ALT-2 Do People Prefer Automatic or Standard Shift Transmissions
Last fall, a friend and I were heading to Morgantown, WV for a WVU football game in my Jeep Wrangler. A few miles down the road, my forty-something traveling companion looked down at my gear shift and made an announcement that absolutely stunned me:
"I'll be more than happy to pay for more than my share of the gas, but I can't help you with the driving. I've never learned how to drive a stick."
I would have been less shocked had he confessed to being a communist! After some thought, I did understand his way of thinking. Today's automatic transmissions are just as reliable as their manual counterparts, and all one has to do is put the car in drive and push down on the gas pedal. I have done a bit of thumb-nail research since, and I've discovered that many people I know have no clue how to shift their own gears. Shocking indeed!
So what are the good and bad points of each? As luck would have it, I have two autos (one of each), and I feel competent in chiming in on both sides of the discussion. Let's begin with the automatic. I absolutely prefer an automatic transmission in stop-and-go traffic, especially when the possibility of a stop light on a steep hill exists. In this situation, even the most experienced driver will get a lump in his throat. If the clutch isn't handled just right, the potential for drifting backward when shifting into first gear is always there. This isn't going to happen with the automatic.
Here's another scenario. The other day I went to a baseball game in Baltimore, and the traffic was bumper-to-bumper and moving at about two miles an hour as we neared the stadium. Once again, score one for the automatic transmission. The idea of shifting from neutral to first to second and back again every few seconds would have been maddening. What could be better than leaving the car in "D" mode and operating everything from the brake pedal? I'm sure that most people driving in urban areas take this into consideration when purchasing a car. If I drove my Jeep in B-more or DC on a daily basis, I would probably be typing this in the middle of a rubber room, and that wouldn't be easy to do while wearing a straight jacket!
Fortunately, I'm still (relatively) sane, and I'm more of a rural driver. That's where the manual transmission comes in handy. For starters, when using a stick, the driver controls the speed with the gas pedal in lower gears - even when going down hill. If the road conditions are poor, the "L" position on an automatic shifter (low gear) will not enable the driver to keep his foot off the brake while going down a slope. The car will simply run away. Here's how it works: touch the brake on a slick surface, and bad things start to happen. In fact, no matter what the condition may be, a manual transmission is far easier on brake pads.
Then there's the fun factor. Who doesn't like running through all four gears (five...six?) coming out of a stop light. AND for you four-wheelers out there, the ability to control shifts, downshifts, and speed is a must. Buy a car equipped with an automatic transmission, and all of this is lost. In essence, it all comes down to a couple of questions: where do I live, and what kind of driving am I going to do? These are among the most important factors that drivers consider when choosing between the automatic and manual transmissions.
In conclusion, I guess all of us know what side of the fence we fall on. There are even certain car types that'll answer this question on their own. For example, usually a Buick Lucerne comes equipped with an automatic transmission and a Jeep Wrangler has a manual transmission. I guess it's time for me to answer this question myself. At forty-five, I'm about 60 to the stick and 40 to the automatic. Ask me again in ten years, and these numbers will probably be reversed. When I retire, I can see myself in a Buick, never having to venture into the snow against my own will again. My "someday" grocery grabber sedan will undoubtedly have an automatic transmission, but for now, give me a stick in most situations.
