It entirely depends upon the car. And where, for example, would the OP place DSG 'boxes?
I have both automatics and manuals and believe they both have their place.
Dunno about the OP, but the way I see it, Unless the transmission has a foot operated clutch pedal, it’s an automatic…
DSG=automatic (manumatic)
CVT= automatic
paddle-shifter=automatic
I do not have a car and if I did, it would be an auto (the car I usually drive is an auto).
I love a stick. I like how it feels. I like how it shifts. I like being involved in the driving process.
But, I also have double tennis elbow and when it’s flaring, just driving a manual is painful enough. If the pain gets bad enough again (surgery on left and cortisone on right are keeping it in check), not only would I NOT be able to shift, I wouldn’t even be able to drive one-handed.
So, being a somewhat rational person, if I had to buy a car, I’d get auto.
That said, my fiance and I both want a Jeep Wrangler and have for years. If he decides to get one, he will get a stick. This means, of course, that I’ll have to teach him to drive it.
The good thing about that is that I can drive his Accent when my arms hurt and his Jeep when they don’t. 
An automatic. Not a manual. :smack:
I enjoy driving both. I prefer a stick for a sports car and an automatic for around town driving. I’d prefer a 6 speed for both.
I was taught to drive with a stick-shift under the theory that ‘if you can drive a manual, it’ll be easy to learn an automatic.’ I’m planning to do the same with my own kids.
I’m very glad a can drive a manual well, and I’ve had several stick-shift cars.
However, I’m a middle-aged soccer-mom type who drives a mini-can. I’m not kidding anyone that’s I’m a cool roadster. I take the easy route at the moment, I drive an automatic.
Physically tired? Very occasionally. But mostly annoyed. Shifting every few feet in stop and go traffic got really old. I learned to drive on a manual Peugeot and my first two cars ( covering ten years ) were manuals. You do get used to SF hills ( eventually - the first couple of times were…interesting ) and it truly isn’t a big deal.
But driving automatics at work eventually seduced me. They’re so much easier. And the difference in the “fun” factor is only a small one. I admit sticks are kinda fun in a performance car on windy roads. But I mostly drive for the scenery, rather than the driving experience per se. And do like to drive - just got back from a short half-day trip to the Tule Elk preserve at Tomales Point and I’m off to Fort Bragg tomorrow :).
The older I get the more I tend to pursue the path of least resistance. And I truly don’t care about the minor extra cost, which seems to be decreasing every day ( in terms of issues like gas mileage, if not in cost of replacing transmissions ).
Eh, each to their own. I don’t quite get the intense preferences for manuals, really. It seems to me a bit like having a fervent passion for blueberries over grapes. They’re both fine, though I do prefer blueberries. But not by very much ;).
I left my clutch in San Francisco
High on a hill, it rolls on down.
To be where drunken leather bears
Grind halfway through the gears!
The burning smoke may cloud the air
I don’t care!
My tranny is there in San Francisco
I love the red zones, you see
When I come home to you, San Francisco,
Your shifting skills will stall me!
Automatic for me.
After two failed attempts to learn how to drive a stick in high school, I refused a third attempt for years. I finally gave in and am sort of learning now. I suck at it, a lot. There’s no way in hell I’d ever buy a manual, but I’m learning now in case anything happens when I’m with either parent who both drive manuals - just so I can drive in an emergency.
Stick shift, Baby, Yeah.
The only think more ridiculous than an automatic sports care is an automatic Jeep. Yes, I know the OP has one. I guess there must me a whole line of pussy Jeeps these days with automatics, jeeps that dare not go farther off road than the shoulder.
Jeeps with sticks kicked Hitler’s and Tojo’s asses. These days solders get an automatic Hummer.
Enough said.
Hmm, odd. It’s completely second nature to me–I notice shifting no more than I do applying the gas or turning the wheel.
But different strokes.
I drive a stick. I love driving a stick. I must be weird in one respect though because I’ve never heard anyone else complain of this but… When I drive an automatic for any length of time, it makes my right knee hurt.
I drove a stick for most of my life, enjoying it for the most part. As others have mentioned, it gets old when you are in hours of stop-and-go traffic.
Back in the Seventies, when Easy Rider was popular, a friend of mine and his buddy worked on their motorcycles all summer, converting them into full-out choppers, with ape-hanger handlebars, just like in the movie. When they were all done, they went out for a cruise. After a while, his buddy commented on the handlebars, saying, “It ain’t that comfortable, is it…” My friend responded, “Nope, but we sure look Good!”
That’s how I sometimes categorize a manual transmission. It is usually fun to use, sometimes annoying, but always cool.
When I bought my new car, I wanted my wife to be able to drive it, so I opted for the six-speed DSG(Direct Shift Gearbox) from VW. Boy is that a slick transmission, and my left foot doesn’t get tired!
Stick shift for me. I really enjoy driving, so an automatic takes away a big chunk of that.
However, I currently have a Prius, so continuously variable transmission is what I drive now. Yeah, it’s boring, but it’s a really good car. I borrow a stick every now and then when the weather is nice and I’m itching for real driving.
Recently test drove a Subaru Outback on which the auto advertised better mileage than the manual.
I did a paper route (in town; very frequent stops, starts and reverses and the houses were just a little bit too spaced out for me to walk it. I averaged 15 miles a night) for a few weeks with my car. I was sore from shifting and clutching all the time. Concern for my car’s well-being made me stop. Holy crap that was tiring.
I think this type of thread/poll self selects for people who like stick (I’m one of them, and I voted). In my experience, those of us who enjoy driving manuals feel pretty strongly about it; we love to drive and automatics suck, and we’re a little bit proud of ourselves for not being one of those pussies who doesn’t know how to drive a *real *car. Automatic owners, for the most part, aren’t really all that interested in the subject, or cars in general. (I know this is a sweeping generalization, but the people I know that drive stick are “car people” to a much greater extent than those who chose automatics. I’m sure there are plenty of exceptions.) They don’t have much motivation to even open a thread like this, because the subject isn’t compelling to them…thus, results like the poll has produced, despite the fact that clearly automatics vastly outnumber the manuals on the road today.
I own a stick Jeep. I’ve only ever owned sticks (Bronco, Wrangler, Contour, now Liberty). I’ve never driven an automatic regularly, as I went from a Mustang to an MG to the Bronco.
But the next car I buy will be an automatic.
Or, like me, are cheap bastards who didn’t want to pay an extra grand or two for automatic (plus any fuel efficency differneces) when I’m perfectly able to shift myself. Though as mentioned elsewhere in the thread the fuel efficency of autos have gotten much, much better lately.