Generally in the USA, do normal road cars have automatic gearboxes?

In My Humble Opinion
41

unfortunately, as has been posted before, most of the vehicles in the U.S. are scudmatics (slushboxes, sludgeboxes, what have you)

i loathe scudmatics with a passion, if i’m ever forced to drive one of the horrible things i shift it manually, as i don’t trust the computer/bands/whatever to do it for me, i’ve actually had a couple close calls with scudmatic slushboxes that i could have avoided with a manual

“semiautomatics” aren’t real manuals either, as they use the power-robbing torque converter of the sludgebox, a real manual is one that has the combination of manually operated shift lever and foot operated clutch

i will NEVER own a sludgebox, in fact, when i go looking at cars, the first thing i tell the salesdrone is to not bother showing me any cars with sludgeboxes as he’d be wasting his time

i chalk the popularity of sludgeboxes up to the fact that the average American driver is too lazy (or stupid) to learn how to drive a manual, and for those misguided people who claim a sludgebox is better, i have 2 questions

if a sludgebox is better than why…

1; do no supercars (Viper, Ferraris, Porsche, McLaren F1, etc…) have it available as an option
2; do 18-wheelers, who haul things for a living, not use the sludgebox (yes i know there are a small number of sludgebox-equipped rigs, but manuals outnumber them)

aside from medical reasons, i see no reason why anyone should be using a sludgebox

sludgeboxes suck, i’ll never own one

42

Most drivers could care less about getting the most power out of their engines. As long as there is adequate power any extra is not an issue. To the vast majority of American drivers, cars are transportation appliances. They want to get in, turn the key, shift into Drive, and steer; that’s it. Add in issues with distractions, stop-n-go traffic, and simplicity, and it’s no wonder why automatics are much more popular than stick shifts.

Gas milage, extra power, fine control, none of these are really big factors for the majority of drivers. And with lock-up torque converters and better gearing, many of these issues are diminishing. Such is life. Who cares what sports cars and 18-wheelers use? It’s not really relevant to a soccer mom in a minivan.

43

In that case, Telemark, why are automatics not popular in Europe?

44

I’ve got a 1994 Honda Accord with over 170,000 miles on it. I insisted on getting a manual because of all the reasons mentioned by Knorf in the second post. It runs just fine except for two things–it makes an ugly growling noise around 1500 rpm, and it doesn’t like to start when it’s cold and wet out.

45

Then there are people like me…ambivalent.
For the last 15 years, I have driven manuals. We do have a van that is an auto, but I rarely drive it anymore. I do not go out and shop for strictly manual cars; it just so happens the vehicles I’ve wanted and ultimately decided to purchase have had manual transmissions. I do not feel like I need power, or control; that is not the feeling I get driving manuals vs. automatics. I can honestly say I do not even prefer driving a manual. Given a choice, I would probably pick an automatic because I am lazy. I cannot say that my next vehicle with be a manual again, I will probably shop around and when I find a vehicle I like, with the right price, I will buy it regardless of what sort of transmission it has. I would choose a car over another by what color it is before I would pick a car based on transmissions.

46

My little Nissan pick-up is a manual. My girlfriend’s little Blazer is an automatic. I have no real preference.
I can say, though, that in snowy conditions, and where slow-speed traction is an issue, the automatic is nice because when you go from one gear to the next, there’s constant power to the wheels. In my truck, no matter how fast a person can shift from first to second, the wheels lose power for an instant and can spin when the clutch is released (even skillfully) and power is re-applied.

47

Perhaps. I learned the basics by riding a motorcycle up and down the block a couple of times. Years later, I bought a car with a manual transmission and drove it 150 miles home to a city with small hills. Neither seemed like a big deal, but that might have been because I broke it into two smaller steps.

Starting on an incline with a foot-operated parking brake took a little getting used to, but it wasn’t much of a challenge.

48

There don’t seem to be many of us attracted to this thread, so I’ll chime in as a confirmed manual-hater.

A day to learn!? are you insane!? Three different people have tried to teach me, in three different cars, over a period that toals at least a month of instructional days. The cars, by the way, were a 99 Jeep Cheokee, a late-80s Ford Ranger, and a 03 Mazda Miata. All cars that have a reputation for being forgiving in the shifting department. So, what’s my problem? Well, for one I hate to drive. I loathe cars and I hate traffic and all drivers (probably myself included) appear to have had a lobotomy when they turned on the gas.

