Poll: Manual or Automatic?

[BaronXS]

I want to learn how to drive manual but I've only drivin automatic. I hear Manual cars get more gas milage.

It really depends on how you drive it lol. If you keep your transmission in the appropriate gear for the speed, your RPMs will be in the correct range for the job.

A good analogy would be: Imagine a king on a thrown who is so much of a pompous ass that he has servants carry his thrown every where he goes with him on it. Think of each servant as a cylinder from your engine (4 servants, 4 cylinder engine, make sense?) When the servants carry the thrown on their shoulder and with a full handed grip, walking, this allows them to travel farther, and longer.

When the servants carry the thrown next to their hips with just their finger tips, they can't go as far or as fast. This would be analogous to keeping your car in a too high a gear for the speed (causing your rpms to be too low).

Consequently, if the servants were running with the thrown on their shoulders, they would go faster, but certainly not farther.


ANYWAY: I drive standard, and I have been doing so since my 2nd car, and it's like breathing to me. I believe that everyone should start out driving an automatic, that way you can learn how the road works. changing to standard should only come when you realize that you are a "Journey" type driver, not a "point A to Point B" type of driver.

Oh, and for those who are curious:

I drive a 1987 Toyota Supra Turbo, 5 Speed Standard

I see your supra and raise you one 1989 Mk1 MR2. Mine is naturally aspirated but it more than makes up for it around turns... god I love my car. And for the record it is a stick. It can be a pain sometimes when I am feeling lazy but it is so much fun to drive that it more than makes up for it.

I raise you my DeLorean DMC-12 with variable transmission. Great for those days when it's rush hour, and I just switch it to auto, the turn it to manual on those empty roads.

Well touche baron, its not very often I find someone who has a car that is more rare (rarer?) than mine but a DeLorean with variable transmission? I can't say I have ever heard of such a thing. Is it like the auto-sticks that i see in some cars now, where you switch over and just move the stick up or down or is it a legit stick?

It's a new build DeLorean, so it's chassis is modified for variable transmission. The way it works is that you push the shifter into the gearbox for automatic, and pull it out manual. It has a button on the side to make sure you don't push it down by accident.

pics plz lol

I would, if I had a digital camera.

 

[smokeybearsb]

Do you drive a manual/standard transmission or an automatic? If both, which do you prefer?

I drive standard, just because it makes you feel as if you have more control over the car.

I don't drive ( don't have a driver's license), yet can drive both. Stick shift is fun, I might like driving it sometimes; other times it would be convenient not to have to fuck with the gear shift.

 

[neo34]

I want to learn how to drive manual but I've only drivin automatic. I hear Manual cars get more gas milage.

It really depends on how you drive it lol. If you keep your transmission in the appropriate gear for the speed, your RPMs will be in the correct range for the job.

A good analogy would be: Imagine a king on a thrown who is so much of a pompous ass that he has servants carry his thrown every where he goes with him on it. Think of each servant as a cylinder from your engine (4 servants, 4 cylinder engine, make sense?) When the servants carry the thrown on their shoulder and with a full handed grip, walking, this allows them to travel farther, and longer.

When the servants carry the thrown next to their hips with just their finger tips, they can't go as far or as fast. This would be analogous to keeping your car in a too high a gear for the speed (causing your rpms to be too low).

Consequently, if the servants were running with the thrown on their shoulders, they would go faster, but certainly not farther.


ANYWAY: I drive standard, and I have been doing so since my 2nd car, and it's like breathing to me. I believe that everyone should start out driving an automatic, that way you can learn how the road works. changing to standard should only come when you realize that you are a "Journey" type driver, not a "point A to Point B" type of driver.

Oh, and for those who are curious:

I drive a 1987 Toyota Supra Turbo, 5 Speed Standard

I see your supra and raise you one 1989 Mk1 MR2. Mine is naturally aspirated but it more than makes up for it around turns... god I love my car. And for the record it is a stick. It can be a pain sometimes when I am feeling lazy but it is so much fun to drive that it more than makes up for it.

My by far favorite feature of my supra is the TEMS switch (toyota electronic modulated suspension). Essentially, tuned correctly on both settings, with the press of a button i can go from drift ready to race ready suspension. Does your MR2 have that? Although, I would imagine that with a car as short as the MR2, it wouldn't be necessary.

