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Auto = Lower fuel economy
Auto transmission costs more than manual on a new car (Here by maybe 1500-2000 per car)
Clutch is far cheaper to replace than Auto transmission
Can slow down with gears giving you more control with manual (especially good in Ice and Snow conditions)
Slowing down with gears means less wear on brake pads = more cost savings
You can bump start/roll start a manual if your battery is flat
Don't need to worry if transmission fluid is topped up
Manual = no idiots driving around with one foot on the brake and the other on the accelerator
Also too many auto drivers mistaking the accelerator for the brake and just driving straight into houses or pedestrians , i see so many of these accidents it's not funny.
Seriously the only reason i see people give for not driving a manual is it's hard to drive up a hill.Waaah waaah waaah no wonder the west is in decline with lazy attitudes like that.Toughen up kids.
To finish hardly anyone in the USA can drive manuals anymore so learn manual and the beatnik kids who run around stealing cars won't be able to drive yours away.
 
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+ Show Spoiler +On June 08 2012 22:25 iPlaY.NettleS wrote:
Auto = Lower fuel economy
Auto transmission costs more than manual on a new car (Here by maybe 1500-2000 per car)
Clutch is far cheaper to replace than Auto transmission
Can slow down with gears giving you more control with manual (especially good in Ice and Snow conditions)
Slowing down with gears means less wear on brake pads = more cost savings
You can bump start/roll start a manual if your battery is flat
Don't need to worry if transmission fluid is topped up
Manual = no idiots driving around with one foot on the brake and the other on the accelerator
Also too many auto drivers mistaking the accelerator for the brake and just driving straight into houses or pedestrians , i see so many of these accidents it's not funny.
Seriously the only reason i see people give for not driving a manual is it's hard to drive up a hill.Waaah waaah waaah no wonder the west is in decline with lazy attitudes like that.Toughen up kids.
To finish hardly anyone in the USA can drive manuals anymore so learn manual and the beatnik kids who run around stealing cars won't be able to drive yours away.
I learned how to drive on a stick. I hardly think its a "USA" thing its more of a sub-cultural thing. Some groups of people within society think its a good idea to learn how to drive a stick, some people don't know the difference, and yes some people are just lazy.
In a Zombie Apocolypse I know how to drive almost anything I stumble upon! Thanks Dad!
Edit: I also bought a 71' Chevelle from my parents so not learning how to drive a stick in my family would have just been silly.
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I always thought that autotrans is a US thing,I have never driven a car without a stick in my life.
Not because I didn't want to but just because everyone owns cars here with clutch transmition.
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Auto does cost more than manual on new cars here as well (also ~$2000 extra).
Yes, it is cheaper to replace a manual. But let's say you're teaching a new driver how to use a stick; it's guaranteed they will cause damage to the manual.
Going along with what you're saying, not a lot of people know how to drive manual anymore. Imagine checking your car into valet and noone knows how to drive manual. It happens. I've seen it.
Also, driving a manual in traffic is not fun.
Finally, MPG between auto and manual is a non-issue on most cars. It's like maybe ~10% difference, if at all.
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On June 08 2012 22:42 jacosajh wrote:
Auto does cost more than manual on new cars here as well (also ~$2000 extra).
Yes, it is cheaper to replace a manual. But let's say you're teaching a new driver how to use a stick; it's guaranteed they will cause damage to the manual.
Going along with what you're saying, not a lot of people know how to drive manual anymore. Imagine checking your car into valet and noone knows how to drive manual. It happens. I've seen it.
Also, driving a manual in traffic is not fun.
Finally, MPG between auto and manual is a non-issue on most cars. It's like maybe ~10% difference, if at all.
The cost of teaching someone to drive stick is probably outweighed in fuel cost savings for one year of driving alone.
My Corolla, an already efficient vehicle goes from ~8L/100km to ~6.5L/100km (Family owns an Auto and Manual)
at around 600 km/tank, I save 9L per tank. Fill up 3 times a month @ $1.30, I save about $140.Close to the price of a Clutch Kit. Granted, most will need to pay labor on top of that, but that is JUST FUEL. Think about all the other things the op listed as benefits.
I completely agree...I've noticed it across all of North America, except small islands that were pretty much british colonies.
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In Denmark, you can't just "teach someone to drive a stick". You obviously have to have a drivers license, and almost all instructors/teachers drive cars with stick because they know that is what the new drivers most likely are going to drive.
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Try driving manual in gridlocked traffic on hilly terrain. That'll give you fits. Unless you're driving a 20 year old car, all those maintenance things will rarely come into play. And bad manual driving consumes more fuel. I don't know where you live that people mistaking accelerators for brakes is a common occurrence.
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Do you not have gridlock in Austrailia? Because holy crap that alone whipes out any advantage to buying manual. It's probably why few American cars are even sold with the option of a manual anymore.
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You actually slow down with gears? I've never really done this given my fear of a rear end possibility with drivers who only stop to brake lights. At least for driving in America, it seems like a big risk to me.
But otherwise, I drive manual because it's more enjoyable to do than automatic (double clutch, etc...). I don't really think it's all that much superior for everyday driving otherwise.
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The #1 thing I hate about driving my girlfriend's automatic is that I feel like the car actually ACCELERATES when I take my foot OFF the accelerator and try to just coast... Maybe I'm just so used to my manual... I don't know. We almost got in to a car accident the other night because I was driving her car (she had drank a few beers, I had not) and I forgot the car accelerates on its own and we hit a sharp turn too fast...
