I hate automatic transmissions

I drive a 95' Ford Explorer. Automatic.
I hate the fact that we are now having to special order manual transmissions just because people cant drive them. LAZY! If we all drove manuals then we would be less distracted by other things like cell phones.
Plus, there cheeper, and they are easier to maintain and cheeper and easier on the engina, and did I mention there CHEEPER!, all people want to do is save money now days, why would you spend more just to have your car do stuff you dont know about.
Manual Transmissions, max out your milliage and performance of your car, and there not boring.
This is why I hate my car. It shifts when i dont want it too.
Its a pice of shit, and I want it to die.
So I emplor those of you who are in need of a new car, bring back the manual transmission, its not that hard to drive!

Easy trigger!

You are a dying breed. Consider yourself lucky to have been a part of a generation of people who actually despised laziness and embraced the idea of being above a machine...........

Now be prepared to be assimilated into the borg. LOL.

If God hadn't intended for cars to have clutches, he wouldn't have given mankind left feet.

I don't hate automatics, but I do greatly prefer the manual transmission.

I'm completely with you, an automatic is not a car. It does things for you, you can't downshift, can't choose what RPM it shifts at, not to mention the costs of repairs and such.

I also find that out of my friends and relatives, the better drivers are owners of manual cars, and the ones tha used to drive auto, and switched to manual became better drivers. It's weird that way.

Yes I also agree with you that manual is better than automatics, but they sell aftermarket kits that convert the valve body of a auto trans to full manual meaning you can shift up or down at any rpm or leave it in D and let it do the thinking!

I can completely concur, last time my car was down for repairs I got an automatic rental (apparently manual transmission rental cars are quite rare) and the entire week i had it I found my left foot wondering wtf it was supposed to be doing, especially when stopping I would be kicking the floorboard instead of pushing in on the clutch. That extra degree of control has quite literally saved my life a few times...

Most of my cars up until recently were manual. I like having control over the shifting points of the engine and they are more fun to drive on twisty-turny roads. Stop and go commute traffic is not much fun but I don't deal with that too often.

I taught myself to drive standard when a buddy switched me his little Nissan pickup truck for my car could carry more than 1 passenger. I had made plans to drive to San Jose (about an hour away) that day and warned him I had never driven manual. He didn't seem worried. So me and a lonely back road learned the art of getting the car rolling in 1st gear. The funnest part was getting out my neighborhood to the lonely back road. Stalled twice after backing out of driveway. Then a very herky-jerky start ... figured I had 2 miles to go to get to an out of the way place where I could practice with almost no one around. Got to the 1st stop sign and the "pressure" of vehs behind me wanting to go kept making me stall out. Finally I just gas the accelerator and popped the clutch .. lots of squealing, a little fish-tailing but off I went.

I quickly realized that the hardest part of manual was getting started. So I spent my time on a lonely road for about 40 minutes ... I would get up to 5 mph then stop, over and over again until I got the "feel" of the clutch.

We now drive automatics (a sign of getting older??) mainly because my wife hates manual vehicles ... so her car is automatic and they simply don't offer my V8 truck in manual (not sure I would need manual to get the power out of engine anyways).

The first time I drove my wifes car after we bought it I kind of forgot it was automatic. Was approaching a stop light at about 50 and without thinking threw the clutch in to coast ... so my foot went flying to the floor ... well I happened to clip the edge of the brake pedal and took it to the floor. I've rarely stopped so fast in my life ... especially when I wasn't ready for it!!! Then there I am, stopped about 150 feet from the intersection looking like an idiot!!

I like manuals until I get into the stop and go traffic where you are moving at foot then stopping for a few seconds then move another foot.

Nothing thrashes a cluch and a leg like that kinda of driving. It is so much more relaxing when you can just zone out to the music and tap on the gas to inch forward.

I completely agree with the stop and go situation, it gets irritating and a half being stuck in traffic with a manual. But that is the only downside with so many other positives. I live with it, and will never own an automatic unless I injure my left leg or something.