I definitely dont have TEMS, never heard of that either, but it does sound pretty damn fun. My car just depends on who is driving it, so for me that means it is always drift ready I would love to take it out on a short rally track or something like that one day, but I was recently rear ended, so I have to take it slow and make sure there was no lasting damage to the car. My dad and I checked it out, and it has ran fine ever since the accident (and some work on the rear calipers, damn pistons froze up on both sides)but I want to be careful. Plus we have to pay for college somehow, so the car is on hold for about... a decade or so

 

[duchaked]

I learned with the standard automatic
maybe one day I'll try manual if I ever have time to

 

[Graustein]

I don't know about anywhere else, but over here you're not allowed to drive a manual unless you have a license for a manual. However, a manual license does allow you to drive an automatic.

I'm learning to drive both a manual and an automatic. I prefer the manual, it gives me a feeling of greater control. Not only that, but by learning both I can drive either in an emergency. If I only have an automatic license, need to drive and have only a manual available, I'm fucked.

 

[neo34]

I definitely dont have TEMS, never heard of that either, but it does sound pretty damn fun. My car just depends on who is driving it, so for me that means it is always drift ready I would love to take it out on a short rally track or something like that one day, but I was recently rear ended, so I have to take it slow and make sure there was no lasting damage to the car. My dad and I checked it out, and it has ran fine ever since the accident (and some work on the rear calipers, damn pistons froze up on both sides)but I want to be careful. Plus we have to pay for college somehow, so the car is on hold for about... a decade or so

Heh, my Supra is slowly getting back together as well. It was a once in a lifetime find, so I couldn't complain about brakes needing nearly a complete overhaul, the A/C being out, the fact that I was handed 3 spare wheels and tires, or the fact that its primer black. engine wise, it runs like it just came off the showroom floor, which is what i was really looking for

I lucked out on Ebay, and the thing still runs like a champ and is a shade under 100,000 miles, so I figured I would hold onto it. It looks pretty ugly, but its still as much fun as ever. Plus, this way I don't have to worry about it getting messed up cuz it already is. And thats a hell of a lot of work, Kudos sir. I probably put in about half of that, a lot of which was body work. Not only was that a pain in the ass, it was completely pointless now that my quarter panel looks like an acordian

 

[cambodiancam]

Manual is fun so manual. But then again traffic on my manual sucks. I just get bored whilst using an automatic.

 

[magnuslion]

woot!! go manual!!

 

[neoontime]

i like manual but when i play a video game it is always automatic

 

[Dys]

Manual is more fun...

Until you hit 6 miles of stop and go traffic on the freeway. That or have to get stuck on any of the many many steep hills in the major west coast cities, you know the ones where the guy pulls up two inches off your rear bumper.

I can drive a manual, but I much prefer an automatic. Special cases aside, why would you not want to drive one in an everyday vehicle?

There's this thing called a handbrake, with it you can easily take off on 60 degree hills without rolling back if you are familiar with the car.

I drive a manual, I dislike automatics. Higher fuel consumption, less control (my car has no power, I need to be able to drop a gear and get some go sometimes), the "gay" factor (I study mechanical engineering, I shouldn't need to elaborate why driving autos would be looked down on by my peers and me), despite popular opinion it is (at least in my experience) easier to drive a manual in traffic (the extra control means I'm not constantly on and off the breaks, I can just work the gears) and of course the fun factor. The only real downside is it's harder to drive manuals smoothly (especially in traffic), but I'm no chauffeur and thus have no reason to car about a smooth ride.

Also motorbikes are (sequential) manuals, and it will be a cold day in hell before I'm seen riding a scooter...

 

[Spawny0908]

I drive an automatic. Never tried a manual.

