Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > Community > MacNN Lounge > manual or automatic?

manual or automatic?
Thread Tools
scaught
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: detroit,mi,usa
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 08:25 AM
 
i have an automatic transmission car now after driving a manual for like 5 years and i hate it. my old car was a cavalier and while it wasnt the fastest car, at least with a manual transmission i could get good acceleration. my new car (a cheap saturn i leased for 140 a month) accelerates like crap, i feel like i dont even have control of how it accelerates with the automatic transmission. after this car, i dont think i want to ever go back to automatic again.
     
maxelson
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Guidance Counselor's Office
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 08:52 AM
 
Both. I've got one Saturn that is manual. I use it to go to work most often- you know, better gas mileage and control. You know when it truly sucks, though, is when everyone does not frigging behave themselves on Rt. 2 and I have a stop and go traffic situation. You don't mind that kind of thing so much when you are younger, but as you get older, you start to feel that constant clutch action in your hip, back and sciatic nerve. Not comfortable.
The other Saturn is Automatic- for the reason that it is the "kid transportation" vehicle. How am I expected to effectively administer a healthy "if you kids don't behave I am going to turn this car around and go straight home" if I am also busy downshifting? When you've got kids in the car, my thought is that it's best to have as few processes running on the system as is safely possible. Shifting is just an extra process I don't want to deal with.
I do find that, the more I drive the auto, the less I enjoy the stick.

I'm going to pull your head off because I don't like your head.
     
gwrjr33
Senior User
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: about a mile west of Nook Farm...
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 09:01 AM
 
My current car is a piece of crap Oldsmobile. (It fits the budget right now.) It has an automatic - the first auto I've had in years. It has a v6 so the tranny isn't too annoying as far as acceleration is concerned but I miss the short throws of the manual I had with my old RX-7. Manuals aren't that great in traffic but I can't get my mind around the idea of an automatic in an RX. I wouldn't want it.
     
IceEnclosure
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 09:22 AM
 
Mustang 5.0, FIVE speed, heavy duty(high pedal effort) clutch, busted second gear(bang dem gears)... yea, lotsa fun... and it's my third mustang

oh, and no a/c (white apple on drivers quarter window)

bienvenidos a miami.... or whatever the hell they say

ice
ice
     
DBursey
Professional Poster
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 09:29 AM
 
I have a 5-speed 240SX. It's an excellent drive on a nice curving country road, but a bit of a pain in the morning commute through crawling rush hour traffic where I hardly ever get past 3rd gear. I think my next 'commuter car' will be an automatic. I need to free up my coffee hand.

A manual transmission saves fuel, gives the driver control of the power band, and is generally more fun when one has the space to actually drive!

[ 06-08-2001: Message edited by: DBursey ]
     
sek929
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Cape Cod, MA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 01:11 PM
 
Manual all the way unless you are frequently in traffic (drove through the big dig with my 5-speed before....not fun). It uses less gas, gives more power, and personally is more enjoyable due to the fact that you have quite a bit of say on how your car performs.

If you go into New York everyday....Auto baby!
     
fobside
Mac Elite
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 01:24 PM
 
Originally posted by sek929:
<STRONG>Manual all the way unless you are frequently in traffic (drove through the big dig with my 5-speed before....not fun). It uses less gas, gives more power, and personally is more enjoyable due to the fact that you have quite a bit of say on how your car performs.

If you go into New York everyday....Auto baby!</STRONG>
stuck in traffic all the time...that would be me. the 405 freeway in los angeles is great isnt it? i have an automatic. its nice cuz when youre stick in traffic you just sit there and you can play with the radip and take on your cell phone.
     
seanyepez
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Pleasanton, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 01:34 PM
 
Screw automatic. Automatic blows. You have no control over anything. Admittedly, Tiptronic/Paddle Shift is great. In traffic, you can just let your Porsche or Ferrari shift for you. When you don't need to be stop-and-go for excessive amounts of time, you can choose to shift yourself through a simple button-pressing motion. Unfortunately, Porsche Tiptronic systems are only 5-speed. For this reason, I would get a 6-speed manual.

