I think I prefer automatic transmission

I've turned to this forum for car advice for awhile. Even though I'm not really a car enthusiast, but there's always been sound advice and knowledge here to be given. This forum pretty much taught me how to drive a manual car and i bought one a few months ago to do just so. I've been driving manual for a few months and started test driving some other cars as I don't like the damn caught I bought.. and you know what. I think I prefer automatic more?

I just like to get in a car and drive, sort of chill, I probably chill in my car driving more than speedy driving. And If I want to have some spirited driving I have to spazz the hell out with the clutch and the shifter. I also find driving manual is more rough for my passengers. Think finally I get more pissed off at other drivers, someone cuts me off I'm mad because dammit I have to drop a gear. In an automatic I'm like fine, go by. I also hate stop signs now.

So tomorrow I think I'll be trading in my Fiat 500T for a Volvo C30 in black. It's a beautiful car in black. WOW.

Different strokes for different folks. Drive what you like, you don't have to justify it to anyone.

I've been a big manual guy for most of my life, but that's starting to change as I get older. Pushing in a clutch over and over in traffic gets old.

Oh, how you've strayed. How you've failed to remain devout to the Trinity of gas, brake and clutch.

Here is your pennance:

Decide which you prefer.

Drive that.

Seriously though, congrats on the new toy.

I can say I tried at least. I can see how if I wanted to track a car, manual hands down. But day to day, I'm just chilling and cruising.

My next dd is 100% going to be an auto. No doubt about it. I don't even city drive, but yeah...auto for sure.

Maybe it's because I live in the city too.

Don't feel bad. I don't like a MT for daily use either.

I knew I had turned old when an automatic started looking pretty good. Slushbox love on the daily driver, for sure!

I realized this while driving a CVT Corolla S too :(

You guys are sick!!

In a truck - yeah auto.

In a car - I will stop driving a stick when the pry it from my cold, dead hands!

Tom_Spangler wrote: Drive what you like, you don't have to justify it to anyone.

This. I drive stick because i prefer it. Simple as that. If you prefer auto, drive that.

The only people who grind my gears (rimshot) are those who think (and for some reason want to talk about how) automatics are better because they can't drive stick. incompetence is no reason to 'prefer' something over another.

I think you have to start early, and do some driving where the manual gives the level of control you just can't get in an autotragic. I cut my teeth in manuals in a Z-car and driving Glendora Mountain Road several times a week for a couple years. After that, there was just no point in an auto.

If you're just chillin' and cruzin', I guess an auto is the way to go - but I couldn't ever do it. I haven't daily'd an auto since I was 18 or 19, and I've been in manuals the rest of the time.

In the couple dozen or so cars I've owned only two have been manual. I can thoroughly enjoy a car with an auto.

Lately I've been feeling a resolute and unyielding need to drive something with 3 pedals.

All my cars have been stick since my first one at age 12 (three-in-the-tree), with the exception of a V8 Vega (gone), two V8 Pintos (gone), my V8 Firefly (current), and recently my squarebody truck (the daily).

I was even working the Mrs. into getting a stick for ~her~ next car. Then. Out of the blue. One cold and miserable day. I just got sick of shifting.

That and backing the trailer up my steep and twisty driveway in the lowrider Hardbody. That sucked. Not enough power to creep up the hill, not enough stability/skill to do it at speed.

And the wife's next car will be an automatic. But a Turbo (evil grin).

The last auto car I owned was in 1991. I prefer the control a manual gives. That said the wife has driven an auto since 1991 and won't be swayed. With age, her and traffic as well as my soon to be retirement we plan to compromise. Auto for the truck which will be winter beater and tow vehicle. Flappy paddle A3/S3 or A4/S4 for a daily for both of us and a true manual in my Exocet. The DSG seems to offer better control, blip throttle and smooth downshifts while be sporty enough for me at the same time she can leave it in auto mode and not have to coordinate a clutch pedal for stops or shifts while just as easy to drive as a true automatic. win/win. Enjoy what you enjoy. No one else is paying for it and if it works for you it's the right choice.

