If I was driving 8-10 hours per day I’d want an auto… I know manuals used to be cheaper and are still a little cheaper, but I’d have thought the reduced effort would be appealing.
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Cars with manual transmissions have been more common in Europe in general compared to the States. It’s only been very recently that people there are starting to move away from them. While yes manuals tend to be cheaper, their cost difference was much greater a few decades ago. Another thing is that manuals tend to be a bit more fuel efficient than typical automatics, but this has become less true recently with CVTs and automatics with more than 6 gears that can sometimes beat their fuel economy.
Cause 80% if not more of cars here are manual period. I am not looking forward to when we will have to drive electric cause I hate how they drive, automatic is unpleasant imo. I’d take manual over automatic every single time.
A skilled driver is able to pick better gears then an automatic transmission. While an automatic transmission have very limited information such as your current speed and throttle setting a driver knows what they plan on doing and therefore how much power they want and at what speed in good time before changing gear. In addition a manual gearbox is more efficient then an automatic gearbox so you get better fuel economy.
If you are used to driving a manual transmission then it does not matter if you are driving an automatic or manual. There is a small part of your brain which is dedicated to picking the right gear and doing the gear change so you are fully conscious on completely other tasks then changing gears.
Are you sure this is the case? Autos are rare in the UK but are you sure taxis specifically are more inclined to be manual?
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Manuals service and overhaul more easily, so if you are putting miles and miles and miles (err, kilometers) on your vehicle and you need it to be reliable and fixable with hand tools – get a manual. Otherwise, automatics are the better choice, in modern vehicles, for performance and fuel economy. The first time I drove a DSG gearbox my entire perspective on the manual vs automatic debate changed. However, a DSG, even in its relative (to a torque converted automatic) simplicity, is still more complex and harder to fix than a good old fashioned manual.
Manual cars are cheaper. And people think they are better than automatic gear boxes even though they are almost certainly wrong.
As others have said:
# More available and normally cheaper to buy
# Perceived better fuel economy though this isn’t so true for the last 10 years or so
# If you’re doing mega miles then servicing a manual is cheaper and easier
Because manual transmissions are normal. But also because of fuel economy. However, I would say that most taxis I have been in in the UK are automatics. Manuals were more common in taxis in Sweden from what I saw though.
I’ve been driving in the UK for over 30 years and up until last year all my cars were manual, switched to an auto last year – no idea why I didn’t do it sooner – shifting gear is a pain in the ass
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