sedan which I found to be satisfying to drive. The left-handed shifting part of it took some time to get used to.

The fuel economy advantage of manual over automatic has pretty much disappeared now, since 6, 7, 8, and 9-speed automatics with lockup torque converters have become common. But I don't own a vehicle with an automatic transmission. I like the involvement with the driving process that is inherent with a clutch-and-shifter car. I don't get tired of a stick in daily-driver use; all of the clutch modulation, gear shifting, and heel-toe downshifting have become subconscious processes with me, and I don't feel any mental strain in performing them repeatedly.

 

[DoiInthanon]

Originally Posted By: strat81
Texting and driving a manual trans while eating a Big Mac is, like, totally hard.

Winner. Winner. Shut down this thread.

 

[supton]

When we rented a car in England I specifically asked for a manual, and the woman at the counter looked at me a bit oddly... Afterwards I did regret it, I had my hands full! Major jet lag, controls all in the wrong place *and* they drive on the wrong side of the road. All of which I would have been fine with, except I was not prepared for how they mark the roads, nor those roundabouts. Not completely relevant, other than I didn't have problems keeping up on the A-whatever in a 1.6L(?) Focus. I thought it was rather slow accelerating (meaning my 1.9L Saturn SOHC would slay it) but it cruised at 80mph just fine (and that was what was required in the slow lane).

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: A_Harman
I like the involvement with the driving process that is inherent with a clutch-and-shifter car. I don't get tired of a stick in daily-driver use; all of the clutch modulation, gear shifting, and heel-toe downshifting have become subconscious processes with me, and I don't feel any mental strain in performing them repeatedly.


I rarely dislike driving my stick, even in traffic; the only time it's an issue is when traffic decides to roll at 2mph--my Jetta idles at 5mph.

I gave in though and got an evil automatic for my tow vehicle. My "legendary" Jetta was useless for moving my camper in the yard. All that torque is useless when reverse is higher than first, and you want to go slow while backing uphill! Burning out a clutch does not appeal to me; I don't think of them as routine replacement items. [I'm still mad after replacing mine at a young 249k.] If I could get stupidly deep geared manual transmissions I might well have stuck with an all-stick fleet.

 

[DoiInthanon]

Nothing new. In 1978, I bought a Corvette. I ordered a stick. Later I found out the production run that year was just under 50,000 Corvettes. Of that, 4,000 were sticks. Remember thinking, who are these people buying Vettes with automatic transmissions. Still have mine. No major problems except the disc brakes are high maintenance.

 

[Rand]

try living in half the united states and not driving, its about as much indulgence as having a job(which is not at all)

sure some parts of the US you dont even want a car..but those areas are usually very urban with good public transportation, and bad/horrid traffic

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? I'm not representative but I see it as an indulgence, a luxury and a hobby.

 

[itguy08]

Originally Posted By: Olas

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.


Driving a stick gets to be an automatic thing - something you do without really thinking.

But why I gave it up after 6 years and around 95k - I got tired of it. My commute at that time was 45 minutes, majority of it in bumper to bumper. It was a constant stop, 1-2 shift, stop, 1-2, maybe 2-1 or 1-2-3, stop, 90 minutes a day. Got old after a while.

Quote:
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.


Which is why I sort of love the auto in my Taurus SHO. When I want to shift through the gears or beat the computer I drop it in M and flop the paddles. It will hold the gear while you bounce off the redline, has rev-matched downshifts, etc. Pretty much the best of both worlds, IMHO.

 

[Falken]

I would prefer to have a stick shift in an appropriate car. Such as in a Mustang or something.

But for my personal use, with only city driving, it is just tiring in our lousy Montreal conditions.

A stick shift isn't going to make our pothole laden roads "funner", no matter how much a stick makes you feel like Mario Andretti.

A stick shift in a POS econobox in Montreal? I'll pass.

In Quebec a stick shifter also knocks the resale value of a car down disproportionately more that the initial higher cost, as does trying to sell a car that has no A/C.

And besides, sports cars are all abandoning the stick shift, including Ferrari. F1 cars are all autos.

I do prefer to drive my automatic with a buggy whip on my lap though, so we all have our quirks.

 

[DoiInthanon]

Another thought(my quota for the day). Euro manual transmissions are a joy because of the tight linkage. The fun factor is not as high when you feel like you are stirring the gears rather than selecting them.

 

[actionstan]

Without automatics how would we ever focus on using our iPhone in one hand texting, and eating McDonalds with the other?

just kidding! Honestly I am torn, my Saturn is a 5 speed, the Forte is an Automatic, I prefer one over the other at certain times.

I will think a manual is much more fun when your in the mood for it, and if you have a sporty car I see no reason for it not to be manual.

