There can only be one...stick

 

My first new car was a stick Isuzu Impulse (sporty car in '85) -- I couldn't see buying an auto for a sporty car. I was nervous when I went to the dealer but I was too excited to let anything stop me. I NEVER drove a manual before picking it up. I drove around the lot a few times and headed out on the road. A few scary starts on inclines but I let people go around me and didn't let anyone bother me. I figured scr** them I got a NEW CAR and I'm getting it home!!!
I think I learned fast because I had to. It's amazing how the brain/body can make things happen when it has no choice but to do it.
I never regret owning any of the stick cars I've had. I drove in stop and go traffic for years driving into NYC for work dailey. I do currently have an auto that I do not like but was a marital decision. It is for sale and I have an S manual on order.
I like to drive -- I do it for fun -- hours on country roads is exciting for me. If I wasn't passionate about driving and being involved in playing with the revs then I would be getting an auto. It also seems to me a car designed with the tach on the steering column instead of the speedo has a inherent desire to have a manual. Just my opinion.
Never having a manual is NOT a reason or excuse for not getting one. That is a decision that is about fear. Decisions made with emotions as the leader are a mistake (in my opinion).

 

And the manual-equipped M5 was a half second slower than the SMG version, as tested by Car and Driver.

 

Automatic here.

I haven't tried the CVT, but mine's an MCSa. I have not used the paddles (I believe the only one who has done so in my car is Eric Rowland), but have found the normal automatic mode tolerable for the vagueries of my city's congested streets.

 

yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

I'm 20, and I love my toys and electronic gadgets....and I would NEVER buy a MCSa.

 

ARE YOU LISTENING CHRIS?

 

The paddle shift gives fbest of both - especially while motoring 16 miles in a nifty 43 minutes in rush hour.

 

shhh... what if I have a stroke and can't use my left leg OR right arm?

 

That's when you trade the mcs for an avalon

 

My trans is a stick. Had a loaner MCS with slush-box...neat to hear the turbo kick in and the tranny shift under the torque load. But I was raised in S. Jersey, where we built lots of back-road racers...all were sticks. I think one can feel the road better in a stick, and in Pa., when it snows bad, you don't wanna get caught on the SureKill Distressway in an automatic!

 

If you aren't going to get a manual transmission, you might as well be driving a civic.....

 

STICK ALL THE WAY!

 

My only other car was a 98 honda Civic automatic, I got my Mini as a manual, because i wanted to have a little more fun, and I cant see how I ever drove an auto

 

Yeah. When I was twenty and had a manual TR7 I said the same thing.
And I used the word "never" a lot back then too. Happens to the best of us. Hope you enjoy the next twenty years of getting progressively stupider as much as I have.

But for the time being, I'm delighted that you love your manual MCS!

 

Automatics are for MINIvans....

 

Yep, I have one in my minivan, too.

I'm just continually amazed by the folks who are SO SURE that the manual is SO SUPERIOR, but who haven't spent a significant amount of time in an MCSa. Everyone has a right to their opinion, and to their own preference (which this is, after all - a preference). But it's kinda like everyone being SO SURE the world was flat because, well, er, they had never tried to prove it wasn't...

Does the manual create a more visceral man-machine interface? ABSOLUTELY. Did I LOVE that when I was younger? Absolutely. And it took me 2 months to really get to know and love what the MCSa can do - it's a totally different driving experience - you don't drive it the same way you drive the manual - if you try to, you'll be disappointed and wonder why the heck anyone would want one. Takes a while to adjust your style - but with the paddles and no clutch, you find yourself shifting in situations where you wouldn't / couldn't / shouldn't with a manual... and always with your foot in the throttle... it's kinda spooky.

But when it's set to "D" it is a DOG. So if that's what we're comparing with, I'm in complete agreement - it sucks. When it's in "SD", it's fun in traffic or when you just don't want to concentrate on shifting. And in manual mode, it's very cool, but there IS a learning curve...

 

Blimey, I agree that some of the anti-auto comments are stupid, BUT....

I never said one was better than the other. I just said I personally wouldn't buy an auto.

You, on the otherhand, basically stated that a manual tranny is dated and inferior by comparing it to a washboard, etc.

 

It was a JOKE. Hyperbole. Watch Letterman sometime...

Sorry, I've participated in about 5 of these auto vs. manual threads in the past 5 months. Inevitably they end up with a number of implications that auto buyers must be mentally defective... I was just doing a little preemptive posturing. No offense intended. Like I said, it IS a preference, and once I DID prefer a manual myself.

But many folks DID once say that they'd NEVER ride in one of those newfangled "horseless carriage" things - why would one ever want to do such a thing when the horse worked perfectly fine, thank you very much...

There was a time that folks said automatics would NEVER be on sports cars (they must be ignoring the 3 speed auto Shelby Super Snake that just sold for $5mil) - but anyway we now see lots of high-tech "autos" on high end sports cars. Granted, these are the robotic paddle shifted "auto-manuals" that I wish I could get for the MCS. But the technology is evolving in this space pretty rapidly. "Slushbox" isn't a very good descriptor anymore...

 

Well Blimey you know we with the MCSa's just don't enjoy driving, that's why we went for the automatic. Poor stupid pathetic us.

 

I agree with you. I never said anything negative about people that buy automatics, and I disagree with the people that did.

I just said your statement (joke?) didnt make any sense.

 

Well, I mean....that IS pretty acurate. ..jk

 

It's more difficult to talk on the phone, sip your Starbucks, change the song on your iPod, pay attention to the road, AND shift gears all at the same time! You gotsta have mad skillz.

 

Hey, I've also included flat earth and horseless carriage analogies in this thread. Which also proves Kenny's point sortof.

 

True, True.

 

GO BUY YOUR AVALON!

ps. I have mad skillz. (besides, I have a bluetooth handsfree phone, and change the song on my iPod via a simple control on my steering wheel) lol.