Though this is a mostly USA phenomenon.
Some years ago when I went on business to the UK, a friend of mine pointed this out and strongly recommended that I specify Automatic when I arranged my Hertz rental car.
I am forever thankful to that person. It was bad enough sorting out driving on the opposite side and understanding roundabouts, without having to worry about changing gears with my left hand.
We just got back from 4 years in Japan–very difficult to find a stick shift car there, though we did manage. The switch from shifting left to right was really the easiest thing to get used to, the worst is which side of the car to get in on. After four years I’d still screw it up once a week or so, and moving back to the states a couple months ago, I have to think about it every time.
For what it’s worth, I like automatics. In an ideal world, I’d have a manumatic like the 90s Saab one, where you had a regular manual gearlever and the clutch was simply removed (well, replaced with a torque converter that was actuated by a sensor on the stick).
Failing that, I’d go for a 90s-rally car style sequential shifter. I don’t like the button or paddle shift at all.
I have no preference as long as the car runs good.
I like driving stick about 95% of the time; my ideal car would be a manual transmission, with the option to go automatic when I’m stuck in stop-and-go traffic.
I do like a manual transmission for winter driving, too, where I have more options than just gas and brake - I can start off in second gear to reduce torque when starting on icy conditions, and I can drop speed and slow down without braking.
Like so many others, I wish there were an “it depends” option.
Where I’m currently working, it’s tough to call. There’s so much stop and go that I’m fine with the automatic. But once I’m on the highway, I’m constantly downshifting the automatic anyway (it’s a hilly/mountains area), if it’s a car that handles it well (the Expedition is fantastic for it, the I-4 Fusion doesn’t really step down until it wants to step down).
Modern automatics increasingly have higher EPA ratings for the same car with a manual gearbox (strike one against the “need” for a manual). Modern automatics can also be built for a neglible price difference (in volume) versus a manual (so, strike two).
I guess for practicality and living at home, I’d have to vote for automatic, because it’s just not practical for me to own a third car that’s just “for fun” that would definitely be manual. So, my commuter car (auto). My hauler (auto, better for trailering). My “for fun” car (automatic).
This reminds me, when I drove an ice cream truck, it was an automatic, and idle was just the right speed for cruising neighborhoods. I remember thinking what a pain a stick would be. Clearly, this is insurmountable, objective proof that everyone should drive an automatic.
Half my cars have been stick, half automatic. I prefer automatic.
My first stick was a total POS and liked to pretend it was going to stall in intersections.
My current stick is horrible. The clutch engages so far down. Like I have to press it all the way to the mat, and I have short legs. I’m exhausted when I’m in stop and go traffic.
Both time I had stick, I live(d) in very hilly areas. People, I know I shouldn’t roll back, but could you not stop on my bumper anyway? You know, just in case my foot slips off the clutch from hell?
The only time I was glad I was in a stick was when we “borrowed” a family member’s car to make a beer run as teenagers and the car wouldn’t start. We got it rolling and popped the clutch to get it started and it worked!
The only people I know who prefer sticks are young females who smoke. Way too much to do, I find: smoking and shifting.
Definitely stick shift.
But I’m driving the car that used to be my mother’s and it’s auto. Plus, I’m looking forward to surgery in each of my knees, and I need a car that I can drive with only one foot (and two hands).
Are you implying you’ve never encountered “traffic circles” in the U.S.? There are two of them within a short drive from my house.
There aren’t any down here. Well, there’s one, but it’s one lane.
Not at all! I live in New Jersey, and there just happens to be one particularly nasty traffic circle a couple of blocks from my house.
I was just … Unprepared for the sheer number of them. Imagine every single traffic light in a mid-sized town being replaced with traffic circles. That’s what it was like. I don’t even recall if they had any normal lights in Cambridge.
Things get confusing very quickly. Imagine the roads layed out like dozens of wheels with four, five, or six spokes connecting them to yet more wheels. After a few turns you lose all sense of direction. And they turn in the opposite direction.
After a week I was starting to get the hang of it. A Left was first exit; straight ahead is the second exit; right turn is the third turnoff. Of course, that only covers the four-spoked variety.
I found them more daunting than left-hand traffic.
I learned to drive on a four speed manual farm truck when I was a kid. Although I’ve owned a few automatic cars, I’ve always owned a stick shift.
I drive mostly freeway miles now, but I prefer city driving in a stick. Nashville has some hills, but they’re not an issue.
I like the control of a straight shift, personally.
I learned to drive manual when I got my permit at 15 1/2. I liked cars and wanted to *really *learn how to drive so my dad taught me. My first two cars were automatics and both transmissions died, the next automatic transmission had issues too so I swore off autos. Since then I’ve had a variety of cars - all manual and no transmission problems since. It could just be a coincidence (or my driving?).
I like having more control over the vehicle so I wouldn’t get an automatic sports car. That just doesn’t make sense to me. I have been thinking about getting a small SUV in the near future and it’s seems like manual SUVs are harder to find so I might cave and get an automatic. I hope I don’t regret it.
I’ve got an Altima Coupe with a CVT that runs smooth as butter in auto mode. No herky-jerky shift points, no unexpected downshifts, or hunting for gears when speeding up, just nice, responsive power available at a press of the throttle.
But it also has a simulated manumatic mode, which locks the CVT into the equivalent ratios of a 6-speed gearbox, only instead of a shift-gate, I just blip the stick up or down.
I may not get that satisfying thunk of a manual shifter, but it’s still super-fun, especially on twisty backroads, and in auto mode it gets great mileage.
I don’t have an opinion, I just like to vote in polls.
I own one of each (wife doesn’t like manual). I travel a lot, and in most parts of the world, automatic transmission vehicles cost 50-100% more to rent than manual. We live in a very hilly city (800-1200 meters above sea level in a very short distance) with insane traffic/drivers, so just the thought of the Mrs. getting into trouble was enough to justify buying the automatic.
Why on earth would you not want manual for an off-road car? Beyond that, I prefer manuals.
I didn’t vote because I think it depends. I drive a manual car, like most people in france, but I think if I were living in a city, with frequent stop and go, I would prefer an automatic. But I’ve never driven one so I don’t really know.
Because I spend way more time commuting than trail riding. My last two Wranglers were both 5-speeds, and if this one turns out to be terrible off-road, I wouldn’t be totally against the idea of buying another one just for four-wheeling. At the moment, though, I can’t afford a third car. I made a compromise to practicality which allows me to be in a Jeep but still do my commute in comfort.
Okay, would someone please explain what “weekend driving” is, why it depends on the car, and where you drive a sports cars vs. where you drive a “non-sports” car?