The voting here really isn't accurate, since mostly car enthusiasts/people who care visit here, and those who drive automatics really don't give the transmission any thought. In other words, the poll here doesn't reflect true public opinion.

But we're the only ones who matter, anyway.
     
spike
Forum Regular
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Antwerp
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 01:40 PM
 
I drive BMW 325Ci. Of course it's manual and it drives like a dream. My wife drives an automatic Volkswagen Golf. I absolutely hate driving my wife's car because of it's automatic gearbox. I can't "feel" the car as I do with a manual.
     
poocat
Mac Elite
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: various
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 01:58 PM
 
stick unless you live in a city.
it just makes driving so much more fun.

poocat.
"The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive."
-Robert A. Heinlein, Job
     
Xeo
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Austin, MN, USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 02:08 PM
 
I drove a manual for 3 months during high school while I was "between" cars. I liked it, and it's easy to do, but when it comes down to it, I prefer an automatic. At least, right now I do. Maybe if I get a more expensive car I'll get a manual, but I prefer the simplicity of an automatic. My car accelerates fast enough for me and it does what I need it to.

It's just better for me right now.
     
Nimisys
Banned
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Diego, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 02:20 PM
 
i got a jeep... and its manual.

one of the reasons i love that vehicle so much is that it is manual. if it was auto like all the current CA ones (bastards!) then it would suck to drive. but being able to control the 224ft-lbs of torque to the rear wheels is just soo much fun. being able to down shift and acclerate for the insatnt omf factor is great. it doesn't take much work to break the rear wheels free even on dry days. even the traffic isn't so bad since it has enough torque that i can get it rolling in first gear just by letting the clutch in a little with out adding gas, so i can creep along without problems in traffic.
     
San Acoustic
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Feb 2001
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 02:33 PM
 
I've had 23 or 24 cars, two motorcycles and a Renault (classified as a car only if you are out on a day pass). About half were standards, including the '82 Mustang GT. I prefer standards. Up here in the Great White North, downshifting comes in handy, even with ABS. The car I have now is a '92 350-cubic-inch (5.7-litre) automatic four-door Buick Roadmonster -- a tarted-up Chevy.

Last year I blew the doors off a '97 or 98 Mustang GT standard, from a stop light on a four-lane one-way street with no other traffic at 2 a.m. The Buick looks like a real dog, so who'd a guessed it? These things were the sleepers of the decade -- throttle body like mine, the next year sequential fuel injection and boosted by nearly 50 horsepower. The boy-racer Mustang driver may not have shifted properly. Above all, I'm a realist.

I'd love to put a six-speed standard into it. What a blast. But astoundingly unique -- oh, all right, certifiable -- would be a six-speed on the column. My '56 Austin had four on the column and it was a gas. Six on the column would made the thing theft proof (although it's that anyway because of its body design) because who could figure out the shift pattern? Of course I'd have to have a diagram stuck to the windshield for my own use, but it would be removable.

My first car, by the way, was a '65 Renault Dauphine, three on the floor, 35 HP (DIN) and a top speed of 45 mph with a good tailwind. The only worthwhile thing it could boast was good heat. After that it was all downhill.
     
tg-007
Forum Regular
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Hutchinson, KS representin'
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 03:35 PM
 
When I was getting my new Honda Civic in '99 I had decided to get the model with VTEC (faster than you think...and any Cavalier & Saturn owners want a piece I will show the American cars what's up, hehe...anyways) and I had the choice of Automatic or Stick and I without a doubt in my head chose Manual and haven't regretted it AT ALL....I will probably never by another Automatic (as I had an older Ford auto b4 it died and I got my Civic).

Anywho...manuals RULE!
Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want.

iBook 500/ 320 RAM/ 10GB HD/ Airport (coolest. laptop. ever.)

