Going back to manual

[cml]

Woo woo brrrm brrrm woo yeah - oops wrong gear - woo rev rev change down woo yeah woo etc..

I forgot just how much fun proper petal and stick is - awesome. After years of autos I went for it before I got too old. Love it and heartily recommend.

[foggy]

You wanna try a close ratio sequential in anger - sooo many opportunities for needless shifts just for the fun of it

[_Al_]

I bought a BMW 440i for the paddleshift, to scratch the itch before everything goes electric.

A few months later I bought an MX5 because there really is nothing fun about paddles once the novelty wears off.

[J4CKO]

One way is to get a Logitech steering wheel and shifter, plus Assetto Corsa (or similar) for your PC if you have an auto and are missing some manual action (oooh err missus)

It’s surprisingly satisfying, and if you can spend more on more expensive sim gear, it’s even more so.

[Hoofy]

I'll stick to tiptronic boxes when I want to control the gears, thanks! Even my Merc diesel stbox is fine for country roads.

[Mr Tidy]

In 45+ years I've had more than 30 cars and they have all been manuals, apart from the 4 where manual was as rare as rocking horse manure!

Flappy-paddles are probably fine on a PlayStation, but not for me on a car.

Although they are very popular, or even compulsory, these days.

[Four Litre]

After years of autos, DSG’s, MCT’s and other abbreviations I forget I also went back to a manual and realised what I had been missing.

st in queues though!

[aka_kerrly]

Four Litre said:

st in queues though!

Never understood this. In an auto car you can creep forward by moving your foot to release the brake. In a manual you can creep using just the clutch using the same motion as you would in the auto.

Granted if you are queuing up a hill it's different but in relatively flat surfaces a manual is not the hardship or leg breaker that people waffle about.

[Zedboy]

Got into a new manual Octavia vRS one week ago after 30 years of autos to get one final driving hurrah.... I couldn’t be happier!

[andy118run]

Have a manual Focus ST now. After 3 or 4 years of running around in auto cars.

Was an itch I had to scratch but I'm really missing my auto S-Max - so easy to drive, whether on the school run or a longer trip around the country,

So now I'm busy on ebay/AT etc looking for something auto to run alongside the Focus.

[SidewaysSi]

A manual is slower and is really difficult to drive in traffic. Also all the HnT etc nonsense is for people who think they are Driving Gods.

I am a great driver and truly love driving. It's why I only go auto these days.

[cobra kid]

And so it begins again.

Some prefer one, some prefer the other.

[MikeM6]

SidewaysSi said:

A manual is slower and is really difficult to drive in traffic. Also all the HnT etc nonsense is for people who think they are Driving Gods.

I am a great driver and truly love driving. It's why I only go auto these days.

Nonsense, a manual is not hard to drive at all. It is fractionally harder to drive than an auto, that is all.

Heal and toeing, rev-matching and double clutching isn't nonsense, it is part of doing something to a higher lever to achieve greater results. I always done declutch and rev-match on downshifts as it is quite satisfying, but it makes it smoother. You don't have to do it, it doesn't make anyone a 'driving god', but it is a useful skill that has a purpose.

I'm curious as to why you think being a great driver who loves driving necessaites only having an auto? That does not follow at all. I suspect what you mean to say is that you prefer an auto and so will will continue to chose that option. Which is a more valid point to make.

I drive lots of manuals and autos, I own one manual and one automated manual. All have their place and it is churlish to say that only one option is best for all.

I challenge you to objectively explain why an automatic is more fun, without simply resorting to portraying manuals in a negative light. In isolation, what is fun about the automatic that great drivers should all flock to?

[Dracoro]

MikeM6 said:

SidewaysSi said:

A manual is slower and is really difficult to drive in traffic. Also all the HnT etc nonsense is for people who think they are Driving Gods.

I am a great driver and truly love driving. It's why I only go auto these days.

Nonsense, a manual is not hard to drive at all. It is fractionally harder to drive than an auto, that is all.

Heal and toeing, rev-matching and double clutching isn't nonsense, it is part of doing something to a higher lever to achieve greater results. I always done declutch and rev-match on downshifts as it is quite satisfying, but it makes it smoother. You don't have to do it, it doesn't make anyone a 'driving god', but it is a useful skill that has a purpose.

I'm curious as to why you think being a great driver who loves driving necessaites only having an auto? That does not follow at all. I suspect what you mean to say is that you prefer an auto and so will will continue to chose that option. Which is a more valid point to make.

I drive lots of manuals and autos, I own one manual and one automated manual. All have their place and it is churlish to say that only one option is best for all.

I challenge you to objectively explain why an automatic is more fun, without simply resorting to portraying manuals in a negative light. In isolation, what is fun about the automatic that great drivers should all flock to?

I think you maybe need a whooosh parrot

[Hol]

_Al_ said:

I bought a BMW 440i for the paddleshift, to scratch the itch before everything goes electric.

A few months later I bought an MX5 because there really is nothing fun about paddles once the novelty wears off.

I ran one in my daily for 4 years, as Audi stopped selling the sportier models with a manual.

Great for stop start traffic and useful on track as you can keep both hands on the wheel, but removing your left leg from the biting point exercise never felt right.

Definitely makes playing a console game easier though.

[Hol]

I was at SantaPod occasionally in the years leading up to lockdown and there were lots of High powered autos there, setting off the line with launch control and sports mode enabled.

Doesn’t that defeat the object of being there? The only skill they demonstrated over selecting those settings, was holding the steering wheel straight and planting their right foot.

A 15 year old with better reaction in an identical car could beat them to the finish line.


I’m sure someone ‘informed’ will be along to wrong inform me, that I should try driving one before commenting despite my owning three of them in the family fleet since 2011.

[r1ch]

I've also recently gone back to a manual.

Auto was good for traffic, I know you can creep with the clutch but overall its a bit less effort coming off the brake in auto, and also if you're in traffic and its constantly going from first to second, then back to first over and over again, its more annoying in a manual.

Prefer the manual though now i'm back with one to be honest, I don't think my auto was overly clever at picking gears at times for my driving style.

[Crumpet]

I guess it depends how you get your fun but I’m really starting to see the appeal in something like a GR86 with a manual gearbox. Sub 4 second to 60 automatic cars really are too fast for the road and are a bit risky to extract fun from. Plus electric cars are so fast these days there’s no point trying to compete in performance top trumps. Might as well enjoy driving in a purer form.

[anonymous-user]

Hol said:

I was at SantaPod occasionally in the years leading up to lockdown and there were lots of High powered autos there, setting off the line with launch control and sports mode enabled.

Doesn’t that defeat the object of being there? The only skill they demonstrated over selecting those settings, was holding the steering wheel straight and planting their right foot.

A 15 year old with better reaction in an identical car could beat them to the finish line.

You are spot on, Matt Watson got his 70 year old mum to launch an RS4 and she managed to get the same 3.7 second time to 60 as him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwShZj-BkzI

She even features in some of the drag races now, so just shows you how much skill is required to race a modern car.

[kambites]

I never went auto in the first place, and probably never will on "my" car.

The next family car will be an auto though, there's really no denying that for pure white-goods they are a better solution.