Ya I'm sorry, I only like my car doing what I tell it to do.
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For the same reason people buy Macs. Because they find a marginal increase in ease of use worth a marginal extra cost.
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On June 08 2012 23:58 Iranon wrote:
For the same reason people buy Macs. Because they find a marginal increase in ease of use worth a marginal extra cost.
I'm pretty sure Macs are more than just marginally more expensive than other products. Although I do like your analogy, I think macs/autos are easier to learn(or require no learning whatsoever). Once you get over that learning curve though, manuals (and to a certain degree PCs) are just better, and imo easier to use.
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On June 08 2012 23:33 TheToast wrote:
Do you not have gridlock in Austrailia? Because holy crap that alone whipes out any advantage to buying manual. It's probably why few American cars are even sold with the option of a manual anymore.
I'm pretty sure we have as much gridlock near Paris as anywhere in America, and very few people drive automatic cars. Not much of a problem imho. I also think it's much easier to park a manual car in difficult places than an automatic one.
I heard automatic cars were getting better recently, personnally I'm not sure, 95% of cars are manual over here and I have driven one like once or twice maybe ?
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On June 09 2012 00:03 spbelky wrote:Show nested quote +On June 08 2012 23:58 Iranon wrote:
For the same reason people buy Macs. Because they find a marginal increase in ease of use worth a marginal extra cost. I'm pretty sure Macs are more than just marginally more expensive than other products. Although I do like your analogy, I think macs/autos are easier to learn(or require no learning whatsoever). Once you get over that learning curve though, manuals (and to a certain degree PCs) are just better, and imo easier to use.
Very true. I've never bought an apple product for precisely this reason, and now that I think about it, it's probably high time I learned to drive stick...
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On June 09 2012 00:03 spbelky wrote:Show nested quote +On June 08 2012 23:58 Iranon wrote:
For the same reason people buy Macs. Because they find a marginal increase in ease of use worth a marginal extra cost. I'm pretty sure Macs are more than just marginally more expensive than other products. Although I do like your analogy, I think macs/autos are easier to learn(or require no learning whatsoever). Once you get over that learning curve though, manuals (and to a certain degree PCs) are just better, and imo easier to use.
Actually learning Mac is like 9999% more difficult. It's just that Mac locks things down so much, it's not necessary for most people to actually learn how to do stuff on them. For example, how do you change a Mac's name (unique network identifyer), how do you flush the DNS, how do you do practically anything complicated on them? Most Mac users have no frigging clue, even though they'll defend to the death the fact that "macs are easier".
And yea, macs are in some cases like 50% more expensive than what they should be given the hardware. So, this is really not a good analogy.
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As a Manual Car Driver in the US. it's really a matter of personal preference.
I find manual transmissions vehicles to be a bit more pure, and I feel a lot more connected to the road.
Other people tend to just want to turn a key and get somewhere, automatic transmissions are perfect for that.
the benefits of both are fairly obvious, so I won't list them here. It's really all about what you like to drive. If you like to hack around with things, run Linux, or are some kind of tinkerer/engineering type, a manual transmission is probably for you. 
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On June 08 2012 22:58 Hopeless1der wrote:Show nested quote +On June 08 2012 22:42 jacosajh wrote:
Auto does cost more than manual on new cars here as well (also ~$2000 extra).
Yes, it is cheaper to replace a manual. But let's say you're teaching a new driver how to use a stick; it's guaranteed they will cause damage to the manual.
Going along with what you're saying, not a lot of people know how to drive manual anymore. Imagine checking your car into valet and noone knows how to drive manual. It happens. I've seen it.
Also, driving a manual in traffic is not fun.
Finally, MPG between auto and manual is a non-issue on most cars. It's like maybe ~10% difference, if at all. The cost of teaching someone to drive stick is probably outweighed in fuel cost savings for one year of driving alone. My Corolla, an already efficient vehicle goes from ~8L/100km to ~6.5L/100km (Family owns an Auto and Manual) at around 600 km/tank, I save 9L per tank. Fill up 3 times a month @ $1.30, I save about $140.Close to the price of a Clutch Kit. Granted, most will need to pay labor on top of that, but that is JUST FUEL. Think about all the other things the op listed as benefits. I completely agree...I've noticed it across all of North America, except small islands that were pretty much british colonies.
In newer cars, the difference between auto and manual in terms of MPG is nothing. On a 2012 Toyota Corolla (USA)the difference is 1 more MPG (26/34 vs 27/34). And as someone already pointed out, unless you drive really well with a manual, you can actually get less MPG than an auto.
Aslo, the price of parts is usually only a fraction of the labor. Not to mention that if I was buying a car and ever found out that it needed something like that replaced, I will automatically (ahaha, get it? :-p) look elsewhere.
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Well, if you're stuck in slow city traffic, an automatic is golden.
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I can drive manual but I really don't care about driving manual/automatic one way or the other. It seems to be a point of pride for a lot of people which I find a little bit weird. I don't have opinions about what other people prefer to drive.
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Canada9720 Posts
as a more or less uselss piece of anecdotal counter-evidence: a honda dealer recently told me that the latest generation of automatic civics have better fuel efficiency than the manual ones
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EPT
