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Automatic or Manual Transmission?


Caretaker
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Choose your preferred transmission  

51 members have voted

  1. 1. Choose your preferred transmission

    • Automatic
      18
    • Manual
      32
    • Semi-Automatic
      1


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Manual transmission is more fun. Did we really need a whole forum for cars though? o3o

Probably not, and if it isn't wanted the topics can be folded into the water cooler. It is an idea to create areas catering to interests held by furries and non-furries alike so... lets see?

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Probably not, and if it isn't wanted the topics can be folded into the water cooler. It is an idea to create areas catering to interests held by furries and non-furries alike so... lets see?

Alright man haha, I'm not trying to put you on blast or anything, I just didn't know that there was any interest in cars on this forum is all x3

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The only thing that drives me about a stick shift is being stuck in traffic with my leg begging for mercy while standing on the clutch. Neutral happens at the exact same time traffic starts moving every fucking time.

Other than that, way too much fun.

 

 

 

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Manual please. 

I feel like I'm going to fall asleep when driving an Automatic. 

Some pluses to Manual:

  • Maintenance can be a lot cheaper when properly driven.
  • Fuel Economy
    Factors on driving style and road conditions
    Not much power loss since no Torque Converter
  • Much better sense of control
    You get a better feel of the road
  • No Torque Converter so you get an easier time braking

Cons:

  • Techniques to learn 
  • Hills
  • Heavy Clutch problems
    People can wear it out easily
  • Hills
  • Hills
  • HILLS

I had to learn in San Francisco. Just IMAGINE how horrifying that is.

526395745_6ba87d94d0.jpg

Edited by Vaer
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gorgeous pic, Vaer. 

automatic all the way! It's 2015!!! Liking a manual shift is akin to liking manual car windows. Why give yourself more work?

Manual transmissions allow for faster gear shifts and are ideal for sports cars. They also allow more control of power, making them perfect for offroaders. Automatic is for scrubs that don't care about how much power they get.

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gorgeous pic, Vaer. 

automatic all the way! It's 2015!!! Liking a manual shift is akin to liking manual car windows. Why give yourself more work?

 motor for my driver side window was burning itself out once a year or so despite barely being used until I just stopped replacing it. Would much rather have had manual windows

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Manual is fun on a winding highway with hills and valleys, It requires lots of shifting and downshifting and it makes the experience a blast. Most of the time though, In Houston, the traffic just sucks so much that driving a clutch really has the fun sapped right out of it.

I do not care for those flappy-paddle gear shifts at all.

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Manual. I like having full control over the engine. I learned on an old Civic which drove like a go-kart x3 im stuck with an automatic atm because the price was right from my brother in law. Im not going to lie... at times it is nice being able to eat and drive without having to hold it in my mouth to shift suddenly ^u^

 

i prefer my bf's sport bike. As soon as i get a better job i am going to get one of my own.

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I'll say, people who prefer manuals are stuck in the past. It's the 21st century, the age of automatics! ~

Embrace it, and let go of the past. The future awaits!

Do manual drivers enjoy rolling the windows down manually, too? How pleb.

Edited by Luka
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I'll say, people who prefer manuals are stuck in the past. It's the 21st century, the age of automatics! ~

And the automatics of the day do an acceptable job.  Still, there are some of us that prefer the connectedness of driving stick over drive by wire.  There's a  certain charm to open-cockpit bi-planes with radial engines too.  Driving a 454-chevy large block in a Jeep CJ5 with three speed tranny will make a convert out of anyone......its an unmitigated blast!

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I'll say, people who prefer manuals are stuck in the past. It's the 21st century, the age of automatics! ~

Embrace it, and let go of the past. The future awaits!

Do manual drivers enjoy rolling the windows down manually, too? How pleb.

Automatics are for plebs who are unable to multitask or prefer to text while endangering lives. Use both hands, automatic-scum. :V

I prefer Manual for two reasons;  Better MPG with certain models and it feels nice wiggling a stick.

Edited by Ozriel
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And the automatics of the day do an acceptable job.  Still, there are some of us that prefer the connectedness of driving stick over drive by wire.  There's a  certain charm to open-cockpit bi-planes with radial engines too.  Driving a 454-chevy large block in a Jeep CJ5 with three speed tranny will make a convert out of anyone......its an unmitigated blast!

454 Big Block in a Jeep, I am drooling just imagining that!!!

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And the automatics of the day do an acceptable job.  Still, there are some of us that prefer the connectedness of driving stick over drive by wire.  There's a  certain charm to open-cockpit bi-planes with radial engines too.  Driving a 454-chevy large block in a Jeep CJ5 with three speed tranny will make a convert out of anyone......its an unmitigated blast!

i am so fucking jealous

can i borrow some money dad?

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454 Big Block in a Jeep, I am drooling just imagining that!!!

and

 

i am so fucking jealous

 That ancient CJ5 was ancient (and rusted and cracked frame) even back in '83. Not even sure where it is now, or if she's till running. It was a northern cottage bush buggy used for hauling firewood and general mayhem up at the cottage.  Bronze/burnt orange (it hid the rust) a hard top, with soft doors, fuzzy seat covers, waren locking front hubs, an ungawdly amount of low range torque....  it started my love affair.  I think my Dad sold it for a jet-ski.

