6 Cars That Prove Manual Gearboxes Aren't Always Better
Much as we might ride the hate train from time to time when it comes to automatic versions of iconic sports cars, we’re not completely against the two-pedal option when it works. We could be here all week listing cars that are better as manuals, but here are a few we think are actually better as automatics.
BMW 340i
These days the 3-series is a pretty big car. Broad, long and taller than you might think, it’s not the slim but muscular althlete it used to be. Nor does it handle with quite the same sharpness or precision as older versions, having become a bit flat and anodyne by comparison.
Take the most powerful non-M 3-series and you still have a manual option, but with little or no development spend over the last few years it’s hardly an all-time classic gearbox. With reduced driving dynamics and an average manual shift, the cutting-edge eight-speed auto makes this 3-series a better car.
Volkswagen Polo GTI
We know the Polo well, right from its boggo spec up to GTI level, and in a range oddly devoid of anything memorable, the DSG-equipped Polo is a better car than the manual. The way the Polo chassis is tuned doesn’t really suit the purpose for which it was built, being a bit too much Sense and Sensibility instead of Mad Max.
It’s strange, really, because we really like the Seat Ibiza Cupra, but there are more differences than you’d think between the two. Either way, the Polo’s lazier attitude to life means that its twin-clutch transmission actually improves it.
Jaguar F-Type
It’s a strange thing when the media – and customers – clamour for a manual gearbox option in a car only to be disappointed when it arrives, but that’s what happened with the F-Type. While four-wheel drive has given the car a new turn of cross-country pace at the expense of the rear-driven car’s lairy antics, the manual gearbox was sadly a bit slack, imprecise and generally not very rewarding.
That means we’d stick to the eight-speed torque converter option, which makes the most of the V6 and V8 engines’ power and fits the GT-lite feel of the car a bit better.
Ferrari 488
Before you say it, we know the 488 doesn’t come with a manual option. But in fairness we wouldn’t want it to. The 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8 is so monstrously powerful, and the car is so outrageously capable, that a manual gearbox is only going to be a distraction when you’re trying to concentrate. Plus, of course, the shift speed is far superior to any manual, and that sort of thing matters to Ferrari buyers.
The 488 is a car you need to drive a lot before you can get near its galactic limits, but the vast majority of owners won’t drive it more than once every month or two. On those occasional sprints it’s easier to enjoy as an automatic, and we have to say we like it that way.
Volkswagen Golf R estate
The second Volkswagen to hit our list does so for very different reasons. The estate is our favourite Golf R (because fast wagon) and has the broadest range of talents. One of those is biffing around with a load of DIY supplies or a piece of furniture in the back. For urban duties an auto makes sense.
But then open the taps on a country road and the DSG gives you hilariously rude parps via the exhausts on full-bore upshifts. It’s a Jekyll and Hyde car, this, and never more so than when you lose the third pedal.
Porsche 911 Turbo S
Sometimes there’s so much speed happening that you just want both hands on the wheel. The 911 Turbo S makes that happen. It’s a technological powerhouse, packed with the latest and greatest in the field of making cars go fast, so a twin-clutch gearbox makes a lot of sense.
Don’t get us wrong; we love the idea of big, hairy-chested 580bhp manual driver’s cars, but when you’re actually hustling one, trying to enjoy yourself while managing not to stick it into a wall/hedge/lamppost/postbox/crowd of children, being able to keep both hands in place and flick paddles to shift is handy. Manuals are still our choice in less powerful 911s, but here we’d have to draw the line even if Porsche hadn’t.
Are there more fast cars that suit automatics better than manuals? Or will you go to your grave swearing that manuals are the only right and proper way? Let us know in the comments.
Comments
I believe that you have to have at least one manual car in your garage for that time where you want to move that fun lever. So if you have only one car, it should be a manual
The Regera definitely disagrees…
LOL gearbox
Huh! These peasants and their gearboxes
There are plenty of examples in the modern world where an automatic car is faster (and more efficient) than its manual version, no one argues against that. What people tend to argue, is that manual cars are always more engaging and fun to drive, but I think that’s not always the case. Some DCTs have managed to catch up with manuals in terms of the fun factor too.
For instance, my car is equipped with a PDK paddle-shift gearbox. And I love it: it’s relaxing on motorways and in town, while I’m on my way to some ‘interesting’ roads. Once there, I can switch to manual mode and use perfectly weighted shifters, whilst focusing on car control. The gearbox is extremely responsive: it changes the gear the moment I ask for it. Furthermore, it holds the gear as much as I want it to and never upshifts by itself, even if I keep hitting the redline. It also makes the engine produce sounds (a ‘bang!’ when upshifting at high revs) which would not be possible with a manual.
Ok, I don’t have the clutch pedal and I can’t heel and toe, also I don’t have the feel of a manual gear lever. And I won’t lie, a lot of times, I miss that, and if I ever can afford to have more than one car, for sure my second car will be a manual. But for now, I’m much happier with my PDK as I spend 75% of my driving in traffic, and for those 25% PDK is almost as good as a manual would be; as a result, the overall ‘fun’ factor is much higher.
As the article said though: It fully depends on the car. Some cars would be horrible with a manual (any rolls royce, f12tdf, etc)
Fast and The Furious will be so boring without the gear shifting….
Fast and furious 10 be like…
Pretty much anything over 600hp is better with an auto - same for most luxury and GT cars. In most situations I’d take a DSG or PDK gearbox over a manual anyway. The manuals should be saved for the driver’s cars like the GT86
Sequential gearbox.
I only agree with the Ferrari and the Porsche. Everything else, nope. What the hell is going on with CT staff recently? First they would kill a CEO of a company for not having a manual, than saying a Polo GTI, a hot hatch, is better with an DSG. I do love the DSG but FFS in a hot hatch?
Even before that they said in one video that Skoda Octavia VRS (also sort of hot hatch) is better with DSG than it would be with manual
I was looking at the reviews of the polo GTI when they first came out and the majority of them said that they would have it with the DSG.
I’m guessing it’s because that 1.8 TSI is not really satisfying to rev it out (which is really why you would want to have a MANual) and also the manual is lacking
any ‘feel’. Let’s be honest the new Polo GTI (and the previous 1.4) was meant to be had with a DSG. The best drivers car in this category
Would be a fiesta ST.
The MK7 Golf GTI however is a completely different story.
I really like bmw 3 seires and manuals??? Plez help
just buy the previous generations (if you really want a 3 series)
Best Drivers Cars (EVO)
1st: 911R -> Manual
2nd Mk7 GTI Clubsport S -> Manual (fastest FWD Car)
Why should i let a Computer do things a Human can do better ?
I didn’t knew you can shift under 8ms like in the Porsche PDK, you should go to the guiness world records.
If you bring your drivers car to a traffic jam, what can you say?
(My Opinion)
Manual - Large open roads or the racetrack since you have more control over your car
Auto - City and long distance trips since its more confortable and smooth
Their purpose and differences are like night and day. Arguement won.
Racetrack definitely a dct. Its so much faster, you have better control of the car because you can keep both hands on the wheel. And also a dct is smoother so you can even shift mid corner
You are wrong, in a car with a fast DCT and paddle shifters you have way more control than with a manual, the most obvious reason being that you can have both hands on the steering wheel all the time.
What? a mini hot hatch in a auto ‘box? what’s the point?