Automatic v Stick Shift Vehicles

[megalithic]

I know this will sound ... well I don't know, you could take it the wrong way. But my wife has a very poor back, it is out of kilter with the least of disruption. She can happily sit in the Volvo for an 8 hour journey to the North of Scotland non-stop (I usually drive though) but a half hour journey across Sheffield in the Jazz usually ends in her having to take pain-killers. The quality of seats can make a massive difference!

 

I can easily tell where offense is intended, so now worries.

 

I'm not too bad as a passenger actually, as i can move around more.

My problem is a bulging disc, which hurts in itself, but it also affects my right leg with what i can only describe as intense pins and needles, and a deadening sensation. Having to hold the accelerator steady is my biggest problem, though not so much a "problem" in reality, bar the fact it's very uncomfortable. After doing the drive down South my leg will hurt for a good 24hrs.

The first hour of a drive isn't too bad, but much longer and i really start to feel it. I doubt any seat would help to be honest.

[medusa]

I know this will sound ... well I don't know, you could take it the wrong way. But my wife has a very poor back, it is out of kilter with the least of disruption. She can happily sit in the Volvo for an 8 hour journey to the North of Scotland non-stop (I usually drive though) but a half hour journey across Sheffield in the Jazz usually ends in her having to take pain-killers. The quality of seats can make a massive difference!

 

And if you're a driver, so can the difference between manual and automatic. Just having one foot planted and keeping your lower back stable (as in, not doing anything because there's no clutch to press) can make an immense difference to the lower back and everybody I know who has serious back problems is far more comfortable driving an automatic because of this.

 

I too have a VW 7 speed DSG auto gearbox in my car and the whole car is an absolute joy, from the great seats and gearbox to the ergonomic layout of the car. I have been driving an auto for so long that I'm sure it would take me years of practice to get used to driving a manual again now, if that could ever be achieved safely with my gammy arm.

 

My turbo diesel 1.6 VW Touran on a mostly city driving pattern gives me a shade under 40mpg, where my 2.0l SAAB did about 18mpg unless it spent the vast majority of its time on the motorway. Automatics are not always fuel inefficient.

[Allen]

I wouldn't have an automatic even if it was given free.

I like to be in control.

I decide what gear, and when.

Try going down some of the hills in Sheffield in an automatic without adding unnecessary wear to the brake pads.

In a manual I select the correct gear and the engine does the work, not the brake pads.

 

Try pulling a caravan up the slightest gradient on a motorway and wait for the automatic to do what I did half a mile back without loosing speed.

 

I've tried the automatic, but it just isn't for me.

It's for lazy drivers!

[megalithic]

And if you're a driver, so can the difference between manual and automatic. Just having one foot planted and keeping your lower back stable (as in, not doing anything because there's no clutch to press) can make an immense difference to the lower back and everybody I know who has serious back problems is far more comfortable driving an automatic because of this.

 

 

Point taken.

 

Seriously though, the best thing for me (most probably) would be a steering wheel accelerator mod of some sort. I'm not even sure that exists.

 

Then again i don't want to make too much of my "suffering", as between the two 184 mile journeys i'll probably cover 100+ miles on foot, checking out various ancient sites.

[tzijlstra]

I wouldn't have an automatic even if it was given free.

I like to be in control.

I decide what gear, and when.

Try going down some of the hills in Sheffield in an automatic without adding unnecessary wear to the brake pads.

In a manual I select the correct gear and the engine does the work, not the brake pads.

 

Try pulling a caravan up the slightest gradient on a motorway and wait for the automatic to do what I did half a mile back without loosing speed.

 

I've tried the automatic, but it just isn't for me.

It's for lazy drivers!

 

Sorry, but you haven't got a clue. If I need manual control, I've got it, I just put the poke in manual, simple as. But most of the time I don't need it because simply lifting of the gas pedal is enough to slow down where needed, including down hill. Only road where I always change to manual is coming down the other end of Snake Pass.

 

The day autos were dumb machines is decades behind us.

[buck]

I love standard shift, I feel one with the car. But faced with a 1200 mile trip to visit the grandkids in Florida, its the D in automatic and cruise control for me. A/C on and Miles Davis in the player. Its more economic than my standard shift car.

[ratter71]

And of course there was the free tronic Toyota yaris in the early naughties. Stick shift without a clutch, now theres food for thought couldn't drive it on an auto licence though

 

A concept already in production 40ish years earlier with the semi-auto VW Beetle!

[L00b]

Always amuses me when people talk about 'driving pleasure'. Almost invariably they are people who have not had to do any serious driving.

Have you considered that they may well be people who do plenty of it professionally as you have done, but who still enjoy 'driving' rather than seeing the activity as "just going from A to B for purpose X" as you now seem to do?

 

I several friends who have long done similarly-serious annual mileage in luxo (and not so luxo-) barges, but who enjoy 'driving' sufficiently to own highly-impractical garage queens for weekend 'driving pleasure'

 

That 570-odd mile trip (one way, there's the return leg of course) I do twice a year in our own cars, I also started doing it once a year over a long weekend with a friend to load up on wine during wine fair week, in his A8 L (auto). It's a completely different experience to doing the exact same trip in our C class Merc (also auto), significantly more relaxing. Spring out of that Audi after a 8 to 9 hour trip as if we'd just taken the bus for a dozen miles. I;d compare it to spending a medium-haul flight (e.g. to US) in 1st rather than economy (if you've ever been lucky to - we were very lucky, free upgrade). And again, both are a completely different experience to doing the exact same trip in the V50 (manual) we used to have, which although more comfortable than the Merc, has never been anywhere near as nice and relaxing to drive. <etc.>

[ratter71]

 

Always amuses me when people talk about 'driving pleasure'. Almost invariably they are people who have not had to do any serious driving.

 

Nothing wrong with that, and if you still enjoy driving, good for you.

 

.

 

 

But you are equating "Serious driving" with high mileage. Some people do other kinds of "serious driving" & still enjoy driving.

[AMR67]

Sorry, but you haven't got a clue. If I need manual control, I've got it, I just put the poke in manual, simple as. But most of the time I don't need it because simply lifting of the gas pedal is enough to slow down where needed, including down hill. Only road where I always change to manual is coming down the other end of Snake Pass.

 

The day autos were dumb machines is decades behind us.

 

Well said tzijlstra, although my day to day car is a manual, my wife has a 2012 Insignia 2.0 Diesel Auto. The auto box on it is brilliant and push it over in drive and use it manually up and down the gearbox. As for people saying auto's aren't as economical, we get 35-40 MPG around town and 60+ on a run even though it's 160 bhp model.