Auto vs stick in a daily driver

if you mention a car with a auto on this forum it seems right away its no good or you have do a swap with it right away. i feel totally different. i spend 2 to 4 hours a day in traffic it maybe the beltway or the BW parkway or on 95 between Richmond and DC and then on service roads in the cities. i have what i consider 3 daily drivers a HHR, BMW 6 series and a Chevy truck all autos. i learned to drive on a stick 40 years ago and always have one but not as a daily driver. my 6 is a blast to drive with the auto i also have a M6 with the stick. maybe i am getting old or something but i would take a auto over a stick as a daily driver everytime.

If you're happy, why would you care about us? I know I wouldn't. I am happy with an automatic in my F150, but I would hate it if my Miata didn't have a manual. My DD grind is all smooth sailing highways or back country roads with 3-4 stops in the 30 miles. Not much shifting on my commute with the miata.

I think it depends a lot on your commute. Mine is mostly suburban country roads, so I can be (and have been) very happy with a manual. If you drive in traffic a lot, I can easily see why an auto is much more appealing. My current DD happens to be an auto. Given a choice I'd have a manual, but the car works for my situation and I'm very happy with it...slushbox and all.

Autos for me, but I drive 60-70K miles a year. Up until 6 months ago I didn't have a stick in the stable. The 5 speed in the SC is the first one I've owned in 10+ years.

Maybe it sounds goofy, but I feel more connected to the car and the drive when using a manual. My DD is a Jeep TJ Wrangler with the 5 spd not what anyone would probably consider a "driver's car." I leave the house around 5:15 am and there are very few other cars on the road. I like the mechanical aspect of the manual in a DD. The shifting of gears, listening to the motor, all of that. Most mornings I drive in with the radio off just listening to the sounds of the car. And the days I drive the 911 are heaven... For me the manual is just a more enjoyable driving experience.

I should add that my commute is about 18-20 miles, of mostly windy four lane highway. Leaving the house to get to the highway is the only "city driving" where I might hit some traffic.

I got stuck in DC traffic going out to MD a few times in a manual too. I can tell you if I had to do that commute everyday a auto would be in my garage. I'd probably find one of those rolling sofas the guys on here are always talking about, just to make sure my commute was as comfortable as possible. I'm talking, the Snuggle bear wrapped up in warm towel fresh out of the dryer and landing in a pile of Charmin comfy...

I think it depends some on the car. The clutch in my TDI is so light that stop and go traffic doesn't bother me much. Sometimes it's even a game - to see how far I can go without touching the "go" pedal and using only the clutch and brake. Fortunately, I'm usually able to time my commute to minimize stop and go driving.

However, the clutch in my Cummins is much heavier and takes more effort. If I had to drive that every day in traffic you're damn right I'd want an automatic. Ditto for our two MINI's. Our '07 Cooper had a relatively light clutch (although not as light as the VW). The g/f's '03 MCS' clutch is a bit heavier and her new job that requires more driving was one of the factors in her buying an automatic Volvo.

All of our other "fun car" are manuals.

In general I prefer a manual, but I have a 65 mile commute that involves a brutal, hilly 12 mile stretch of stop and creep. (I won't even call it stop and go, because there's really no going anywhere). For that commute, an automatic helps a lot. As others have mentioned, there are some mitigating factors that can make a manual better in traffic, such as plenty of torque off idle, a light clutch, and level ground.

octavious wrote: Maybe it sounds goofy, but I feel more connected to the car and the drive when using a manual.

I do too.

But on the other hand, spending 2-4 hours commuting- I'm not so sure I want to be that connected with the car. It's not as if that kind of driving is entertaining. Heck, my commute is nothing like that, but is incredibly boring, and manual v. auto really doesn't play into it- I see no real difference in pleasure with my Miata or any of the other cars I've driven home.

funny- the more I think about- the more I could stand a DSG, and barely notice- on my commute, I have all of 13 stops, all at the beginning and end. If timed really well, it can go down to 4-5 on a typical drive. 80% of the time I spend is at top gear, 70mph. Not exactly engaging.

What makes the miata great is the topless nature of it.

If it's a matter of sitting in stop and go traffic for long periods of time I'd go with an auto. Some manuals can be fine like my old Si. However the Speed 3 was not a happy commuter in stop an go & the 2 I have now just lacks any oomph for 2nd gear crawling.

Every vehicle that I have personally bought has been a stick. The 99 4runner which the wife bought for me is auto, and I wouldn't want it in a stick.

I agree with Ian F, the car has a lot to do with it. I have a 70 mile commute each day, sometimes in heavy traffic. Most of my DDs have been autos for this reason.

The Abarth is the first manual DD I've had in awhile but its very easy to drive in traffic. It's also a car I wouldn't want to own with an automatic so if it wasn't easy to drive in traffic I'd get a different car entirely.

Some of it is the auto. I just drove my inlaws Chevy something or another small car (I can't tell them apart even when I drive them) and the auto was pretty darn nice. When I drive my truck for more than about 10 minutes I want to get out wrenches and fix things because of that damn auto. Don't even get me started on the three speed autos in terrible FWD cars of the 80's. I still have nightmares.

Depends on the commute. And as others have said, depends a lot on the clutch as well.

A feather light clutch with a gentle temperment is easy to drive under almost all conditions. A grabby clutch or a heavy clutch, less so.

I don't mind a clutch at all in normal driving, even when dealing with lots of traffic lights. Where I don't like it, is when I'm stuck in lines of creeping traffic. Slipping the clutch or constantly popping it in and out. If my commute were full of this sort of driving, I'd be much more inclined for an automatic.

my G20 is boring as beige with its sucktastic auto - I commute about an hour and a half a day on a combo of backroads, major surface roads, and 3 freeways...gimme an actual gearbox with 3 pedals any day. My same G20, with a 5 speed, would be a friggin blast - not fast, but as fun as could be...the auto wastes what little torque my 2 liter mill can muster. It sucks the soul of the car right out.

