Manual or Automatic
 

I'm just curious about your generall preference for transmision type.

Do you prefer
Automatic or
Manual (obviously the better of the two)

Please don't allow my opinions to sway your answer.

i cant even drive yet, but i vote for manual... which my truck is... if i ever finish it...

I can't drive, but in driving school in the next weeks they force you for a little while with standard, and then automatic. :p
But I end up being in automatic thats because I'll end up with an Automatic transmission car. We're just lazy, thats all. :D

I prefer manual. Much more control.

you know, I wouldn't look upon it as being forced to use a manual...I would look at it as being given the opertunity. Once you learn how to drive a manual you have much more fun driving than on an automatic.

Manual all the way...

... a previous thread on the subject: http://forums.winamp.com/showthread....ghlight=manual

What I said in ^^^^^^^^ that thread

I don't know how to drive a manual either but I want to learn.

Standards aren't that difficult to learn, and they're addictive. Try driving an automatic after you learn how to use a standard and you find yourself reaching for the clutch...

Plus, they're way more fun... :D

Control is very important, so manuals are the only real choice. If you plan on driving a decent car at any sort of high speed, you'll want a manual 'box.

Used to drive an old pick-up with manual. The gears were always getting stuck in second. Had to actually stop and go under the hood to unstick em. A real pain. And I always hated having to stop on a hill in traffic, if you`re not careful you`ll roll back into the car behind as close as some of them tailgate. I prefer auto, especially in traffic.

:)

I voted for manual. Just because it keeps me from sleeping, or something.

manual because they are a lot more fun to drive.................

i just found out my dune buggy goes 0 to 60 in 22 seconds...... god is that slow! but it is still fun to drive

A couple years ago I bought a Dodge Cult for a $100. It was the first manual that I owned. The car wasn't in very good shape, it sounded horrible (no muffler) and the clutch was really loose but man I could rip some rubber and I saved a bundle on gas.....for the whole 11 months that I had it anyway. After having me as a driver, it decided to pass on to auto-afterlife. I think dodge sucks but only 100 bucks? Money well spent.

I learned to drive manual really fast when my friends and I stole this one car. Long story btw.

im one of those lazy americans so i wouldnt even bother to learn how to drive a manual---automatic all the way;)

You know if you're a good manual driver, the roll back factor is very small

I really don't care if Manual transmissions give you better "control" or if you can go faster in a Manual transmission car. I want an automatic transmission car because it is more simple and less I have to worry about.

An automatic also gives you more chances of being distracted. There are more accidents caused by being distracted in an automatic than there have been for manuals. A manual, as stated earlier, keeps your focus on how you're driving. You also have to pay more attention to cars arround you (like when someone is tailgating). When driving an automatic, you're attention is often easily drawn to other things like the radio, the other passengers, a phone call. (I'm not trying to say that driving a manual means you won't get distracted.) Even if only a second, distractions can change your life forever or end it instantly.

In my opinion, driving any kind of car (manual or auto) is more dangerous than many of our daily activities. I can't help but think about how close we come to oblivion when on the highway. People just take for granted that the other drivers around them are paying full attention to the road. How many people do you see gabbing away on a cell phone that isn't hands free? How many people do you see with their stereo at full blast and not listening to what is going on around them? I am not trying to pick on anyone for doing these things but a distraction is still life threatening. Another thing that bothers me, when I am crusin down the road at 55mph, oncoming traffic is only a foot or two away from smacking me head on! It doesn't matter how good of a driver I am. The other driver could be drunk, upset, talking on the phone or smacking his kids in the backseat. Or maybe I just worry too much but these things do happen and can happen to you, me or anyone you know.

In 1997, I was driving a friends car to downtown. We(all 5 of us) were on a road we all knew very well. About three blocks down the road, where cross traffic had a stop sign, we saw a car pull up to stop. None of us realized that the van parked right at the corner would be blocking the other cars line of sight. The young lady driving decided to stomp the gas and turn left as we were just crossing the intersection. Needless to say, she slammed us good. My neck has never been the same and niether has my friends car. The young girl of the other car was devastated. She had just gotten her lisence and a brand new car from grandma. She said she didn't see us because of the van and she also said, "I should have been listening but there was this song I love on the radio." We were all just another statistic of distracted driving.

thats not fun
I've had my share of close calls which made me pay more attension to my driveing..

I like a manual better than auto

Manual. Just because.
Why else? :p

Really, it's not so hard.
And it's alot more fun! :D

either one. it doesn't bother me. i can drive them both.

manual is always fun !

I prefer a manual, but I drive an automatic.

Manual transmissions are great fun, but they can be a hassle if you live in a high-traffic area.

I'm a racer and manual is WAYYYYYY better, autpmatics are so slow!!!!

A high-traffic area is a hassle all of its own.(Unless its your website that has high-traffic.)

True, but shifting from first to second and back again every three seconds doesn't exactly help the situation.

i used to think manuals were no fun. but then i got my BMW, and I found out how wrong I was. I will drive my 1984 318i, in all its 100hp glory, over my mom's 1992 toyota camry, and even on occasion over my dads 1997 BMW 740iL(if god drove a car this would be it)(my parents both drive automatics). notice I said only on occasion when i mentioned my dads car. it varies on the type of road I'm driving on. for long-distance cruises or city traffic, nothing beats my dads car, but if it will be primarly wickedly twisted backroads (plenty where i live) I take my car. I like being able to downshift the car for turns, and the power myself out in the correct gear, without waiting for the transmission to kick down a gear or two. I can do stuff in my car that make my dad get scared, and hes done 138+mph on a highway once. Bottom line, i will probably never drive an automatic unitll i'm too old to move the gearshift fast enough.

manual!!!

It's gotta be manual, us brits always go for manuals :) (albeit in tiny cars). Driving a manual feels far more like driving, if ya know what i mean :)

manual.. and fun? have you tried it in traffic? that's horrible. you'd loose a knee for sure.

I can go both. manual is more control, automatic is more comfort.

(just for the record, my actual car is manual)

manual

How are you supposed to slowdown on your engine when driving with a automatic?

you're suppored to do it with the brake pedal, ugh!

I drive my car around in London all the time, and a manual is much better than an automatic, even in traffic, in my opinion - you can use the gears and clutch on the car to accurately control the speed of the car. Also hill starts are much quicker with a manual as you can hold the car at biting point stationary on the hill, and then ease off the clutch to gain forward momentum; it's great :D

I voted for manual.:up: How else could you squeal your tires? :D

in an automatic, put on the parking brake, rev very high in neutral, and drop into drive real quick like.

W00t! Curi0us returns! How are you, may I ask? :)

right, john, if you drive a rearwheel-drice car, the next step is to buy a new transmission and engine, and if you never release the parking brake, you aint goin nowhere

Reving your engine real high with the transmission in drive and the parking brake on...thats not good at all...I'm getting a mental image of putrid smelling smoke.

I have no trouble driving a manual in traffic...I just switch gears...it's like second nature.

he didnt ask how to do it safely :p

i have an uncle who wasted 3 transmissions in a buick doing that :igor:

really, the best way is to punch the gas and let the engine speak for itself. or get a little backwards momentum going (the only way my dad could burn rubber in my mom's old minivan)

i find it a contradiction, "drive an automatic"?

That is such a good point.
I suppose they should invent a new word like psuedodriving