Here is an interesting topic that I'd like to get people's opinions on.

I love the idea of shifting my own gears! But I have an automatic tranny. I also like the fact that I don't have to shift gears in stop and go traffic. BUT I STILL LONG FOR A MANUAL TRANNY!

What do you all think about the two? What are your preferences?

This is an opinion based question so you can't be wrong!

--KingJR

 

I had a 5spd in my old truck. I loved it for awhile when i first got it! Especially when it came to towing. I pulled my 2900 lb Fairlane on a 2000 lb trailer over 400 miles from Nashville to Mobile Al. If i would had an automatic behind that 4.2 it surely woulda shat a tranny that day. I have an automatic trans now...i still sometimes wish i had a handshaker and other times I'm really glad I dont. I could go on and on....

 

I agree. be nice to have two trucks, one with the manual, the other with the auto. i prefer the manual, but i'm not real satisfied with the new manual transmissions Ford offers. They have a plastic slave cylinder that caused me problems on my '95. i have heard several people complaining about the same problems in 150's and 250's on post '97 models too. For towing, i didn't like not having a mule gear, and reverse was much too high. i now have the auto, but miss shifting on normal day to day driving.

 

My thoughts?

I'd rather eat worms than drive an automatic.

 

Gotta love a bolt action truck! Handshakers forever!

As you can tell by the fleet specs, dad and I both like a clutch under our left foot.

Adrianspeeder

 

All but three of my vehicles were equipped with manual transmissions. But I have always had at least 1 vehicle in the driveway that was a manual.

JMC

 

i love to drive a stick and when in the stang i get my fix with the pro-shifted liberty tremec, but, when i got my truck i wanted an auto. I'm getting lazy and it is so much easier to drive. I would never get an auto in a sports car or a small econo vehicle.

 

let's see....

a manual has--- better gas mileage, better control, more road feel, lower price (both initial and on rebuild), if buying used is easier to spot problems, less temperature sensitivity (I live in AZ).....

and an automatic has--- the opposite of above.

I'll take a manual, please!

EDIT: I forgot more power! DUH!


also, auto has its place, if a person has knee problems, etc...but other than that I think everyone ought to at least learn on a manual--- in addition to everything else above it makes you a better driver too!

 

ya'll makin me want a standard again.

 

Rowing gears in a truck gets old. In a car, it ain't so bad, but in most pickups the shifter throws are about a mile long, the clutch engagement is high and vague, the shifter itself is about as precise as stirring a broomhandle in a bucket of cement. In a truck, I'll take a slushbox, please. Moreso with a good converter and a shift kit.

 

Mine's an auto, but I'm currently dreaming of a brand-new F-350 ext. cab short bed 4x4 Lariat Black on Black (or dark slate, whatever it is) with a PSD and a 6 spd, of course! But then again that's $40somethingK that I don't have. YET.

 

Actually, out of the car sticks that I have driven, their shifter was about as precise as stirring a broomhandle in a bucket of cement. My friend had an Integra that when in gear, you could still shake the shifter like it was in neutral. My dad's 1998 Ranger with 160K, however, is still as precise as it ever was.

 

A real personal decision question here. My preference is usually a stick. In any sports car its a definate, in a truck its + and - based on what you're doing. In an SUV it sucks to have a stick. But if I had to choose only one, it would be the ol hogleg.

 

I had a 97 F150 and it was manual. That will be the last truck I will purchase with a manual trans. I would work in the city, at times the commute would be over an hour one way. About forty minutes of that hour was bumper to bumper traffic. After eleventeen thousand times of pushing on a clutch just to get to work I had had enough. If I lived in the country the stick wouldn’t bother me that much, but most likely I would have still moved on to a automatic transmission. The next vehicle I purchase with a manual trans will be a sports car, not a truck.

My 2¢

 

I currently have a stick but in times when I had an auto. I couldnt help but feel like something was missing.