Manual or automatic?

Both my daughters drive manual.

My wife...not so much...lol!

 

Some sneaky weasels

Fantastic in a chilled glass.

 

Your daughters are lucky.

 

I drove my '97 F350 with auto through an hour of stop and go traffic today and realized that I have to use the brake pedal way more often than my Tacoma clutch in the same traffic. I have to ride the brakes to keep from going to fast which heated them up significantly. Shifting in and out of gear on a column shift auto isn't pleasant or as smooth of of a transition as a manual.

Where as with my manual Tacoma, gentle clutch slips here and there or easy in and out of gear is a lot less fatiguing on me, the brakes, clutch or trans.

I'll take a manual in any amount of traffic, will hills, towing, etc over an auto any day.

 

Yup, me too; back in the late 1970s I lived in Los Angeles and my daily driver was a 1970 Challenger with the venerable 340 and a New Process 4-Speed transmission. Because I had gone through a clutch every six or so months (not from the traffic, more because I drove like I stole it when there was no traffic), I installed a 3500 pound Borg & Beck pressure plate which bit "right freakin' now" following a clutch drop compared to the gradual engagement my previous pressure plates would provide. Even with that heavy clutch, driving in LA traffic never even got close to the threshold of me wising I had an automatic.

 

I owned a 2017 TRD Sport automatic. Loved the truck, hated the transmission. I kept it for a year. Now I have a 2020 TRD Offroad Manual. Love it all around. If you are worried about rolling back you can use the clutch start feature

 

Old guy = old school transmission, keeps my brain sharp, sorta.

 

I loved manuals when I was younger, but now it's really hard driving while holding an Ice Cream cone!

Cant do it!

 

I love my 2020 AT Pro.....and I love my '96 BMW Z3 manual. I drive them both for different reasons. Been driving manual transmissions since '71 as has my wife. Choose your poison for your own reasons...and don't judge others for theirs.

 

That stuff is crap, as most fast foods are. Keep eating it, and it'll catch up with you when your older.

 

Yep,
I drive by the downtown at lunch time and see all the fast to kill ya food places stuffed with people.
Then at dinner time its the "busy" parents getting dinner for the kids to take home,... same with regular people

I am sure they were raised on the system of "drive food thru you" problem is its not "food", its filler.
Anything you need to add manmade materials or chemicals too to pass the nutrition test is killing people slowly.

So they drive thru and I drive by.......

 

Yeah, I can barely believe I paid $32.5k for my OR 4x4 V6 Tech manual at this given the market prices.

 

Lots of discussion on difference on road. Not much about off-road. There are things I can do with the auto that cannot be done with the manual. And vice versa. There are far more experienced off-road drivers than I on this forum and I’d like to hear unbiased discussion from them. Likely impossible because everyone is in love with the tranny they have.

 

@Junkhead Maybe it's because they spent time in Europe...We were stationed in Germany 2003-06 and Italy 2008-2011.

That, plus their mother is Scottish but grew up in England. When they'd visit while we lived in GE and GB, they got perspective from their aunties/cousins in England.

I say this because, they have been "cultured".

Europeans live and think very differently than us Americans. The majority of cars in Europe are manual and in England, if you're tested on an automatic transmission vehicle, you can only drive an automatic. Obviously, testing/passing on a manual covers both.

So, our daughters were determined to learn when we returned to the states in 2006 and 2011.

Both daughters learned on a Y2K VW Beatle Turbo...man, that little thing had some get-up and go!

Automatic/Manual transmissions have their purpose and people have their preferences.

I'll keep preaching that philosophy.

 

This is true. The vast majority of cars and trucks worldwide are manuals. It's actually difficult to rent an automatic in other countries. It's the opposite in north America.

 

Yep. I was born on Europe, Latvia. I remember I was shocked when saw Ford Taurus for the first time, I couldn’t figure out where the shifter was haha.

A lot of cool little cars in Europe that you don’t see here though.

 

My dads first car, about 40 hp. Rear, air cooled engine. 3 speed.

 

The big 3 started pushing automatics decades ago. Companies like Toyota, Honda, Nissan (which used to be called "Datsun") entered the north American market with their manuals. They did an excellent job with them. They were, and are being, leveraged into automatics here. I don't think they'll give up their roots though. It's those little manuals that endeared so many of us to them.

 

Here in America. We automatically tip people in the service industry, it went from a standard 15% to 20%. doors into stores open automatically, we don’t even have to unlock our car doors. Because life is hard and if I had to get my keys out every time i needed to get into the back of my minivan oh man. Life would be so hard. I would have to leave things in the cart and open the door by myself. All these gadgets and gizmos that are so cool but are not “life saving.” Automatic vehicles don’t save you from the relentless line of traffic, it just makes you one of the majority.

 

I wish. It's almost impossible to rent a manual in Israel these days. Another beef.....rentals always used to come with real maps. No longer as they figure everyone has a nav app. Pretty sure this generation couldn't read a map if their lives depended on it.
It might.