Standard or Automatic

Which is better to have? A standard or Automatic?

Thanks,
Jason

depends on what ur doin with ur vehicle

STANDARD. Better for everything but towing.

It all depends upon personal preference. Many people like the feel of being "connected" to the car through a clutch and shifter, especially in sports cars. For driving in stop and go traffic many would prefer an automatic.

personaly i would take a auto with a manuel shift gate. kinda of like the best of both worlds. i guess.

but like most have said it depends on what you are doing with it. if you want a econ car then a maneul might not make it seem as slow.

Are you looking to bash thru gears and get some speed and not care about the gas mileage or are you looking to just go about your day and try to keep gas prices down?

Are you looking to bash thru gears and get some speed and not care about the gas mileage or are you looking to just go about your day and try to keep gas prices down?

Standard is preferred in either case.

standard, standard standard!

Standard is preferred in either case.

standard, standard standard!Not true unless you shift at the designated shift points in your vehicles manual you can get worse gas mileage.

Not true unless you shift at the designated shift points in your vehicles manual you can get worse gas mileage.

Manuals will more than likely get better highway mileage but around town it's pretty much up to the driver.

Manuals will more than likely get better highway mileage but around town it's pretty much up to the driver.So your telling me i'm getting on the highway and i've got the throttle to the floor and i'm redlining every shift that i'll get better gas mileage than an auto? If you don't shift at the right points you'll bog the engine down,wasting fuel by shifting to low in the rpm's or you'll guzzle fuel by shifting above the suggest rpm. You have to know where to shift to get the best gas milage it takes some common sence. While an auto is programmed to shift at the best points.Even if you hammer down on a auto you'll still get better milage.

So your telling me i'm getting on the highway and i've got the throttle to the floor and i'm redlining every shift that i'll get better gas mileage than an auto? If you don't shift at the right points you'll bog the engine down,wasting fuel by shifting to low in the rpm's or you'll guzzle fuel by shifting above the suggest rpm. You have to know where to shift to get the best gas milage it takes some common sence. While an auto is programmed to shift at the best points.Even if you hammer down on a auto you'll still get better milage.

if you "hammer" on an auto it will get poor gas mileage...that doesnt really prove a manual is somehow worse...

The comparison isn't just about the fact that a computer shifts the car for you, it's about how each work very different. A manual trans uses a clutch/flywheel rather than a torque converter. A torque converter works much like a viscous limited slip, so once you mash the gas you have to wait for the liquid to become thicker and finally start moving the car. This is why it's harder to spin the tires on an auto...

Because of this, an auto typically has less horsepower at the wheels compared to a manual which uses the exact same engine. The auto is less efficient overall, just ask around an MKIV supra forum and look at dyno sheets. A moded supra TT with an auto makes less power than a manual even though they share the same 2jzgte engine. Heavily moded auto supras can make as much as 50-100whp less than a manual with the same mods.

Now let's address fuel economy. We've already established that a manual is more efficient so if you shifted at the same exact RPM you should get better fuel economy. You also can't just assume that accelerating harder will suddenly kill your fuel economy since you are on the gas less time to get up to a given speed. Granted you will get slightly less fuel mpg, but with most cars it won't go to crap.

Check out edmunds.com or another site that gives EPA fuel economy and you'll see that a manual and auto are often rated at the same for city and highway. There are quite a few cars that the manual gets better fuel economy. A lot of times it's because the manual has an extra gear, many older manuals have 5 speeds and a lot of newer cars have 6 speeds. Most autos used to be 4 speed and now are 5 speeds.

Only thing I can think of where an auto is prefered is drag racing. An auto is more predictable so you can get more consistent runs.

Which is better to have? A standard or Automatic?

Thanks,
Jason
I like it only automatic!

manual all the way. more power for the car, more control of the car, better durablilty with a manual (less liable to break), and best of all, one less hand to reach for that cell phone.:grinyes: I hate my automatic blazer with a passion. I take it easy and i can average 17-18 in the city. I mash the gas and i get 11.5 in the city. My old saturn (stick of course) still averaged around 30-32 mpg even when i slammed the gas and around 35 when i followed the shift points. too bad it leaked oil all the time..................

If you surf around manufacturer sites and compare mpg between a manual and an automatic the manual will usually get 1-2 better mpg. Automatic transmissions are more complicated, and thus loose more power to friction then a manual. An engine with an automatic will have to work a little bit harder to reach the same speed as the same engine a manual transmission.

well im not going to argue which is better is all depends on the preference of the driver... but i can insert my .02 cents from a mechanic point of view... as for durability... i have probably changed 50+ tranys in my time.. off all the tranys i've replaced only 1 was a standard.

btw the standard was on a 96 2.3L beretta, the throwout bearing rubbed against the trany housing and actually ate a hole in the casing... needless to say all the oil leaked out, that when i predict the trany locked up and went kaput taking out the throwout bearing in a furious rage

oh yeah btw... i would take a standard over an auto any day of the week... except in 4 cylinders... IMO small engines should all be autos, and vice versa, all 8s and bigger should be mandatory stick

oh yeah btw... i would take a standard over an auto any day of the week... except in 4 cylinders... IMO small engines should all be autos, and vice versa, all 8s and bigger should be mandatory stick

that logic doesn't seem to make any sense...a car with lots of tq doesn't really benefit a lot from a stick, while an economy car really gets hurt in terms of performance with an auto...around a track with a high performance car equipped with an auto (like a c5 corvette), it would lap the track pretty close to the same time (maybe a second or two off), while an economy car you would probably kill the auto version - many smaller 4 cylinder engines make a lot of their peak power pretty close to redline so the more time you spend there the more speed you can carry and develop around a given road course.

with nearly any car that offers a stick I would take a stick...even cars that don't offer a manual I would probably consider converting it to manual and if that wasn't possible I wouldn't buy it. I HATE AUTO it makes me feel like this: :banghead: always frustrated because it's not going into the gear I want and then the gas is always way more touchy because you only have 1 pedal rather than 2 (clutch/gas) to make things smoother. I also like engine braking, which nearly all autos don't do on there own (I don't know one that will downshift when you slow down).

oh yeah btw... i would take a standard over an auto any day of the week... except in 4 cylinders... IMO small engines should all be autos, and vice versa, all 8s and bigger should be mandatory stick
yeah doesn't make sense to me. not tryin' to diss your opinion, but in my experience, auto 4 bangers just plain suck, especially in winter. My first time driving in snow involved an auto 4 banger and the feeling was worse than being horrible in bed when i lost my virginity. I'll never drive one again. Autos are only suited for most SUVs and trucks that tow if you ask me.

i understand both of your insight but i personally dislike standard 4 cylinders.. it seems like a waste i just personally don't like it

btw.. i have a 92 5.0 thunderbird auto.. and at 38 it shifts into overdrive.. when i slow down <40 i manual put the car in D so it has back pressure... then when i get to about 20 i shift it in to 1 so i get that rasp from the exhaust... i hate autos in bigger engines but thats just my personal preference

i understand both of your insight but i personally dislike standard 4 cylinders.. it seems like a waste i just personally don't like it

btw.. i have a 92 5.0 thunderbird auto.. and at 38 it shifts into overdrive.. when i slow down <40 i manual put the car in D so it has back pressure... then when i get to about 20 i shift it in to 1 so i get that rasp from the exhaust... i hate autos in bigger engines but thats just my personal preference

I can see not liking 4 cylinders...as many people don't, but 4 cylinder autos aren't really anything I would prefer over anything other than a 3 cylinder auto (old geo metros...:disappoin )

I barely understand that second part lol