On the flip side the automatics bring a lot to the table too, you can be less distracted by shifting gears if you are driving somewhere you are not familiar, its "typically" a smoother ride vs a stick shift(depending on the driver of course) and in bad snowy weather, I would always prefer an automatic.

reliability issues and less MPG are somewhat a thing of the past with automatic transmissions.. at least to some degree..

 

[itguy08]

Originally Posted By: strat81
Texting and driving a manual trans while eating a Big Mac is, like, totally hard.


Then you are doing it wrong. When I had my 86 Mustang with a 4 speed stick and no cupholders I could eat breakfast and drive. You put the coffee between your legs, eat with 1 hand, steer with your knee and shift with the other hand. Probably not safe at all but it got the job done.

 

[DoiInthanon]

Originally Posted By: itguy08
Originally Posted By: strat81
Texting and driving a manual trans while eating a Big Mac is, like, totally hard.


Then you are doing it wrong. When I had my 86 Mustang with a 4 speed stick and no cupholders I could eat breakfast and drive. You put the coffee between your legs, eat with 1 hand, steer with your knee and shift with the other hand. Probably not safe at all but it got the job done.
Dude! Coffee between your legs? Makes hitting second at four grand a real painful experience.

 

[Falken]

Oh, I read about people renting stick in the UK?

I don't think I could ever drive stick in a RHD car, no way.

And all those cars with their pretentious horns beeping at me when I stall it in traffic??

I'd just let someone else drive.

Just imagining driving on the wrong side of the road and shifting with my left hand makes my mind explode.

If you can pull it off and you are from NA, I am truly impressed!

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted By: strat81
Texting and driving a manual trans while eating a Big Mac is, like, totally hard.


That is exactly why I bought my son a manual when he started driving!!

 

[EA82]

They don't make a lot of manuals so people don't have much of a choice ( or maybe it's a supply and demand thing ).
I Know Cobras come only manual ( at least 94-04 models, im not aware of the new ones).
Driving a manual has the advantage of nobody but ME drives my car, (and by nobody I mean my wife ).

 

[MichiganMadMan]

My take on this:

Arrow straight roads (at least away from the mountains, which covers millions of acres here).

The DOT fell in love with stop lights, this results in traffic being a "batch flow" rather than a "continuous flow". People also accelerate at no more than 15% throttle up to speed, meaning you can't exploit any "fun" factor a manual trans might have.

90 degree intersections and the "tree of death" mentioned above being erected to prevent forward progress of traffic. Traffic circles and roundabouts used in Europe allow more potential for continuous flow. To say Americans are confused by these is an understatement. They put in a new one a year or two ago, I could hear the horns honking. Once people get used to them though, the improvement in traffic flow is dramatic.

Traffic on expressways and "freeways" often crawls at a pace where you have to slip the clutch, or leave a gap between you and the person in front. In this part of Michigan, if you leave a spot large enough for a whole car in front of you, a jerk (or several) will take it.

The "old fossil stoplight creep", where someone comes up to a regulated intersection and slows without stopping. This results in multiple clutch engagements for a single regulated intersection, in order not to leave a gaping chasm in front of you (that elicits horn honks here). Go to Phoenix this time of year for continuous demonstrations.

But the WORST BY FAR:

General lack of interest in the driving process. Given the above facts, most people have NO IDEA the performance abilities of their car. The "driving" instruction here should also be called "How to Obey the Traffic Laws" because that is what is taught. I fault many of my fellow Americans for their general lack of skill, but it's probably a combination of an absence of need and lack of education. Driving here is something you "have to do" in order to do the things you want to do when you get there.

Cars are an appliance. The most popular colors for cars here are white, black and silver. JUST LIKE YOUR FRIDGE.

Everyone has Facebook updates to get in, tweets to send, lunch to eat, baskets to weave rather than driving their car. This was enabled by many of the above factors, and seems to get worse with every generation.

Some more ranting:

The first mass production motorcycle (not a scooter or a super-scooter) I saw with an automatic transmission (the Honda VFR 1200) really made me sad. Until now, someone who rode a motorcycle had to learn how to run a clutch and change gears. Now that you can skip that, any brain donor can buy and run a bike.

I drove my Subaru STI to a party at my sisters house, and went to the store to get a replacement for a dish that went wrong with my dad, and left my keys because I was last in line in the driveway. It took us longer to do the errand than expected, and I got frantic phone calls from my sister. Of the 11 people there, NO ONE could drive a manual. Disappointed!

 

[DemoFly]

Originally Posted By: strat81
Texting and driving a manual trans while eating a Big Mac is, like, totally hard.

Like omg super hard. My parents bought me a manual because they don't love me like, they want me to like, suffer.