Why Road Cars Should Stay Manual

"Tom" (joshuabiplane2) 03/18/2015 at 00:03 • Filed to: manual, automatic

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What is the is the single best part of driving? If you answered shifting gears on your own, with a stick, and a clutch pedal then you'd be right. If you said something like steering then you'd be wrong, because that's not the answer. This is America the land of straight roads and freedom. Unfortunately the days of manual transmissions are as numbered as those filthy communists spies… sorry still on a role with the whole patriotic stuff. The manual is a dying breed and it will be a sad sad day when it's gone forever.

The sad part is that they're disappearing due to logic. Since when has America ever stood for logic, we're a nation of people who like loud guns and cars that are even louder than our guns and… damn-it I really have to stop. I mean I don't even live in Texas, or believe half the things I'm saying. It's like some sort of virus… holy crap guys I think I caught the 'Murica virus. I… I can feel it inside my veins telling me to do all these things. The urge to spew casual racism and be fat has never been stronger, guys, guys help me. I have to go to the hospital before I've lost all sense of reason... Ok sorry, I'm back, and I was right I did have the 'Murca virus but a couple shots of penicillin knocked that bitch out. So I should be back to my old, less obese, politically correct self again. Back to the topic at hand which is me ranting about how manuals are better than automatics.

Automatics are faster, more fuel efficient, and more convenient than manuals, but they'll never give the driver the same connection to the car and the road. In a straight line an auto is faster, but it just doesn't give you that same feeling of driving that a manual does. Anyone can mash the pedal to the floor, but I want to feel like the reason I'm going fast is because I'm good I am at driving. It's comparable to video games and movies, yes they're both just images on a screen, but in one you control the character where as in the other everything is done for you. Just like a movie an automatic will take you along for the ride. Throw on the cruise control, grab some popcorn and a soda then just kick back and relax. A manual is like a video game, you have to participate, and every bite or sip must be timed right in order to not die.

The main argument (on this website at least) for automatics is that they're faster, and because of that they replace the engagement provided by a manual with pure, unadulterated speed and adrenaline. I will not argue with that, I believe that people have fun while they're being pushed back into their seat. That's how amusement parks make money, with roller coasters and spinning rides. It's the same for cars, even a Camry will be invigorating at one hundred twenty plus miles per hour. Unfortunately here in America, the law doesn't take kindly to that kind of speed. Because of that I think that the true home of automatics is on the track. Where you're free to let loose and go for broke around a circuit.

That's the real problem with all these fancy sports cars getting kitted out with automatics. How much of the time you're driving the car will be on a track? For most of us that number is in the single digit percentages, if the car ever even sees a track. The rest of that time will be road time, where you're stuck in traffic, being kept in check by cops, etc. How great does a 2.9 zero to sixty feel when you're only able to do twenty miles an hour. So that's the thing, you're expensive sports car feels like a minivan most of the time. Maybe a minivan with a louder exhaust, but still just a mundane people carrier.

I'm not saying a manual transmission will make your car fun in traffic, or make your minivan into a GT-R. All I'm saying is that it sure wouldn't hurt the experience ninety nine percent of the time you drive it. Plus track days would still be fun, if not more fun with a manual, you may not get the best time of the day. At the end of the day though, you're you and I'm me and the sports cars we drive have four cylinders, not twelve. Chances are neither of us are going to be setting any speed records anyway so does it really matter if the lap is a little slower?

Photo Credits: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

Flavien Vidal > Tom 03/18/2015 at 00:11

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Yeah but you understand, I go thru traffic everyday and I have to move my left leg and it's tiring... I prefer to keep my right foot on the brakes at all time and for hours, it's a lot better!

:)

More seriously, as someone who DD cars with freaking heavy clutches and also deal with traffic daily, unless you are handicaped or have leg problems, it's a terribly bad excuse, especially considering how light clutches are in modern cars... When I was living in the US, I had a handicapped friend who really wished he could get stucked in traffic in a manual car eveyday.