 My '89's YJ's were actually road worthy.  I put 189,000KM of daily driving on one of them; but ultimately sold one, parted-out one when the kids came along.

Looking for a 2003 TJ to wrench on right now.  

I used to have a valiant with 3 forward gears on a column shift...

My Mom had a Mini that had that.  Couple of buddies had CJ7's with V8's and "three-on-the-tree" shift, but I always had three on the floor. 

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and

My parents had a 2000 Chevrolet Pickup 2500 4 Door with a 454 Cubic Inch Displacement V-8. It was meant for towing and hauling and was a "white elephant" at the dealership. My parents had gone to buy a Chevrolet Suburban and had an advert out of a newspaper detailing a specific Suburban for sale. It was no longer available but they did show them the Pickup. While the Pickup was not really entirely what my parents went to the dealership looking for, it did do the job for us. It had four doors, large comfortable seats, could sit the family all of us are large and of Nordic and German ancestry, and had a cargo area big enough to be practical, even more so than a Suburban. My father was able to get it significantly cheaper than the sticker since it was someone's special order that fell through. It had a 10,000 trailer capacity and it was obvious the person who ordered it wanted it for hauling a fifth wheel trailer. It was in many ways all the measurable qualities of a Chevrolet Heavy-Duty Pickup before that model had existed.

The gearing ratio in the rear differential, 1.73:1 coupled with the Allison transmission and the 454 powerhouse made it a BEAST when you really got after it. It drank gas prodigiously too. It could have climbed a wall if I put one in front of it. When I would drive it to the university on occasion, I would get under the hood and fix the throttle linkage to give me greater throttle response. I was routinely whipping Mustang 5.0's with it at red lights!!! Nothing was better than smoking these guys who had seen Fast and Furious and had dumped serious cash into hopping up their Hondas and Toyotas. Their faces were priceless. They would pull up and say "DAMN! What did you do to your truck!" I often told them "I have a 454, There is no replacement for displacement!"

 

Now back to your Jeep:

I know what power can be had out of 454. It was in a very heavy Pickup. What I was going to say is with the right transmission, differentials and axles, I bet the 454 Jeep is a total demon or it can crawl over rocks like an ant. Which do you like doing with it?

Edited by Skylar Husky
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Now back to your Jeep:

I know what power can be had out of 454. It was in a very heavy Pickup. What I was going to say is with the right transmission, differentials and axles, I bet the 454 Jeep is a total demon or it can crawl over rocks like an ant. Which do you like doing with it?

Neither.  That old CJ was a cottage vehicle, although I did learn to drive stick  on it.  And an equally ancient Volvo 240 station wagon.   I have't seen the CJ in  almost three decades.  It was mostly back roads driving on hard-packed scrabble and trying to get stuck (note to self: lock the front hubs before heading into a mud hole) for fun.  I remember she was pretty thirsty, could be started with a push downhill, and always smelled of mildew, Old Spice and Hi Karate.  And "Old Ports" (CDN equivalent of Colts or Swisher Sweets) too.    The clutch pedal was long, but the clutch was forgiving.  And if you popped it fast and stamped on the accelerator, you could just about launch into orbit.

 

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You can't do hyper-mile runs in an automatic (current record is 62 MPG in my old '87 Toyota Tercel hatchback.) 

My old man pulled some amazing mileage out of his mid-80s Dodge Colt, too. It amuses and saddens me what could be done for fuel economy with those vehicles while today's cars tout high-30s as if it's some sort of accomplishment 

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Automatic because I have so many other things to do like text on my phone while eating a beefy five layer burrito and checking my makeup... That's what that big mirror in the middle of the front window is for, right? I mean, I'm glad it's up there and not down lower where it could block my in dash TV screen.

 

J/K. Manual trans all day, every day.

Also, a properly tuned carburetor > fuel injection. 

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I can float gears within 25ms. Best paddle shifter is ~75ms.

http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/porsche-admits-manual-gearbox-could-die-20130214-2efl8.html

Porsche readily admits their PDK automatic is faster and better than their manuals. " the 991-series GT3 will have a seven-speed automated manual transmission, which will not only improve its acceleration and outright lap time at the famed Nurburgring it offers drastic improvements in fuel consumption."

The new Camaro SS (LT1) with GM's new 8 speed paddle shifter goes 0-60 in just 4 seconds. The 6 speed manual is 0.3 seconds slower. The 8 speed auto 1/4 mile time is 12.3 seconds while the 6 speed manual is 12.5 seconds. The automatics today are faster.

 

With todays technology automatics outperform manuals. It is what it is. Doesn't make the stick shift bad but the stick shift is not the best performance option out there anymore.

Edited by Rukh Whitefang
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Manual please. 

I feel like I'm going to fall asleep when driving an Automatic. 