In the UK it's totally normal to be driving manual cars, it's Autos that are more rare, and I wouldn't have it any other way. It feels even better (to me at least) if it's the kind of little bumpy car you have to really rev to get up to the high speeds, it gives you a raw thrill.

I'm not one for relaxing drives, I haven't got the time, but when I need to drive I like to feel in control of the gears. I shall never willingly own an automatic (unless it's free).

Power to the Gearstick!

Traffic jams also make me wish for an automatic, but that sentiment fades rapidly. I suppose if I lived in an area where that kind of driving was the norm, I might consider an automatic, but then again, I will likely never live in a place like that.

I'd live in a lean-to in the desert before I'd live in a crowded, congested city, or if I had to live that way, I'd probably not own a car. There are places that you can live quite well without one, while giving up some of the convenience a car provides.

[edit on 2007/4/11 by GradyPhilpott]

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
I suppose if I live in an area where that kind of driving was the norm, I might consider an automatic, but then again, I will likely never live in a place like that.

I live in an area were that is the norm. I have never gotten a job where I had to drive that everyday. What is the use of driving 2 hours to get somewhere that should take 20 minutes.

I get caught up in it about once every 6 months and every time I do I remind my self to never be forced to drive it daily. Call me stupid but, I have quit jobs during the dot com era just because of that.

Originally posted by InSanE1
I live with it, and will never own an automatic unless I injure my left leg or something.

That's where I'm at. I love manuals, but it's either drive an automatic, or put on a knee brace every time I get in the car just to make the pain bearable.

Autos aren't that bad. Just stick an oil cooler on it and keep the fluid fresh. Never have to fix a thing.

why dont you guys just get bikes get a ghostrider lol

The thing I hate about automatics is that they never shift when I want them to, plus they rob power from the engine.

I used to drive them when I worked for the state and there's a lot to be said for keeping your left foot planted on the dead pedal, but for my money, I like to be in control and don't talk to me about "semi-automatics."

There's just something unnatural about those things.

Fo' shizzle.

If I'm driving a stick I want control of the torque I'm putting to the wheels, not just what gear it's in.

Some autos you can mod to give better control of lockup, but otherwise yeah it's impossible for the fluid link in a torque converter to provide the same efficiency of power transfer as a clutch. Shifting... eh... not too hard to train yourself to the shiftpoints and know how much throttle (or how little) is needed for the computer to up/down shift.

I rented an '07 Accord when my truck got totalled and it was actually kinda cool. It was auto of course, but it had D3. Didn't have to take it out of overdrive to drop to 3rd... came in handy.

Not to belabor a point, apc, and I do understand that your left leg condition makes a clutchless system desirable, but even though I rarely think about it, because it's so natural, in certain circumstance, when driving a manual, it's like your feet are doing a little dance and once in a while, I become aware of it and I think, "Hey, that was cool!"

Haha yeah totally. I was dating a little redhead who swore up and down she would never be able to drive a stick. Well I finally taught her and within a month she remarked how her left foot just did what it was supposed to without even thinking about it.

One of these days I might try and do something about my knee just to be able to use a clutch again. I tore some cartilage that resulted in some tendon condition of which I don't recall the name.

I'm with everyone else here. I drive an 05 Civic manual. Since I got it for maximum gas mileage (couldn't afford a hybrid), shifting into neutral has become second nature for me. Drivers of automatics have no idea how much coasting about one can do. In addition, coasting saves wear and tear on the engine and transmission. It also changes your style of driving, in that you are always judging traffic flow, when to coast and when not to, when to let it coast aaalll the way to the red light (when no one's behind you), and so forth. I'd never want to go back to an automatic.

So nobody has noticed how inconvenient it is to take your arm from around an hot little mama just to shift. Automatics are for lovers.
Rev up all that unused testosterone boys and shift yourself into frustration.