Automatic vs Manual

[Dirtleg]

These may be valid in North America. Manual is the default almost everywhere else, incl. Europe...

My experiences in South America echo this statement. Even the rental cars are manual.

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[cush]

My wife would kill me if I bought an automatic. She only knows how to drive a stick.

Too funny! Those damn automatics are pretty tricky... :cheers:

 

[Blake]

Manual all the way for me! At this point in my life I can, and prefer to drive a Manual so I will. Later in life I will more then likely want a Auto's ease and comfort. I taught my girlfriend how to drive a stick on our brand new car 8 years ago. We bought the manual (5 speed) together and she had never driven one before. I taught her, she learned, sold the car with 234000KM on the ODO with the original clutch.

Now she gets to learn the 6MT with 627HP in the Mustang as a DD.

 

[cush]

Manual, but if Ford would have offered an automated manual, i.e. a manual gear box with a clutch but with no clutch pedal, like you find in a GTR (or even higher price cars), I would have gladly paid for it! This type of transmission is where the world is going and the cost will become much lower in the next few years.

 

[Husker]

 

[thehunterooo]

This thread again.

 

[Ron Avery]

While I don't have my GT yet! I am 57 and have never owned any car without a stick.
I like to drive the car, and not let it drive me. I know the days of the stick are coming to a close. I also know that some of the new auto manuals can shift faster than I can with a stick, but I don't care. I like the Precision and coordination it takes for a smooth up shift and a blip throttle down shit.i will keep buying the as long as I can.
Ron:clap2:

 

[Rhys]

Went with a manual. Best anti theft device!

Haha! Thats america for ya!

 

[Rhys]

All three of my mustangs are manual. I just love dropping a gear or two on the highway and letting the pipes sing!

Thats the fun of them. Just drop from 5th to 3rd and let it all go!

 

[Rhys]

Here are some quick facts:
- Manual transmissions are generally dead except in value/cheap or performance oriented automobiles.
- Fewer than 10% of all automobiles sold in 2013 and 2014 were equipped with a manual transmission.

Manuals are not dead, they are actually better than autos in the case that you are able to have more control, and that they are more fun to drive. 10% of manuals sold in america, not the other countries. In australia and many other countrys, more people tend to drive manuals.

 

[Ruckus]

This thread again.

Right? What's old is new is old is new is… Still fun to see the old arguments rehashed, though. opcorn: LOL

 

[SeventhWard]

I've driven and owned manual cars in the past and I wanted a Mustang with a manual transmission when I joined Mustang 6G. However after test driving the car with the stick, I ordered an automatic.

Was it fun? Sure. Aside from the clutch engagement point, which I found to be much too high, its a great setup. Shifter feels awesome. I closed my eyes and imagined myself on Angeles Crest Highway shifting the gears and hearing the V8 roar and I was in heaven. Then I thought of driving it to and from work in heavy L.A. traffic surrounded by people on cell phones, distracted, raging and unskilled for 5 days a week. Then I thought of going to grab groceries and other mundane tasks and I came to realize that my manual Mustang GT, for my lifestyle and my environment, ain't gonna be the like the guys in the commercials. I'm a city slicker.

The auto is more practical for me right now and I don't foresee myself regretting it. Having spent time with the last gen auto Mustang, I know that driving in D makes the car Clark Kent and shifting into S is for Superman. Having the paddle shifters gives me the best of BOTH worlds.

I'll miss having the factory Performance Package for 2015 but this is a Ford Mustang, the most modified car in the United States of America. The aftermarket will likely have something to get you there.

-SeventhWard

 

[DeepImpactBlue2015EB]

Just curious, how old are you? I'm seriously asking this question.

Here are some quick facts:
- Manual transmissions are generally dead except in value/cheap or performance oriented automobiles.
- Modern automatics have proven to be less problematic than manuals, and generally return better fuel mileage than manuals.
- Fewer than 10% of all automobiles sold in 2013 and 2014 were equipped with a manual transmission.

in the United States manuals have lately been dying out, but in Europe and South America 3/4 of all cars are stick shift

 

[DeepImpactBlue2015EB]

most auto manufacturers will have manual transmission in their lineups for years to come with the exception of luxury brands (except BMW) and exotic sports cars.

 

[Lord Thunder]

- Manual transmissions are generally dead except in value/cheap or performance oriented automobiles. A fact? Yes. A good thing? No.

- Fewer than 10% of all automobiles sold in 2013 and 2014 were equipped with a manual transmission. Just because almost everybody else prefers to do things one way is no reason that we all must blindly follow suit, It's fine to want to throw in with the 90+% if that's your preference, but tossing it out there in an attempt to change a MT enthusiast's mind will only serve to "harden" the opposing positions on this matter.

Both statements are absolutely false if you look outside of the US of A. The world is a tad bit bigger than just North America.

Manual gearboxes are still the default on any car here in Europe except for the expensive ones. Smalls cars usually don't even come with an automatic option.

Getting an Automatic is a paid extra option and generally gets you slammed with extra taxes because their emissions ratings are really bad compared to the manuals. (As en extreme example: The Automatic EB fastback is over 11k more expensive than the manual here.) (EDIT: the total tax is approximately 23K EUR, on the manual it's about 12K EUR, so it's 11k more not 20k, sorry)

I dare to go out on a limb here and state that traditionally, less than 10% of the sold cars in Europe have an automatic transmission. Maybe it's a bit more these days due to electric and hybrid cars that cannot be driven 'manually'.

I went with a manual, because it's cheap and the default. I have been driving nothing but manual all my life, it's second nature. (I have to suppress NOT changing gears in an auto)

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