discuss whether its better to drive stick or automatic
personally I fucking hate driving autos, it feels so miserable and slow even if its in a car that's objectivley faster than a manual that ive driven before because its such a numbed experience in comparison
https://img.memecdn.com/romance-for-automatic-vs-manual-gearbox_o_3347457.jpg
depends entirely on the auto
The only ones I have any real spirited driving put behind are ZF8s, which hold revs really well actually so it's actually pretty fun, though I prefer manual, myself. It's why I looked so hard to find a version of my truck with a 6 spd.
I sometimes think that if my daily driver's trans died I would swap it to a stick.. then I remember I am half asleep when I drive to work and drive in the big city traffic or crappy weather sometimes and remember I like the choice. Love driving stick on my summer, but when it's all icy and I just want to get to work or parallel park on a hill off a busy road or something I like just being to to slap into D or R and go.
There's nothing inherently wrong with automatics on non-enthusiast cars. My 4 speed autotragic slushbox was great when I was driving 150 miles a day, a third of it in stop-and-go traffic.
If I get stuck in traffic in the S2000, I want to end my eternal suffering, and that's as a passenger. It's even more miserable when I'm the one driving.
Now that my commute is measured in minutes and driving is something I can do purely for pleasure, I'm considering a manual, though now the problem is that you usually have to make sacrifices to luxury options. Can't get a Civic Si with leather seats or automatic safety equipment.
I've daydreamed about swapping out the tranny on my DD to a manual, but it's much more work than I'm prepared to do to make happen.
GROW A DICK
DRIVE STICK
Daily driving = auto
Weekend driving = stick
i've been DDing a manual accord for 6 or so months now and it's not that bad imo
People get so wrapped up and this and it really confuses me
It really just depends on the vehicle itself and what your purposes are
My old car was an auto, and after i destroyed that one by accident, bought a new manual car without really knowing how to drive it. After having switched for about 6 months now, i can't see how i ever lived without it. Autos feel weird to me now, i enjoy having more control over the car itself, and it's easier to do fun shit in a manual than an auto. I understand why people drive autos, especially in big american cities with stop and go traffic, but where i live, it's large, open roads and little congestion, so manuals are fun as fuck.
Auto is fine for a daily driver or highway cruiser but as a performance vehicle or back road blaster a manual is way better.
It depends on the gearbox really. I’ve heard many good things about the ZF 8 speed auto, although I’ve never driven a car with one. I have driven both autos and manuals, and I’ve disliked the gearboxes in each.
My Ford Falcon XR6 (which I got mainly because it was a limited edition at an affordable price) has a 6 speed auto which is great for maximising fuel economy and acceleration, but the torque converter can occasionally be quite rough. It also loves to downshift too much when in auto mode, eg you might be driving along at 50km/h and move to overtake another car, so you put your foot down just a bit. But it will downshift not once, but twice, so before you even pick up speed, you have to wait for it to sluggishly downshift twice. And when that does happen, suddenly the engine will be screaming at 5,000RPM and it’s just embarrassing. Manual select mode is also heavily constrained, eg it will still downshift under acceleration even when you want it to stay in 3rd.
On the other hand, I’ve driven a Holden Rodeo (just a re-badged Isuzu) with a 5 speed manual. But the throws were a bit too long for my liking, and the shifts were quite vague too. I know that it’s nothing like the gearbox in an MX-5 or a 911, but in the case of that Rodeo, an auto would have been far more preferable.
But yeah, ideally, I’d have an auto (a torque converter auto, not a dual-clutch or automated-manual) for comfort and ease in a daily, and a H-pattern manual for a fun weekender.
I've been itching to own a manual transmission car and I've never driven one before. I plan for my next car to be a manual, I currently have a shit pay job so it's just a dream right now...
What's the deal with the purely technical advantages/disadvantages of automatic currently? In the past some have said automatic transmissions were more expensive, waste energy leading to worse fuel economy, higher repair/maintenance cost etc etc. But which advantages/disadvantages holds true today? Or is it truly a toss-up?
There are two kinds of transmission: manual, and wrong.
Older autos typically had worse fuel consumption than manuals because of the inefficiencies of the torque converters. Many newer autos have automated-manual (eg some Jags) or dual-clutch auto gearboxes, each of which are essentially manual gearboxes but where the computer does the shifting. Those autos have lower fuel consumption than manuals because they often have more gear ratios (so the engine can be in the maximum-efficiency range more often) and because the computer can keep the gearbox in the most-efficient gear at any moment.
the disadvantage of those dual-clutch autos is that they aren’t as smooth as the older torque converter autos. Many cars have reverted to torque converter autos these days, eg the Ford Focus did a few years ago. Modern torque converters are probably comparable to manual gearboxes for efficiency these days, eg through lock-up mechanisms which maximise the efficiency of the torque converter.
Yeah for example the Ford 6R80 (6-speed torque converter dual-overdrive automatic) has the same or better fuel efficiency rating as a manual in all the cars where one's available IIRC
Stick for lyfe
Daily commute, for which an econoshitbox is ideal = Automatic transmission for days. Hell, throw in CVT for shits and giggles, it's not like it's worse and atleast it saves me all that delicious gas money for my project car, which will be a happy stickshift.
I'm actually not entirely sure what kind automatic trans my Chevy Sonic has. It's a cheap econobox, yet it exhibits dual-clutch behaviors. Surely a cheap econobox wouldn't have an expensive dual-clutch system. I drive it almost purely in manumatic mode though. It just feels better than automatic. I think I'd probably have issues with a clutch, though. Fun lil' car to drive though.
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