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Stick or Automatic Transmission?

OutThere

OutThere

macrumors 603
Original poster
Dec 19, 2002
5,730
3
NYC
I had a pretty bad experience the other day driving my friend's automatic transmission car...I went to slow down for a stop light and hit the brake looking for the clutch...:eek: Needless to say we left some rubber behind!

Anyway, I can't stand automatics (partially for this reason) how about you all...?
 
There's also that feeling that an automatic is trying to accelerate without you if you haven't driven one for a while. Creepy! And those Tiptronic-style shifters are no substitute for the real thing. They're just plain icky.
 
depends on the car, if its a normal car automatic, but if its a sports car then stick....
or u can get the triptronic thing when its both....
 
CorvusCamenarum said:
No debate necessary. 5-speed. My girlfriend has a stomp-and-steer and whenever I drive it I invariably always try to find the nonexistant clutch.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a lot of user error is going on. ;)

Living in LA there is no way in hell I would want a stick. If I owned a sports car and didn't do much city driving I'd take a stick. But for day in/day out normal driving sticks just drive me nuts. I just want to the car to get me from point A to point B w/the least amount of hassle on my part. Kinda like why I prefer OS X to Windows. :p


Lethal
 
when my dad and I drove from Houston to Dallas (to catch a flight to LA, then drive to SF.. hehe) he let me drive a while.

OMG. GIANT TRUCK WITH STICK.
I'm always in a tiny camry
with automatic
I DON'T GET IT.
the whole clutch thing.. I'm not strong enough to push it, so I always end up almost STANDING when I have the clutch in, it's soo horrible!

I LOVE YOU, AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION!

/if you were human
//or if I were a transmission
///giggity.
 
I'm a little crummy with stick. I'm still learning, and its still creepy. There's no Parking you have to use the manual/parking brake. At least that how it is on my dad's truck (Soon to be mine once I'm good :eek: ). I'd rather drive auto, but aparently its not as cool :cool:. I've been driving automatics for a couple years, so its a little hard to get used to... But I'm learning :eek:
 
It's unquestionably easier to learn on an automatic, but I think once you're a pretty good driver, you can get more out of a stick.
 
It's gotta be stick. I special ordered my car just so I could have one. I need the control for icy mountain roads.

Automatics are only good when I want to eat, talk on phone, drink coffe, put on make-up, watch TV (simultaneously, of course).
 
What is this "control" you guys all rave about? I've never felt out of control while driving an automatic. I've always thought stick was for those more powerful cars, where automatic transmission isn't possible.

All we regular people need is something that gets you from point A to point B? Or am I missing something? :confused:
 
puckhead193 said:
depends on the car, if its a normal car automatic, but if its a sports car then stick....
or u can get the triptronic thing when its both....
Click to expand...

Not really. Triptronic is very different from a manual. It is hard to explain but I feel that it is much harder to know when to shift (they seem to shift differently somehow) and it doesn't really help with the car's acceleration at all.

I would take a manual over a triptronic any day.
 
blaskillet4 said:
What is this "control" you guys all rave about? I've never felt out of control while driving an automatic. I've always thought stick was for those more powerful cars, where automatic transmission isn't possible.

All we regular people need is something that gets you from point A to point B? Or am I missing something? :confused:
Click to expand...


Driving down slick roads, your breaks can lock up to where ABS is pretty much useless. If you downshift, you can use the compression of the engine to slow down.

If your car dies (from dead battery, say) you can clutch start it.

If you get caught in the middle of a river and water has flooded the engine (most common for use for me ;) ) you can leave it in gear, and turn the key in the ignition to crawl out of the water (run the wheels off the battery, basically).

And of course, there's going up hills where automatics always seem to shift at the wrong time.....
 
Kobushi said:
Driving down slick roads, your breaks can lock up to where ABS is pretty much useless. If you downshift, you can use the compression of the engine to slow down.

If your car dies (from dead battery, say) you can clutch start it.

If you get caught in the middle of a river and water has flooded the engine (most common for use for me ;) ) you can leave it in gear, and turn the key in the ignition to crawl out of the water (run the wheels off the battery, basically).

And of course, there's going up hills where automatics always seem to shift at the wrong time.....
Click to expand...



Well. Learn something everyday :) . Cool. I didn't know that. Suddenly stick doesn't seem all that useless (Not useless in a literal sense, but rather "Why move a stick around when you can have the car do it for you?") I guess stick does have its benefits (Besides being used on more powerful vehicles)

I'm learnin' :cool:
 
My daughter's first car, for starting college last year, was a stick. A five speed. She loves it. Our son got an automatic (said he doesn't multitask as well). We've had both automatic and sticks over the years. Once you get the stick down, it's like driving an automatic. Both have their advantages. Those who have to dead stop and negotiate hills (San Francisco, etc.) and feel threatened or nervous about rolling backwards in to the car behind should probably know how to handle those kinds of scenarios. But I like both for differing reasons.
 
Compression braking is the only way to keep the tailgaters at bay. These people are like Pavlov's dogs - if they don't see brakelights they freak out and stay way back, all they know is stop and go - someone should tell them about coast. Plus if you are at a stop light and go with out your brakes turning off, they don't even notice that you are gone till they are getting honked at from behind. So I say save your brakes - use your brain and drive stick!
 
blaskillet4 said:
I'm a little crummy with stick. I'm still learning, and its still creepy. There's no Parking you have to use the manual/parking brake. At least that how it is on my dad's truck (Soon to be mine once I'm good :eek: ). I'd rather drive auto, but aparently its not as cool :cool:. I've been driving automatics for a couple years, so its a little hard to get used to... But I'm learning :eek:
Click to expand...

The parking brake is easy to forget :)D) and vital...get in the habit of putting the car in gear after shutting it off, especially on hills. The engine compression will keep the car from moving if the brake happens to not work right (which can happen). :)
 
I've driven and owned both stick and automatic transmission car. I prefer stick myself. however I do like the new DSG transmission from Audi even though it's an automatic trans it does a pretty good job of holding the revs at a certain level and it handles the downshifts rather well.
 
Stick is just awesome. It also prevents others from wanting to drive your car. It really is easy once you get used to it, even in heavy traffic it just becomes second nature. It just makes driving that much more fun.

Anytime you switch to an automatic though it tough for the first few mins to get readjusted.
 
xsedrinam said:
My daughter's first car, for starting college last year, was a stick. A five speed. She loves it. Our son got an automatic (said he doesn't multitask as well). We've had both automatic and sticks over the years. Once you get the stick down, it's like driving an automatic. Both have their advantages. Those who have to dead stop and negotiate hills (San Francisco, etc.) and feel threatened or nervous about rolling backwards in to the car behind should probably know how to handle those kinds of scenarios. But I like both for differing reasons.
Click to expand...

I got a stick in boston (tons of traffic), drove it out to seattle (hills to rival SF) and will only consider an automatic for a towing vehicle (the fluid clutch is much less prone to overheating with large weight). Even with a low powered car, having a stick allows you to easily navigate hills (once you learn how to slip the clutch so you can start on 40 deg grades).

BEN
 
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