I am looking to buy a used car and my budget is limited so I am going to buy a car that is high mileage. 100k or greater. I am thinking in general a 5 speed is less likely to cause me problems down the road than an auto. Is that correct? I know there are a lot of factors such as how well the car is taken care of by the owner.
Also I think driving a 5 speed is more fun so that plays a role in my choice. I am surprised that I have not found a lot of cars for sale with a stick, I am looking at Honda Civics and similar cars.
In my experience driving manual transmission cars, the transmission has never been a problem, you can almost count on replacing a clutch or two, and they are indeed a helluva lot more fun to drive. I think going for a five speed Civic is a good plan - I have a five speed Corolla, and it’s got a lot of zip. Have you thought about Hyundai Elantras? I did A LOT of research before I bought my Corolla, and I would have bought an Elantra if the dealership in town here would have sold one to me.
At 100k, expect to have to replace the clutch. The last time I had a clutch replaced, it was about $500. I don’t know what a rebuild of the automatic transmission that I’m now driving would be, but I’d expect it to be a couple thousand and probably higher than the value of the car.
These days, probably not. For one thing, automatics have just gotten better in general and aren’t quite the ticking time bombs they once were in an older car. Part of the problem used to be that you didn’t know if someone had maintained an automatic or not. These days, though, the ATF service intervals are mostly in the 100k range anyways, so it’s not like there’s a big difference between someone doing by the book maintenance and someone just neglecting the thing. On the other hand there’s all sorts of ways a driver can abuse a manual transmission, and at 100k miles the clutch going soon is a near-certainty unless it’s been replaced recently or the car was mostly used on the highway.
But, hey, you don’t really need to justify it. If you like driving a manual more, go for it!
For modern cars, I would say ~150K is average life for a clutch. Average price might be ~750.
While there are some automatic trannies that typically last only ~100K, it seems that many will go 200K, maybe longer. Overhaul prices seem to be in the 2000-3000 range.
Manul trannies can be very durable if not shifted recklessly. The overwhelming majority last the life of the car.
It’s been a couple of years since I’ve priced cars seriously (though I did look last month, as my current car needed an automatic transmission overhaul at $2600, which I opted for). Automatics still seem to command $500-$1000 more than a manual when both are available on a car. So even if you have to spend $700 on a clutch four years down the road, you saved about that much when you bought the car.
edit: Sorry, missed that the OP was looking at used cars.
Aside from the clutch (and the life of that will depend on the driver and type of driving), manuals have traditionally outlasted automatics. As other noted, better engineering and manufacturing have made most automatics survive the life of the car. There are two major advantages to most manual transmissions, better gas mileage because of less loss in the transmission, and more fun. The exception for mileage would be Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) which has no gears and can provide the optimal change in rotation speed between the engine and the wheels.
If you are talking about 2/4WD though, there are other factors like the mode of switching between 2 and 4 wheel drive. The automatics can be problematic in this area, but fewer manual options are available for passenger vehicles now.
My 72 year old aunt bought a Honda Fit last year with a stick-shift, saying that it’s less likely to be stolen. Of course, she’s exclusively driven stick-shifts since 1982, and she’s never had a car stolen.
I just had the automatic transmission on my '05 Ford Freestar rebuilt for $2300. It went suddenly…just in neutral no matter what I selected and it wasn’t low on transmission fluid. Turned out to be (mainly) a bad torque converter. Mileage was 99,856.
Most of my previous vehicles were stick-shift and the last one I put a clutch in was around 1992 and it cost $600 at the time.
On second thought, I had a '65 Mustang that I bought in the mid-90s and it immediately needed a clutch. I think I paid $400 to have the clutch rebuilt. A quick look online prices the Mustang’s clutch kit at $329.95 today (not including any labor.
someone told me never try to teach your wife to do something. I found that to be true when I tried to teach my wife to drive a car with a stick. But I will teach my son to drive a stick, assuming I buy a car with one.
I disagree. Modern automatics are carefully programmed to maximize economy on the EPA mileage cycle where they do really well. In the real world, though, I have always been able to get better economy with a stick.