Same here. Learned on an automatic and will stick with it

 

[Spawny0908]

I definitely dont have TEMS, never heard of that either, but it does sound pretty damn fun. My car just depends on who is driving it, so for me that means it is always drift ready I would love to take it out on a short rally track or something like that one day, but I was recently rear ended, so I have to take it slow and make sure there was no lasting damage to the car. My dad and I checked it out, and it has ran fine ever since the accident (and some work on the rear calipers, damn pistons froze up on both sides)but I want to be careful. Plus we have to pay for college somehow, so the car is on hold for about... a decade or so

Heh, my Supra is slowly getting back together as well. It was a once in a lifetime find, so I couldn't complain about brakes needing nearly a complete overhaul, the A/C being out, the fact that I was handed 3 spare wheels and tires, or the fact that its primer black. engine wise, it runs like it just came off the showroom floor, which is what i was really looking for

My car was an excellent find. It's a 1999 Taurus so she's 10 years old but only has about 60,000 miles on her (seriously gotta love elderly owners!!). She runs great, and I know most of her history because it was my sister's car first.

 

[Lazzi]

Automatic for my blad Camery and Pickup.

Manual for my Mudding ATV.

 

[manaman]

Manual is more fun...

Until you hit 6 miles of stop and go traffic on the freeway. That or have to get stuck on any of the many many steep hills in the major west coast cities, you know the ones where the guy pulls up two inches off your rear bumper.

I can drive a manual, but I much prefer an automatic. Special cases aside, why would you not want to drive one in an everyday vehicle?

There's this thing called a handbrake, with it you can easily take off on 60 degree hills without rolling back if you are familiar with the car.

I drive a manual, I dislike automatics. Higher fuel consumption, less control (my car has no power, I need to be able to drop a gear and get some go sometimes), the "gay" factor (I study mechanical engineering, I shouldn't need to elaborate why driving autos would be looked down on by my peers and me), despite popular opinion it is (at least in my experience) easier to drive a manual in traffic (the extra control means I'm not constantly on and off the breaks, I can just work the gears) and of course the fun factor. The only real downside is it's harder to drive manuals smoothly (especially in traffic), but I'm no chauffeur and thus have no reason to car about a smooth ride.

Also motorbikes are (sequential) manuals, and it will be a cold day in hell before I'm seen riding a scooter...

Ah bikes, Suzuki made an automatic at one point by the way. It was not a scooter, I mean you can say it was, but that just makes you look like a snob.

I hate the idea of using the e-brake to avoid the asshole creepers behind you on a hill. See the manual I drove significantly had a pedal e-brake, yeah it was a truck. With more levers and shifters then any vehicle should have. It was also one of those press to engage press to release kind.

Anyway I was talking about manuals being easier, but well there is a fanboy for anything you can think of. Manual vs automatic is no exception there are fanboys for both.

 

[Dys]

Manual is more fun...

Until you hit 6 miles of stop and go traffic on the freeway. That or have to get stuck on any of the many many steep hills in the major west coast cities, you know the ones where the guy pulls up two inches off your rear bumper.

I can drive a manual, but I much prefer an automatic. Special cases aside, why would you not want to drive one in an everyday vehicle?

There's this thing called a handbrake, with it you can easily take off on 60 degree hills without rolling back if you are familiar with the car.

I drive a manual, I dislike automatics. Higher fuel consumption, less control (my car has no power, I need to be able to drop a gear and get some go sometimes), the "gay" factor (I study mechanical engineering, I shouldn't need to elaborate why driving autos would be looked down on by my peers and me), despite popular opinion it is (at least in my experience) easier to drive a manual in traffic (the extra control means I'm not constantly on and off the breaks, I can just work the gears) and of course the fun factor. The only real downside is it's harder to drive manuals smoothly (especially in traffic), but I'm no chauffeur and thus have no reason to car about a smooth ride.

Also motorbikes are (sequential) manuals, and it will be a cold day in hell before I'm seen riding a scooter...

Ah bikes, Suzuki made an automatic at one point by the way. It was not a scooter, I mean you can say it was, but that just makes you look like a snob.

I hate the idea of using the e-brake to avoid the asshole creepers behind you on a hill. See the manual I drove significantly had a pedal e-brake, yeah it was a truck. With more levers and shifters then any vehicle should have. It was also one of those press to engage press to release kind.

Anyway I was talking about manuals being easier, but well there is a fanboy for anything you can think of. Manual vs automatic is no exception there are fanboys for both.

I would expect there the fanboy ratio to be stacked heavily in manuals favor, as most people who are going to bother voicing an opinion (especially to the point of being a fanboy/girl) will be motoring enthusiasts, and most motoring enthusiasts prefer manuals.

 

[Odude]

I drive an automatic, but I prefer a manual.