I've Had An Epiphany: Manual Transmissions Are Overrated #blogpost

14 Mar 2017

I am 100% sure that no matter what I say in this post, there will be people in the comments defending the standard transmission like it’s their only child. They’ll say things like “they’re cheaper”, “they give you more direct control over the powertrain”, “they’re more fun” and so on and so forth. However, I think many car enthusiasts have overhyped the manual transmission.

I will admit that it is fun to drive a car with a good manual transmission… most of the time. Sometimes, you’re stuck in stop and go traffic where your left leg will be sore by the time you get to your destination. We as humans make mistakes, and with manual transmissions, they’re very apparent when we make them. Grinding gears, stalling, and shifting into the wrong gear (or no gear at all) is no fun and is rather embarrassing. Meanwhile, automatics are much smoother and easier to drive; they can also be rather relaxing for some people. Who says you have to shift your own gears all the time?

It used to be that if you wanted a fast car, you had to get one with a clutch pedal. However, that is no longer the case. Modern dual clutch automatics can up and down shift faster than any human ever could and their programming can be really smart. In some cases, it’s so smart that you could leave it in automatic mode and it would do everything you wanted it to.

Those who say manual transmissions always get you better fuel economy aren’t telling the entire truth. Today’s CVT’s and automatics can give you great fuel mileage. I hate to say it but computers do a better job of conserving fuel than us humans just leaving it in overdrive.

One of the main purposes of a car is to get you from one destination to another. An automatic transmission will accomplish that goal just as well as a manual.

In conclusion, petrolheads love manual transmissions for a reason. Personally, I like manual transmissions. However, we should take off the rose colored glasses we’ve been wearing for so long in regards to manual transmissions. They don’t live up to the hype we give them and automatics aren’t as bad as we think they are.

Comments

Way to go, gopnik award for you.

In slav land, automatic transmission is hard to find.

[DELETED]

Well being a troll on this site can get you banned

QianLi Nissan420sx SzymekS
Are mods and proud of it.

I love both but i prefer manual

On tonights episode of Chad’s fight against the manual transmission:

(grabs popcorn, sits in chair, waits for comment firestorm) XD

fight that comrade could win

Good post, totally

thanks

If i had a dollar for every time you went off on one of your anti-manual tangents i could buy a race-prepped THM400 and see the glory of autos myself

haha there might be some truth to that

I have driven both but manual has and will always be my favourite. That’s because of these reasons:

I just enjoy it. Being able to change gear and everything just gives me something to do and I love dropping it back a gear or two and planting my foot.
When driving the Autos (one an Auto 2l 2011 Lancer and one a 3.8l v6 Commodore wagon) I would come to a bit of road that I always wanted to have some fun. Yea you can have fun in the Autos (Lancer you can drive like a sequential and commy you could just choose 1st, 2nd, 3rd and D however it took abit to change gear) but it just doesn’t match the being able to change it yourself with the clutch and all.
Auto cars with small engines are gutless.. the Lancer is horrible for that. It has a horrid box and if drivjg in Auto it has no go but if you drive manually it has abit.
The Commodore would change gear constantly on the Toowoomba range and it was abit annoying