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

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.