I have only recently been confident enough to drive a stick on the highway (and even then consistenly throw from 2nd into 5th on the entrance ramp, I clutch, so to speak, from the pressure). In sum, I hate driving, I hate the thought of causing an accident, and when something out of the ordinary happens, my mind becomes blank and I have no idea–not the slightest–what to do.

I love, love, love my automatic. It is a thing of beauty unto me. It makes the hateful task of driving that much less odious. It’s good for my blood pressure and my stomach lining. Praise be to the automatic.

49

Just learn to shift without using the clutch. :wink:

50

Nobody really addressed this one yet (that I can see). Technically, licenses are issued by your individual state, and they each have their own rules as to what’s allowed (California, for example, has had a sort of graduated licensing program for teens for the past 7 years or so that allows for certain restricted driving privileges for the first six months, etc.). However, as far as I know, the other states will let you drive as long as you’ve been licensed somewhere. If you move to another state, though, you’re supposed to get relicensed.

51

What you need to do is rev match.

I’ve driven in 6 inches of snow on SUMMER tires and still made it in one piece…sure I was doing at about 10 mph but still :smiley:

I’m only glad it’s unlikely any of the cars I want to buy will turn to auto-only vehicles. As long as 6 speed manuals exist, I’ll have something to drive!

52

I drive a manual transmission car-I have had amnuals ever since I learned to drive. However, manuals in traffic are a pain in the ass. Also, now that automatics are 4-speed with lockup, there is almost no efficiency penalty to drive an automatic. So I think that my present car will be the last manual I own. Funny, when I drive my wife’s car (automatic) my left foot keeps looking for the clutch pedal!

53

I disagree that Americans look at their cars as transportation. Soccer moms are driving 6 cylinder minivans with 200 hp or more. The V8 Mustang in 1983 only had 175 hp. SUV’s tend to start in the 250 hp range and go straight up. Because of all the extra hp available this is no longer a factor in choosing a transmission.

Most if not all automatics are at least a 4 spd with lock up torque converter. The difference in gas mileage is still noticeable by not by the huge margins of 1970 era cars. I get 33 mpg around town and 36 mpg on the highway in my Saturn econobox. The transmission shifts so smoothly that it is hard to tell when it happens. It’s also obvious that the engine and transmission computers were tuned for gas mileage. The car launches off the line hard and then tapers off. It’s actually fun to drive in the city.

I still prefer manuals for performance cars but even that isn’t an advantage anymore. If you are serious about drag racing then you are running an automatic. I’m putting a 6 speed box in my “other” car but that is strictly for the fun of shifting.

54

sticks (i.e.: standards, manuals, etc.) get lower trade-in value and are especially hard to drive in densely populated areas (so. cal., for example). round here, the majority of cars on the lot are automantic because of this.

55

Okay, first off, it must be said that the fans of automatic transmission are heathens.

My question is, if you must have a manual transmission license to drive a stickshift, how do you learn to drive stick?

For instance, I took my test in an automatic, got my license, and then learned to drive a stick. This way I was, you know, legal, when I was driving around in the parking lot.

56

Same as you learn to drive an automatic. You have a licenced driver in the passenger seat, and take it from there. (The UK doesn’t have any preliminary off-road requirements.) Learning to drive a manual doesn’t make you a particular danger - all you’re liable to do is to spend a lot of your time stationary. Show me anybody who’s caused a crash with a non-moving car.

57

here, automatics are probably less popular because (i) their fuel economy is worse and fuel is so expensive here (ii) British roads are narrow, winding and require much stopping and starting, increasing problem (i) (iii) like so many things here, “because we’ve always done it like that!” . Most driving school cars will be stick-shift because they know their students won’t want to be restricted to an auto-only licence. And once you’ve mastered the stick-shift, automatics are easy to convert to.

58

On the Ferrari 360 Modena and Scaglietti F1, the standard transmission is a 6-speed automatic.

59

An automatic is available as an option on the Porsche 911 and Boxster. The 2004 McLaren MP4-19B has a semi-automatic. The 2005 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren has a 5-speed automatic. So much for the idea that an automatic is “death” to high performance.

60

Despite claims to the contrary, there are some pretty fair-sized trucks with automatics, like this Kenworth dump truck, this “super-truck”, and finally, this Kenworth T2000, which is about as “big rig” as they come.

They’ve probably been slow to appear simply because a diesel engine that’s hauling 40-ton loads needs a lot of gear ratio choices, and building an automatic with, say, 18 speeds, is a tall order. And the result is likely to be quite expensive.