Standard vs. automatic

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Ive only owned one manual trans car.  My '99 Mustang GT convertible.  Fun to drive but NO WAY would I want to have to drive it as a daily in NYC traffic

My Charger has a RMVB which is also a blast to drive but again not daily....

Im in the automatic lazy group   LOL

[jaak]

I don't know it its age (37), or because for years my daily drivers were manual... I just as soon have an automatic these days. I had a pistol grip 4 speed rallye Charger a few years back, it was cool for a while, but it wore off. There is no way I'd convert an auto to 4 speed.

Jason

[MaximRecoil]

Fun to drive but NO WAY would I want to have to drive it as a daily in NYC traffic

I wouldn't want to drive anything in NYC traffic. I don't know how you guys stand it.

[ws23rt]

My pref. is for the standard in cars that are driven for the fun of driving.
When I decided I wanted the new challenger I had to wait until the manual trans. was available.

In a freeway back up that was 5 to 15 mph for an hour is the only time I wished it was auto. However the pedal effort in that car is easy compared to the stock B bodys we play with. And the hill hold feature is handy

[odcics2]

Manuals are more fun to drive but autos are faster in the 1/4.

Tell that to Ronnie Sox!   

[MaximRecoil]

I don't know it its age (37), or because for years my daily drivers were manual... I just as soon have an automatic these days. I had a pistol grip 4 speed rallye Charger a few years back, it was cool for a while, but it wore off. There is no way I'd convert an auto to 4 speed.

Jason

I'm 38, and all of my vehicles I've owned have been standards except for my Charger and a $250 rusted-out '79 Impala that I bought on the spur of the moment because my truck had just died, it was for sale down the street, and I needed to get to work. That car got replaced several months later with an '86 5-speed Nissan 4WD pickup.

I don't think I'll ever come around to automatics, no matter how old I get. My grandfather never did. He's been driving Toyota pickups with standard transmissions since the '70s. The first one he had, a '78 I think, went about a half million miles (he had it until about '89 or '90), and he has sworn by them ever since.

And the hill hold feature is handy

I've heard of a hill hold feature, but I've never seen one before. I don't even know how they work. But I learned to drive a standard in Dexter, Maine, which is the hilliest town I know of. It is centered in a narrow valley, with very steep hills on both sides. So I quickly got used to starting on a hill with a standard.

[Ghoste]

Manuals are more fun to drive but autos are faster in the 1/4.

Tell that to Ronnie Sox!   

In spite of what we all think though, there are very few people who can shift like Ronnie Sox.

[Cooter]

The hill holder on my old Subaru was simple and genius. Had a clutch cable to move tge fork along with an opposing cable to pull the E brake which happened to be on the front wheels. You release the clutch, the other cable released the e brake.

[Cooter]

Manuals are more fun to drive but autos are faster in the 1/4.

Tell that to Ronnie Sox!   

In spite of what we all think though, there are very few people who can shift like Ronnie Sox.

And even less that had massivly moddified 4 speeds sitting in a truck provided by Chrysler for free in case you broke somethin.
Not hard to do bonzai shifts when your not paying the bill....
I've driven and been in the car when 'crashboxes' were put through the paces, and while the shifts sound like shotgun blasts, things break when put under that kinda stress.

[XH29N0G]

In a freeway back up that was 5 to 15 mph for an hour is the only time I wished it was auto. However the pedal effort in that car is easy compared to the stock B bodys we play with. And the hill hold feature is handy

I like standards, I know they are slower and I am sure I can't shift right, but that is what I have driven mostly.  I also found an advantage to steeper gears I didn't anticipate.  Easier in traffic (can drive along very slowly) and easier to start on hills. 

[MaximRecoil]

Is there any class of drag racing anywhere in the world that is restricted to manual transmissions? Probably not, but that would be something I'd be interested in following. That alone would add more of the driver skill element, i.e., a bigger chance of a technically inferior car winning due to the superiority of the driver. Maybe even the next Ronnie Sox would emerge.

I also found an advantage to steeper gears I didn't anticipate.  Easier in traffic (can drive along very slowly) and easier to start on hills.  

Definitely. In fact, with low enough gears you don't even need the gas pedal to get going, not even on a hill. When the gears get low enough they become next to impossible to stall, even if you pop the clutch from a standstill on a fairly steep hill without touching the gas. This is easily demonstrated with a 4WD truck in low range, especially one like my father's old 1980 Chevy which had a 6.68:1 "granny low" 1st gear (NP-435 transmission).

4WD trucks in low range are a good tool for teaching people to drive a standard too; lets them get a feel for clutch engagement and whatnot without any chance of stalling it and getting frustrated.

[ws23rt]

Manuals are more fun to drive but autos are faster in the 1/4.

Tell that to Ronnie Sox!   

