Manuals are more engaging. Getting a smooth shift or a perfect rev match on a downshift is very satisfying. Shifting gears when your have a car with a smooth, very mechanically connected shifter feels even more satisfying.
If you ever have to gun it in an emergency with a manual the acceleration is instant. In an automatic you have to wait a few seconds for the transmission to figure out what gear it wants to be in before anything actually happens.
Generally, in an automatic, the connection between the engine and the wheels doesn’t feel very mechanical. It feels like they are connected by a rubber band.
In a manual you feel much more like the car is an extension of you.
Going back to driving an automatic usually feels like you’re being handed a children’s toy. The whole experience feels hollow and neutered like it’s missing something substantial.
I guess there can be some elitist mindset to being able to do something that fewer and fewer people can do. But thinking that this is the main reason why people love driving stick is downright ignorant.
The “satisfaction” is probably novelty. UK/EU, nobody thinks about it.
I think there’s a kind of fetishisation of manual transmission in the US. Like your emergency scenario: I guess if you need to accelerate away from 30-50 feral hogs then you might welcome it.
I’ve been driving for over 20 years, still enjoy driving manual. But some people never enjoy driving and see it as a chore, I guess you must be one of them.
And “emergency” is just when you need acceleration now. Like for when you overtake someone or are merging on the highway.
Also I know America bashing is popular on this website but you just came across as prejudiced and ignorant. And FYI I’m not even American.
Manual: floor it, instant pull. If I want to downshift I will.
Automatic: floor it, hesitation, downshift, revs go higher but nothing happens because it isn’t sure if it wants to downshift again, hesitation, downshifts, revs go crazy and outside of power band or just at the top end of it, shitty pull, upshifts almost right after. Finally some pull after wasting three seconds.
I’ve driven countless various automatic vehicles. They all do that to varying degrees of disappointment.
One of the first cars I ever drove was the family turbo v6 Chevy box van with an auto (column shifter, the best kind for autos). Thing could seat 12 and handled like a stack of mattresses, but I’d crush the gas pedal into the floor and that thing would pull surprisingly well - after 2-3 business days. Between the transmission taking it’s time to pick just the right gear and the turbo spooling up I could literally punch it and go “one Mississippi two Mississippi three mississi-” VVVVRRRROOOOOMMM. The delay was so prominent that it actually came full circle and became hilarious and fun to drive, one of the only autos I really liked.
Are any of those countless cars ones that have any sort of sport mode? Because i only experience that in cars with no modes (ie permanently in eco mode) or when in the eco modes. Which is a fair enough critique i guess, but also, theyre eco cars for a reason. Nobody cares what happens when you floor it in an eco box while its already upshifted and cruising.
The only time I had a delay was when I had a car that took half a second for VTEC to kick in, I’ve never had an automatic that took SECONDS to go vroom
Well then you are misunderstanding what I’m talking about because you’re trying to tell me that a behavior that I have noticed to be common on dozens of automatic vehicles that I have driven over two decades doesn’t exist.
I guess there can be some elitist mindset to being able to do something that fewer and fewer people can do. But thinking that this is the main reason why people love driving stick is downright ignorant.
The “satisfaction” is probably novelty. UK/EU, nobody thinks about it.
I think there’s a kind of fetishisation of manual transmission in the US. Like your emergency scenario: I guess if you need to accelerate away from 30-50 feral hogs then you might welcome it.
I’ve been driving for over 20 years, still enjoy driving manual. But some people never enjoy driving and see it as a chore, I guess you must be one of them.
And “emergency” is just when you need acceleration now. Like for when you overtake someone or are merging on the highway.
Also I know America bashing is popular on this website but you just came across as prejudiced and ignorant. And FYI I’m not even American.
No automatic takes “a few seconds” to gun it, I think you might be the one with the flawed experience
Manual: floor it, instant pull. If I want to downshift I will.
Automatic: floor it, hesitation, downshift, revs go higher but nothing happens because it isn’t sure if it wants to downshift again, hesitation, downshifts, revs go crazy and outside of power band or just at the top end of it, shitty pull, upshifts almost right after. Finally some pull after wasting three seconds.
I’ve driven countless various automatic vehicles. They all do that to varying degrees of disappointment.
One of the first cars I ever drove was the family turbo v6 Chevy box van with an auto (column shifter, the best kind for autos). Thing could seat 12 and handled like a stack of mattresses, but I’d crush the gas pedal into the floor and that thing would pull surprisingly well - after 2-3 business days. Between the transmission taking it’s time to pick just the right gear and the turbo spooling up I could literally punch it and go “one Mississippi two Mississippi three mississi-” VVVVRRRROOOOOMMM. The delay was so prominent that it actually came full circle and became hilarious and fun to drive, one of the only autos I really liked.
Are any of those countless cars ones that have any sort of sport mode? Because i only experience that in cars with no modes (ie permanently in eco mode) or when in the eco modes. Which is a fair enough critique i guess, but also, theyre eco cars for a reason. Nobody cares what happens when you floor it in an eco box while its already upshifted and cruising.
The only time I had a delay was when I had a car that took half a second for VTEC to kick in, I’ve never had an automatic that took SECONDS to go vroom
There is a difference between engine noise and actual acceleration.
I was referring to acceleration.
Well then you are misunderstanding what I’m talking about because you’re trying to tell me that a behavior that I have noticed to be common on dozens of automatic vehicles that I have driven over two decades doesn’t exist.