stick or auto?

What's your preference in cars? Stick or automatic?

  • stick shift

    Votes: 27 57.4%

  • automatic all the way

    Votes: 20 42.6%
  • Total voters
    47
yes, they are cheaper unless they are sport cars
 
Lighthouse77 said:
yes, they are cheaper unless they are sport cars
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Since I have to drive 2 little old ladies, I can't get a sports car. Not even for a family. Darn!!! I have to make do with my Mercury Sable, Ford Expedition, Ford Explorer, MIL's Crown Victoria, or MIL's Ford F150. Sheesh!!!
 
I drive a 1991 bmw, it was beat up when we bought it but it's gotten me to where I need to go and back so I'm not too bothered by it. She is a stick but the car we had before was an automatic so I could drive whatever. I think it's better to drive a stick because you have more control over the car for when you need to get out of a sticky situation like passing or getting out of the way of an aggressive driver, plus during bad weather you can chose which gear would be best for the conditions of the road. I can feel more when things are right with the stick better than I can in an automatic. I don't think hearing has anything to do with auto or stick, it's a personal choice to me of how much control I have compared to what control the car has over me.
 
I drive automatic, only thing I can drive with stick shift is ride on lawn mower.

One of those days I will have to learn to drive shift stick on car or small truck. :)
 
Mod's Note:

The thread is moved to it's proper place.

I can drive on either, stick or automatic. But, I just find it easier to drive on automatic. :P
 
Jolie77 said:
Mod's Note:

The thread is moved to it's proper place.

I can drive on either, stick or automatic. But, I just find it easier to drive on automatic. :P
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Nah, Automatic is very bad traction for thick snows. Manual is very easy to drive thru thick snow. I tried both of them before.
 
The Highlander said:
Nah, Automatic is very bad traction for thick snows. Manual is very easy to drive thru thick snow. I tried both of them before.
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Well, I've drove countless of times on snow with the automatic. It seems to do fine for me and I haven't had any problem driving on thick snow so far.

Manual just doesn't work out for me because, honestly, I'm not quite fluent enough to shift-stick it around. My problem is that, I tend to stall the engine while I try to change the gear. Grrr. Most of the time, I'm able to change the gear but I keep forgetting that I have to balance both pedals in order to change the gear. If I don't, it stalls on me.
 
The Highlander said:
I still see brand new car do not have tachometer for manual.
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Most brand new cars even the BASIC cars nowadays come with tachs for 5 speeds. Hell, the car I'm soo lusting nowadays, the 2011 Ford Fiesta comes with a tach on the S basic model STANDARD. The 2011 Toyota Yaris 4 door doesnt come with a tach and the Fiesta is CHEAPER than the Toyota.

Both my ZX2 Escort and Rodeo S have tachometers even though they weren't loaded cars. Both vehicles are stickshifts but the Isuzu has a shift-up light.

Having a tachometer is very useful especially when it comes to shifting the gears. I keep my vehicles running only above 2K rpms, but shift after 3K rpms. When it's cruise time I dont allow my motors to go past 3K rpms in the interest of prolonging engine life.

Funny is when I shift the ZX2 Escort at 3K from 4th to 5th gear, it's 50 mph. In the Rodeo the 3K 4th to 5th is at 40 mph. Even though both are 130 hp twin-cam 16v 4 cylinders, it's the gearing that explains the difference.

The only stick shift vehicle with no tach I had was my 1994 Ford Ranger. When I felt the floorboards vibrate, I knew it was time to shift gears.
 
Jolie77 said:
Well, I've drove countless of times on snow with the automatic. It seems to do fine for me and I haven't had any problem driving on thick snow so far.

Manual just doesn't work out for me because, honestly, I'm not quite fluent enough to shift-stick it around. My problem is that, I tend to stall the engine while I try to change the gear. Grrr. Most of the time, I'm able to change the gear but I keep forgetting that I have to balance both pedals in order to change the gear. If I don't, it stalls on me.
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Just think of the clutch as the opposite of the brake. You don't usually jam on your brakes when you stop or slow; you apply gradual pressure.

