[poll] Auto or Manual next gen?

[FordBlueHeart]

My Mustang = V8 + Manual

Fixt it for you.

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[Agarc]

Manual ...all my cars have been manual

 

[Norm Peterson]

As someone who is just now learning stick at 22, I still feel like I would be happier with an auto and paddle shifters. I've still got plenty of time to make my mind up though.

I wanted to see what all of you thought on the matter. When I think mustang, I think everyone drives a manual. Is this true?

Are you getting an auto or a manual?

As far as I am concerned, any car that does not offer a conventional three-pedal manual transmission might just as well not exist. Not just the 'fun' cars, any car at all.

I learned to drive (including my driver training) on manual transmission cars, and we have not owned a car with automatic for over 40 years. Yes, that means that my wife does not want an automatic in her daily driver either, so come car shopping time the lack of a MT is still an absolute deal-breaker all by itself. We've already "jumped ship" to different car mfrs two or three times specifically over this matter and wouldn't bat an eyelash at doing it again.


Norm

 

[FordBlueHeart]

By the sounds of it Norm, when the inevitable happens (no manual transmissions), you will be to old to drive!:lol:

 

[PremiumT]

Hey plenty of older guys here from what I can tell so how about we not go there?

Anyway this debate is mostly ignoring REAL WORLD reality which is the autos are paying for the manuals right now. They are keeping them alive for an increasingly small segment of buyers. I'm not arguing which is better or worse because that is a dead horse that has been argued since there was more than one option. Just saying anyone knocking autos (same way V8 owners knock V6's) don't realize they are biting the hand that feeds them in a sense.

 

[Allerick]

I am actually really torn on this one. I have never owned a manual, but I have some experience driving a buddy's car. I really enjoy them, and I do find something slightly off putting about sports cars with automatic transmissions. It is slightly irrational, but in my mind an sports car with an automatic does sort of seem fake. Like it isn't the "real enthusiast's" car. That said the new DCT that a lot of the super cars are running with is pretty cool.

Like many of you have said, it will really depend on how good the auto is with the paddles and all. I drove a 2011 GT with an auto, and to be honest it sort of ruined it for me. I loved the way the engine sounded, but I always felt like the transmission took the bite out of the car. It made it feel sort of numb. So, I have no idea what I'm going to do if I end up with an S550. I regularly encounter pretty heavy traffic. That is certainly a concern for me, but if the auto is slow and "slushy" I can't see myself getting it. One of the things I am most interested in learning about is how the transmissions perform.

 

[FordBlueHeart]

Hey plenty of older guys here from what I can tell so how about we not go there?

Anyway this debate is mostly ignoring REAL WORLD reality which is the autos are paying for the manuals right now. They are keeping them alive for an increasingly small segment of buyers. I'm not arguing which is better or worse because that is a dead horse that has been argued since there was more than one option. Just saying anyone knocking autos (same way V8 owners knock V6's) don't realize they are biting the hand that feeds them in a sense.

I can go there because I'm closer in age to retirement than I am to getting my driver's license.

 

[Norm Peterson]

By the sounds of it Norm, when the inevitable happens (no manual transmissions), you will be to old to drive!:lol:

The way I figure it, if "inevitable" happens to manual transmissions before it happens to me, I'll only be squeezed out of the new car market entirely instead of just most of it like the situation already is.

Hey plenty of older guys here from what I can tell so how about we not go there?

Huh? What? Go where? Sorry, I must have dozed off in the chair. :lol:

Anyway this debate is mostly ignoring REAL WORLD reality which is the autos are paying for the manuals right now. They are keeping them alive for an increasingly small segment of buyers. I'm not arguing which is better or worse because that is a dead horse that has been argued since there was more than one option. Just saying anyone knocking autos (same way V8 owners knock V6's) don't realize they are biting the hand that feeds them in a sense.

I am very much aware that it makes for a much stronger business case if an automatic version is available, almost no matter what sort of car might be under discussion. That's fine with me, as long as there's room for choice.

When people in my age group were getting their licenses, it was generally expected that you'd learn how to "drive stick". Most of us had watched our parents and our friends' older siblings drive stick, my point being that it was always there as just another integral part of life. Unfortunately, that aspect of the automotive culture has been in decline over the last couple of generations as the popularity of AT has continued to rise. How many grade-schoolers and teens these days get to regularly observe people driving a manual transmission vehicle?


Suppose the time comes where the automatic is the default fitment and the manual is either a special-order, extra-cost option. Know what? I'd still get the manual.



Gotta go, there's a b'day cake for me with 66 candles on it that I gotta blow out.


Norm

 

[FordBlueHeart]

Happy Birthday Norm!

 

[Dyno]

The way I figure it, if "inevitable" happens to manual transmissions before it happens to me, I'll only be squeezed out of the new car market entirely instead of just most of it like the situation already is.

Yup the Mustang/pony cars will be one of the last holdouts for sure. If that day ever comes everyone can kiss manuals goodbye from cars altogether. Hopefully i'll be too old to drive by then also

 

[Norm Peterson]

Thanks FordBlue. Actually, it's tomorrow the 10th, but my 8 y/o granddaughter didn't have nearly enough patience to wait that long!


Norm

 

[FordBlueHeart]

It's all good. Kids are the best excuse for ice cream and cake.

 

[JohnZiraldo]

I am just past 70 yrs old so I grew up in the incredible 60s when car enthusiasts preferred pony and muscle cars with manuals. I had a '67 289 and a '71 351, both with sticks. Loved them. Wouldn't even consider an auto. Still enjoy driving a manual when the opportunity arises.

My fun car now is an 86 GT with the 4-speed AOD auto with a shift kit. There are three positions on the shifter. '1', 'D', and 'OD'. The tranny lets me select and hold (with a little trick) each of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd right up to red-line in each gear while manually shifting all the way to 4th. It also let's me pick 3rd and 2nd whenever I want on the way down, and always provides a quick and solid shift.

I love 'rowing' this tranny and I do it regularly when I want that extra bit of fun, and it never causes me any discomfort with my arthritic left knee.

I could easily live with a paddled automatic, as long as it has a sports mode that shifts as tightly as my AOD, and my knee would certainly prefer it over a manual.

 

[Red]

Happy birthday, Norm. You and JohnZ are making me feel young.

Manual for me.

 

[JohnZiraldo]

Happy birthday, Norm. You and JohnZ are making me feel young.

Manual for me.

It's more likely that it is that 82 Capri that is keeping you young. My 86 GT certainly does it for me.

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