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It has a manual mode, that gets you most of what a manual can do, except it won't let you lug, stall, or go over redline, so the manual mode is more of a suggestion to the computer. But it does what you want perfectly, with quick crisp shifting. As long as you don't make a shifting mistake, you won't even realize it is protecting you.
So it nets you most of the fun of a manual, and all of the benefits of an automatic, and none of the downside of a manual (mostly towing and getting stuck in stop and go traffic).
So in summary, it is the best car I have ever had from a transmission persepctive, so I am sold on the new hi-tech auto trannies.
Another thing is the new manuals have a new downside. The new cars have six gears and a really tall sixth gear for mpg, so you need to do a lot more shifting than with a sport geared 5. I switch from 6 to 5 to 4 and back constantly in freeway driving in rolling hills, and if I need the full power of the car, it can go all the way down to second, I think this would get very tedious in a manual. It is so nice to just mash on the gas, the car does a perfect four gear downshift (from 6th to 2nd), and you instantly get pushed back in your seat like an airplane taking off.
I suppose a lot of people think guitar hero is like playing a guitar though.
Where's the fun in that?
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Or maybe there are a lot more Michael Schumacher (Ferrari F-1 circuit) fantasy/wanna be's than let on?
For me, fun means the ability to control the shift points so I get what I want out of the engine and car, and to provide value by doing so (meaning I can do it better than the car can).
If you mean obtaining some visceral thrill out of the actual mechanics of manually shifting, then no, I could care less. And if this is what you want then I freely admit, a manual is for you.
However in my case, if the auto tranny can shift better than I can, I am content to let it do so - because I would actually be subtracting value (mpg in this case) by attempting to control it myself.
The times when I can do a better job than the auto are pretty much limited to twisty roads and rolling hills, where it won't downshift to get more engine braking, so I have to tell it to downshift.
No shifting, no steering, no braking. All done for you. And as a bonus - you can text all you want.
Spoken like a true flatlander. Choosing and holding an appropriate gear to avoid using the brakes on six-mile downhill grades is just one of many things that makes a manual better in the mountains. The other is when going uphill and approaching hairpin turns but wanting to maintain a particular gear through the turn and after. An automatic will shift whenever you get off the foot feed, whether you want it to or not. I can look up the road and see what gear I want -- not many automatics do that, at least not yet.
Only in an EPA laboratory simulation test. Real world the manual does better.
Fueleconomy.gov:
hatch auto - 34.7
hatch man - 39.5
sedan auto - 36.7
sedan man - 40.7
Fairly significant 11-14% edge in the real world for the manual.
In yesteryear it could but only if the driver paid highly consistent attention to the task of shifting into the gear ratio most optimal for a given driving circumstance/situation.
MOST don't/didn't...
Nowadays the new FE techniques used in an automatic, no even possible with a stick, tilt the FE well toward the automatic.....with.....no CONSTANT driver attention required.
Those are actual results.
Manual wins. Game over.
only 58.8 mpg? 09 Jetta TDI
67.9 mpg SAME 09 Jetta TDI only different speciality tires
84+ mpg 12 Passat TDI
And the results are still up to 14% better. Wow.
It became obvious in the last couple of years that cell phoning/texting/GPSing proliferated to ubiquity, became very common, and is perceived by the general population as a civil right. Banning of elctronic devices and of any other kind of distracted driving is technically/economically/politically impossible. The only alternative: ban discretionary driving. Autopilot driving is already technically feasible, and is being tested in some places. Dynamic cruise control, self parking, etc are becoming common. Just couple it with GPS, and voila. Psychologically, we are already conditioned to obey mandates (such as seat belts), and manufacturers are already obliged to build cars with the electronic stability control and a lot of other overkill safety provisions. Most part of driving enjoyment has already been taken away over decades by automatic trasmissions, cruise controls, GPS, etc.
I am pretty certain that very soon it will be agaist law to drive yourself (manually) on the public roads. We will be obliged to activate GPS-based autopilot. Oh well, at least I will be able to drink legally.
In many places in this sometimes backwards land, you won't be able to buy those drinks on a Sunday :shades:
Your correct point is related to why I prefer a bunch of manual-transmission-drivers around me on the big-road, whether they are driving bigrigs or cars.