The same applies for letting out the clutch--you do it gradually. The only difference is that you give it a little bit of gas.
 
sablescort said:
Most brand new cars even the BASIC cars nowadays come with tachs for 5 speeds. Hell, the car I'm soo lusting nowadays, the 2011 Ford Fiesta comes with a tach on the S basic model STANDARD. The 2011 Toyota Yaris 4 door doesnt come with a tach and the Fiesta is CHEAPER than the Toyota.

Both my ZX2 Escort and Rodeo S have tachometers even though they weren't loaded cars. Both vehicles are stickshifts but the Isuzu has a shift-up light.

Having a tachometer is very useful especially when it comes to shifting the gears. I keep my vehicles running only above 2K rpms, but shift after 3K rpms. When it's cruise time I dont allow my motors to go past 3K rpms in the interest of prolonging engine life.

Funny is when I shift the ZX2 Escort at 3K from 4th to 5th gear, it's 50 mph. In the Rodeo the 3K 4th to 5th is at 40 mph. Even though both are 130 hp twin-cam 16v 4 cylinders, it's the gearing that explains the difference.

The only stick shift vehicle with no tach I had was my 1994 Ford Ranger. When I felt the floorboards vibrate, I knew it was time to shift gears.
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Funny thing my 2001 Subaru Impreza RS is BASIC and come with tachometer and My wife's 2006 Ford Focus ZX4 and it don't come with tachometer.
 
Jolie77 said:
Well, I've drove countless of times on snow with the automatic. It seems to do fine for me and I haven't had any problem driving on thick snow so far.

Manual just doesn't work out for me because, honestly, I'm not quite fluent enough to shift-stick it around. My problem is that, I tend to stall the engine while I try to change the gear. Grrr. Most of the time, I'm able to change the gear but I keep forgetting that I have to balance both pedals in order to change the gear. If I don't, it stalls on me.
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Depend what kind of vehicles. Some of them are AWFUL!

I drove 2006 Pontiac GTO manual and it is worse one ever I had but 2006 Corvette manual is very SMOOTH and I love it! Poweron and I went to Auto show motion at Chicago in four years ago. It's free ticket and free test drive. Also trep was there.

Sad, My old Subaru 2000 RS is better than GTO for manual.

No wonder Pontiac GTO is stop make anymore.
 
Glenn said:
Just think of the clutch as the opposite of the brake. You don't usually jam on your brakes when you stop or slow; you apply gradual pressure.

The same applies for letting out the clutch--you do it gradually. The only difference is that you give it a little bit of gas.
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Thanks for the tip, Glenn. My problem is that I tend to overpower the clutch rather than letting it out gradually. That's the area I'd need to work on. :)

The Highlander said:
Depend what kind of vehicles. Some of them are AWFUL!

I drove 2006 Pontiac GTO manual and it is worse one ever I had but 2006 Corvette manual is very SMOOTH and I love it! Poweron and I went to Auto show motion at Chicago in four years ago. It's free ticket and free test drive. Also trep was there.

Sad, My old Subaru 2000 RS is better than GTO for manual.

No wonder Pontiac GTO is stop make anymore.
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How awful would it be? Would it be just like the car would be jerking while changing the gears or the likes of that?
 
Jolie77 said:
Thanks for the tip, Glenn. My problem is that I tend to overpower the clutch rather than letting it out gradually. That's the area I'd need to work on. :)



How awful would it be? Would it be just like the car would be jerking while changing the gears or the likes of that?
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Pontiac GTO's clutch pedal is too high and you have to lift your leg to apply the clutch pedal. I like to apply the clutch pedal without lift my leg so much. GTO should be fine for highway but rush hour or big city, it will kill your leg.
 
I prefer stickshift than automatic because, it give me freedom to rev up engine to 5Krpm and feel the G's. Manual shift car can give power I demands now. I can easily beat yellow light on traffic signal from 50 ft than automatic. I gets them every time on my old Mazda 323 which had 225k miles and it still have plenty of pep left and it's kinda like a "slingshot" when beating yellow light. My durango sucks really big, It's laggy and mushy, I floored it and it's nothing for few seconds then finally go gently and slammed the brake when light turned red just 20 ft away.

