This. When a car is offered in both manual and automatic versions, the top gear on the manual is often lower than the top gear on the automatic, so that the manual driver doesn’t have to downshift every time he wants to pass on the highway. So the highway fuel economy will often be better on the automatic (because the engine is operating at lower RPM/higher torque, a more efficient operating condition), even though the automatic transmission itself may be slightly less efficient than the manual when it comes to getting that engine-out power to the wheels.
Automatics are also now being made with a crazy-high number of gears (I think some manufacturers are up to eight now), and a computer that knows exactly which gear gives best efficiency at any given condition. If you’ve ever noticed that your car seems to be running at locomotive-like RPM, this is why. Contrast this with manual drivers, who often cruise in a gear that’s lower-than-optimal (from a fuel economy standpoint).
I drove a manual for about 20 years, until I crashed my last one a couple of years ago. Couldn’t find a suitable replacement in a reasonable amount of time, so I surrendered and bought an automatic. It’s a nice car, but the transmission is irritating - always shiftingshiftingshifting, and taking its time to do so when I step on the gas. I really miss the manual.
In performance cars, the conventional manual transmission is being replaced by the dual-clutch transmission. The DCT is a bit like putting two manual transmissions in parallel between the engine and the driveshaft, and letting a computer manage the clutch on each of those transmissions. You can be transmitting power through first gear on one transmission input shaft, with second gear pre-selected on the other transmission input shaft; when it’s time to upshift, the computer disengages the clutch on the first gear shaft and simultaneously engages the clutch on the second gear shaft. Because second gear was already engaged on that other shaft, the shift happens in a fraction of a second, as fast as the clutches can be engaged/disengaged - faster than any manual transmission and faster than any conventional automatic, which is why it shows up on performance cars (Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc.). It’s also more efficient than a conventional automatic, which is why it shows up on some economy cars like the Ford Focus. But if you’re used to an automatic, the DCT is a weird driving experience. The computer controls clutch engagement during launch from a dead stop, so you may notice some speed-versus RPM situations that seem odd. You’ve also got that rock-solid wheel-to-engine connection that manual drivers like, but that seem jarring for automatic drivers (e.g. when transitioning between accel and engine braking).
I also see more and more automatics these days with (semi) manual shifting options on them. Maybe “gear selectors” would be a better phrase. (I know these have been around for awhile–my friend’s car back in the 90s had it, but I seem to see them more these days). My wife’s Kia has this, and it actually came in useful last week when we were on a road trip driving through hilly sections of the Eastern US, where gear selection is more situational, and deciding the optimum gear is more based on seeing the terrain and traffic conditions ahead of me. But it’s still a little frustrating, as it won’t always let you select a gear it thinks is too high or too low, and since I have to sequentially tap down the gears, to quickly go from sixth to third sometimes requires an extra tap, as the computer doesn’t seem to always register each tap. I’m sure there are differences between manufacturers, of course, with some being more responsive than others.
I’ve only driven manual transmission cars. My most recent Wrangler acted funny when I test drove it. The salesman told me it had a “hill holder clutch”. I almost walked away from the sale, until he had one of the mechanics disable this “feature” so I could drive it again. I bought it, but keep the hill holder shut off.
Airman’s current car is a 2012 Nissan Juke manual that requires premium gas because it has a turbo. He also gets (maybe) 250 miles out of a ten-gallon tank of gas. By comparison, my 2013 Honda Civic automatic gets 400+ miles out of a ten-gallon tank of regular, and I have a lot of stop-and-go traffic on my daily commute. Even when we were driving nearly identical cars (his was a 2001 Honda Accord manual and mine was a 2002 Accord automatic), the differences in mileage were negligible.
My father tells me I was the best of the 5 of us when learning to drive a stick shift, but I refused to drive that family car. I hated it. Rolling backwards on hills drove me nuts. I don’t give up control easily. I suppose if I had learned to drive in Oklahoma, I might have tolerated it.
Modern cars have computers that can give better mileage than most humans can. And I already have problems with my knees and ankles. I’d hate to become immobile because I can’t manage my car.
Yes, kids should learn to drive a stick so that they can use one when necessary.
…and that’s an interesting transmission too, as GM and Ford co-developed it. It’s been going into the higher trim GM trucks now as well.
The upper echelon performance car makers have had dual clutch trannys in 8, 9 and 10 speeds for awhile now. Coupled with all wheel drive and launch control, some of these cars are reaching absolutely outrageous acceleration levels.
