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Will Standard Transmission Ever Become Obsolete?

Joined
Sep 10, 2011
Location
Hartford
What are your thoughts on automatic transmission in cars possibly over-coming standard cars? It's just something I find as interesting and sort of scary because I plan on getting my license in a standard car, as much of my family drives them. Since automatic - lets face it - is overall easier and simpler to drive than standard, along with the increasing laziness of the world, cause standard cars to just stop being made? Your thoughts on this please, and what sort of transmission do you drive?
 

blubb

Ash Gala Wonderful!
Joined
Mar 9, 2010
Location
49.9°N 8.2°E
I'm assuming that you're from the US because here in Europe (or at least in Germany where I live) I think that >95% of all cars are still manual (automatic is usually encountered only in higher-priced vehicles, like BMW 7 series or Mercedes S class). I prefer manual for several reasons:
- Gas mileage: Where I live gasoline is extremely expensive (€1.60/litre or $8.13/US gallon) and automatic usually consumes considerably more. And in most cases a manual transmission has more "internal gears" than an automatic (a modern manual 6 gear transmission almost always has a 5 gear automatic equivalent, a decade ago it was 5 vs 4), thus allowing for a better fine-tuning.
- More freedom: When I decide to accelerate faster on a slope I can stay in a lower gear and push the car quicker despite higher gas usage but I can also do the opposite and shift up earlier whenever I want to.
- Concentration: You can't "fall asleep" that easily or be careless because you always have to concentrate at least a little, this possibly makes accidents less probable.
 
Joined
Sep 10, 2011
Location
Hartford
I'm assuming that you're from the US because here in Europe (or at least in Germany where I live) I think that >95% of all cars are still manual (automatic is usually encountered only in higher-priced vehicles, like BMW 7 series or Mercedes S class). I prefer manual for several reasons:
- Gas mileage: Where I live gasoline is extremely expensive (€1.60/litre or $8.13/US gallon) and automatic usually consumes considerably more. And in most cases a manual transmission has more "internal gears" than an automatic (a modern manual 6 gear transmission almost always has a 5 gear automatic equivalent, a decade ago it was 5 vs 4), thus allowing for a better fine-tuning.
- More freedom: When I decide to accelerate faster on a slope I can stay in a lower gear and push the car quicker despite higher gas usage but I can also do the opposite and shift up earlier whenever I want to.
- Concentration: You can't "fall asleep" that easily or be careless because you always have to concentrate at least a little, this possibly makes accidents less probable.
That's really interesting, I had no idea so many cars in Europe were standard! Thanks for sharing that lol. Well, in the US, at least where I live I'll now add, standard cars are so rare!
 

blubb

Ash Gala Wonderful!
Joined
Mar 9, 2010
Location
49.9°N 8.2°E
That's really interesting, I had no idea so many cars in Europe were standard! Thanks for sharing that lol. Well, in the US, at least where I live I'll now add, standard cars are so rare!
Haha yeah, I also have no idea why this is so different between countries, must be one of those inexplicable cultural differences like the different power outlet types, different TV systems, why you on the other side of the pond like bacon so much and so on...
 

Dio

~ It's me, Dio!~
Joined
Jul 6, 2011
Location
England
Gender
Absolute unit
What are your thoughts on automatic transmission in cars possibly over-coming standard cars? It's just something I find as interesting and sort of scary because I plan on getting my license in a standard car, as much of my family drives them. Since automatic - lets face it - is overall easier and simpler to drive than standard, along with the increasing laziness of the world, cause standard cars to just stop being made? Your thoughts on this please, and what sort of transmission do you drive?

I'm from England and most of all the cars here are standard transmission. I'm learning in a standard transmission car, that way I can still drive an automatic if I got one. Learning to drive an automatic means that you can't legally drive a standard without first passing your test in a standard. I think eventually Automatic cars will be what everybody drives just because people are so lazy these days.
 

linkman8

True and Noble
Joined
Oct 17, 2007
Location
United States of America
Naturally this is from an American perspective, but I think over a period of time, manufacturers and consumers will gradually shift (no pun intended) towards an automatic transmission, just because it's more efficient for a lot of people. Personally I don't see the appeal of manual transmissions, but that's just me.
 

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