What's with the manual trans hype?

[Paint]

I learned in a Corvair powered dune buggy when I was 14.

My first truck was a manual. I've had many. I still have one (GTO).

I have zero desire to drive one 99 percent of the time.

If that makes me less of a "driver", I'm good with that.

Sponsored

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I stalled that car more times than I can count trying to get going up that hill, and burned probably 20k miles off that clutch on the way home.

But all things considered, the auto gives you a much wider range of "acceptable" when you're offroading.

I literally LOL'd at the top comment...know exactly what you're talking about.

I've guess most of my tricky wheeling has been with only manuals and I can say that having the granny gear of the NP435 just shocked the $hit out of me because of how handy it was to have that level of creepyness available. Co-driver and I were both shocked first time I used it...."Man, this is NICE!!!"
I just don't have the experience in an auto offroading to make a judgement, but I'm certain I'd miss that low range at times.
The next HUGE, HUGE HUGE improvement was ditching the carb for EFI. I could stand that Bronco on it's nose or tail and it simply did not phase it at all. At some point you have to be concerned about oil starvation. Huge bonus, daily driveability improved also.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I have zero desire to drive one 99 percent of the time.

Fully agree, but I have the opputunity to make a cherished memory with the Kiddo and that instantly changed my mind ..... might have secnd thoughts after trying to drink my morning coffee through the stop lights...lol

 

[kairo]

I literally LOL'd at the top comment...know exactly what you're talking about.

I've guess most of my tricky wheeling has been with only manuals and I can say that having the granny gear of the NP435 just shocked the $hit out of me because of how handy it was to have that level of creepyness available. Co-driver and I were both shocked first time I used it...."Man, this is NICE!!!"
I just don't have the experience in an auto offroading to make a judgement, but I'm certain I'd miss that low range at times.
The next HUGE, HUGE HUGE improvement was ditching the carb for EFI. I could stand that Bronco on it's nose or tail and it simply did not phase it at all. At some point you have to be concerned about oil starvation. Huge bonus, daily driveability improved also.

2 offroad rigs before that TJ I spoke about, I had a '79 F150 with a 351m bored .060 over. 35" tires and Aussie lockers front and rear. Bought the damn thing for $2500 as is, and rattle-can painted it black in my driveway with walmart spraypaint. It had the 4spd, and I think first was 7:1(?) It was an absolute monster. Blew up the front end bombing down some rocks and parted it out because I was young and stupid. It was a good, goddamned good truck. Had two 25g tanks and I think it got 4mpg doing downhill with a tailwind.

Edit: I live at 5200 ft. I spent some money on whatever holly carb at the time had jets for altitude. Sent it down to a buddy with a shop and had a full aluminum dash made. Told him I wanted it to "look like an airplane inside" I'd long since lost my only key, and the door locks were broken anyways. Had a couple fuel cutoffs, so when I wanted to start the truck I pushed a few switches and jammed down on "motor start"

Damn to be young and dumb again.

 

[Paint]

Fully agree, but I have the opputunity to make a cherished memory with the Kiddo and that instantly changed my mind ..... might have secnd thoughts after trying to drink my morning coffee through the stop lights...lol

I had a manual steering, manual transmission, manual brakes truck when I was 17, and I broke both wrists (stupid ass horse)...I could still eat a burger and drive that thing*. I think you'll be fine.

*I had a steering knob to help though LOL

 

[Rogues Gambit]

If everyone's sharing there stories on learning, might as well.

I didn't grow up with Manual's, and my dad ABSOFUCKINLUTELY hates them, as in if it were a Family Guy style Cartoon, we'd drive one and he'd basically break it and turn to me with a straight face telling me "I told you it's a piece of shit, get an auto!" (He can drive it, just since we do lots of work in the city, it's a PITA for him)

I learned after watching YouTube vids, and having a friend that worked at a Ford Dealer take time out of his busy schedule to teach me in Lot Cars ('10 GT, '11-12 Focus 5spd)... I wish he still worked at Ford, I'd love to repay him for everything.

After that, I either made deals with my old classmates (Monsters for lessons, and of course promising not to crash his '02 V6stang), and visiting dealerships to practice (I'm sure I'm on a blacklist poster)

First Manual Car was an '02 TT 225 Roadster, she was a sweetheart but short lived as I'm not exactly sure what happened, most likely the tires, but lost control of the car and wound up 200 feet in a ditch on the Garden State .

2nd Manual's my A4, which I got with 44k miles and am planning to put up this weekend. I built that car up from Stock, you look at it now compared to then and it's not even the same vehicle. There were a few times in the past I was supposed to get rid of it, especially with the Mustang, but that never happened.

Solid Car, drove it to NH and back twice as I said, drove it in all 5 borough's with a St1 Clutch and despite my one friend busting my balls, it's solid (I didn't have a garage and no room in my current one, so any mods I wanted done I had to take to a shop)

Driven over 200 cars, mostly test drives, but with all that said, I'm definitely a manual guy. Can't wait to order this, and can't wait to have all sorts of Adventures with it as well, just hope next year the world's in a better place without the lockdowns and hysteria.