QuickSilver G4 867/ 640 RAM/ 60GB HD/ GeForce 3/ SuperDrive/ Airport/ SoundSticks/ 15" Apple Studio Display

Toshiba Satellite - 900Mhz PIII/ 256 RAM/ 20GB HD/ GeForce2 Go 16MB DDR/ DVD/ Win2k
     
Cake
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Los Angeles
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 03:52 PM
 
When you have an automatic it's not driving - you're simply pointing !

The day I buy a car with an automatic, please shoot me! (although here in L.A. that's a simple request to get fufilled!)
     
Avenir
Mac Elite
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 04:24 PM
 
manual all the way

people used to ask me if my motorcycle was automatic or standard... I was like "you're kidding me, right?!"

I get stuck in traffic a lot, but I'll still take manual

spike[at]avenirex[dot]com | Avenirex
IM - Avenirx | ICQ - 3932806
     
zac4mac
Mac Elite
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: near Boulder, Colorado
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 06:10 PM
 
Not so silly Avenir, I pulled up next to a San Diego M/C cop many years ago. I was on a very loud H-D Sportster and he never even looked at me. That was when I realized he was on a 750 "Hondamatic". Poor bastard was too embarrassed.
I'm 46 years old and have only owned one auto, a '74 Impala wagon with a 400+ HP 350 (11:1, solid lifters, roller rockers, etc)but I blew up the tranny one day and wound up trading the motor for a Yamaha XS1100 bagger with 9k miles.
Still have the XS Eleven, minus the bags/fairing and an '85 Fiero SE V6, 4spd.

Manual is the only way to drive!
     
davidflas
Mac Elite
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Boynton Beach, Florida, USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 06:30 PM
 
Manual! I just bought a new car and I choose a stick. I my previous car for about 1.5 years and it was old and it had an automatic, how dull! Manual transmissions are the only option on cars that I prefer that also lowers the price.
2.7Ghz 15" Mid 2012 MBP 16GB RAM 7.2k 750GB HD anti-glare display|64GB iPad4 ATT LTE|
     
ctt1wbw
Mac Elite
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Suffolk, VA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 06:41 PM
 
My Wrangler is a 5 speed manual, and it's a ton of fun to drive. Wranglers are like that, especially in the summer with top down and driving through VA Beach... But traffic here in Hampton Roads pretty much sucks, especially near the tunnels, and the stop and go traffic combined with a clutch is enough to drive you mad. So I think when I get my BMW 540, it will be an automatic...
     
Korv
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Jun 2001
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 07:15 PM
 
Cake you took my line!

"If you can't use a stick, you don't know how to drive, only steer."
     
iPaul UK
Senior User
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: London, England
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 08:44 PM
 
NEITHER! Yes thats right.. Neither Auto nor manual.. Anyone here ever driven a Semi-Automatic car? There are precious few produced which is a great shame. I have this as an option on my Mercedes A-Class. Which is a smallish car that I don't think you guys can get in the USA. As an option it's half the price of a full auto. And is also based on a standard 5 speed manual gear box. So the shift action is perfectly normal, and is used in the usual manual fassion. And there is zero perfomance penalty and zero penalty on fuel consumption either. It's basically a clutchless manual. So there are just 2 pedals just like an auto. But the clutch action is controlled entirely by computer and hydraulics. It works extremely well. So well in fact that I wonder why it isn't an option on the bigger Merc's too. Or many other cars for that matter. The only other companies I know that make cars with similar systems are Saab and possibly Volvo. In my opinion such a gearbox system is the best compromise for a road car there is.

