are you a manual elitist?

[Raduque]

I like both. My Accord with a 5spd is damn fun to drive, but I miss simply slamming my foot down in the oldsmobile and holding on.

 

[franksta]

Some cars need the manual transmission but most cars don't. I'm a RWD elitist.

 

[NaOH]

:heart: DSG

It doesn't necessarily shift for you in manual mode. It red lines easily for me and I've over revved before. Driving in the city on the expressway is fun in manual, but once there is traffic, I love slapping it back into D and just cruising light after light. No regrets here.

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: Throckmorton
Like some have said, it depends on the car. A sports car with an auto is lame. But for offroad vehicles, an auto is better in almost every way, and I've had to argue with Jeepers who are manual elitists because they don't recognize the benefits of a slushbox.

My CJ has a manual box and it has some pluses and minues. Coming down stuff is a big plus, you keep your foot off the brake and just let the engine maintain a nice slow speed. However, starting and stopping on hills is SCARY at times.

Personally, back home in upstate NY I could cruise around without worrying about traffic. There I preferred a manual. Here in Phoenix with traffic it would be annoying in a daily driver.

 

[lurk3r]

Absolutely, any real car needs a manual, if you feel the need to drive an automatic, stay the hell out of the left lane, buy a caddy or lincoln or some other slushed out pos and just get in line to die or something.

Oh and I mean offroading too, if you can't start on a hill you shouldn't be in the ditch.

 

[BW86]

Originally posted by: yelo333
Yes. I'd rather have a $500 MT car than a $30,000 AT one.

lol? :laugh:

 

[Kroze]

I had a supra turbo 5 speed, 300zx 5 speed, prelude 5 speed, and now a civic 5 speed. So yes I'm a manual elitist. I heel-toe down shift everytime when slowing the car down as if it's second nature. I do agree that automatic sport car is a waste but I don't agree that automatic is bad. I often want a second car that's automatic to drive around while still have a manual sport car to drive on the weekend.

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: Kroze
I had a supra turbo 5 speed, 300zx 5 speed, prelude 5 speed, and now a civic 5 speed. So yes I'm a manual elitist. I heel-toe down shift everytime when slowing the car down as if it's second nature. I do agree that automatic sport car is a waste but I don't agree that automatic is bad. I often want a second car that's automatic to drive around while still have a manual sport car to drive on the weekend.

your cars progressively got slower

 

[Kroze]

rofl that's true that my cars got progressively slower but at the same time I noticed I got less and less traffic ticket to pay. It's almost non existant now. I remember the days with the supra/300zx, I'm guaranteed 2-3 tickets a month

Whoever said cops do not profile cars is lying.

 

[BlackTigers]

Originally posted by: lurk3r
Absolutely, any real car needs a manual, if you feel the need to drive an automatic, stay the hell out of the left lane, buy a caddy or lincoln or some other slushed out pos and just get in line to die or something.

Oh and I mean offroading too, if you can't start on a hill you shouldn't be in the ditch.

I'm preeeettttyyy sure that at highway speeds the AT is going to be...just as fast at the MT...?

 

[RichUK]

I almost bought my car with the SMG II option, but I couldn?t simply because I?d feel too detached from the car, and that?s not what buying an ///M car is all about in my opinion.

Though in heavy, stop-start traffic an automatic comes in to its own.

Manual FTW.

 

[alkemyst]

The funniest part is most 'elitists' would be slower on the track with the manual.

 

[imported_Devine]

I get bored in an AT, gas, break, thats it M trans though, I have to think about what's going on and have more thinks to do so it keeps me entertained.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
The funniest part is most 'elitists' would be slower on the track with the manual.

But they would be having more fun and thats what most of us care about.

 

[GTaudiophile]

I believe MT drivers are far better drivers than average. They tend to care more about the car they are driving AND they tend to be more alert while on the road, paying attention to the car and all.

 

[BassBomb]

Originally posted by: Kroze
rofl that's true that my cars got progressively slower but at the same time I noticed I got less and less traffic ticket to pay. It's almost non existant now. I remember the days with the supra/300zx, I'm guaranteed 2-3 tickets a month

Whoever said cops do not profile cars is lying.

Actually sports cars tend to stand out ALOT more than an ordinary civic... so its like you did the profiling for them

 

[TehMac]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
To each his own.

In drag racing, a properly set up automatic will almost always be faster than a manual unless you get into a custom true sequential setup. For towing, automatics will almost always have a higher tow rating (the exception being things like semis that have 13 to 21 gears which just aren't practical in an automatic; they also have an incredibly heavy clutch). For off-roading an automatic's "creep" can be a great benefit if you can also prevent it from up-shifting on downhill segments or manually control the lockup in the torque converter.
ZV

Woh, woh. Automatic? No. Absolutely not. Two cars of the same model and output, one with stick shift and one with automatic will not be the same.

The stick shift wins. Why? Because the Automatic engine is doing the work shifting. That's about a 30% loss of bhp. NOW, if you meant semi-automatic, you'd be right, the semi auto would win.

But a stick versus standard auto, = stick shift win.

Originally posted by: alkemyst
The funniest part is most 'elitists' would be slower on the track with the manual.

Do you know how to drive a stick shift?

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: TehMac

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
To each his own.

In drag racing, a properly set up automatic will almost always be faster than a manual unless you get into a custom true sequential setup. For towing, automatics will almost always have a higher tow rating (the exception being things like semis that have 13 to 21 gears which just aren't practical in an automatic; they also have an incredibly heavy clutch). For off-roading an automatic's "creep" can be a great benefit if you can also prevent it from up-shifting on downhill segments or manually control the lockup in the torque converter.
ZV

Woh, woh. Automatic? No. Absolutely not. Two cars of the same model and output, one with stick shift and one with automatic will not be the same.

