When you have to drive an automatic...

Yup, 4 manual cars, still bought the auto....I will say this though, I do find myself more distracted and bored driving an auto....more temptation to check my phone, etc., which is one of the reason I used to say that auto transmissions should be outlawed except for handicapped accessible cars

 

Have to say I agree with this for the most part. In traffic, F1 tranny in auto is great, especially for those of us with arthritic hips and shoulders. And, then when you are in open country, back roads - flipping the paddles is fun enough for me. Not as engaging as a stick, but acceptable enough for me. I would add to azlin75's reasons - in addition to enjoying scenery, sounds of the engine, etc - driving in auto mode while in town frees up a few extra brain cells to keep an eye on other drivers! The # of distracted, rude, clueless, etc. drives I see while out & about on the highway is pretty frightening...T

 

I don’t get this at all. Driving a manual in traffic, the effort is all subconscious. Don’t even think about it. Listen to the radio, look out the windows. Exactly the same as an automatic in traffic except you have a slight extra mind diversion in a manual which is welcome to me.

I like a good automatic when you are actually moving rather than in traffic. The first I had was a 5 speed BMW auto years ago and it was better than any I’ve had since, maybe because of less torque in those days, but I used to love it ALWAYS selecting the right gear, super smoothly as it had to go down two gears, take a 90° left and accelerate strongly out. It really suited the big luxury car and gave great enjoyment.

Manuals I love too when actually moving, double de clutching down from 5th to second, rev matching, braking, neutral and use the handbrake a little maybe, navigating the same 90° left, it’s fun in a different way; you are doing it. But in both machines a big part of the enjoyment is a respect for the engineering and what you can feel it do for you in an auto or make it do in a manual.

For me manual or auto comes down to the type of car, and who cares about city driving even if it’s a lot.

A great old V12 S Class from 1991 : AUTO. Old Porsche 911 : Manual. But it’s the machine in the round that’s important. The new Alpine A110 is getting great reviews and they didn’t have the budget to make a manual; I wouldn’t let it put me off the car even though a manual would be great for that car.

I think there is a distinction between US drivers and Euro drivers, because it seems nearly all US drivers learn in an auto. I read on here a 575 manual owner saying he didn’t like the open gate because it took to long to go through each gear from 5th to second, while trying to brake enough to navigate a corner. Made the car clumsy. If you drive a manual from being young you will go straight from 5th to second. You will now how to double de clutch, rev match and brake and do it all in one go without even thinking. And you won’t be superhuman.

 

The 456 is a car I could see being enjoyable as either auto or manual. I’d still take the manual though.

 

I suppose the difference is also in what it is that you are driving. Those old 4 speed Mopars would pump your left leg up to the size of a telephone pole. The nicest manual I ever owned was in a Nissan. Surely there are far better then those I have experienced but I'm at the point now I just want to get in and go. Like Tomc said it is nice to enjoy all the other parts of the trip. Being the world that I live in only will currently accommodate 1 "toy" car I assure you a manual isn't on my radar. Now if it didn't matter I'm sure I would have an older f car with a manual because it is fun sometimes.

 

That would be the difference between me and you. I don’t know how that would be possible.

 

Driving a manual in traffic is mainly about technique.

If you creep up three feet every time the car in front of you creeps up three feet, and if you keep the clutch on the floor whenever you're at a stop (basically, trying to drive a manual like you would an automatic), driving a manual will quickly become tiresome. I have a feeling that a lot of people who complain about using a clutch in traffic fall under this umbrella.

Conversely, if you pull up behind the person in front of you, don't move up until there are at least a couple of car links between you and then, and stay off the clutch as much as possible, then it is really not that bad. Where I live in North Carolina, traffic has gotten noticeably worse over the past couple of years (granted, not quite to Atlanta/DC/etc levels), but I stay off the clutch as much as possible in traffic and really do not understand why everyone has so much of an issue with it. As @steved033 mentioned above, if everyone drove manuals, traffic would likely flow more smoothly because it requires more effort to slow down, stop, get back up to speed, and the like, and most people prefer to expend the least amount of effort possible while driving (which is why they buy cars with automatics).

 

All my cars have sticks and I often drive in quite heavy traffic. It’s second nature to me. I wish everyone had manual transmissions, maybe there wouldn’t be so many people texting and the accident rate would drop.

 

My first Italian car was a '74 FIAT X1/9 that I got in 1975 when I was a senior in high school. Drove that car all over the western US and it never broke down, because I had it serviced my a Ferrari mechanic. Loved that little car.

 

Just put the gear lever in neutral when you’re stopped in traffic. It takes about 1/10th of a second to put in gear or take it out. You can do it when you are moving; let the car coast up to the car in front - gently brake. Your method sounds very stressful.

 

I guess I wasn't clear in my last post. I do shift into neutral when I'm rolling to a stop, and I stay off the clutch as much as possible until traffic starts flowing again.

