Auto vs stick in a daily driver

I've has a manual car as a daily driver for about a decade now. It really depends on your commute and the car.

1st manual car: 2002 Jetta. It was a complete POS, but the clutch was light. I drove it to college on all back roads, so no traffic anyway.

2nd manual car: 2002 WRX. The clutch pedal action was not too bad, but it chattered all the time. Those WRX's always did, especially when they were cold. Upgraded the shifter and bushings and the car shifted great, minus the chatter. I did sit in traffic with that one, but it also saw some track use.

3rd manual car: 2009 WRX. Heavy clutch with bad feel. Shifter sucked, even after upgrades. It didn't like the highway, and I drove in really heavy traffic with it every day. Not fun unless the traffic opened up.

4th manual car: 2012 Mazda 3. Almost at 30,000 miles in it and had it for just over a year. Pretty much all highway miles. Light, easy clutch, and fantastic stock shifter. Night and day difference compared to the WRX in the daily commute. 6-speed keeps me from getting bored without turbo power, even in the atrocious traffic I sit in every day.

I can definitely understand why people get automatics for daily drivers. At some point, I'll probably get one too. My next car may be a bigger sedan that has an automatic behind a more powerful engine.

Sometimes I leave the quattro and take my automatic pickup to work. It is a nice change but honestly the stick is almost a reflex action anymore. After a few decades you don't even think about it, the limbs just react. And an old audi 5 speed is one of the best. Don't even need the clutch most of the time.

I have driven manual transmission cars for many years.. However, I have found an automatic to be more useful when pulling a trailer, plowing snow or off roading etc. so I have had both. My last car, a ZX2SR, 5spd was a fun car and no problem driving in traffic. So when it came time to get a new car, I got a 2011 Fiesta with the Powershift, because I wanted something different and new. I like it. It does have its idiosyncrasies but you learn to work with it. In the L position it approaches a manual for fun.

14 hours a day regularly in my stick 11 Elantra, couldn't imagine doing that in an auto

Of the 12 cars i've owned, i have never owned an automatic and of the two cars my wife owned i did a 5-speed swap on one of them. So you could say i'm a little biased lol

RossD wrote: If you're happy, why would you care about us? I know I wouldn't. I am happy with an automatic in my F150, but I would hate it if my Miata didn't have a manual. My DD grind is all smooth sailing highways or back country roads with 3-4 stops in the 30 miles. Not much shifting on my commute with the miata.

i do care what people think on this forum if i didnt i would not be a member i wanted to see how many thought my way when it comes to auto's. the automatic transmission has come a long way. i love driving a stick and do it a lot.

Even if i had to deal with regular traffic everyday and had a short commute i would still have a auto as DD.

My left foot has a bad habit of thinking the brake is a clutch pedal in an auto. I have to keep it WAAAAAAY away from the pedals. I berkeleying despise driving an auto. Traffic. No traffic. Whatever.

IMO, it would depend on use. A truck for towing? Auto is the way to go, besides easier to drive most auto's are rated for higher towing than manuals. Stop and go commuting? Again auto. Just easier on the left leg and compounded by a bad left knee. Windy roads, hooning or just plain fun? Then manual all the way. DD'd an automatic truck for years, now dd a manual RX8 and a Miata w/manual before that. My antiques are manuals. The only auto I currently own is SWMBO's Sonata. She refuses to learn to drive a manual.

When I lived in Michigan and other snowbelt states, I prefered to have a manual for dealing with low grip conditions. When you had to rock the car back and forth to get it out of snow or ice, the manual seemed easier. My mom was always too cheap to buy snow tires. My siblings and I learned to be good at sensing when the tires were right about to start spinning and then use the right combination throttle and clutch to keep them below that threshold.

Living in California these days I rarely deal with snow and ice. I had one daily driver with an auto. I found when I was tired and stuck in stop/go traffic, driving an auto, I would start nodding off or get really distracted easily. Driving a manual, the extra mental and phyical effort needed to cordinate the controls seemed to keep me more alert and focused. This is subjective.

We are all a little different. Do what works for you. If an automatic is a better option to get you through your commmute safely and efficiently then go for it. I respect the fact you know how to drive a manual, so its an actual choice rather than the auto being a "must have."

I am biased... I used to drive commercial anywhere from Boston to DC and all parts in between. 10 speed manual trans hooked up to a big diesel that would not rev past 3000rpms.. BIG heavy clutch. I see no reason for an automatic unless I lost a leg

I can drive anything with three pedals but have decided that I'm lazy and would rather not on a daily basis. The fun car will always have a stick, but the highway cruiser/commuterbox will be slushy for now.

IMO, it would depend on use.

