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Manual or Automatic: Which do you prefer?
Topic Started: Aug 4 2006, 08:03 AM (309 Views)
Qaanaaq-Liaaq
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Senior Carp
Automobile transmissions, that is. I prefer an automatic because it allows me to talk on my cell phone while driving and cause lots of accidents. Just kidding. Do high school driver ed programs even teach stick shifting any more? I drove jeeps while in the Army. It was a long throw between the gears and it gave your arm a work out so I had my fill of stick shifting and prefer automatics. Manuals seem so primitive to me. It’s like why should I have to shift the gears when the car can do it for me? This is especially the case since I live in a big city and it seems like there’s a stop sign or a light every two blocks. A manual would be too much rowing between the gears.

Which do you prefer?
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
If I didn't live in such an urban area, I'd go manual, hands down. Literally, my hands would be down, because they would be on the steering wheel and gearshift.

A manual's just not practical with all the stoplights, though.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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justme
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HOLY CARP!!!
depends on where I am. If I'm in the mountains or some wild country road I prefer a manual.

If I'm stuck on the beltway in stop and go traffic, I prefer an automatic.
"Men sway more towards hussies." G-D3
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sue
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HOLY CARP!!!
Manual, for sure. I like zeee control factor. :cool:
Seriously, I drive a sporty little car, and the manual tramsmission is fun.
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
In UK, manual. In N. American, automatic. If I could find a US car with the gear shift on the left, I'd buy it. :D
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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The 89th Key
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Automatic, without a doubt.

Personally, I could see myself in a manual before they had automatics saying "Damn, I wish these gears would just automatically shift themselves!" :lol:

I don't mind manual, but I personally have no need for it, nor does the extra 15 HP or extra 2 MPG matter enough to warrant it, IMO.
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AlbertaCrude
Bull-Carp
Although I still think it is best to learn to drive on a standard transmission, I have to admit that I now prefer the automatic being that most my driving is in the city.
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Nina
Senior Carp
Slightly off-topic: my daughter's volleyball team had a fund-raiser car wash at their school.

I was the only one there who could drive a stick shift. So... I ended up having to stay there the entire time to move cars with manual transmissions. :angry:

Moral? Never tell anyone you can drive a stick shift car.

Silver lining: Many stick shift cars are pretty cool. I got to drive some really nice ones.

I prefer manual transmission personally--more because I prefer the cars that come with manual transmissions.
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DivaDeb
HOLY CARP!!!
John D'Oh
Aug 4 2006, 08:09 AM
In UK, manual. In N. American, automatic. If I could find a US car with the gear shift on the left, I'd buy it. :D

are you good at going back and forth?

I am REALLY dangerous driving in the UK...and then when I get okay, I'm a little scary when I drive anywhere else. I had to drive in Spain after driving in England a couple years ago...nearly killed several people in both countries.
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kenny
HOLY CARP!!!
Automatic
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Phlebas
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Bull-Carp
Automatic. Manual is not practical in NYC.
Although I was impressed at how the cab drivers in Hong Kong could drive those little red toyota manual cabs in such a congested and hilly city.

I've driven manuals in UK and Ireland. It's a little tricky, but you get used to it, and I try to rent automatics.
Random FML: Today, I was fired by my boss in front of my coworkers. It would have been nice if I could have left the building before they started celebrating. FML

The founding of the bulk of the world's nation states post 1914 is based on self-defined nationalisms. The bulk of those national movements involve territory that was ethnically mixed. The foundation of many of those nation states involved population movements in the aftermath. When the only one that is repeatedly held up as unjust and unjustifiable is the Zionist project, the term anti-semitism may very well be appropriate. - P*D


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JBryan
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I am the grey one
Manual. My wife can't drive one.
"Any man who would make an X rated movie should be forced to take his daughter to see it". - John Wayne


There is a line we cross when we go from "I will believe it when I see it" to "I will see it when I believe it".


Henry II: I marvel at you after all these years. Still like a democratic drawbridge: going down for everybody.

Eleanor: At my age there's not much traffic anymore.

From The Lion in Winter.
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
DivaDeb
Aug 4 2006, 12:34 PM
John D'Oh
Aug 4 2006, 08:09 AM
In UK, manual. In N. American, automatic. If I could find a US car with the gear shift on the left, I'd buy it.  :D

are you good at going back and forth?

I am REALLY dangerous driving in the UK...and then when I get okay, I'm a little scary when I drive anywhere else. I had to drive in Spain after driving in England a couple years ago...nearly killed several people in both countries.

I'm pretty good at doing the transfer. Sometimes under high-stress I forget which side of the road I'm supposed to be on, although that hardly ever happens now. The trick is to always remember that the driver is in the middle of the road. Absolutely every single time I visit England, when I leave the motorway and come to the end of the slip-road I stall as I've forgotten to change down.

The Canadians very unfairly made me do a driving test when I first arrived, which was considerably more stressful than my English test, even though it was a little easier.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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big al
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Bull-Carp
Manual here. I like it, my wife loves it. Her other obsession is a moon roof. Ever since she drove one of our daughters' car, she has insisted on one on every car we've bought. The combination of the two (manual & moon roof) significantly reduces the number of cars to be considered at most dealers.

If I had to drive in stop-and-go traffic every day, I might feel differently.

Big Al
Location: Western PA

"jesu, der simcha fun der man's farlangen."
-bachophile
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The 89th Key
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Big Al, ever since having a moon roof, I don't think I could buy a car without it. I love it!
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Optimistic
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HOLY CARP!!!
Manual, but that's what I learned on and all I've ever known.

I've tried automatic a few times, but I don't like that feeling of the car driving itself. Like Sue said, it's all about the control and the fun!

Does kind of suck since I've moved to a more urban area, though.
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- Mark Twain


We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
-T. S. Eliot
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DivaDeb
HOLY CARP!!!
depends on whether I think I will need to reload....
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Christopher T
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Junior Carp
Manual in a fun sporty car in the mountains, automatic in a nice luxury car in stop and go traffic.
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