It's really hard to find a manual. Honda is one of the few brands that still make them other than the expensive sports car market, which is why I tend to buy Hondas. I hate automatics. That's part of the problem with my daughter, she started learning on my wife's automatic so she doesn't want to change gears when she's in mine and leaves it too long.
she'll blow your head gasket. you.are better off just letting her off on the wife's car and stick with autos like a good little yank.
Very much considering getting an automatic for my next car. Never had one before but queueing on the m25 really makes you appreciate not having to keep sticking your foot on the clutch.
It depends from my experience. Some can be absolutely bloody awful. some fine. I had many rentals. The worst ever car i had EVER was an opel corsa automatic in germany. cheap pile of **** and the gear change was tragic. it sticks out in my mind as so bad it was undrivable. I had a mustage convertable in vegas. Cheap red thing with big engine and massive massive delay in the trottle response. I took it out to hoover dam and obviously... well you have to don't you. I could push the loud pedal to the floor and about 5 seconds later it'd start wondering what gear to be in. Most i had in usa were alright I thought, mid range type cars you are just cruising about the thing is though: And I've like to hear if anyone had this.... The next car s are going to be fully eclectic so in an electric motor theres not the same requirement for a big dirty gear box as its all power all the time. I think they are basically "automatics" in configuration of pedals but not the same clunky auto gear shifting, just a pure reduction gearing form high motor output speed to wheel speed. Who has an electric car then?
Never had anything else for obvious reasons but autos in general are now so much better than they used to be that the old disadvantages are pretty much gone leaving just the plusses .From personal experience the VAG DSG auto is really smooth and has little lag. I finally convinced my 80+ mum to get a small auto simply so she has one less thing to think about so she can concentrate on where she is going .
From a wheelchair users pov electric cars should be perfect as all are full "autos" and with no gearstick one less thing to catch on your chair as you are lobbing placing your chair carefully on the passenger seat . There are 2 problems cost* and the fact they are almost always higher which makes it more difficult to load the chair . *More are being made available thru motability which handily includes install of a home charger
Electric has the main plusses of both manual and automatic. You get the best power and torque at any time/speed, no reason for being in the right gear. You also get the ease to drive of an automatic. Now, there is one major advantage to manuals that isn't replicated though. Safety. Fewer crashes for people driving manuals because they (by necessity) stay more focused on the road... None of that automatic brain fade brought on by the monotony of driving am automatic.
Well, the wife can't drive manual and refuses to learn and the new car is a manual (still haven't heard an update but have now passed the last day in it's predicted build date). So the kids have to learn to drive my old car instead as that is the one they'll be driving once pass test. (They'll be taking the test in the automatic just to get the license but then they'll be driving mine) It's an old Honda Fit with paint pealing off all over... so probably couldn't get more than a few $K for it. I'd rather they learn in that than anything more valuable.
If you do a test in automatic doesnt that only grant you a license to drive automatic cars? Rather than if you do it in manual you can then drive either?
US doesn't have separate licenses for auto/manual... Not only that but it's a piss take to take the test here. Some states are harder than others but it's very rare you hear of anyone failing a driver's test.
I drove manuals for over 35 years as company cars with mileages of 35,000 to 45,000 per year. Left knee is knackered from holding cars on the clutch in traffic. Past 3 years I have had an automatic, it has the flappy gear change things on the steering wheel but I have never used them. Autos are great in traffic and holding on hills as they do all the work for you. Also gives a feeling of a bit of luxury to a motor
Drove autos in NZ when I was down there for a few months 20 years ago. Big **** off Toyotas and Hondas too (there are a lot of Jap cars in NZ and Aus due to being right-hand drive and laws on second-hand cars in Japan). Once I got used to them, they were mint - especially in traffic. Wish now that I'd kept that up as every car that I've had since has needed an ever-and-ever more expensive clutch change at some stage.
Apparently the company are now introducing hybrid vehicles to our car list. Most of the lads that have them already have never plugged them in, but the tax benefits are brilliant. For example I pay £400 a month in extra tax for my car, Mercedes E class on the road cost about £45k. If I choose a hybrid BMW 5 series estate from the new list the on the road price , with the extras the company load them with, is £62k but my tax bill will drop to £155 per month. As so many cars on the road are company cars you can see why so many hybrids are being sold as the driver gets a great benefit, but most will run them as petrol cars as it is difficult for companies to reimburse electric usage, and as electricity is so expensive now the benefits are less. Most hybrids also only do about 30 miles to a full battery, they are just a con for company car drivers to pay less tax. If company car drivers had pure electric cars no additional tax would be payable, but the range is rubbish if you need to do distance work as I do.
so..... hybrid = regular gearbox (be it auto or manual) as its a petrol engine with a battery back up. it makes sense if the fuel bill is paid anyway, hauling round useless batteries until you get into congestion is not weight or fuel penalty?
Yeah, this. I had a Prius, then a manual diesel C220 Merc, then a BMW 330e plugin as company cars. My BIK tax (car and fuel) went from about £200 p/m > £350 p/m > £155 p/m with each car. I don't really like autos as I kind of don't feel like im in control and they often felt I was in the wrong gear, but yes much better for the left knee in traffic. Also had flappy padles on the BMW, but never used them either. I never plugged it in at home (I didn't have anywhere to plug it in in reach), but was plugged in at work. With both the BMW and the prius I tried as much as possible to drive it in leccy only for time I was in central London (every day) to lower emissions in the city centre and i you averaged about 10mph anyway! We had a Nissan Leaf pool car that you could use to get to sites and take clients out to site in the city. Range was only about 90 miles, but fine for city centre. You could see the range plummet when you started going up a hill or if there was more than 1 person in the car!
