Manual vs Automatic Transmissions

The cluster discusses preferences, pros, and cons of manual versus automatic car transmissions, including experiences in traffic, fun factor, cost, reliability, and regional differences like Europe vs. US.

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Keywords

VW US F1 BMW DSG FWIW UK EV CarPlay IIRC manual automatic transmission car cars drive driving gear gears stick

Sample Comments

sgibat Oct 15, 2015 View on HN

this is why many people prefer driving a manual.

landgenoot Sep 3, 2024 View on HN

It's like driving stick vs automatic.

this was always a key point from people who drove automatics but claimed to like manuals. i daily drove a manual in some of the worst traffic the US has to offer. but so what, guess what else sucks in traffic? Automatics!! when you're stuck in traffic, everything sucks, so you might as well drive something thats enjoyable the rest of the time.

jordanlev May 21, 2015 View on HN

mm... I'd say it's more like passing up a great car with manul transmision because you only know how to drive an automatic.

eveningcoffee Nov 17, 2016 View on HN

Restricted B category licence in Europe allows you to drive only cars with automatic gear transmissions. If you want to drive only such cars then you are not obliged to do full licence. But manual transmission cars are considerably cheaper and are more likely to be available (previously in the family, rental, friend etc), so it is your choice. Nobody is forcing you to do that.Automatic gear suggester makes the suggestions based on the revolutions and if you know what you are doing (takes a li

consp Feb 3, 2022 View on HN

Maybe automatic vs manual gearboxes?

Shorel Sep 6, 2014 View on HN

And less automatic transmissions?

account-5 Nov 19, 2022 View on HN

I feel this might be an (north?) American issue. Where I come from the automatic is still in the minority. It feels weird driving a car without proper gears!

zippergz Nov 17, 2016 View on HN

I'm a car enthusiast, and I was a manual transmission purist for many, many years. But then I had to be honest with myself, and admit that the VAST majority of my driving is commuting in traffic. And that driving is much less annoying with an automatic. My leisure driving is maybe 5% less fun without a manual, but that's far outweighed by how much better my daily commute is. At this point, I'd only buy a manual for a car that's not a daily driver.

Jaruzel Aug 9, 2022 View on HN

I'm in total agreement here. I learnt to drive in a manual and thus my licence says I legally can do so (in the UK you can also get an 'automatic transmission' only licence that exempts you from legally driving manual/stick-shift cars).However, the moment I could jump to an auto, I did. It's just SO much easier. I've been driving purely autos for over 20 years now. A lot of us see cars as a way to get us faster from A to B; there's no love affair here, it&#x