EDIT: as far as "automatic being on the track", what the hell have you been smoking?? :)
The only reason modern racecars or supercars are automatic today is because they can finally behave the same way a manual car does. Rev-matching, fast shifting, not shifting mid-corner when you don't want it to...etc. And this is only for really high end cars. Your Corrolla and it's auto gearbox are still terrible today compared with the same car in manual.

Axial > Flavien Vidal 03/18/2015 at 00:14

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I actually can't stand the light clutches in modern cars. I like feedback in my pedals!

Flavien Vidal > Axial 03/18/2015 at 00:16

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I prefer heavy clutches too when having fun. But I DD all my sports cars and fact of the matter is, a useless stage 3 clutch on a Corvette gets VERY heavy in traffic :)

qbeezy > Tom 03/18/2015 at 00:31

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after driving a manual for a while, probably not a good manual, I prefer to get my driving excitement out of a curvy road. Reach rpm, depress clutch, shift, release clutch, hit gas. That just doesn't scream "EXCITING" to me. Shifting gears don't make you more connected per se than you actually feeling the road. The way it banks and curves. The changes in elevation, the acceleration and deceleration. Hitting that torque out of the apex. Hugging the corner. Feeling the weight of the car shift. Kicking the tail out a bit imaging your self doing a bit of a Chris Harris impression. That is being connected with the car, at least for me. A culmination of sorts. Not just doing what a computer can do sitting in bumper to bumper traffic. Luckily there is a mile stretch of windy roads up a hill less than a mile away.

Axial > Flavien Vidal 03/18/2015 at 00:33

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Both of my C4s, which are also daily driven, have stock clutches. It's harder on the ball of the foot than it is on the knee, and that's because I wear thin-soled Converse shoes that provide lots of feel but almost no padding.

I honestly have no frame of reference for what a stage 3 clutch feels like.

Flavien Vidal > qbeezy 03/18/2015 at 00:36

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It all depends on the car you are driving... A Corrolla with an auto trans vs the same car with a manual are lighyears appart in term of fun. It's pretty much impossible to "find fun" with the auto, while heel and toeing in a Corrolla makes it suddenly very much bearable.

If you are driving a modern Audi for exemple, then I can somewhat understand your point of view. I won't agree with it, but it's true that the gearbox despite being auto, is not too bad.

Flavien Vidal > Axial 03/18/2015 at 00:39

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It's about the same thing... just heavier :)

When I got my Corvette it had a stock clutch that was on its last days. I changed it for a stage 3 because why the hell not. After all, I track the car so why not... It's very heavy. Pretty much as heavy as the one in my mustang before that and this one was a champion in term of heavyness lol.

It supposedly could handle power up to 650hp lol. Considering that mine was stock at 300hp, it was utterly useless :)

wafflesnfalafel > Tom 03/18/2015 at 00:42

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yes, but I need an extra hand to text, talk on the phone, eat an ice cream cone, etc.

(When I get old and crotchety maybe I'll get an auto box, maybe a DSG or something - but until then, heck no! I tell my car when to shift - not some hair brained 'puter!)

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > Tom 03/18/2015 at 02:05

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I come form a family of manualistas. My mother has never owned an automatic car, and I know her next one won't be auto either. My stepdad has gone through many cars, and has always come back to stick. even my step-siblisngs, who aren't really car people drive stick when they need to!

The manual transmission is a great thing. a thing that lets you fuck up. a thing that is human! that is why manuals rock. They are flawed, like their users, and they are perfect, like their users.

kinda deep there, but it's true. the flawed perfection of a manual is the highest level of perfection attainable before absolute perfection, which just doesn't exist

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Tom 03/18/2015 at 02:05

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But how do you shift.......that which has no gears?

Spasoje > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/18/2015 at 02:39

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That's the exception! The entire drivetrain and experience is so different that I don't mind at all that it's auto-only.

Ideally, I'd either have a full-on electric, semi-autonomous, comfortable automatic-trans luxo-barge or a naturally-aspirated, firm suspension, heavy-clutch manual sports car. Or both.

qbeezy > Flavien Vidal 03/18/2015 at 09:53

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I can totally see what you're saying. I think it's too conditional whenever this topics arises. Manuals aren't always the answer, like how miatas aren't always the answer.