WHICH DO YOU THINK IS BETTER AND WHY?

this should not even be a question. manual of coarse.
automatics are for people too lazy to change gears.

MANUAL

I have cooked 3 auto gearboxes, 2 while towing car trailers long distances on hot days! Manual, snapped 1 clutch cable but only because it was resting on the extractors! So autos have cost me close to $2000, manuals have cost me $35.

oh, come on. manuals, obviously. they're harder, but more fun and alot more rewarding.
although, auto's in trucks are all right, but only because those long, clunky gearboxes it would use otherwise is a little too hard for me. but in cars? definetely.

I like manuals, just cause it gives me more control of the car, and it gives me something to do. Usually an automatic adds about $500+ to the price of a new car and sucks up around 20% or more power until the converter locks up.

I like other people having automatics because it makes me money. Especially since this is a somewhat rural area and people tow shit and play in the mud pretty regularly. I can rebuild an automatic in about 7 or 8(book time is 9-13) hours and can make around $150 or so if I do it at work. If I do it at home it takes me a little bit longer, but I make around $250 or so after parts.

Manuals will usually last forever because any abuse that will damage it will tear up a clutch or flywheel long before it gets bad enough to hurt the transmission. About the only thing they can't handle is being a moron with the shifter and forcing it into the wrong gear at the wrong speed.

To show you how much transmission shops rip people off. It takes a good tech under a days work and about $150 in parts. Yet they'll usually charge around $700+ for a typical automatic. They'll usually have a $7 an hour guy removing and replacing it, then a tech making $15 or so in the back rebuilding it.



[This message has been edited by rlpinca (edited 12-14-2002).]

I like manuals for every day driving. Manual tranny's do go to hell on there own with no abuse, they are just less prone to go to hell. Automatics are better for drag racing in most classes because they are more consistant and you can use a transbrake.

Did he just say autos were the best for drag racing? Nevermind.

Sadly, the future looks to be the manu-matic. Damn little paddle-shifters. When they first popped up it made sense. If you could afford a Ferrari then you could afford to maintain it. Now they're putting these trannys into mid-size sedans...

Yes I said they are better for drag racing because of consistancy. Wait let me specify, BRACKET RACING. Unless you've got the scratch to run a Lenco with air shifter or something of that nature, autos are just plain more consistant than a manual.

I'd go with the floating hover cars with rocket launchers and laser guns.

The new Toyota MR2s have a manual transmission without the clutch pedal. Being a delivery boy for my day job, I'm glad that I don't have a stickshift car. It makes split-second decisions a nightmare!

Autos are my choice for everyday city/urban driving. But when it come to performance and maintinace a manual box is better.

Each has it own pro's and con's.

It used to be that a manual would get a shitload better mileage than an automatic would. With the advances in computer control now, most automatics don't lose as much power and can sometimes beat a manual on gas mileage.

Even 18 wheelers are going to automatics alot more now. I've talked to some people that say with an automatic the trucks can get around 7.5-8 mpg as opposed to 6.5-7. It might not sound like much, but when you figure they run 12,000 miles a month the difference can be several hundred dollars. Several hundred dollars for hundreds of trucks for a large company is quite a bit of money. A few years ago when I was a diesel mechanic, an automatic was out of the question because of power loss, weight and mileage.

Where I live in Melbourne, Australia, all of the buses are automatics. The only manual buses are the long distance coach buses.

That was probably because a manual would have gone through clutches about once a month with all of the frequent stops that local buses have to make.