Manual or Auto?

Huh, y'all surprised me. I have a manual v6, and learned on a manual, and have driven heavy wreckers for 15 years (uh, manual)....My friend has an auto....and OFF-ROAD, I am for the automatic....I cannot beat the infinite slow speed trail ratios, and the finesse of an automatic. They are Toyota, if they are working well, then, they are going to work well. Is it worth the extra maintenence? let me see, in order to duplicate the endless gearing of an automatic, I would have to buy a doubler and gears, and still have a clutch to worry about, and still lose top speed; not to mention replacing factory warranty stuff with other stuff, that may or may not fit !!! sorry, it just makes sense to me to auto. Ok one very strong point of the standard is compression braking, which, yes you'll lose, but hey, brakes are designed to be replaced, right?

 

dunno...only ever owned a manual.

 

Only Steers and Queers drive auto's....I aint no steer!

 

All kinds o' manual...and then some

 

You can do it in the auto too.

 

This is my 5th vehicle (3 being toyota trucks) and this is the 1st auto i've had. I wanted my wife to be able to drive it but so far she's scared of it! I'm enjoying the cruise control and not constantly shifting.

 

Manual all the way, only real men can handle it.

 

Always liked driving manuals better. Sometimes it can be a bit of a pain in the ass (bumper to bumper traffic or some asshole on your ass at a red light on a steep cliff).

 

I got a manual in my '09 because I really like manual trannies...but that was before I found out the manual truck drinks gas like no tomorrow. I am seriously bummed. When gas goes to $8 a gallon it will matter...a lot. The last time I checked mileage on my '07 (double cab 2wd prerunner V6 / auto) I got 21.74. My first check on the '09 access cab V6 / 6 spd 4wd I got 16.25 mpg. That is a loss of over 5 mpg! Yeah I got a truck but damn it that is a hit to take. I mistakenly thought a manual would get better mileage but I did not do enough research (working out of town long hours) and I made a costly mistake. Losing 27.3% fuel efficiency sucks as far as long-term costs of ownership. The full-size trucks with 5.4 litre V8's are getting upwards of 22 mpg nowadays. What we are talking about here is the fact that when gas goes well above $5 to $8 a gallon it may well be that a person CANNOT AFFORD TO DRIVE THE TRUCK WITH THE MANUAL TRANNY. That means the resale value will be in the toilet as well. I love driving the truck with the stick, but the economics just don't look very good for the manual for the above reason. Unfortunately I am stuck with the stick. Who would've thought a truck with a manual tranny would get worse mileage than a truck wtih an automatic trasmission?

 

Your mileage will go up. Also driving style can drastically change mileage.

 

Seems like we all want what we don't have, haha. I have a manual but after driving it around for a while I wish I spent the extra grand and got the auto. I do too much city driving.

 

?? 5.4 Ford getting 22? Go drive one and see what you really get. Edmunds just did a fullsize test, they got 12.6 w/ the 09' F150, worst of them all.

YOu went from a 2x4 to a 4x4, and the sticker told you the mpg would take a hit. BUT give your new 09' some time to break in and you'll find the right shift points in time. You want to be 1500-2000 for best mpg. On the interstate, the auto's taller 5th you wont beat (unless you've got a 1500lb trailer, you'll probably match or beat the auto mpg... no gear jumping 4th/5th). At least out here in hill country, I just filled up @19.8, will avg 20+ all summer.

 

I consistently get 18 mpg in my 05 double cab 4x4 with the manual tranny. I also have 255/85/16 not regeared with a lot of weight bullbar, winch, sliders. You also have to look at the way you drive. I do a lot of highway most of the time. My speedo is off so it is all calculated by my gps. I love my 6spd and would never go back to an auto. I like the control. Aside from the fact that if I ever break it I will not be looking at a lot to fix it. I can replace the manual fairly easily and do all the work myself. Even if I took it to a shop it would be less than the auto. With that being said I am also a lot harder on automatics than most. They don't like me that much.

 

Something I was reminded of a couple weeks ago: a manual can always be push started. The starter in my corolla died again so I replaced it that day, but it reminded me of the week I had to push start the damn thing waiting for a starter to come in. Considering I hate relying on people, and tow trucks always take hours to show up it's nice to know I could always push start the truck if the battery and/or starter die.

And that's one thing you'll never do with an auto. lol

 

Auto all the way....1 1/2 hour drive each way to work!

 

Lovin' my manual trans taco. Really the whole truck is just over the top quality. I don't regret getting the manual transmission at all. I shift between 1500 and 2000 rpm and the engine just pulls like a tractor. I find that the manual makes me pay a lot more attention to my driving and that is a good thing. This is the truck I have always wanted. It does perfectly what I want it to do and will most likely start getting a bit better mileage as it gets some more miles on it.

 

Auto because i commute 5 days a week a need the better gas mileage. but if i did not commute manual all the way. and i could care less about resale i am keeping my taco forever.

 

Yeah, that's the one thing that sucks about an auto. I had my auto Corolla completely freeze (I mean the tranny was half frozen and had trouble shifting cause of ice crystals, and the battery was frozen solid). Wouldn't hold a charge at ALL! Had to do a 4 hour drive at night with it like this. When I stopped for gas, I had to buy a jerrycan and fill up my car with that so I didn't inadvertently start a fire at the pump.

God that sucked.

 

I am so used to driving a manual that its automatic.