In spite of what we all think though, there are very few people who can shift like Ronnie Sox.

And even less that had massivly moddified 4 speeds sitting in a truck provided by Chrysler for free in case you broke somethin.
Not hard to do bonzai shifts when your not paying the bill....
I've driven and been in the car when 'crashboxes' were put through the paces, and while the shifts sound like shotgun blasts, things break when put under that kinda stress.

I haven't raced at the drags---just fun on the street---
I friend told me how to power shift when I was 18--In my 69 Bee 383---  
He said get speed in 1st gear than with full gas pound the clutch and pull the shifter hard and fast at the same time.
I replaced synchros in the trans and the clutch three times on warranty  

[RECHRGD]

There are many advantages to a manual transmission that have already been addressed not the least of which is the fun factor.  In my younger years I loved both drag and road racing.  I can still pull off a decent speed shift and remember the heel/toe braking and double clutching downshifts of the past.  When I got my charger, it had a manual valve body and I thought I would love it.  However the Charger had no cup holders or other civilized amenities.  I soon found that I really appreciated the use of a free hand while cruising in traffic these days.  When the tranny blew shortly after getting the car on the road, I rebuilt it back to fully automatic and haven't regretted it since. 

[Baldwinvette77]

i like manual, which is strange cause i have very little experience with it, only drove a stick shift car all of 15 minutes  every car i've owned, or had a chance to drive was an auto, i cant really go around asking to borrow a stick shift to practice on, and rentals aren't avalible.. so im on my own, cant wait till my charger runs 

[MaximRecoil]

i like manual, which is strange cause i have very little experience with it, only drove a stick shift car all of 15 minutes  every car i've owned, or had a chance to drive was an auto, i cant really go around asking to borrow a stick shift to practice on, and rentals aren't avalible.. so im on my own, cant wait till my charger runs 

When I was a kid I tried to get everyone I knew with a standard to let me try to drive it, but no one would. When I was about 10 years old (1985), my older sister had a boyfriend named Jim who had an Opel station wagon, 4-speed. It was small and ugly, late '60s or early '70s probably, some sort of partnership with Buick if I remember right. Well he let me sit in it and pretend to drive and I sat there shifting through all the gears for quite a while. Then he took the parking brake off and let me roll it down the driveway. He'd drive it back up, get out, and I'd roll it down the driveway again. When he was tired of playing that game, I started walking toward my house, when the thing started rolling down the hill. He jumped up like his pants were on fire, but I ran to the car and got there first, opened the door and got my foot on the brake, bringing it to a skidding stop about a foot before it would have gone over a 6 foot dropoff, crossed the street, and slammed into the neighbor's house. He tried to blame me, but he was the last person at the wheel, not me.

About 5 years later, same driveway, I finally got a chance to drive a standard for real. It was my mother's '84 Ford Escort, 2-door, 5-speed. My older brother and his drop-dead gorgeous Filipino-American girlfriend were home for a visit. I asked her to teach me to drive a standard, and Mom said it was okay, so she did. That also became my first car after I got my license about a year after that (and I drove it a lot before that when I had my permit). Mom sold it to me for $400. That thing was unusually powerful for an Escort too. It had a replacement engine in it (it had been replaced just before Mom bought it in the late '80s), but I don't know what it was. It would roast the tires in first and second gear without even trying. Since I didn't know any better, I thought that was normal, until I drove some other Escorts, both standards and automatics, and they were all complete dogs.

[Baldwinvette77]

Neat story  .... i need a stick shift... 

[polywideblock]

here in oz there are more manual V8 's than auto  ones .back in the day 4 speed was the standard trans and auto was an option . I have and auto in the daily drive but even that has "sport " mode where you shift manually guess where the shifter is most of the time    both my real cars are 4 speed   

[MaximRecoil]

back in the day 4 speed was the standard trans and auto was an option .

That was the case here in the United States too for most cars for a long time, which is how manual transmissions in general came to be known as a "standard shift", or simply, a "standard". In many cases the actual standard transmission was a 3-speed manual though, with a 4-speed becoming a popular option in the '60s. The small Japanese imports that started becoming popular in the 1970s usually had a 4-speed as the standard transmission, and in some case, the only transmission available. In the 1980s most of them started coming with a 5-speed manual transmission as standard equipment.

I don't know what the standard transmission for the second generation Charger was. It wouldn't surprise me if it was a 3-speed manual with a column shifter though. That was a common standard transmission on many American vehicles right up through the '70s, and even into the '80s on pickup trucks (the 1986 Ford F-series was the last American vehicle to have it as the standard transmission I believe). Even though they were common as the standard transmission in theory (meaning if you ordered a total barebones vehicle, that's what you would get), in practice they were rather rare by the 1970s, because new car dealers hardly ever ordered them that way, and customers didn't order many that way either (even fleet customers usually went with an automatic or a 4- or 5-speed on the floor).

