Curious Why it Seems so Many People Want a Manual Trans?

[Lcubed]

Part of the key is the transition from taking your right foot off the brake and applying the gas. If the left foot is on the brake there is no transition. Also could not be controlled with a manual, as there isn't a foot to hold the brake as the clutch is released and gas applied.

in my old landRover, my third limb was on the handbrake for exactly this type of operation

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[goatman]

[citation needed]

…..who’s experience? Your’s?

Sure......and thousands of others.

Like I said, for rough dirt roads and exploring it makes no difference, but for hard technical stuff the auto has a clear advantage. Not saying it can't be done with a stick, just that the auto is better. Tons of evidence if we want to go that far. Competition rock buggies are 99% auto (if not 100). Unlimited Ultra4 buggies are 100% auto. Recreational rock buggies are nearly all autos. The only guys with sticks are the died in the wool Toyota guys who used Toyota drivetrain, and they have super low geared and dual transfer cases.

 

[ChetC]

Manuals have the benefit of being more robust than an automatic, leach less horsepower, are less prone to failure and cheaper to repair should they need it.

Having said that, I want one simply because I enjoy driving a manual.

 

[Lord Bronco]

Control over shifting. Not just off-road. Gearing down when going down certain hills, instead of riding the brakes, is the main reason I went manual. This is especially key in snow and ice, when braking makes you slide on hills, while descending in first, second, or crawler is ideal.

And in 4WD you a much more comprehensive range of torque besides just high and low.

All that said, a hybrid auto or whatever they are called is probably best for those who want these abilities but don’t care about the “fun” of shifting a manual all the time—for the convenience of the auto 90% of the time in daily driving but want to shift to certain gears in other situations.

I like the above capabilities as well as the fun of driving a manual, and I also didn’t think paying thousands more for an automatic was worth it. I’ve had a hybrid auto, and while the manualish option is great for occasional use in certain situations, using it on the road in regular driving just isn’t the same as a true manual.

 

[BrentC]

Interesting discussion, but like politics most seem to be deeply divided.

Given the choice I will pick a manual transmission in all cases if it comes with the rest of the goodies I want. For that reason the last three F150s I’ve owned since 2000 are automatics…and pretty boring to drive, to be honest.

To each their own, and I think arguments for and against either transmission are valid. You do you.

As far as capability goes, I agree at the pinnacle of all motorsport racing auto trannies with the flappy paddles rule. However, any level below that and driver/rider skill becomes more a factor than the shifting mechanism. I grin everytime I’m out at a motorcycle track day on pavement or dirt and see someone on a smaller-displacement or ancient bike absolutely school the people on their tricked-out Rossi or Pastrana replicas. I have no doubts on my abilities to wheel a manual, especially one as capable as this.

 

[RhodeIslandRed]

Sure......and thousands of others.

Like I said, for rough dirt roads and exploring it makes no difference, but for hard technical stuff the auto has a clear advantage. Not saying it can't be done with a stick, just that the auto is better. Tons of evidence if we want to go that far. Competition rock buggies are 99% auto (if not 100). Unlimited Ultra4 buggies are 100% auto. Recreational rock buggies are nearly all autos. The only guys with sticks are the died in the wool Toyota guys who used Toyota drivetrain, and they have super low geared and dual transfer cases.

I tried not to get sucked into this obvious click-bait b.s. discussion. But the people asking this stupid question are missing the point.

To further support the OP's point, formula 1 cars have abs so that they always threshold brake into the turn. But if you have ever trailing throttle oversteered a back-wheel drive car into a late apex, you know it can be fun to not do it "better".

All these "advantages" are great. My new vehicles practically drive themselves. My wife doesn't like the braking and lane assist. She says she doesn't trust the computer. Ok. So you are right. The computer is almost always going to be better than the human. The lane assist and braking help will save lives. It certainly lets me be a much better distracted driver. jk

But when I'm wheeling, I don't want the car do drive itself. When I'm descending a hill, I don't want the brakes to hold themselves. I like the pure decel of low gear (and blipping the throttle). It's not a judgement on anyone who wants that stuff, I just want drive it the way I learned because it's fun.

It's kind of like, with traction control you can't do a burnout. Or without a clutch on motorcycle, you can't go 12 o'clock. It's just a more direct and fun interface to the experience for me and what I want to do.

Sure. the Auto is "better" for whatever you suggest. But you know what else is even better? Electric motors. Full automation. Of course the fully automated vehicle is going to drive better. Just get on a ride at the amusement park. Take the entire experience out of human hands and it will be the best.

If you have to ask this question in the first place, probably nothing I can write will ever explain the answer.

 

[Razorbak86]

Sure......and thousands of others.

Like I said, for rough dirt roads and exploring it makes no difference, but for hard technical stuff the auto has a clear advantage. Not saying it can't be done with a stick, just that the auto is better. Tons of evidence if we want to go that far. Competition rock buggies are 99% auto (if not 100). Unlimited Ultra4 buggies are 100% auto. Recreational rock buggies are nearly all autos. The only guys with sticks are the died in the wool Toyota guys who used Toyota drivetrain, and they have super low geared and dual transfer cases.

There you go again, with your LOGIC and FACTS!

