Standard vs. automatic

[ACUDANUT]

Auto's are better. You can dip your chewing tobacco, drink a beer and talk on the phone without the pain of shifting...I learned to hate shifting while in Calipornia...My left leg was got to be 5 times bigger lol.  In and out, in and out....my gosh I hated bumper to bumper crawl.  

[MaximRecoil]

I'm a smoker and a Coca-Cola addict, but shuffling stuff around in order to free my right hand when I need to shift gears became second nature to me long ago; I don't even think about it.

[6spd68]

I'm a smoker and a Coca-Cola addict, but shuffling stuff around in order to free my right hand when I need to shift gears became second nature to me long ago; I don't even think about it.

Have you taught yourself the 'hold something plus the steering wheel with your left hand' technique?  Worked good for me back when I smoked.

[toocheaptosmoke]

Every vehicle  I've owned thus far, minus two, have been manuals.  One was a free car that my mom currently drives (1984 oldsmobile 98), and the other a $200 pontiac gran damn.  If that gran damn had a 5 speed behind the old 3.3 it would have been one heck of a fun car!  Primary DD is a 5 speed ram 2500 gasser, secondary DD a 4 speed jeep CJ-8.  Previous DD was a 5 speed 1984 toyota pickup.  Couple off-road yotas are also manuals.  Converted my charger over to a 5 speed.

Just kind of grew into it, my dad was a standard transmission fan, so that's what I learned to drive in.  Luckily I don't have to commute through heavy traffic on a regular basis, but I'm a die-hard standard transmission guy.  One of the biggest problems now is the lack of other people who can't drive standards.   Most of my friends do, but it can be a problem on long trips or if someone else needs to use the car but can't drive it...  Oh well, usually their problem not mine.   

[Chargerguy74]

Auto's are better. You can dip your chewing tobacco, drink a beer and talk on the phone without the pain of shifting...I learned to hate shifting while in Calipornia...My left leg was got to be 5 times bigger lol.  In and out, in and out....my gosh I hated bumper to bumper crawl.  

It's really not that hard to steer, hold a spitter, and shift without spilling the drink between your legs. Making a call is pretty easy too, unless you're in the middle of watching a movie.

[Troy]

Nearly every car I've ever owned has been a stick shift - with the exception of mostly tow vehicles. I don't care if I can get outrun at the drag strip by an automatic. I've never had a car on the strip! It does really suck in traffic but I don't generally drive in heavy traffic any way.

Troy

[Dino]

I like the build quality of my 727.  That thing is near bulletproof.  I like it a lot in traffic...but I'm on 55 mph country roads much of the time and I so miss having a manual trans.  As nice as the auto is, it will be replaced with a T56.  It won't be soon, my focus needs to be on school, but one day I'll make the swap.  My wife can't wait.  She has a t56 in the T/A so she knows what to expect.

My daily however...As much as I bitch about the auto trans sometimes, I don't think I 'd want to go back to a stick shift in town.  I never had an auto in Europe, except for a week or two, and apart from traffic jams never really had anything negative to say about it, but I'm not sure that would hold true today.