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Can you drive a manual transmission?
(lemm.ee)
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this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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23, US. Yes, but I find them pointless for daily driver cars. Modern automatics are more fuel efficient and just make more sense because they're much easier to operate and less annoying in stop and go traffic.
They're great for off-roading and racing, but outside of those use cases automatics are just better.
I'm almost 30, living US and don't know how to drive a manual.
I just don't understand the purpose of learning or the superiority complex around those that drive manual. In my region of the world, the vast majority of cars are automatic to the point where you might have to straight up custom order a vehicle to get manual.
Sure, if I'm outside of the US, manual might be the standard in some areas...but I have no interest in attempting to drive a vehicle in a foreign country where I don't know their local laws of the road. I'd rather take public transport or use services like taxis, Ubers, Lifts, etc.
It's the year 2023. Automatic cars nowadays are more efficient than manuals in a majority of cases.
If you want to drive a manual or you prefer manuals, that's great! More the power to you and I'm glad you like it! But to have a superiority complex about it is just odd.
It's like some boomer making fun of a gen Z kid for not knowing how to use a VCR. So what? You don't to learn how to use a VCR in 2023.
Again, this is in terms of my region. I get that manuals are common in other regions. But again, I have no interest in driving in a region where I don't know the local rules of the road.
Any spirited drive is better with a manual.
That's true of course, but most people don't drive in "spirited" way.
honestly i don't understand what makes them better for racing. can the auto not be tuned differently to prioritize speed and acceleration over fuel efficiency?
Automatic gearboxes can’t predict the road ahead, they can only react to the current RPM and speed.
Edit: just realised this posted on a completely different comment to the one I was replying to
Modern, high end race cars are automatics. Low end or lighter cars will be manual.
No, they're sequential manuals*. Unless you're talking about drag racing, where automatics are common.
*Edit: Or they can also be sequential semi-automatics if you want to be extra pedantic. But personally I'd classify a transmission based on whether the driver has to select the desired gear, or if the computer selects the appropriate gear without driver input, because that's the thing that matters in the end.
Okay that makes some sense to me.
Follow-up question: why don't modern commuter cars use the paddle shifters? Why keep the cumbersome clutch-and-stick system?
It's cheap and reliable.
It's not just about speed and acceleration. It's also about control. Racing drivers face an infinite number of different conditions out on the track and it would be impossible to tune the transmission in such a way that it does exactly what the driver wants 100% of the time. And it really has to be perfect. 99.9% isn't good enough because the other 0.1% can wreck the car if it does something unexpected while driving at the limit.