Some pluses to Manual:

  • Maintenance can be a lot cheaper when properly driven.
  • Fuel Economy
    Factors on driving style and road conditions
    Not much power loss since no Torque Converter
  • Much better sense of control
    You get a better feel of the road
  • No Torque Converter so you get an easier time braking

Cons:

  • Techniques to learn 
  • Hills
  • Heavy Clutch problems
    People can wear it out easily
  • Hills
  • Hills
  • HILLS

I had to learn in San Francisco. Just IMAGINE how horrifying that is.

526395745_6ba87d94d0.jpg

Learning to do hill-starts was a breeze, that's what your handbrake is for. You pull up the handbrake and hold the release, shift into 1st and hold in the clutch, rev and begin to let out the clutch until she bites and the car starts to pull forward then release the brakes and clutch together while accelerating and you'll move forwards.

Where I learned hill-starts was on a hill just as steep as those in San Fran.

One thing you should not do, it's a terrible habit that I've seen both from manual and automatic drivers: Using the clutch or torque converter to hold you on a hill. Fastest way to burn them out.

Manual Transmissions all day. Stuck in traffic? Ride your clutch in 1st gear. Battery dead but alternator's still good? Push-start the car! You can't do hyper-mile runs in an automatic (current record is 62 MPG in my old '87 Toyota Tercel hatchback.) Manuals generally last longer in general if you know how to operate one.

Also, floating gear shifts are always fun to do. Look mom, no clutch, just rev-matching!

By "riding your clutch" do you mean holding it where it's in constant slip or do you mean easing it in to nudge forwards and out to stop? It's not a term I've heard. Being stuck in traffic for me is irritating regardless of what tranny is connecting my engine to the wheels, I'd rather be cruising at speed. Push-starts? A life-saver at times and also if you're really up shit creek, towing a manual won't have any ill-effect if it's left in neutral.

Hyper-miling, something I've never learned to do, consequently the best fuel economy I've gotten ranged from 4.5L/100km in a diesel to 6.5L/100km in a petrol.

As for lasting longer, I've not yet met anyone in my neck of the woods who've ever needed their transmission or clutch replaced but at the same time cars tend to become expensive maintenance projects once you get over 100,000km from all the other stupid crap that starts failing. My biggest complaint being those fucking sensors and the shit-ton of electronics that can crap out coupled with clueless mechanics that rely on a computer to tell them where the problem is.

Manuals can be fun (Corvettes new 7 speed manual is a blast to drive)but performance has solidly shifted to automatics. Even Porsche acknowledged that. You just cannot shift as fast as a paddle shifted car.

If they were not egregiously expensive outside America, I would probably own one, they're one of the few American-built sports cars that I prefer over the European models (which manage to be even more expensive and less fun, if you believe Clarkson :P ). A man once said you would have to be insane to buy a Corvette ZR1 over an Audi R8, and that is precisely why you should.

http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/porsche-admits-manual-gearbox-could-die-20130214-2efl8.html

Porsche readily admits their PDK automatic is faster and better than their manuals. " the 991-series GT3 will have a seven-speed automated manual transmission, which will not only improve its acceleration and outright lap time at the famed Nurburgring it offers drastic improvements in fuel consumption."

The new Camaro SS (LT1) with GM's new 8 speed paddle shifter goes 0-60 in just 4 seconds. The 6 speed manual is 0.3 seconds slower. The 8 speed auto 1/4 mile time is 12.3 seconds while the 6 speed manual is 12.5 seconds. The automatics today are faster.

 

With todays technology automatics outperform manuals. It is what it is. Doesn't make the stick shift bad but the stick shift is not the best performance option out there anymore.

That's not a regular automatic transmission though, it even says it, "automated manual transmission" aka a hybrid. If I'm correct, they don't use torque converters but have a regular clutch only instead of a person pushing a pedal you have the computer driving an electric or hydraulic actuator when a gear change is called for.

You can't conclude that today's automatics (as distinct from an automated manual) out-perform a standard manual while focussing on one specific use-case; raw acceleration time. Torque Converters do a good job of this but at the same time incur large losses as does the automatic transmission itself which translates to reduced power output to the wheels and reduced fuel economy. A CVT transmission can make up for some of this by keeping the engine running at it's most efficient RPM range but that mostly applies to highway driving rather than stop-start city traffic.

I put my vote in for a manual and not just because essentially automatics are considered an luxury just like air conditioning, having driven both classes of car for weeks on end I can see why driving an auto can be quite nice but I prefer a manual hands down, and that includes the transmission choice when I do get to own a Camaro or Corvette.

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I put my vote in for a manual and not just because essentially automatics are considered an luxury just like air conditioning,

That seems to still be the dominant position in Europe, but in North America, its almost impossible to find an entry level vehicle without an automatic transmission (and typically a 4 with overdrive at that) and air conditioning.  Sure you can still order them without auto and air, but you wont find many on the sales lot.  Ironically, good manual transmissions (5/6/7 speeds with OD) are now considered the luxury item on this side of the big bond.

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