Automatic = zero fun

your argument is invalid

i miss having a manual shift car... sadly it's a $1000 upgrade to get a decent manual gearbox into my volvo... i've got a stock volvo transmission... and I still consider swapping it in... but the transmission is known to be much weaker then the slushbox...

I used to daily drive in a stick shift... my daily drive was delivering pizza... I loved it... but I do recall even in my 20's that after a few very busy weeks my knee would start to hurt a bit... i'd take the wifes car to rest the knee and it went back to normal...

sadly it's been about 5 years or so since i've had a manual in the house... wifes next car this spring will have one... i'm also looking at buying an older truck this spring that will likely be stick (just based on looking at CL for what I want and price range)

I like having a manual and I don't see that changing but it is maybe a 5 mile drive to work for me. But even if I am driving back to KY and get stuck in Nashville traffic a manual doesn't bother me.

Only reason I would get an automatic is I as getting a big luxury car (Jag, Rolls, old MB) or a truck.

I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating. Having grown up in Europe (England) and not moved here until I was 25, I grew up honestly believing that the only reason to own an automatic was if you were short of the requisite limbs to drive a stick. But that was born out of living in an era when a 1.6L car with 100hp was considered very sporty. Small, low(ish) torque engines with old fashioned 3 speed pure hydraulically shifted autos were quite simply awful. I also had many miles in a SAAB 9000 turbo auto and a 3.5L Rover V8, again, old fashioned 3 speed autos were horrible, especially with the turbo which meat lag, then sloppy kick down made trying to pass someone a dangerous nightmare.

Then I moved here where cars actually had power and torque.

And technology advanced.

My first experience of an auto over here was a Taurus rental car, still unpleasant, but a whole lot better with a car that actually made more than about 90lb/ft of torque. These days, modern 6 speed electronically controlled autos can be really really nice to drive. The family sport utility vehicle and main DD is a 2013 Mustang V6 auto, it’s really good, even in sport mode, I just never bother trying to shift it manually. My father in Laws old 85 L98 Corvette auto is amazing, I honestly prefer the auto with an L98 to either the 4+3 or 6 speed manual. Yes, my personal DD is still a stick, I tried a C30 with auto and found the turbo with the calibration just didn’t work for me, but as my wife is the main driver of the Mustang and she lives stop and go all day every day an auto it is.

Now, for a toy, it’s manual all the way (unless I got a car with an L98 in it) but for a DD to drive in stop and go, I’ll take an auto any day.

FWIW my opinion is ... it depends on

a: your likes and dislikes

b: your commute/how much stop and go

c: what your car is going to be used for ... commute only .. a-x/track day

with where you live I'd have an auto .. where I live, there's no need for an automatic .. only have one if that's what you want

but going back to what someone else posted ... why would you care what we think ... it's all what you need/want

Our Terrain has a 300 hp, direct injected, variable valve timed v6, mated to an electronically controlled, modern, 6spd slushbox. It makes gobs of power

... provided youve got a week of time set aside for it to kick in. If you can keep the revs in their happy place, once its making power, it will really hustle, but its no fun trying to get it there. Surprisingly, it doesnt hunt for gears much - it makes its mind up pretty well when youre on a long incline where the angle varies (driven it through the foothills of KY into Tennessee several times now), and its actually a lot of fun in twisty stuff in the manu-matic mode. But that auto, when simply trying to just haul ass, especially from a rolling start, is not much fun, at all.

Granted, this is an SUV, but really, its a tall AWD car...Same thing, a direct connection to the gearbox would make a WORLD of difference. Im glad I dont DD the Terrain.

The real problem is spending two to four hours a day commuting - yikes.

Driving in Atlanta traffic isn't quite the cluster that I faced back when I was living in DC, but it's close. I find that I'm much more stressed and irritated by the traffic when I drive my manual M3 than when I make the same commute in my wife's auto 530i. It's a remarkable difference. YMMV.

Stick here, in my '11 Elantra Touring. A stick is the only way to make an econobox in commute traffice (Atlanta) interesting.

I have a short commute over winding two lane roads. Loved driving it in my Miata. Until I cracked some ribs. Then getting in and out was no fun, and having to press the clutch was painful.

While my toy (Neon) is a stick, my new daily driver is an automatic, and will likely always be, in order to be ready for more of what life throws at me in the future.

I've got a commute that's an hour and a half long, each way, in Atlanta traffic. Normally I drive a stick shift BMW 328i. Doesn't really bother me, and I've gotten into the habit of using engine braking to control the car better in heavy traffic on 285.

There have been some times I've had to use my wife's automatic equipped, four cylinder Camry for my commute, and that habit causes me to always quibble with its gear choices, at least for heavy traffic on the Interstate. I find myself often trying to shove it into a different gear, often to deal with a traffic knot before I reach it. If anything, the automatic seems to be getting in my way. At least on that car.

On the other hand, I don't find myself second guessing the TH350 in my Chevy truck. An automatic behind a big V8 doesn't seem to change things as much as an automatic behind a small four.

It was determined long ago here on the internet that if you do not select your own gears then there is some deficit in the way your mind works. Maybe you were born that way, maybe your mom coddled you too much. I don't know. It is what it is. The zeitgeist has moved on and you are unlikely to be persecuted for your affliction in this day and age but for god's sake man... stop flaunting it. What is next "Automatic Pride" parades?