I'll only drive manuals because they're much more fun. I don't get the complaints about dealing with traffic. Though my commute is only about 10 minutes each way, I've never had a problem when I've been stuck in traffic for longer than that. It's not that much effort to lift your foot a few inches. You've got to constantly get on and off the brake in an automatic in traffic anyway.
Automatics started to outperform professionally (race) driven manuals in like 2006 I think. I would never buy a manual for my daily driver in Houston, TX. I do prefer manual on classics.
True, but be honest. If you aren't competing on the track where tenths of a second matter, do those couple of tenths of a seconds on public roads outweigh the loss of fun and engagement?
That and Houston is actually one of the easiest large metro areas to drive a stick as it's completely flat.
I am a manual person all the way when it comes to performance cars/toys But for a daily driver, I am going with the auto. I do prefer the manual though for the fun factor. I have owned my fair share of both, and am fairly confident in my driving abilities when it comes to performance manuals (did a lot of track racing back in the day) However, I do feel like the manual transmission is going away. I am thinking maybe 5 more years left in its life. Automatics and clutchless shifting transmissions are the future in both daily and performance applications. Everything will be a knob or a paddle. Hell, I am noticing the shifters on automatics slowly disappearing now.
I don't know if this is what you mean but a friend of mine used to have an old ford truck that we should shift without using the clutch. At a certain RPM you could have a 'sense' of when you could do it and you could shift the gears without the clutch.
Manuels need to go away on cars like Versa's, Civics, Fits, Jetta's etc But I doubt they will ever completely vanish on sports cars like on American muscle and Miata's, there's too many people who drive sports cars that enjoy stick.
I really don't enjoy my daily commute, period. I have a classic for fun (manual preferred). As someone who enjoys horsepower and fun cars I honestly just do not prefer it. I need functionality over fun M-F. But get me a Z8 and I'll make due.
I've got a stick on my mini cooper, automatic on the minivan. My kids will learn how to drive stick, unless we're all in driverless Google cars before then.
I drive a manual, I prefer driving them to an automatic but there was a short time a few years ago where I was working in Kingwood and coming home would get stuck in traffic on 59 southbound before the George R Brown everyday which wasn't fun while driving a stick.
Traffic is complete **** whether you're in an automatic or a manual. I've been driving a manual daily commuter for forever now and there's really no difference personally. I don't even notice the shifting and I imagine it's the same for most people that have a lot of miles with a stick. If I were to buy a sports car next I'd absolutely stick with manual if only for the fun factor.
Manual 18-wheelers don't need a clutch to shift gears. Upshift, downshift, nothing. The clutch is only necessary when you stop... and like your friend's pickup, it's all about the RPMs
I though when you stated "need to go away", I thought you meant your personal opinion not what the market is dictating. Then yes, manuals on those cars will not be an option in the next 5 years as hardly anyone today buys the manual variants of those cars unless they are the performance variant(SI, ST, GTI etc).
OP, I think you're right. The argument, of course, is that you don't need to learn to type on a typewriter any more, we have computers now.
