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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Cheaper, more common, and once you’re used to them you don’t even really think about gear changes.
Let me reiterate that last point: Driving a manual is in no way more strenuous once you’re used to it. All the other parts of driving demand *far* more of your attention than manually switching gears.
Taxis use whatever car they can afford, which is often manual base model. In richer parts of EU taxis are often D or E class used or new sedans from premium manufacturers, I’d assume that such cars are mostly automatic. Fuel economy probably plays a big role. For example in past years taxists in my country have adopted used Nissan Leafs because electric cars are so much cheaper for such use.
I prefer a manual over an automatic in any circumstance. Just more fun to drive. Even in bumper to bumper traffic for 2 hours – if I had my choice it’d be in a manual transmission. The only reason I currently have an automatic is manuals are getting scarce in north america anymore sadly.
Dumb, fat American here (sorry).
In the U.S., a manual transmission is the single most effective anti-theft device you’re car can have.
I drove an automatic in Crete years ago and went up the mountains. Coming back down the brakes were overheating because of all the hills and if I had a manual I could have engine breaked and that wouldn’t have happened
Learning: The standard required to pass for a driving license in the UK are much higher than the US, and learning to drive in an automatic does not qualify you to drive manual, so most learn and get used to it, automatic is seen as a luxury/preference not a standard.
Control: downshifting for descending or ascending a steep hill or an overtake is not possible in an automatic, you basically have more control over the vehicle which is quite useful if you are surrounded by hilly and difficult terrain. That said most taxis are electric hybrid now because economy/comfort.
Market: like the US there is a bias in the market, just the other way round, so price and availability dictates choice.
The only automatic transmission design that can be considered at least kinda reliable is the torque converter one.
Almost no european cars use it (mostly just luxury cars), because it increases CO2 emissions, which leads to bigger emission fines, which are like 100 usd per gram of CO2, per car.
So automatics sold here are mostly dual clutch/DSGs (unreliable, complicated, costly repair), CVT (noisy, annoying, rarely lives past 150tkm) or robotized manuals (quite frankly slow crap).
Combine that with lower purchasing power here, and many people (myself included) will rather use stick than pay 2-4000 usd repairs 🙂
Cheaper to buy.
Cheaper to maintain.
Better fuel economy.
It’s not much, but if you drive a taxi 400,000 km in a year even little economies add up.
For starters, changing gears is not really a physical effort. Yes even in stop and go traffic changing gears is neither distracting or tiring. It used to be long ago that some cars had a heavy clutch but really nowadays they’re all feather light and shifting gears doesn’t really tire anyone out, and if you’re in the seat all day even the simple act of pushing the clutch pedal can get the blood flowing to your legs which you sorely need.
But really there’s three main practical reasons too:
1. Manual transmissions are cheaper. They don’t just drop the initial vehicle cost down a bit but they’re cheaper throughout their lifespan. Cabs get serviced a lot more than regular cars because they drive a lot more miles. Maintenance or even all out replacement of a manual gearbox is generally cheaper than that of an automatic gearbox which is a cost benefit throughout the life time of the vehicle.
2. The fuel economy is better. With a manual transmission you have control of exactly when to shift and how much to rev the engine. This allows taxi drivers to consistently drive in the most fuel efficient way possible. Sure automatic transmissions may have fuel economy modes and what not but ultimately you have no control over how much the engine will rev or when the gear will shift, you can only learn the profile that’s been programmed into the car and try to keep consumption low. However it is worth noting that this holds true if we’re talking about gearboxes with the same amount of gears. It’s now fairly common to find automatic gearboxes with 7 or 8 gears which does provide extra fuel efficiency over manuals, especially on highways.
3. It simply makes driving more enjoyable and that matters when you’re driving all day. Some, reading my previous point, may have thought that many automatic gearboxes offer manual shifting modes with paddles, so you take control back and can drive economically right? Well mostly yeah, though it really varies from car to car, but those manual modes are not really like a true manual transmission. For starters many of those modes will still shift gears even in manual mode, and in most cars manual mode reverts to auto if you don’t shift gears for a short while. In a manual, you change gears exactly when you want to, and this makes the overall experience smoother and better, especially in city traffic. This may seem like insignificant, so what if an auto transmission shifts a tiny bit later or earlier than you want to, why would it matter? Well generally it doesn’t, but if you’re driving all day every day, stuff like that starts to matter.
I used to drive for work (Uber Eats), in the US. I was glad I had a manual. If for no other reason, it kept me more attentive. But it’s also more fun, and imo better for traffic
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