 

[RockEye]

All of my performance cars have been manual and my FJ40 Landcruiser was manual, obviously. But for off-road I prefer automatics. You end up in so many instances where you have to ride the clutch and I'm not a fan of that. Being able to pop the clutch to hop a rock is great for sure.

I also prefer an auto when doing road trips because I can eat, drink, check maps, etc. while driving from place to place without an issue.

Probably one of the biggest factors is living in Atlanta. I've you've ever been in bumper to bumper traffic for over an hour with a heavy clutch, you'd rather get out and push after a while.

 

[Stampede.Offroad]

...
What am I missing here? Modern automatics are so much easier to drive on and off road.

For spirited driving, I prefer a stick. Everything else, including off-road, I prefer auto.

Even my 94 Wrangler has a 3 speed auto and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Nothing missing. Just some race car fantasies or something like that, including some tactile interaction that results in lots of 'vroom' sounds.

No different than why I want a V8, but I'm not going to **** on people's aesthetic preference. I'm glad there's a manual option for people who really want it. It adds to the perception of the vehicle.

 

[The Pope]

.....
I also prefer an auto when doing road trips because I can eat, drink, check maps, etc. while driving from place to place without an issue.
.....

Uuummmmmm...... ............Cruse Control works on a Manual too....

 

[indio22]

For my part, I've had better luck with manual transmissions compared to automatic, in terms of issues and service life. I just had the automatic trans in my Jeep TJ rebuilt, because it was slipping the 1/2 shift and then having some other issues. That cost me $1000. I pulled and am re-installing myself.

On the other hand, I've never had an issue with any of my manual transmissions, including the manual trans that was in our 200k plus mile Geo Storm, which had original clutch!

I would say most people like to think of themselves as good drivers. The reality can be different, and no doubt some people simply aren't perceptive or coordinated enough for a manual trans. Auto trans is a better selection for those folks. That's not meant to be a put-down, it's just the reality.

Last year I was travelling (racing lol) around Ireland in a manual trans car, and it was a blast. If you know some of the narrow twisting back roads there, a lot of visitors freak out. For me it was so much fun. Total rush. And with manual, I was looking ahead deciding what do to with the gears, holding gears as I desired, based on current and upcoming road conditions, and how I wanted the vehicle to perform. You don't get that in the automatic, even the modern automatic that has more ways to sense conditions.

Also living 10 years in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, I prefer manual for on-road driving, using the gears as I see saw fit. Even when some lady was honking the horn and telling me my brake lights were not working (hello I was using engine braking).

What is better off-road? I would have to vote automatic for the type of slow speed crawling over rock trails that I do. Because of the essentially infinite low speed control of travel, including being able to stop in gear. (Just watch for the overheating - install a trans cooler I learned the hard way.)

Well that is my story. Hopefully it shows there are legit reasons to own either manual or automatic - I'm not against either one. Depends on the driver skill and usage.

 

[RockEye]

Uuummmmmm...... ............Cruse Control works on a Manual too....

Cruise control doesn't shift for you. I wasn't talking about just on the highway. I like to drive through small towns.

 

[RockEye]

Last year I was travelling (racing lol) around Ireland in a manual trans car, and it was a blast. If you know some of the narrow twisting back roads there, a lot of visitors freak out. For me it was so much fun. Total rush. And with manual, I was looking ahead deciding what do to with the gears, holding gears as I desired, based on current and upcoming road conditions, and how I wanted the vehicle to perform. You don't get that in the automatic, even the modern automatic that has more ways to sense conditions.

Can confirm with personal experience in a Mercedes AMG. No chance most Americans can handle driving on those roads at the speeds they do with stone walls inches away from your mirrors on curvy roads and keeping an eye out for sheep. Haha

 

[Marauder]

I've had the following offroad rigs:
79 CJ5 -- 3 spd manual
82 CJ7 -- 5 spd manual
92 YJ -- 5 spd manual
95 XJ -- 5 spd manual
02 TJ -- 5 spd manual
79 F150 -- 4 spd manual
11 Ram 1500 -- 5 spd automatic
16 Tacoma -- 6 spd Automatic.
06 KJ -- 5 spd Automatic
95 Xplorer -- 5 spd automatic

Almost never have I been driving automatic and wished I had a manual. But there's been many times, especially when rock crawling with some of my more built rigs that I've wished I was driving an auto over the stick.

What am I missing here? Modern automatics are so much easier to drive on and off road.

What you’re missing out on is the theft prevention

 

[King Luis]

For me, it's just the feeling of driving standard. It's more engaging and fun. My wife loves it too. Our old Jetta TDI isn't fast at all but it's fun because it's standard. We were looking to keep one car in our family manual as well. Plus you save money

 

[TXRancher]

I am a firm believer that the Automatic transmission is directly responsible for poor driving on our roads. When a driver has to use their four limbs to operate a vehicle, that driver pays better attention to what is happening around them. The Automatic allows the driver to pay less attention and inevitably make them a worse driver. Now with all this driver safety equipment, that problem is getting worse by the minute. People can't even keep their vehicle in their lane or make a lane change without having the nannies do the work for them. Distracted drivers are bad drivers.

Sponsored