# 5-Speed or Automatic? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 6, 2010, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142 "2010-04-06T14:01:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/21 "2010-04-06T16:59:21Z")
If I had the cash, I might go for both, with a second car for fun “weekend driving.” But as an everyday vehicle? In the SF Bay Area? Automatic. I drove sticks here in traffic, up hills, for a decade. I got really tired of it. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/22 "2010-04-06T17:09:42Z")
I didn’t answer the poll because neither answer describes my feelings. Until I bought a new car three years ago, I always drove a stick. Two things changed my mind. I hit 70 and decided I didn’t need the extra work, but mainly my suburb has put in stop signs every few hundred feet on every street (except one which is a through street and has lights). Not only is this a tremendous waste of fuel and source of pollution it just means constant shifting. I just tired of it. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/23 "2010-04-06T17:11:17Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > But as an everyday vehicle? In the SF Bay Area? Automatic. I drove sticks here in traffic, up hills, for a decade. I got really tired of it. I also live in the Bay Area and have owned a manual the entire time I’ve been here (well, until it blew up a few months back…now I just have my motorcycle). Anyways, I seriously don’t understand the complaints of “traffic and hills”–if you’re getting tired driving a stick, I might think your technique may need improvement. I honestly couldn’t imagine ever driving an automatic as my primary vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/24 "2010-04-06T17:21:41Z")
I like driving stick, particularly in my tiny car, because, as mentioned upthread, I’m better at changing gears for hills and such than most automatic transmissions I’ve driven. Also, I really like it in inclement weather, either rain or just general wintery/snowy conditions. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/25 "2010-04-06T17:44:34Z")
Manual transmissions _ONLY_, when I become Dictator of the Universe, sludgeboxes will only be available for people with a demonstratable, verifiable medical _need_ (like missing their left leg or something) ---
**Author:** ![Baracus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/26 "2010-04-06T17:47:24Z")
After driving manuals for 16 years the last car I bought was an automatic. I was getting tired of the working the clutch during half an hour of stop and crawl every night on the way home. Lately I have given up on that route and been taking the longer but faster “back way” and have contemplated trying to swap cars with my manual driving wife. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/27 "2010-04-06T18:08:00Z")
> [@MoodIndigo1](#): > > I drive a stick, but I don’t think automatic transmissions are stupid-- nor the people who drive them. > > Standard transmissions make for a livelier drive, and I have the feeling that I have more control of the car with a stick. BTW, most of my driving is city driving, and though Montreal isn’t Naples or Paris, it’s active enough for me. > > If you want to drive a car just in order to get somewhere, choose an automatic; if you want to enjoy driving, get a stick. IMNSHO, of course. This is pretty much what I would say too. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/28 "2010-04-06T18:12:50Z")
I didn’t learn to drive a stick until I was 32, when a friend sold me a truck that was perfect in every way, except it was a stick. So I learned in a hurry, and nearly a quarter-century later, I’ve got no interest in going back. But I don’t do much city driving, and I’m sure that if I were having to deal with a stop light or stop sign every block, I’d want an automatic. FWIW, based on frequent experience with rental cars, I think automatics have gotten a lot better in recent years. Even 5-6 years back, it seemed that any automatic I drove practically had to have a committee meeting before shifting gears. Nowadays, I barely notice it. But I’m still not giving up my stick shift anytime soon. You’re just more part of things with it. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/29 "2010-04-06T18:23:12Z")
Last fall I bought a stick after 2+ decades of driving auto wagons and minivans. Only complaint is that it is a 4-speed (as was my first ever car). I WANT MY FIFTH GEAR! ---
**Author:** ![mkecane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@mkecane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkecane)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/30 "2010-04-06T18:31:51Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > I will only drive standards. My Jeep is a standard, both of my Mustang GT’s were standards, and my truck is a standard. My ATV and motorcycle are also standards. It’s just one more thing that I can control. Standards also last longer. **When they do finally go out, you can still probably get home by skipping the bad gear or not using the clutch.** With an automatic, you need a tow. I’ve been driving manual for 7 years, and haven’t had any problems with the clutch (my brother had to replace his 2 months after getting a hand-me-down car from my mom when he was 17, and again about 3 years later, lol). I get how you can skip a gear, but how do you operate a manual without using the clutch? ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/31 "2010-04-06T18:33:56Z")
Someone upthread used the phrase “the simple act of driving.” It is for precisely the reason that I don’t consider driving “simple” that I insist on driving a manual transmission. If it were simple, thousands of people wouldn’t die every year in collisions of one sort or other. For me, I don’t feel engaged in the act of driving if the vehicle is an automatic. Taking away that piece of the equation takes something away from the sense of responsibility for what I’m doing – the net result is a decrease in focus on the task at hand which increases the likeihood of a collision significantly. Come to think of it, the only serious collision I’ve ever been involved in was on a day when I was driving an automatic (and so was the guy who ran a red light directly in front of me). Nope, if I can help it, I’ll be driving nothing but manuals for the rest of my life. P.S. City driver; very familiar with stop-and-go traffic. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/32 "2010-04-06T18:40:07Z")