I know some auto cars give you the option to select ratio's manually.. I've driven some BMW's that have this. But it still isn't the same as the above mention Mercedes system, which is far better.
     
blackbird_1.0
Mac Elite
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Aiken, South Carolina, USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 8, 2001, 08:53 PM
 
i have to use an automatic (please don't make fun of me) b/c i was born with nerve damage in my hands, my friend picks on me about it b/c he's getting a five speed mustang , but things are looking up cause i read on vw's website that the vw turbo bugs come w/ an option for automatic shift I love bugs it runs in the family

nevermind...shouldn't have mentioned it

[ 06-08-2001: Message edited by: blackbird_1.0 ]
Apple II GS | Powerbook 165 | iMac Rev. A 96mb RAM| iBook G3 500mhz, 128mb RAM | Power Macintosh G5 1.6ghz, 2.25gb RAM | Black MacBook 2ghz, 2gb RAM | iPhone Rev. A 8gb HD
     
fobside
Mac Elite
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 9, 2001, 04:36 AM
 
i just sat in traffic on the 405 freeway at 11pm at nite! what the heck are they thinking closing 3 lanes of the freeway with the worst traffic in la? i was glad i had an automatic tho. i was able to eat a burger fries and a drink safely.
     
capone
Forum Regular
Join Date: May 2001
Location: eWorld
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 9, 2001, 02:30 PM
 
I've got a '94 Dodge Dakota Sport 5spd. I love manual, havent owned a vehicle w/ anything else. You dont have the control you need when driving. Great for off-roading too.

Visit MacNETv2, where you can voice all your Mac opinions freely.
     
Whisper
Junior Member
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Walnut Creek, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 10, 2001, 01:44 AM
 
Anyone heard about the gearbox system that has no discrete gears? There's no first gear, no second gear, none of that. Just forward and reverse (and neutral and park, I guess). I'm not talking about automatics -- those just shift gears for you. The gear ratios on this thing change while you're driving. I guess you could say that there are an infinite number of gears, but without a clutch. I forget what the technology's called, but it's really not very complicated. Hard to explain with words, though. I'll see if I can find a link for it somewhere. I think I remember hearing that Ford was one of the companies working on it.
-Whisper
     
Retrograde
Forum Regular
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: The Archimedean Point
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 10, 2001, 02:40 AM
 
Originally posted by Whisper:
<STRONG>Anyone heard about the gearbox system that has no discrete gears? There's no first gear, no second gear, none of that. Just forward and reverse (and neutral and park, I guess). I'm not talking about automatics -- those just shift gears for you. The gear ratios on this thing change while you're driving. I guess you could say that there are an infinite number of gears, but without a clutch. I forget what the technology's called, but it's really not very complicated. Hard to explain with words, though. I'll see if I can find a link for it somewhere. I think I remember hearing that Ford was one of the companies working on it.</STRONG>
Subaru used to sell a car with this type of transmission (I forget what it was called... maybe ECVT--Electronically Controlled Variable Transmission??) called the Subaru Justy.

I have almost always driven a manual transmission and it is my preferred way to go although I would love to try Alfa Romeo's new sequential gear-changing system 'Selespeed' in the 156: it adds a touch of Formula One with the gear shifters on the steering wheel. Now that would be fun to throw around on a winding mountain road!

One advantage to a Manual transmission which I can't quite believe anyone has mentioned yet is the advantage and extra control it gives you when driving in the <font color = red> snow </font>. I always prefer a manual in snow and ice conditions.
Ceci n'est pas une pomme. Magritte
     
Whisper
Junior Member
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Walnut Creek, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 10, 2001, 02:53 AM
 
http://www.torotrak.com/home.html sells something based off of what I'm thinking of. They call the specific part that I was referring to the "Variator". I suppose that there are more websites with similar information on them, but I'm getting too hungry to look for them
-Whisper
     
MacmanX
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: NC, USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 10, 2001, 04:33 PM
 
The problem here in the States (well, one of them) is that automatics are so prolific that people just assume everyone drives them. Of course, any who has hired a car anywhere else in the world knows this to be a fallacy. I don't agree that manual transmissions are that bad in traffic. Perhaps as one gets older it becomes a pain (literally), but I've never had a complaint.

