Serious off-roading: auto vs manual

Ha! I feel the same way going into a 4x4 manual truck. I love manual, driving them for years... Small easy terrain just makes it much more enjoyable for me. I feel like if I had an auto 4x4 I would go balls out and kill it.

 

I’ve done all kinds of extreme off-roading here in Alaska, with purpose built rigs meant to be abused. I prefer an automatic transmission in those types of trucks. No interruption of power when shifting, doesn’t roll back on hills, and it’s either stop or go on the real hairy shit. No fancy brake and clutch work.

For daily driving and chill off-roading, like overlanding with few technical obstacles... I like a manual truck with decently low final gear reduction. I hate rock crawling with a manual.

 

Drove a 2017 manual off road and my 2018 auto off road.
Auto easy. Shifting gears in deep sand sucks.

Although it is worth mentioning that the manual comes with 4.33 differential gears.

 

Going back to the 1970's I've owned 8 trucks or SUV's with auto's; 9 with manuals. Off road an automatic is the better choice when going UP, a manual does a better job going DOWN. Unless you only drive on one way trails and always go up, or always down that is a wash.

But in 2019 make mine an automatic. The long term cost is about a wash too. Manuals are cheaper, but have lower resale value and the repair costs will work out about the same.

The biggest complaint I have with modern manual transmissions is that they aren't geared low enough in 1st or reverse. They have almost exactly the same gear ratios in 1st and reverse as the auto's. But the power is easier to control with an auto. The way they are geared anymore it is near impossible to maneuver slowly, especially when backing a trailer.

The trucks with manuals made in the 1960's and 70's had much lower transmission gearing which made this much easier. With all of the manuals I've owned made 1990's and newer I've had to resort to low range much more than I should and even then they are geared too high. Today you have to spend way too much time letting the clutch slip to make slow speed maneuvers. Back in the day you could just let out on the clutch at idle speed and slowly move the trucks forward or backward