[poll] Auto or Manual next gen?

[JimmyTwoTimes]

P.S. Your left knee, like every other body part, will get weaker if you don't use it and get stronger by using it often. Don't want your knee to hurt? Use it a lot from an early age and never stop exercising it....like you would if you drive manual. After all, you do the same motion way more often with your right knee and it doesn't hurt, because you exercise it more while driving.

Maybe this is a geographic thing, but I spend WAY more time walking than driving, and I have a desk job. If your main "exercise" is driving, you need to work out more.

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[JimmyTwoTimes]

Maybe I haven't seen the worse traffic yet. But do have seen a fair share of pretty bad ones, and this has never been a problem for me. Maybe I just enjoy using the clutch :headbonk:

Have you ever spent two straight hours on a highway to travel less than five miles? If not, you haven't been in heavy traffic (I'd say I get stuck in a jam like that once a month, on average).

Although even that can't compare to trying to get cross-town in Manhattan during daylight... The island is only two miles wide, so why have I NEVER been able to make that trip in less than forty five minutes? I don't even bother trying anymore; haven't in years.

 

[Norm Peterson]

Jimmy - five of my first six years as a licensed driver involved commuting into and out of Boston/Cambridge along the only main highway then serving the southeastern region of Massachusetts . . . and that was back in the days when I was driving cars with automatics because that's all that was available.

What that taught me was to avoid sentencing myself to a potentially miserable commute, regardless of the kind of transmission fitted to my car. Somehow, I managed to make that stick over the next 42 years - using public transportation during temporary assignments back in Boston - until I retired a couple of years ago.

Did that make it easier to keep buying only manual transmission cars? Maybe, although after getting back into stick-shift driving with our first new car in late 1971 the transition back to an automatic even for reasons of traffic would not have come easily (my earliest driving had been in a 3-on-the-tree 6-cylinder mid-50's Chevy).

The only sustained heavy traffic I'm likely to encounter any more is on stretches of the Garden State Parkway, I-287, and I-95 in Connecticut during trips to visit family. While I wouldn't want to put up with that kind of traffic on any regular basis, once in a while I can still cope with it, three pedals and all (my wife has more trouble sitting through the mostly stop and sometimes go stuff than I do being the driver driving in it).


Norm

 

[Horse]

Have you ever spent two straight hours on a highway to travel less than five miles? If not, you haven't been in heavy traffic (I'd say I get stuck in a jam like that once a month, on average).

Although even that can't compare to trying to get cross-town in Manhattan during daylight... The island is only two miles wide, so why have I NEVER been able to make that trip in less than forty five minutes? I don't even bother trying anymore; haven't in years.

Maybe a few times only.

My point is that it does not bother me if I need to use clutch over and over again in traffic, be it one or two hours. Some (esp. the automatic folks) might think it's extra work for the left foot. I think clutch as a normal part of my driving.

Of course, the reason I like manual is not so that I can depress clutch pedal during heave traffic. It is because (I think) it's more fun.

 

[Aipaloovik]

Have you ever spent two straight hours on a highway to travel less than five miles? If not, you haven't been in heavy traffic (I'd say I get stuck in a jam like that once a month, on average).

Although even that can't compare to trying to get cross-town in Manhattan during daylight... The island is only two miles wide, so why have I NEVER been able to make that trip in less than forty five minutes? I don't even bother trying anymore; haven't in years.

I've spent 4 and a half hours stuck in traffic, though that was a 35 mile trip. 2 hours to go 5 miles and you are spending quite a bit of time in neutral or park in an auto.

I drive the Orange Crush every day both directions. I sit in both Orange County and LA traffic daily as part of my commute. We might be second in horrific traffic to NY, but not by much. On average I sit in traffic 3 hours a day. I still ordered a manual.

I'm not claiming it's "better", it's simply my preference, and I'm glad we have the option.:cheers:

I've never cared much for "manual" driving an automatic. Again, that is just a personal preference, but it feels like an odd thing to do to me. I'll likely have to get over that before my driving days are done. I see the writing on the wall, but I'll take my manual while I can get it.

 

[Grimace427]

Northern Virginia traffic doesn't stop me from driving a manual. I'd rather get out and push than schlep along with an auto.