 

I still have a manual in the Ford GT, but the California changed my mind about manual only Ferrari's with their dual clutch auto. No more head lurching back and forth from the F1 trannys, and trying to let off enough on shifts around town, where there was some semblance of smoothness. The DC tranny does fine in Auto or manual mode, and delivers hard shifts at full throttle.

My newest fun car, a Hellcat Charger, has an 8 speed auto that truly bang shifts when under heavy throttle. Took Jimpo and Smitty for a ride Saturday, and it is always ready to shift down and have a blast. I have never experienced the power that 707 hp put out in either the GT or a '09 ZR1 Vette we owned. Traction control comes into play on the 1-2 and 2-3 shifts. 3 sixty year olds giggling over the sound and fury of the Hellcat.

Glad my wife and son learned on sticks, but never attempted it with the 3 daughters. It was enough just paying the body shop bills.

 

How manageable is the hellcat as far as normal in town driving? I considered a hellcat in the challenger but didn't have any close to test drive.

You are right about the California, I liked the car before I drove it, after using the car for an hour I was in love, at the end of the day I had to have one.

I'm going to go on a test drive a Maserati Granturismo next weekend on the wife's insistence. She is pushing for me to get one of those over the California because the back seats are bigger and can get a Ferrari in 5-7 years once the kids are grown. We will see, though she does kinda control the purse strings so.........

 

I'm fine either way.
2 old Vettes have sticks cause that's how it should be & hold value better too
I wanted my 430 to be F1 cause that's how I think of Ferrari, pushing performance envelope with whatever tech is best
My summer DD is C7 Vette Auto & I don't want to shift ALL the time, sometimes it can be a pain in the but, commuting, Coffee, etc...
Heck my Soon to be New Winter Car is gonna be a 1 speed

 

Before I retired I just got tired of stop and go traffic with a stick.
Crawling up a hill 20 feet at a time just took all the pleasure out of driving.
Occasionally I go for a drive in the F car with a stick, when I have spent 20 minutes going less than 5 miles ....... I have turned around and gone back to the house.
Driving the stick out of town on two lane back roads, and going thru the gears still puts a smile on my face.
Even my die hard best friend who always drives a truck with a stick gave up.
Went from a floor shift, to that funky round knob on the dash with an 8 speed auto.
I think the Hemi had something to do with it also

Plus my gated Ferrari will go up in value (in my dreams).
The only thing going up in it today is the miles, just passed 41,000.
......so I may be mistaken on this train of thought.

 

I do every day. About an hour and 10min commute each way. Still love rowing gears.

 

It drives very easy around town. Heavy steering at parking speeds, and the big hood make parking a little harder than some cars. It is fairly loud at idle, but when you hit the go pedal, all hell breaks loose, and I mean that in a good way. At 70mph you are tooling along at about 1,500 rpm's, as it has long final gears to get up to 204 mph.

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That's good to know, thanks. Until very recently I was 100% going to buy a California but the boss AKA the wife is really pushing for something with a bigger back seat until the kids are older/ out of the house. Matter of fact while we are vacationing in Dallas next week she wants to try to see how our kids fit in the California T and the Maserati Granturismo. I already have a feeling how this is going to go...... I considered the Hellcat Challenger but visibility is an issue with those. Good news is the wife says if I give in to the compromise in 5-6 years I can get what ever Ferrari I want 458 and down.

Still nice to know it's manageable in town I was worried with that much power on tap it may be an issue. Too bad it steers kinda heavy. Thanks for the info.

 

There's no option for "I like automatics" so I've gone with option 2 but let it be noted, I also love my auto.
In 35+ years of driving I have personally owned/leased just 24 cars. Two of those (my second and current) are automatics. Proper automatics with torque converters and sticks (who has column autos today?).

Anyway being European I've mostly owned and driven manual cars. Today my daily Mercedes CLK is auto and I love it for what it is good at. My other two weekend cars are manual and I love them for what they're good at. My next daily may well be manual if the spec is right and TBH it is not something I think about. It may also be an auto.

It seems that in the petrolhead club this 'stick is best' thing is even making its way into European car talk now. No idea why because they're simply two different options in a car.

 

My 2013 Ram 2500 is a column shift and apparently a rare option, but I agree that cars probably ought to have the shifter in the console and I don't wanna start on the automatics with a dial.

 

Wife's pickup truck has the shifter on the column. It's a pain, because every car we have has a different start/shift sequence - Benz is push button & shifter on console, Porsche has key on left & console shifter or you can use the buttons on the steering wheel, Cali has key followed by red button on the steering wheel with paddles, the wife's pickup truck is good old fashioned turned the key and column shifter. Loved my old Ford Escort GT, as it approached 200 K miles & 20 years old, it didn't even need a key, a screwdriver would work!
T

 

Bet you have to think for a minute when you get into one of your cars especially if you got something on your mind.

 

Lol. Exactly! Dropped the Cali off today at Boardwalk for a detailing, hopped into the Porsche, and started looking for the flappy paddles to put it into first gear!
T