 

[heynow14]

This question is akin to "if you have to ask, you can't afford it." If you want a manual, there's really no substitute. A twin-turbo Coyote with an auto in the Bronco still wouldn't pull me to the PRND dark side

Manual or no Bronco in my garage. Period. Shifting is fun. Deciding when you shift is fun. Watching people marvel at you holding a 64oz Big Gulp while driving a manual is fun. Fielding questions from your non-car buddies asking "what do those numbers on the stick-thingy mean?" is fun. - albeit a sad fun.

Waiting on most (all?) modern autos to shift (at inopportune times) after spending $2-3k more for them is not fun. Getting RPM and chassis feedback through your left leg and your right arm is what it's all about...

Save. The. Manuals.

 

[Exomodo]

1.) Muscle memory.
1a.) No paddle shifters.
1b.) Toggle switches are ambiguous.
1c.) No gated "sequential-style" + forward, - backward control.
2.) Automatics don't read terrain, they can't prepare to descend or ascend hills or worse.
3.) Cost.
3a.) Purchase is a premium better spent on more useful options.
3b.) Repair costs are significantly higher and requires experienced technicians and specialized equipment to correctly fix.
4.) Reliability.
4a.) I test drove a Ranger before ordering my Bronco. It exhibited in a 2 mile loop behaviors I saw as not dependable enough to invest in, stumbling, hunting for gears in deceleration with the right turn signal on. I cannot rely on the computer making the wrong choice for the circumstances I'm acutely aware of, conditions of the road, weather, etc.
4b.)Autos generate so much heat and friction they require external cooling. These metal tubes always fail where I live.
4c.) Manuals always outlast automatics between rebuild intervals and usually outlive the vehicle. I wouldn't hesitate installing a high mileage, freshened manual in any of my vehicles and have done so.
5.) Situational awareness.
Manuals require participation in the process of driving. See Tesla full self driving accidents for user error induced death. If I'm ever so diluted as to be lulled into false confidence that the machine/robot I am being delivered to my destination with has fool-proof autonomy and can adequately defend against the best unimpeded humanity behind the wheel has to offer, well, I suppose I deserve what I have coming...
I want a manual. My Bronco was a manual transfer case manual transmission, so is my F150. My F250 is an auto and it is a miserable mess of "why are you doing that!?!" If I have to trick and manipulate the auto into behaving like a manual constantly, is it a good automatic?

 

[Rick Astley]

My only manual transmission car currently is a non-synchronized, 3-on-the-tree 1951 Chevrolet Fleetline. It's a challenge to drive it smoothly, shift without grinding and an even larger challenge to get up to freeway speeds due to the gearing and torque tube.

Yet I enjoy the heck out of every mile driving that beast!

Bronco will be my daily driver and first foray into off-roading. I've been a track rat before (Mitsubishi Evo9 w/about ~450-550 all-wheel-HP, depending on tune/configuration). I just enjoy the challenge of the manual transmission. Yes, it is slower. My career path as an F1 driver diverted many years ago so I want to enjoy the challenge of driving and get zero ounces of extra enjoyment of being 0.15 seconds faster per lap using the binary automatic transmission of boredom.

I don't expect to do hard core off-roading, but have driven Fins N' Things and Hells Revenge in a rented Rubicon on 37" tires which was automatic equipped and will be hitting those with the Bronco just as soon as I take delivery! Plus a camping trip on the White Rim trail in Canyonlands.

Bronco should be able to do all those things in the manual transmission, plus crawler gear is effectively infinite traction-limited torque and the hill assist is quite nice. There's just a little more challenge and higher odds of not being able to do something in the manual. Trying and succeeding or trying and failing, i'll have more fun doing the actual driving plus the to-and-from work driving in the manual Bronco.

Fun tip: Crawler gear is amaaaaaaaaaaaazing in large-city rush hour traffic! In my old 4WD honda civic wagon with super-low 1st gear, the crawler absolutely destroys rush hour traffic as you can crawl at ~2 mph no problem.

 

[DREWR13]

I enjoy manual transmissions, all my "fun" cars have been manual. Going auto on the Bronco because it's going to be my daily driver. Got my little Miata with a 6sp for rowing my own gears.

 

[AZshot]

Auto-matic, Auto throttle (cruise control), now adaptive cruise control, Lane Assist, soon autosteering. It all sounds like Auto-pilot in an airplane. "set it and forget it". that's not driving, that's sitting in a chair in a vehicle and letting IT do the driving.

 

[Mr. Nice]

The Stick Shift Index: Do People Still Drive Stick Shift Cars in ...
https://www.carmax.com › articles › stick-shift-index


I guess the manual is the clear choice since 2.4% of the cars sold had them.
Or would that be 97.6% of the people that bought the automatic didn't know what they were doing?

I know, I know, I know- "But if I they had one available for my mini van I would have gotten it!"

 

[rutherk1]

Manual transmission is just more engaging. Plus you get a sweet crawl gear, simplicity and possibly more durability.

Ford's 10 speeds are meh at best. I think the bronco uses the Ford Explorer transmission, which surprised me. Both my last F150 and Superduty, the 10 speed transmissions were really quirky. Even at times, it would just lose all gears and I'd get the service soon "idiot light". Like the truck would be in neutral no matter what. I'd have to shut down and restart.

Too many electronics on these things, having a manual was my way, justified or not, to eliminate some of that mess thats in modern vehicles.

 

[long_road]

I'm yet another die-hard manual driver. I just enjoy driving a manual immeasurably more than driving any automatic. I get that modern automatics are "better", but so long as any manufacturer continues to sell a manual in a decent vehicle that meets my needs I'll spend my money on that over an automatic.

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