I did 70mph drift on neighborhood road to sling around the corner on 4 speed manual 1979 Ford Pinto SS. It was damn good and obedient to my wish. I recalled I accidently shifted to 1st gear at 55mph on highway. Engine screamed and redlined :eek2: and I slammed the clutch then shifted back to 4th gear. Oops!!

Stick shift helped unstuck my truck and car from mud and snow. It's hell alot better than automatic!! Using with skill and care, I just release clutch to "touch" the clutch plate while engine was a bit above idle speed and let the car rock a bit and slooowly roll back and forth and finally got it out. I recalled driving 60mph on icy rural road and missed the bend of the road and my car overshot 15 ft to 3ft deep snow in the field. I managed to unstuck my car in reverse and slowly back to road with no help!!. :lol:

Stick shift INDEED saves gas when driving normally and it's a true life saver when battery is low or starter won't work, Just roll and shift 1st gear and snap cluch and it'll start.

I drove manual shift cars and truck longer than automatic. 1972 VW Beetle, 1967 Chevrolet C-10 PU (Column shifter), 1977 Ford Pinto SS, my brother's 1955 Chevrolet PU, 1994 Mazda Protege and my favorite 1989 Mazda 323 which all are manual shifter.

Other manual shifter I drove was SkyLift tractor (16 speeds, 2 reverse), Peterbilt Semi Tractor Trailer (8 speeds), 3/4 ton flatbed Chevrolet pickup truck, rare 1966 AMC Rambler convertible (my friend's father car and was the original owner, column shifter car), and 1979 crappy rustbucket Chevrolet Silverado (my friend's truck look like a junkyard truck :rofl: )

The automatics that I drove was 1990 Mazda Protege, 1969 Chevrolet DJ-5 (formerly Postal Jeep, 2 speed Powerglide automatic), two Dodge Grand Caravans, Currently Jeep Liberty and Dodge Durango.

Automatic is laggy at best. My durango can't beat any lights and even race other car hence it's 4.7 liter V8!!??.

Many cars with manual shifter feels different. What I called "Heavy" and "Light" clutch. "Heavy" clutch means when you release clutch at the same time you give gas, car struggle to go and you must give lot of gas enough get it going or else it'll die while "Light" clutch is easy that you don't need much gas to get car going. Mazda 323 especially the one that have "Lightest" clutch. I don't need to give gas to get it go, I just release clutch on flat road and it'll go without touching gas pedal. Because it had to do with gear ratio on 1st gear. But the negative part of "Light" clutch is that tires spins too easily on dry road or if it's rainy outside, car would just sit there spinning tire when light turn green. I had to release clutch a bit to "touch" the plate (kinda tapping the plate) and get the car going without "riding" the clutch. The biggest advantage is that "Light" clutch indeed make clutch plate last 200k miles. My car did have 1st plate replaced at around 20k miles because of factory grease on slider smeared the plate. I decide to replace with new one. Then, the car with 2nd plate last until it was wrecked by my friend which had 235k miles, it still have plenty thickness on plate!!

Right now I'm disappointed that more and more cars and trucks are automatic and stick shift are now rarity. But I've driven rental 2007 Nissian with Shiftless 2.0 and fell love with it because it's so responsive and quick to get around which is really close to manual shift response! I did 0 to 80mph in 15 seconds up the hill. Dang it was like a rocket!

I wanted to get back to old truck or car with shifter and teach my sons how to use it. They will realized that manual shifter is better than automatic.

Catty
 
The Highlander said:
Funny thing my 2001 Subaru Impreza RS is BASIC and come with tachometer and My wife's 2006 Ford Focus ZX4 and it don't come with tachometer.
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Remmy some cars without tachometer have a "shift" warning light. Geo Metro especially one that It'll lights up when it's time to shift. I ignored the shift light and let it rev a higher, light began to blink telling me to shift NOW!! It was funny. I dislike shift light because it lit on too early and car was stalling a bit when I follow the light. I use my common sense to know when it's time to shift. It went very smoothly lol.

Catty
 
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