# If your automatic transmission has a manual mode, do you ever use it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 23, 2015, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751 "2015-03-23T01:56:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/1 "2015-03-23T01:56:03Z")
A common trend in vehicles seems to be adding a manual mode to automatic transmissions that allows the driver to shift manually but without the need for a clutch. I have it but never use it. What do you do? If you use it, when? Poll coming. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/2 "2015-03-23T04:05:21Z")
I use it when the roads are slushy or snowy. In the summer I don’t feel I need it, but in bad weather I quite like it. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/3 "2015-03-23T04:35:38Z")
I use mine primarily in hills so I don’t need to use the brakes, A car has much better control going around mountain curves if you are not brking in a curve. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/4 "2015-03-23T04:40:39Z")
God now. I had one car that had those paddle shifters. Every once it a while I’d bump once by accident and (same deal when I drive someone else’s car that has something similar) and it would take me a second to figure out what the hell was going on AND how to get it back to regular automatic. I’d usually use the shifter to drop it to N or L and back to D to reset it. Drove me batty. Once or twice I tried using it, but I hated it. Maybe it’s because I came from driving a proper stick shift car and had driven stick on and off for 15 years before that. But I can’t imagine someone that had never driven stick liking it either. I mean, if you want that experience, just put the shifter in Low or 1 and move it up as you speed up. Less gears to move through, but equally as stupid…IMO. @Grumpy, if the roads are so bad that you need to use the paddle shifters…I assume to slow down, you can just use the gear shifter to drop the car to low or 2 then 1…On preview, same advice to HoneyBadgerDC. I mean, to each their own, and obviously I don’t like them, but that’s my advice. All things being equal, I’d rather buy a car without it than with it. But I got used to my car that had it after a while. I never used it, I just got better and not bumping them. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/5 "2015-03-23T11:50:52Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > @Grumpy, if the roads are so bad that you need to use the paddle shifters…I assume to slow down, you can just use the gear shifter to drop the car to low or 2 then 1 My car has D, N, R, and P, if I want to have more fine control of the gears (well pseudo-gears, it’s a CVT) I have to use the paddle shifters. There is no other option. I miss my manual in those situations but the other benefits of an automatic tranny outshines this one small inconvenience. I voted regularly since I use it on hills and icy roads whenever I encounter them. It’s by situation, rather than frequency, but the poll isn’t set up that way. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/6 "2015-03-23T12:02:36Z")
Got one, never use the manual mode. I’ve never learned to drive manual and have no interest in learning. My brother always uses the manual mode on the rare occasions he drives my car, and I think I’ve seen Div do it too. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/7 "2015-03-23T12:53:20Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I use mine primarily in hills so I don’t need to use the brakes, A car has much better control going around mountain curves if you are not brking in a curve. Engine braking IS braking, and if you’ve got a two-wheel-drive car, it’s braking on just two of your four wheels, which is more likely to compromise grip than if you were using the brake pedal to brake all four wheels. Brakes also have ABS; if your wheels start slipping due to engine braking, it may take you a moment to realize it, and a moment longer to have the wherewithal to shift to a higher gear. Engine braking is useful in good-traction conditions when you’re descending a long grade with a heavy load and wish not to fry the friction brakes. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/8 "2015-03-23T12:56:50Z")
I never use mine, but I remember driving with my brother on two-land roads…and he’d always shift out of the auto to some specified gear so that he could throw it into a higher (lower?) gear and pass cars. I wish I knew enough aboot cars to do that myself… ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/9 "2015-03-23T13:02:42Z")
Just on hills or while towing something. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/10 "2015-03-23T13:06:28Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > I never use mine, but I remember driving with my brother on two-land roads…and he’d always shift out of the auto to some specified gear so that he could throw it into a higher (lower?) gear and pass cars. > > I wish I knew enough aboot cars to do that myself… I believe all automatic transmission cars, or at least all i know of, have a “kick-down” functionality to them, either mechanically controlled or electronically controlled, that tells the transmission “Hey! T-Cups wants more oomph, kick down to the next lowest gear!”. If you have a manu-matic, then you can do it yourself. I have a real manual 5-speed in one car, and a Tiptronic manu-matic in the other. I don’t use the Tiptronic that much, partially because I hate where the up-down buttons are on the steering wheel. Buttons on the steering wheel spin when the steering wheel does, which means curves, which is when I would like to use the damn buttons. Just doesn’t work for me. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/11 "2015-03-23T13:10:12Z")
Every day, to shift from Park to Reverse to Drive. What? Oh. I shift down into 2nd going down hills if they’re snowy or icy, but aside from that, no. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/12 "2015-03-23T14:04:41Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > I believe all automatic transmission cars, or at least all i know of, have a “kick-down” functionality to them, either mechanically controlled or electronically controlled, that tells the transmission “Hey! T-Cups wants more oomph, kick down to the next lowest gear!”. Yes, but the problem (for sporty driving) is that the transmission, left to its own decision-making, may decide to downshift (or upshift) when it’s inconvenient/dangerous for you, e.g. in the middle of a hard turn, where the sudden change in torque at the wheels may cause a loss of traction. This is where the manual mode is useful, when you want to keep it in whatever gear you’re currently in, or command a shift (up or down) at a particular time. Over the years I’ve test-driven a few cars that had paddle shifters, but the transmission was always a conventional planetary-based automatic, and the shifting was always dreadfully slow; you’d request a shift, and it wouldn’t happen for a good second or two. I’ve never driven a car with a dual-clutch transmission, but I understand they shift with extreme rapidity, lending themselves well to sporty driving; they’ve become very common on high-end supercars, to the point that ordinary manual transmissions are now very rare in that category. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/13 "2015-03-23T14:17:10Z")
