Used to automatic, going back to manual

corblimey

I've been driving an automatic for the last 2 years, and gotten very used to forgetting I have a left leg and arm. But I'm going on holidays to Scotland this year and want to hire a car. Most places appear to have an assortment of automatics but are obviously charging a premium.

I'm just wondering if other regular automatic drivers have no issue reverting to manual for a 2 week period every now and then - it's like "driving" a bike?

I'm just back from new Zealand where I spent 6 months driving an automatic. Going back to manual was easy, however did occasionally find myself forgetting to press the clutch when stopping at traffic lights etc.

What I'm finding much harder is going from a 3 litre v6 to a 1.6 diesel!

Mo60

Drove an automatic for 13 years. Went back to a manual, and had no problem at all.

Anan1

It's very doable, if something of a pain in the arse.

corblimey

Anan1 wrote: »

It's very doable, if something of a pain in the arse.

Why do you say that, Anan?

Anan1

corblimey wrote: »

Why do you say that, Anan?

You'll be using the clutch and gearstick literally hundreds of times whereas before you were just wafting - you'll feel a bit like you're rowing the car along!

logie101

Going back to driving a manual car is like going back to buying a TV with no remote control.

Pain in the ass.

jimgoose

Both of my shtheaps were off the road for a few days - one of these Car Moments - so I had a loan of a 1989 Mercedes 230E, which has a four-speed automatic. The problem I had going back to my Fordson Tractor five-speed this afternoon was caused by Mercedes putting the indicator stalk on the wrong bloody side, and not by the gearbox.

Anan1

jimgoose wrote: »

Both of my shtheaps were off the road for a few days - one of these Car Moments - so I had a loan of a 1989 Mercedes 230E, which has a four-speed automatic. The problem I had going back to my Fordson Tractor five-speed this afternoon was caused by Mercedes putting the indicator stalk on the wrong bloody side, and not by the gearbox.

You mean the everything stalk.

jimgoose

Anan1 wrote: »

You mean the everything stalk.

Quite so, yeah! :pac::pac::pac:

Mo60

logie101 wrote: »

Going back to driving a manual car is like going back to buying a TV with no remote control.

Pain in the ass.

I actually prefer driving a manual - it' just a preference.

SpaceTime

I've found modern automatics (at least the good ones) have completely closed the gap on manual in most respects. They're just a lot easier to drive too when you get used to them.

I switch back and forth all the time as there are two cars in the household one of which is automatic.

Only problem is when you get really used to the auto and then one day you're trying to overtake and forget to change down!
Other than that, you're grand

galwaytt

Anan1 wrote: »

You'll be using the clutch and gearstick literally hundreds of times whereas before you were just wafting - you'll feel a bit like you're rowing the car along!

Exactly.

Had to bring my TT to Dublin yesterday instead of my Car of Choice - our auto. This involved cross-Dublin travel (traffic wasn't bad either..) and I spent 12 hours on the road, but I found the manual a complete pain-in-the-thóin. As of now I cannot countenance why anybody would even bother looking at a manual in an urban environment.

I rented a car in Munich last year for a week and I paid the extra (€40 iirc), for an automatic.

Having said that - it's only a week you're going for - you'll be grand. And thankful for your auto when you get back !!:pac:

SpaceTime

Automatic in Cork makes a HELL of a lot of sense.

The amount of damage you can do to clutches (despite very careful driving) on the Northside of Cork is really unbelievable.
You get stuck in traffic on a hill, and you've no choice but to do endless hill starts.

You can smell the queue of traffic's clutches!

There are also various really steep streets that require quite aggressive hill starts to get out and around a corner. That completely destroys the clutch over time.

For some low-powered manual cars, a hill start on Patrick's Hill can actually just be too much for them entirely.

Driving an automatic in the same conditions, and it really doesn't bother it at all.
Stopping/starting, steep hills etc. Not a worry.

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I'd say as you start to see more hybrids and other fancy systems being fully mainstream, you're going to start to see manual fading into the background a bit like the way cars used to have manual chokes!