It's also related to why insurance companies give discounts for manual-transmission cars. When there is real $ at stake you can be sure there is no mistake: manual transmission cars result in fewer and lower-$ claims than automatic transmission cars, for both collision & theft coverage. That's the only reason for the insurance 'discount' (aka "lower price" for manuals.
I've got family in town (the same sister, and no, I haven't offered to let her drive us around) so I don't have time to look up a lot of stats, but I'd like to see some links about the real costs of insurance for manuals vs automatics.
Take a Mazda5 Sport, which comes in both flavors. There's no TCO difference in insurance costs.
Bankrate.com says "When it comes to transmissions, cars with manual transmissions are generally more costly to insure than those with automatic transmissions.
The reason for the higher rates again relates to the typical driver. Those behind the wheel of cars with higher horsepower and manual transmissions tend to drive more aggressively and become involved in more collisions."
In fairness I wasn't crippled, just got a bad case of whiplash. But yeah, being able to work a stick does NOT mean you know how to drive. And in fact may be more likely you DON'T know how to drive like a normal person, just an imitation wannabe NASCAR fanboy.
One real common example is there is not a day or driving situation that goes by without seeing an automatic equipped passenger vehicle brake in a seemingly illogical place, time, situation, etc.. Naturally, those very same folks wonder why, to complain why their brakes pads and rotors do not tend to last very long. In the worst case, tend to get into more accidents.
I tend to drive with a lot of anticipation and planning as well, but I drive automatics. However, I refuse to drive automatics without manual shift capability (and after my current car, I refuse to buy them without GOOD manual shift capability).
Manuals might periodically be bought by people who know how to drive. But they are also bought by 1: People who are too cheap to buy an automatic, or safety equipment, and probably too cheap to do regular maintenance. And 2: The guy who wants to feel like Tanner Faust or Jimmy Johnson but has the driving skill of Stevie Wonder
maybe you can identify a vehicle for which the insurance is more for a manual than for automatic.
(sometimes the manual shift will imply a whole wacked-out boo-ya track-performance package which is totally unavailable on the automatic/candy-posterior of the vehicle, and that wouldn't be a good apples-to-candy-apples comparison, would it?)
You had a fintail once, was it an automatic? You probably remember they need to be shifted manually sometimes just to eek out more speed.
Exactly - I'm sort of hoping someone lurking here is an agent and could run some numbers for their area or is friends with an agent who wouldn't mind checking.
Often an auto-equipped car will be de-tuned. The Miata automatic makes less HP than the manual does. They tune it for low-end torque so the slush box can move out of its own way.
167hp for the manual, 158hp for the slushbox, on the 08s.
Perhaps if it was a Ferrari, I could get over this. :P
If that feels like a cassette deck to you, then only an F1 will help.
But is that really driver-related, or is that the nature of the car available with a manual skewing the comparison?
Rather than looking at the whole industry, I would like to see just comparisons of insurance rates between manual- and auto- cars with otherwise identical powertrains.
Did anyone notice that GM recently held its "autonomous vehicles symposium"? By 2020 a significant number of GM cars will drive themselves.
*shudder*
The autonomous ones won't have stick shifts of course, so I guess as long as I stick to my rule of "manual-shift or nothing at all" I should be safe from this new incursion on the ability of drivers to do the driving. If I ever get old enough that I would rather have a computer driving my car than me, just shoot me....
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Don't you have a longish commute, or maybe I'm thinking of another poster who drove an Echo? Wouldn't that be the place for a self driving car? And maybe going across the Plains states.
That shouldn't be too hard. Off the top of my head, I know that the Subaru's Impreza, Forester, and Outback all fall into that category (for 2.5i and Premium models).
Or possibly the Focus SE.
GovtMotors finally put together a fifth-gen camaro option package I really like, an RPO blast from the past. the 1LE - a bunch of gofast bits from the ZL1, closer-gear ratios, shorter final drive ratio, no blower and no magna-ride. $40k. :shades:
and for the 1LE, automatic transmission *not available*, thank you.