If that's what you prefer that's what you prefer. Cliche as that quote is personal preference is just that, personal. I enjoy driving a standard car as my daily because everywhere I've lived, with the exception of a year in Columbus, OH, has been in rural areas where I can pretend I'm Dan Gurney.

My wife doesn't drive a standard and I don't deal with creeping along in traffic well in one when we have to go into LA or New York (when I was on the correct coast) so I will absolutely take her automatic X-Terra into the city.

Get what you like and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

having grown up in the Chicagoland area, I can understand the want for an automatic, right up until winter. There is just not enough control over the drive wheels.

The pefect case was when my dad found out I had my learners permit and took me up to "the Pink House" where he used to run ice gymkanas. The car was a 68 Charger, 383, 4 speed, the day was cold and rainy, with glare, wet, ice. I learned more in that weekend about car control and driving in adverse conditions than I ever learned in class.

I also think you should drive what you want. I am also saying that a manual is better IMHO.

Coldsnap wrote: I can say I tried at least. I can see how if I wanted to track a car, manual hands down. But day to day, I'm just chilling and cruising.

the big thing is … you know HOW to drive a manual … it's something that you'll never forget, you might be rusty at it several yrs from now, but you'll still know how …

in other words, you'll never be stranded because you don't know how to drive the only car that's available

IIRC from your earlier thread, you live in the Raleigh area ..?? if I lived in congested city I might have an automatic for a DD also … but living here in the mountains, where we seldom have any stop and go, bumper to bumper traffic … it's a manual for me …

SHUN THE NONBELIEVER!

I'm a diehard manual guy, but I can understand wanting an auto in congested cities or for cruising. At least you gave manuals a chance and I can respect that.

I have driven a 2011 Accord 5-speed for 55 months and 113,000 miles for sales in Chicago and other areas. I still like the manual tranny and would get another and even in the Chicago traffic it might suck but overall I still like it. The wife hates the jerkiness sometimes as you do get lazy and blow a shift once in a while.

I remember I bought a new 1985 Nissan 200SX and drove it over to the future in-laws and my M-I-law came out and looked at my new car and looked at me and said "you bought a new car AND you have to shift the transmission"? It was totally out of her world why someone would be dumb enough to buy a manual tranny.

With city driving, I think it depends on the vehicle. I hated driving in stop-and-go traffic with my Cummins since the clutch was so stiff and it grabbed really high in the stroke. It was tiring to drive. Conversely, my TDI is dead easy to drive in traffic because of a much lighter clutch action. In some ways, it is actually less tiring than driving my minivan (auto). In stop-and-go traffic, I sometimes don't even touch the throttle or brake pedals and totally adjust my speed by shifting and clutching (the car will idle at 25 mph in 5th gear).

It takes time to get used to. Eventually it gets to the point that you get in an auto car and stomp the floor to find no clutch pedal.

FWIW I am debating internally buying my next car for DD purposes(100mi round trip, usually crappy traffic due to the HRBT). I am not sure if I can bring myself to buy an auto, I like the inherent reliability of a manual and fun to drive. But an auto G37 or C350 COULD be fun too, and nicer for stop and go traffic.

Side note: I know you're not too terribly far, I'm looking for a codriver for my 2 at the 11/15 auto-x event here in Pungo. Need someone to help keep the tires warm in the cooler weather :) I posted about it in my build thread, you can post there if you're interested so as to not further derail this thread.

Moderator - can we get this guy banned?

But seriously, I understand. That said, every car enthusiast should at least own a manual, just as every man should periodically go outside and dig a ditch or build a table. To do otherwise is to hasten the day of that Pixar Wall-e future where we are all obese and rolling around in powered wheelchairs, er... "mobility devices".

I'm a die hard manual guy and prefer the cars that I do based on their availability with a manual transmission. However, in the past few years I've started driving a lot for work and have begun to see the merits of the auto. Just get in and drive is kinda appealing, especially in traffic. Moral of the story: autos have their place and can be wonderful if you need to spend a few hours in that cabin. That being said, I don't think any of my projects will ever be auto.