Arguing in home about manual or automatic Transmission

[Beef78]

My wife just said, “Get what you want.”

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[Cappy]

My wife was sitting in the love seat here in the room as I was reading this thread. Turned to her and asked, "You okay with learning to drive a manual?"

Her response, "You okay with skipping out on the 2.7L engine?"

Touché, woman. Touché.

 

[Txchewy]

My wife does not know how to drive a manual. I tried to teach her but she gave up very quickly. Inconvenient at times but I have to have the manual and don't mind a vehicle with no history of fender benders. I can't wait to teach my kids (once they are tall enough to press in the clutch). Best way to keep them from texting and driving!

 

[kodiakisland]

So my first vehicle was a ‘79 F100 4x4 with a 4 speed MT. 1st gear was actually what they called a “granny gear.” I lived off the side of a mountain and I could put it in 1st, climb out of the truck, run to the top of my driveway, and get back in when it climbed up all by itself. You could start in 1st or 2nd, but I could impress the girls by letting the truck drive itself! Great for starting on a hill, etc.

People think the crawl gear is new or unique, but many of us started on the same type transmission. First gear was for pulling a load, steep hills etc., but starting in second was normal for everyday usage.

 

[bloominguez]

People think the crawl gear is new or unique, but many of us started on the same type transmission. First gear was for pulling a load, steep hills etc., but starting in second was normal for everyday usage.

I learned to drive a manual on, among other things, my father's 1977 F-250 Ford Ranger. With a plow in the winter, and a camper and towing a boat in the summer. First gear was for pulling the boat out of the lake or when loaded up with firewood. Starting in second gear was for everything else.

 

[L8apex]

thats sounds like the biggest PITA

Not who you responded to, but it's only a PITA in the US and when you want to pass on a dashed yellow on back country roads; reversing through drive-throughs is an entertaining experience to say the least.

 

[guernsej]

Lol at everyone claiming MTs will keep their kids from texting and driving ?

 

[bloominguez]

That I don't know, but it was a monstrous truck so it wouldn't surprise me. I didn't know about such things at the time. I was 12, I think, when I started driving it, it was pretty hard to push the clutch, both in terms of force and travel. Yes, things are different in the sticks. It was a lot easier for me to hop out of the boat and back the truck down the ramp, my dad would run the boat onto the trailer and crank it tight, and I'd pull the boat/trailer out of the water. Just a lot more convenient for everyone if the kids (my brother and I) learned to drive early.

Other great memories of that truck:

My dad had to search to get what he really wanted, even then. He wanted a 3/4 ton truck, mainly because the front ends of lighter trucks didn't last when plowing. He had to go down to Milwaukee (from Upper Michigan) to get what he wanted, that truck with a manual transmission.

We loaded the crap out of that truck with logs every fall, had to cut down a lot of trees to heat the house 100% with wood. We did a lot of fishing and camping with that truck, too.

We did a lot of plowing with that truck (another reason to teach the kids to drive early, unfortunately for me). It had the old manual locking hubs, which was basically fine in Upper Michigan because all the roads except the main highway (US 2) were covered with ice much of winter. Anyone else remember how fun it was to stop with a plow? Just drive towards the edge of a parking lot, drop the plow, and you stop when the plow hits the snowbank, no brakes required or wanted.

Final story: I hit and killed a deer with that truck one night, just broadsided it (I was trying to avoid it, slowed down, went onto shoulder, but the deer suddenly pivoted and darted back into my path). Even though I had slowed quite a bit, the truck just smashed it, went right over it. My head and body went forward a little, but that's about it. Felt the back of the truck bounce up (no camper on at the time) as the left rear tire went over it. Told my dad about it the next morning. He went out, looked at the truck the next morning, and came back in and asked me, "Where did you hit it?" There was no obvious damage! If you looked more closely, the bumper was bent a little on the left side. Some of the hoses on the permanent plow hydraulics above the bumper were snapped. And the welded plow mounts below the front axle were just covered with blood and fur. Try that with modern cars.

 

[Rogue Tarheel]

thats sounds like the biggest PITA

It wasn't that bad. I learned in England and brought it back to the States. Learning to drive back on the right side with it was trickier than anything. It was fun once you got the hang of it. I actually cried a little when I sold her.

 

[Rogue Tarheel]

Not who you responded to, but it's only a PITA in the US and when you want to pass on a dashed yellow on back country roads; reversing through drive-throughs is an entertaining experience to say the least.

So many double takes and questions when going through the drive-thrus!!

 

[BroncoTRDPro]

Since my wife and I started dated in 2003, I’ve had 6 manual transmission cars (Porsche 944, Dodge Stealth Twin Turbo, 3 Challengers RT and SRT, and a DeLorean). I’ve tried teaching her on most of those vehicles. The only one she semi got was a 392 SRT Challenger since it’s harder to kill in 1st with the torque. She still brings up to this day the only manual car she ever felt comfortable driving was a friend’s 1988 RX7 GTU 5 speed . I told her I could find her a mint one if she wanted for fun, but she’s a SUV girl. She has a Jeep GC, H3 Alpha, and 4Runner TRD Pro. Long story short, she let me get all the manual cars I wanted over the years and just never drove them. The most recent one was the DeLorean, which I fully intended to find an automatic one until she said I won’t drive it anyway, so get a stick. Nice! Maybe you’ll have the same luck?

 

[wjfawb0 [hacked account]]

When was the last time Ford offered a manual in a truck? The 3.8 V6? The 7.3 Powerstroke?

My cousin had a 2003 6.0 Powerstroke F350 with the 6 speed manual that had the bull dog gear. He works at the super duty plant and didn't trust the first year of the new automatic at the time.

 

[indio22]

I'm leaning manual for the following reasons:
1) Lower initial cost
2) Longer life span (from my experience)
3) Wife prefers manual

The wild card though - this is a new model manual trans. We don't have the benefit of evaluating it's use in other vehicles. No history to see it's strengths/faults. So we are kind of flying blind, hoping Ford/Getrag did a good job. (The crawler gear feature sounds slick though.)

The newness is kind of why I would like to see what people think of the manual when the Bronco finally arrives, test it out and see if there are any initial bugs.

Keeping fingers cross 10 years from now, people will be talking admirably about the manual trans having been solid and well designed for the Bronco. As a Jeep owner for many years, Jeep used a lot of differnet transmissions. Some that history proved to be real nice, and others not so much ...

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