Petrol consumption is also a selling point. A small five-speed turbo-diesel will drive for days on a few litres.

However, there is the driver's ability to consider. I can't speak for other places, but here in NC, I don't believe most people could handle the extra task while driving (in my area, we have one of the highest accident rates in the country.) People are not required to go to a proper driving school, you only have to do a small course and four hours driving with an instructor. It really is no wonder that so many automatics are sold here. Who has time to learn to switch gears in four hours of instruction time!

This is not to say that there are not people who prefer automatics. They are truly a marvelous invention. It's just hard to improve on the original!

Cheers!
Satellite deployment by:
Ace Moving Co.
     
San Acoustic
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Feb 2001
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 10, 2001, 08:02 PM
 
The transmission mentioned by Whisper has been around for a zillion years in one form or another. Its mechanism is easy to understand. Imagine a cone parallel to the ground, with a belt (the first ones probably were leather) around it leading to an axle with a wheel at each end.

The cone, spinning faster or slower by the engine, moves the belt sideways on the cone as it turns the belt, while the turning belt spins the axle. The effect is that of changing gears, but infinitely smoothly, infinitely quietly and . . . well . . . through an infinite number of gears. However, the idea appears to have bombed in anything but the smallest of cars and the occasional lawnmower. The only transmission as smooth, I believe, is GM's slush-drive automatic of the '50s that doesnt have gears, either, just transmission fluid acting as a clutch between two facing turbines.

When the turbine connected to the engine spins, it churns up the fluid, which in turn forces another turbine connected to the wheels to turn. The faster the first turbine spins, the faster the slush spins and the faster the second turbine spins. But acceleration is glacial and the mechanics horribly inefficient. But the ride is unmatched.

Ford's Model T doesn't have gears shifted by the driver, either. The T has a planetary transmission -- a sun gear surrounded by smaller, planetary gears. The floor controls consist of a gas pedal (optional), a forward pedal, a reverse pedal and a brake pedal. Emergency stops can be made by stomping on the forward and reverse pedals simultaneously . It is to cringe.

Steamers and electrics have no gears, either. I recall seeing Jay Leno not long ago on TV driving his Stanley in Beverly Hills.That gorgeous sucker -- the Stanley, not Leno -- went 124 mph on the salt flats -- in 1904! The ultimate automatic. Imagine having your Lamborghini's doors blown off by an "automatic" nearly 100 years old running on tires an inch wide. Your worst nightmare.

[ 06-10-2001: Message edited by: San Acoustic ]
     
Ham Sandwich
Guest
Status:
Reply With Quote
Jun 10, 2001, 09:00 PM
 
Even though manuals get lower $ at trade in, I learned on a manual and will always buy a manual. As other have said, you get to "feel" the car more - that's something you get used to. In in automatic, I'm "bored"...

Also, I feel "safer" in the fact that how many crooks would steal a manual tran car? They'd probably break the window and notice it was stick and move on. (This coming from the fact that most Americans can't drive manuals...) I wonder if my insurance company knows about this? I'm sure it's worth a few bucks off the cost of my policy!

-s'fit
     
Ruddigger
Senior User
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Riverside, Ca
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 10, 2001, 11:43 PM
 
I have a 5 speed manual in my S10, and I wouldn't have it any other way since it's a 4 banger.
Proud owner of the Original Macintruck
     
Bugs Bunny
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Upstate, NY
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 11, 2001, 12:55 AM
 
The only reason for driving



[ 06-11-2001: Message edited by: Bugs Bunny ]
     
hotani
Senior User
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Denver, CO, USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 11, 2001, 01:58 AM
 
// hōtani
MDD G4 dual 867
     
kenjay
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: May 2001
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 11, 2001, 02:51 AM
 
Porsche "Sportomatic"!!! Better than "Tiptronic"... Years ahead of its time!!! [circa 1970]
     
   
Thread Tools
 
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 07:05 AM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2017 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.8 © 2000-2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.,