My 1983 Ford F100 with a "three on the tree" was highly unusual. I bought it in 1994 when I was 19, and none of my friends had ever even seen a 3-speed on the column, much less knew how to drive one. It was the first one I'd ever driven, though my uncle had an early '70s 3-speed on the column Chevy pickup when I was a kid, so I'd seen one before. The night before I bought it I asked my father how to drive it (they were far more popular when he was younger, and he'd taken his driving test in one). He drew a quick diagram on a napkin, and I said, "Oh, it is just an H-pattern, but on the column." I drove it away the next day, first try, with no issues whatsoever.

[Lord Warlock]

Standards today are a far cry from what they were in the old days, even the high powered cars have an easy clutch similar to driving a small import instead of riding a bronco beast that would try to drive in two directions at once, forward to left, rear out to the right.  While I've preferred standard for my cars for 30 years, the auto I have now offers just as much spirit as the 5 or 6 speeds I've had before.  There is no way i'd want to shift a 440 powered charger around in the traffic we have around here.  Standards are great for winding two lane roads through the woods or medium hills/mountains, you can really feel the difference there, especially if you aren't afraid to work the clutch to get the best rpm band.  Unfortunately, I don't live near any mountains, hills or even many twisty deserted roads, just long 6 lane highways encircling a metro downtown which I will avoid in any car, not just the manual shifted ones,  we don't even have hills here, just a crapload of pine trees that block the views ahead. (Florida is flat except in one spot in the state)

I got used to an auto in my first car, it wasn't bad, and it could usually outperform anyone that enjoyed shifting manually, never faced a hemi, but got to try pretty much every other make and body style of the late 60s and 70s.   Today as I got older, and realize driving for fun like I'd prefer isn't likely much around here,  an auto makes much more sense.  then again i'm not talking about driving an unimprezza, or even the wife's 4cyl Nissan.  With the right amount of power behind it, the auto can and does function better than 80% of the enthusiast drivers on the road.  The new challenger crowd often ask the same question, the auto's are known to be a little faster at the track, the manuals get better mileage on the highway.  I can slap shift it manually and power through the entire on ramp just like a si speed can, or I can downshift before my gas foot even gets to the floor, if it doesn't pull hard enough its as easy as another slap to the left and I have launch anytime anywhere.  There are times I miss having a stickshift, but I can get it out of my system easy enough by driving one of my stickshift toys then go back to my cushy stab and steer car that doesn't make me lame on trips to and from the office.

[el dub]

Maybe it's becausepeople cant talk on the phone and shift.

[JB400]

Direct Drive                                                                                                               

[oldcarnut]

I'm 53 and decided to go back to auto.  Stick was fun when it was an occasional driver for sport but daily driving in traffic not for me anymore.  Off-roading a different story.  Other than constantly working the leg,  my size 15W shoes just don't have the room for the extra pedal in newer cars  .

[Chargerguy74]

4 of my Chargers are factory D21 cars (I sold number 5 last year). My daily driver is a 6 speed manual and mostly sees just highway driving. There were a couple times I would have preferred an auto, but even in those situations I wouldn't have traded for one. Manual transmissions are just my cup of tea.

[charger_fan_4ever]

Is there any class of drag racing anywhere in the world that is restricted to manual transmissions? Probably not, but that would be something I'd be interested in following. That alone would add more of the driver skill element, i.e., a bigger chance of a technically inferior car winning due to the superiority of the driver. Maybe even the next Ronnie Sox would emerge.

I'm pretty sure in the NMRA series
(national mustang racing association) there is a stick only class. Will have to dig threw some of my magazines.

[tan top]

 stick    having said that manual trans  is annoying  , ive driven hundreds of thousands of miles in  manual daily drivers , over the last 24 plus years   , hundereds & hundreds of different makes of cars due to work etc, switched to auto v6 daily drivers for a few years  but then , went super economical with a tiny engine & manual trans again , still hate them , but good on fuel        auto is the way    ,
but ,  when I think of a  Daytona or C500 , think four speed !! prolly due to the grandnationL stock cars !! hemi & a four speed  
 sort of the same when I see a  challenger or cuda AAR , or TA , think road racing  ,  manual trans .
for 99 percent of driving  its a auto is the best choice   &  deffinatly in a big ole charger or muscle car , just roll around down the street  with little or no effort in drive at 12 hundred rpm ( depending on what rear gears   )   , but then there is that 1 percent of the time , you want to give the motor a hiding  nailing the gas in every gear , till you run out of road , gear / motor  or nerve   .

 I vote for a auto   although would like to convert the charger to a manual one day
  either a original OEM four speed set up ,  or a 5 speed