The automatic mode on the Smart is jerky and poorly timed. I only kick it to auto when I’m on the freeway (it automatically downshifts when your speed drops enough), but even that is rare as I don’t take it on long trips. It’s a great commuter car for the city but with the suspension of a penny farthing it’s too uncomfortable for long trips. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/14 "2015-03-23T14:26:51Z")
I use it: - on long downhills, so as to not overheat the brakes. Especially when towing. - to get better MPG on the highway, I’ll use the cruise control and lock it in 8th gear so it won’t kick down to 7th or 6th on gentle uphills. - when slowing I voted Regular Use. I have a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee with the Diesel engine. I can get pretty good MPG: - 34 MPG @ 65 MPH - 45 MPG @ 55 MPH These are when I’m not towing anything. The paddle shifters let me control the transmission for better control of my rig, when needed/wanted. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/15 "2015-03-23T14:33:21Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > I’ve never driven a car with a dual-clutch transmission, but I understand they shift with extreme rapidity, lending themselves well to sporty driving; they’ve become very common on high-end supercars, to the point that ordinary manual transmissions are now very rare in that category. Yes, the first time I heard one of the newer Porsches with PDK it really caught me off guard, it sounded so different. It’s extremely quick, almost slamming from gear to gear. I think I read recently that feature alone took about 8 seconds off a Nürburgring lap. Like **leftfield6** I’ve got Tiptronic. I don’t use in in sport driving so much because it’s already so incredibly well tuned to maximize performance but I will switch to manual occasionally in inclement weather and also when I’m in the hills and have a better ability to predict upcoming inclines or declines and want to control my torque and rpms. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/16 "2015-03-23T15:05:13Z")
Neither of our current cars has one (they’re both manuals), but we have in the past had a care with such a transmission. As I recall, I used it quite a bit when we first got it, but less after the novelty had worn off. One place where I continued to use it was merging onto the freeway, because I didn’t like the way the AT shifted; I could accelerate into traffic much better if I managed the gear changes myself. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/17 "2015-03-23T15:15:20Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Over the years I’ve test-driven a few cars that had paddle shifters, but the transmission was always a conventional planetary-based automatic, and the shifting was always dreadfully slow; you’d request a shift, and it wouldn’t happen for a good second or two. you _can_ make conventional automatics shift very fast, but it comes with much increased harshness. > [@](#): > > I’ve never driven a car with a dual-clutch transmission, but I understand they shift with extreme rapidity, lending themselves well to sporty driving; they’ve become very common on high-end supercars, to the point that ordinary manual transmissions are now very rare in that category. they have two input shafts, one for odd gears and the other for even. so when the trans shifts, the gearset is ready to go and it just has to disengage one clutch while engaging the other. plus they can be made stronger than a typical manual transmission; a normal single countershaft manual trans is more or less limited to 700 lb-ft of input torque. Heavy trucks use double countershaft boxes which are large and heavy. as an example, the last HD pickup with a manual transmission (The Ram HD) has two ratings for the Cummins diesel; with the automatic it puts out 800 lb-ft, with the manual it has to be de-rated to 660 lb-ft. > [@Moonlitherial](#): > > The automatic mode on the Smart is jerky and poorly timed. I only kick it to auto when I’m on the freeway (it automatically downshifts when your speed drops enough), but even that is rare as I don’t take it on long trips. The Smart ForTwo’s transaxle is universally loathed and considered one of the worst on the market. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/18 "2015-03-23T15:35:08Z")
My last couple cars were Volkswagens which had a manual mode. After the first couple times playing with it, I forget that the option is there. Or it could be that I’m too lazy to use it. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/19 "2015-03-23T15:59:15Z")
I drive/own sticks but this past two years I’ve had three rentals/loaners with an auto and a manual setting. Loved it and used it all the time except for one short stint in 0mph bumper-to-bumper. But then again, I tend to be a little aggressive and heavy-footed when its someone else’s insurance and motor. If I owned one I would use it steady rain/snow but would probably get lazy other than that. ---
**Author:** ![Krouget](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b38774/32.png) [@Krouget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krouget)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751/20 "2015-03-23T16:48:05Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > A common trend in vehicles seems to be adding a manual mode to automatic transmissions that allows the driver to shift manually but without the need for a clutch. I have it but never use it. What do you do? If you use it, when? > > Poll coming. I use both auto and manual modes. I use manual mode when trying to pass, for spirited driving, and on courses. There is also a distinction. There are automatics which actually allow full practical manual control (shifts according to the driver, with the only limits being no stalling or overheating safeguards). These are typically programmed to actually shift rapidly, and produce more measurable mechanical performance (as a priority). They will be plenty responsive to inputs, and the advancements are usually found in upper-end performance cars, before anything else. Then there are others which do roundabout/indirect “manual” shifting, in the form of gear holds or max gear limiters, in order to trick the car’s shift behavior. You’d upshift and the car would go “oh, neat, I have another gear available…[checks throttle input]…then shifts”. As you get into the more casual end of vehicles, these are clearly added for the purpose of marketing the car as “sporty”, but while it’s more attainable, it’s clearly not designed or programmed with actual performance in mind. The former is great, the latter, I couldn’t stand. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-automatic-transmission-has-a-manual-mode-do-you-ever-use-it/715751.md?page=2)