The stick shift wins. Why? Because the Automatic engine is doing the work shifting. That's about a 30% loss of bhp. NOW, if you meant semi-automatic, you'd be right, the semi auto would win.

But a stick versus standard auto, = stick shift win.

Originally posted by: alkemyst
The funniest part is most 'elitists' would be slower on the track with the manual.

Do you know how to drive a stick shift?

Have you seen automatics in today's age? Many times they are faster than their manual counterpart. Sometimes they even get better gas mileage. Like the C6 Vetter. The auto is faster than the manual.

 

[TehMac]

Originally posted by: zerocool84
Like the C6 Vetter. The auto is faster than the manual.

I think you're confused between "automatic" and semiautomatic, or sequential.

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: TehMac

Originally posted by: zerocool84
Like the C6 Vetter. The auto is faster than the manual.

I think you're confused between "automatic" and semiautomatic, or sequential.

If it shifts for you, it's auto. If it doesn't, it's manual.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: TehMac

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
To each his own.

In drag racing, a properly set up automatic will almost always be faster than a manual unless you get into a custom true sequential setup. For towing, automatics will almost always have a higher tow rating (the exception being things like semis that have 13 to 21 gears which just aren't practical in an automatic; they also have an incredibly heavy clutch). For off-roading an automatic's "creep" can be a great benefit if you can also prevent it from up-shifting on downhill segments or manually control the lockup in the torque converter.
ZV

Woh, woh. Automatic? No. Absolutely not. Two cars of the same model and output, one with stick shift and one with automatic will not be the same.

The stick shift wins. Why? Because the Automatic engine is doing the work shifting. That's about a 30% loss of bhp. NOW, if you meant semi-automatic, you'd be right, the semi auto would win.

But a stick versus standard auto, = stick shift win.

You missed the "properly set up" part. A strong automatic with a high-stall-speed torque converter will provide excellent torque multiplication on initial acceleration. Once lockup comes into play, there's no efficiency loss (I don't know where you got your 30% number, but its completely ridiculous, beyond the normal ridiculousness of numbers that people pull out of thin air).

In a drag race, an automatic offers a couple key advantages:

- No lifting throttle. This is always beneficial, but it is especially so for turbocharged vehicles as the engine does not fall out of high boost by the closing of the throttle plate.
- Faster gearchanges. Yup, even a conventional automatic shifts faster than a manual.

If you set up a conventional automatic with a proper torque converter (stall speed 3,000 to 3,500 RPM or higher for most modern cars, an average street car's converter stalls at around 2,000 RPM, far too low for almost all gasoline engines) and program the lockup clutch properly with properly tuned shift timings an automatic will be stronger than a manual for drag racing.

There's a reason that the Chrysler Torque-Flite (A727 especially) remains favored in drag racing even today.

You are comparing basic production automatics and have clearly not encountered a properly set up drag automatic. Production automatics have low-stall-speed torque converters, their shift points are set up for economy, and their actual shifting mechanism is set up to slow the shifts to reduce their force. All of those are compromises for comfort that are completely opposite of how one would set up an automatic for drag racing. A properly set up drag transmission will positively SLAM into each gear.

ZV

 

[SoulAssassin]

My logic is that it's 2008...why the hell should I have to shift the car myself? I have automatic headlights, wipers, temperature control, everything...in many newer vehicles an auto gets better gas mileage and 0-60 times...why should I have to shift?

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: SoulAssassin
My logic is that it's 2008...why the hell should I have to shift the car myself? I have automatic headlights, wipers, temperature control, everything...in many newer vehicles an auto gets better gas mileage and 0-60 times...why should I have to shift?

Because when you apex a corner and hit the gas, an automatic stumbles even today. Now, if they made an automatic that I could program both shift points and converter lockup pointsand have say, 5 or 6 separate programs that I could access from a pushbutton, then I might be inclined to agree, though even that isn't fully the amount of control I'd like.

ZV

 

[JulesMaximus]

I drive an auto (well, except for the motorcycle) and wish it was a manual...actually, I wish it was a completely different car but it's paid for, is reliable, and has low miles.

I don't like automatics and I absolutely hate CVTs. My next car will be a manual. I owned manuals for 10+ years prior to the last couple cars I've owned and I'm going to rectify that next time I buy a car.

 

[SoulAssassin]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: SoulAssassin
My logic is that it's 2008...why the hell should I have to shift the car myself? I have automatic headlights, wipers, temperature control, everything...in many newer vehicles an auto gets better gas mileage and 0-60 times...why should I have to shift?

Because when you apex a corner and hit the gas, an automatic stumbles even today. Now, if they made an automatic that I could program both shift points and converter lockup pointsand have say, 5 or 6 separate programs that I could access from a pushbutton, then I might be inclined to agree, though even that isn't fully the amount of control I'd like.

ZV

Many new automatics have multiple driving profiles it switches between. It knows when you are in stop and go traffic, it knows when you punch it off the line and it knows when you are trying to rip it through the corners. You may not be able to manually pick between these profiles but the vehicle does have it. Plus I have tiptronic so I can get a little more control over it if I need to. Point being, automatics are "smarter" than they were 10 years ago. Again my point about it being 2008.

My car (E64) is rated for 18/27 MPG, the manual is 17/26 with the auto in 5.3 0-60 and 5.6 manual. The car is smarter than I am when it comes to shifting and I am comfortable with my decision to get an auto.