Interesting…65.67% stick at this point. I bought my car about five years ago and it was a bitch finding it with a manual transmission, because apparently nobody wants them anymore. I learned driving on stick way back when and later switched to an automatic. It was so boring and unsatisfying that I went back to a manual. I don’t think I’ll ever buy an automatic. At the very least, as long as the transmission is connected to my foot, I know my car can’t accelerate out of control. ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/33 "2010-04-06T18:41:21Z")
> [@mkecane](#): > > I’ve been driving manual for 7 years, and haven’t had any problems with the clutch (my brother had to replace his 2 months after getting a hand-me-down car from my mom when he was 17, and again about 3 years later, lol). I get how you can skip a gear, but how do you operate a manual without using the clutch? The clutch cable snapped in my car years ago while driving home, so I couldn’t disengage the clutch at all. What I wound up doing in that case was stopping the car (which stalled it), shifting into second, then goosing the accelerator while turning the key to get it moving again. From there, I was able to slowly limp home that night, and then limp over to the mechanic the next morning for a new clutch cable, all in the same gear. It is also possible to shift gears without the clutch working, but it is difficult and you’ll most likely wreck the gearbox if you try it more than a couple times. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/34 "2010-04-06T19:11:41Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > I will stop driving manual transmission when they pry the shift knob from my cold, dead hands. It sounds pretentious, but I shudder whenever I see someone driving a performance car like a Mustang or BWM M-Series that has automatic transmission. You might as well be driving a Taurus! > > After 13 years, hills and traffic still don’t bother me. When I was a teenager, I simply didn’t see the point of a manual at all. Well, like a lot of my youthful delusions, it quickly went bye-bye once my Dad forced me to drive manual with a new car that he bought me. Now, I absolutely love it (6 speed Civic SI being my current ride) and, on those occasions when I might be renting a car, I try to get one of those semi-manuals (can be switched from one to the other). [For non-US dopers, virtually no US rental company, unless it specializes in Porsches or Ferraris at a rate of $1,000/day, has pure manuals available.] ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/35 "2010-04-06T19:13:24Z")
> [@mkecane](#): > > \ how do you operate a manual without using the clutch? Operating a manual transmission without a clutch pretty much boils down to slapping the gear into the next higher (or lower) gear at the optimal speed/RPMs. With a little practice, it’s actually a _lot_ easier than using the clutch. Once you learn to time your shifts correctly, you can pretty much shift as smoothly as an automatic transmission. I don’t think it’s really a good idea to try this on sports cars, since it seems a lot harder to do this on smaller, lighter cars, but back when I was a trucker most of the more experience drivers only used the clutch when starting from a dead stop and _maybe_ shifting up to second/third if hauling a very heavy load or under difficult circumstances. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/36 "2010-04-06T19:30:56Z")
What if I want a 5-speed automatic? How about a six-speed manual? Or a seven-speed? This poll is silly. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/37 "2010-04-06T19:37:56Z")
> [@Winston\_Smith](#): > > Operating a manual transmission without a clutch pretty much boils down to slapping the gear into the next higher (or lower) gear at the optimal speed/RPMs. With a little practice, it’s actually a _lot_ easier than using the clutch. Once you learn to time your shifts correctly, you can pretty much shift as smoothly as an automatic transmission. > > I don’t think it’s really a good idea to try this on sports cars, since it seems a lot harder to do this on smaller, lighter cars, but back when I was a trucker most of the more experience drivers only used the clutch when starting from a dead stop and _maybe_ shifting up to second/third if hauling a very heavy load or under difficult circumstances. > > YMMV. I used to do that all the time in trucks and wreckers. It’s not so easy to do that with transmissions containing synchromesh, which is found in pretty much all passenger vehicles. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/38 "2010-04-06T19:53:20Z")
All three of my jeeps and my Honda had sticks. Now I have a Saturn with a 5-speed auto, which is certainly handy for city driving. The manual was good in the Jeeps for off-road/backroad fun. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/39 "2010-04-06T20:12:06Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > I also live in the Bay Area and have owned a manual the entire time I’ve been here (well, until it blew up a few months back…now I just have my motorcycle). Anyways, I seriously don’t understand the complaints of “traffic and hills”–if you’re getting tired driving a stick, I might think your technique may need improvement. > > I honestly couldn’t imagine ever driving an automatic as my primary vehicle. Ditto on all counts. My wife has a stick but is terrified about driving in SF (while I love it) and can’t park on a hill to save her life (so she gets the driveway). I was a late-bloomer learning stick (the only cars my dad owned were automatics), but I’ve never owned anything but and never will. Just renting a car feels so wrong because they’re always automatics. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142/40 "2010-04-06T20:21:01Z")
It’s a peculiar dichotomy in the OP: The number of gear ratios available is an entirely different question from whether the shifting is done manually or automatically. That said, I view a car as a utilitarian tool, a thing for getting me from Point A to Point B. And when I tried to learn to drive stick, I found that it was just one thing too many to try to keep track of. EDIT: Actually, I should perhaps mention that my primary vehicle is 24 speeds, and is manual shift because automatic just isn’t available. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-speed-or-automatic/535142.md?page=3)