 

[Brent302]

Northern Virginia traffic doesn't stop me from driving a manual. I'd rather get out and push than schlep along with an auto.

+1

 

[phil1336]

I have a lot of empathy for the die-hards that still love to "row their gears". I still enjoy driving a stick shift BMW when I get the chance however, for a daily driver or commuter in stop & go urban driving and congested highway/turnpike driving, forgetaboutit! I do agree however, this "Paddle Shift" nonsense is asinine IMO. Either drive a Manual Transmission and engage and disengage the clutch, shift your gears and go. If you go Automatic Transmission, just shift to (D) and go. Why play with your fingers flicking the Paddle Leavers on the Steering Wheel?

 

[Brent302]

I have a lot of empathy for the die-hards that still love to "row their gears". I still enjoy driving a stick shift BMW when I get the chance however, for a daily driver or commuter in stop & go urban driving and congested highway/turnpike driving, forgetaboutit! I do agree however, this "Paddle Shift" nonsense is asinine IMO. Either drive a Manual Transmission and engage and disengage the clutch, shift your gears and go. If you go Automatic Transmission, just shift to (D) and go. Why play with your fingers flicking the Paddle Leavers on the Steering Wheel?

 

[Lord Thunder]

I'll be driving manual, mostly because it is the standard thing to do here in Europe. In fact, ordering an automatic gearbox on a car is an option, which usually adds around $1500 to the price.

 

[phil1336]

For someone like myself who usually changes cars every 3 to 5 years, its all about residual (re-sale value). Now, working part-time at Manheim Auto Auctions, I see on Sale/Auction Day how drastically the price lowers on (most) stick-ship Automobiles, including I might add, high-line Vehicles. Adding to that factor, the heavy stop and go traffic in both urban city driving as well as both Turnpike and Interstate bumper to bumper conditions makes me just want to shift from (N) to (D) and keep it simple.

 

[Barrel]

For someone like myself who usually changes cars every 3 to 5 years, its all about residual (re-sale value). Now, working part-time at Manheim Auto Auctions, I see on Sale/Auction Day how drastically the price lowers on (most) stick-ship Automobiles, including I might add, high-line Vehicles. Adding to that factor, the heavy stop and go traffic in both urban city driving as well as both Turnpike and Interstate bumper to bumper conditions makes me just want to shift from (N) to (D) and keep it simple.

I guess. I bought my manual 2011 GT (premium w/HIDs, no brembos) in June of 2010 for $33.5k. 4 years and 70K miles later it sold for $25k. Good residual value? And that was 4 years and 70K miles of commuting into DC 5 days a week.

 

[phil1336]

I guess. I bought my manual 2011 GT (premium w/HIDs, no brembos) in June of 2010 for $33.5k. 4 years and 70K miles later it sold for $25k. Good residual value? And that was 4 years and 70K miles of commuting into DC 5 days a week.

Their are (exceptions) to the massive Stick Shift depreciation norm. Mustang might in fact be one of them. Even Audi`s, (the new A3 are all A/T), BMW`s, VW`s, and almost all other Vehicles drop as soon as Dealers see a Manual Transmission. When Ferarri`s are going all A/T for 2015 "California" Series, and the majority of Mazzerati`s, Lamborg, Porsche, are going A/T, the hand writing is (on the wall). at least for North America.

 

[Brent302]

Their are (exceptions) to the massive Stick Shift depreciation norm. Mustang might in fact be one of them. Even Audi`s, (the new A3 are all A/T), BMW`s, VW`s, and almost all other Vehicles drop as soon as Dealers see a Manual Transmission. When Ferarri`s are going all A/T for 2015 "California" Series, and the majority of Mazzerati`s, Lamborg, Porsche, are going A/T, the hand writing is (on the wall). at least for North America.

 

[OppoLock]

I guess. I bought my manual 2011 GT (premium w/HIDs, no brembos) in June of 2010 for $33.5k. 4 years and 70K miles later it sold for $25k. Good residual value? And that was 4 years and 70K miles of commuting into DC 5 days a week.

Holy shit, did you garage that thing in a vacuum-sealed chamber?

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