True. I'll say from experience a 69 911 does not like to be lugged around at 2k rpm in traffic.

Around here, wish I could have a manual, but sadly I have nothing but automatics.

My commute is about 40 minutes or so in a good mix of back roads and highway. For me if it is a car give me a stick, other than that I don't care one way or the other.

The auto in my wifes R350 is very nice and it suits the car well but the cars I have had that were autos just did nothing for me.

I guess the fact that my new (to me) Volvo 850 is a stick, says something. All the ones in the Junk yard are autos

In drive a 5-speed manual Accord for sales calls - 2,000 mikes a month. Not bad and I still enjoy it.

My mother-in-law doesn't understand buying a new car AND having to shift the gears.

Started driving in 1959 and never had an automatic untill I got the Transit Connect in 2010. Before I retired my commute was 30 mile round trip with 95% of it on a 4-lane highway with very light traffic. So a manual transmission was no problem.

Since i retired most of my trips are short runs in city traffic (stop sign or traffic light every block). This makes me appreciate the automatic in the TC. I am just getting familiar with the paddle shift auto in the wife's new 2013 Subaru Legacy but it seems like it could be the best of both worlds.

Of course I still have my supercharged Focus for when I really want to get out and drive some of the mountain roads west of the city.

My truck is auto, and the Toyota 'box in the 'Taco is fine.

Everything else, including the wife's daily, an Audi B5 A4 2.8 Quattro and my e39 525iT that I can't stop talking about are manual. I've driven auto e39s before - and this is simply a totally different car. It's like my e36 M3 with the volume turned WAY down.

Obviously the M3, Sprite, Miata and Radical are manual - 2 5s, a 4, and a 6-speed sequential. Which, by the way should have electro-pneumatic paddle shifters next season.

poopshovel.

Train your left leg to apply the brake. QED

Whats this stop and go BS you guys speak of.......I have to stop a total of 7 times each way on the way to work.

That said, my winter car this year is unfortunately an autotradgic focus that I'm the second and fifth owner of.....funny eh? I can't complain much yet, as it is well kept, heater works, and it has decent tires.

I really enjoy shifting, including how it gets to be second nature, but I remember a neat little anecdote from good old "Road & Track." Rob Walker did a series of articles describing every car he ever owned.When the Porsche 924, I believe it was, came out, Walker was looking for a car to run around Europe to and from races. The 924 he looked at was automatic. He called his old buddy and ex- team driver Stirling Moss for advice about whether he'd be able to live with an automatic transmission, and Moss said: "I'd never consider owning another daily driver with a manual transmission."

I suppose I'm the odd man out in this thread. When I think of a 'DD', I think of a cushy, low driver involvement vehicle. With that thinking, an auto makes more sense. My DD is an 06 Malibu. Its nothings exciting by any means, but it's reliable transportation where all I have to do it put it in drive and go. I can actually relax a bit while driving it. It's everything that my race car isn't lol. And that, to me, is how a DD should be.

Also, from watching many many friends that buy a fun and exciting DD just end up having 2 project/race cars

I think it depends on the driver not the car. You all keep saying that it depends on the car. I used to drive a 26' box truck with a 6-speed Eaton and a mechanical clutch in Los Angeles. I wouldn't have traded it for an auto if you bought it for me.

The ONLY vehicle I used to drive that I would have preferred an auto was a 1978 AME coach bus. It had a 4-speed Spicer. The clutch pedal went straight down into the floor which actuated a 45' long cable. You couldn't just flex your ankle or straighten your knee to disengage the clutch, you had to push straight down with your leg at a 90-degree angle. Until you overcame the massive clutch springs, the friction of all that cable, and double clutched to get it to the next gear, you would pray for death after a few stoplights.

But as far as i'm concerned, I so much prefer manuals that I'm considering extreme lengths to put one in my E350 Ford van. I don't want to clutter up the floor with a shifter, so I'm starting to design a 5-on-the-tree shifter so it can have an NV4500.

If your happy, just be happy...

That said I kinda think your daily driver should be something that is fun to drive, might as well enjoy the car you will be in daily right?

Even with the traffic issue (I live near LA), not only is it worth it for when things are moving, but how hard is it to push a clutch? If I am going to be stuck in traffic at least give me some controls to manipulate... something to do.

RedS13Coupe wrote: If your happy, just be happy... That said I kinda think your daily driver should be something that is fun to drive, might as well enjoy the car you will be in daily right? Even with the traffic issue (I live near LA), not only is it worth it for when things are moving, but how hard is it to push a clutch? If I am going to be stuck in traffic at least give me some controls to manipulate... something to do.

Drive a car with a grabby clutch and a tall first gear in highway backup 1 mph stop/go crap?