I also find it much more fun to drive a manual transmission car. My wife feels exactly the same way.
It engages you to the task of driving better, which brings me to a big pet peeve - distracted drivers.

Which reminds me ...

It's more fun to watch someone trying to talk on their cell phone when they're driving a
manual transmission car, ... that is, until the airbag hangs up their phone for them.
Then it's just sad, ... on so many levels.

 

I have been driving with a manual transmission since 1984, made it from NY to Raleigh on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend a while back driving my wifes old 72 Super Beetle, 10 hours straight in bumper-to-bumper traffic until I got past DC in the rain, somehow I survived...

Just my personal preference.

Only way I will go to DD with an Automatic is if I lose a limb,my ankles are shot or if someone gives me a new 911 with PDK.

 

 

I hope they continue to offer us the option. I got the auto because at the time I had to share with my wife. Shortly thereafter I had to start a different commute. I'm glad I got the auto. Now, buying one of these without the sport package and
paddles is a mistake. Sometimes I think in a couple years to get another same year
as a base model, but manual. Then I remember a clutch costs $3500 on these things.

I wish the scion iq came in a 6 speed manual. I find that car quite exciting just
not in CVT.

 

Well, I'm going to chime in for the "Manual" crowd. I have loved driving manuals since I started driving 40 years ago. I have owned a couple automatics (kid carriers) but never owned a automatic anything that I preferred over the worst manual car I ever owned, but that's just me, I love the connection with the car that a manual gives you.

I have owned a '36 Chevy coupe for 20 years now and have never regretted building it with a 5-speed manual, it's a blast to drive, so when I went looking for a MINI a few years ago, I didn't even look at an automatic. It's been a love affair with my manual MCS since the day I picked it up.

I recently had an opportunity to drive a new automatic MINI Coupe and was totally unimpressed with the driving experience. The base motor with an auto was no way as thrilling to drive as a manual MCS. I respect anyone's preference to drive an automatic, hell, it's YOUR car and your paying for it. I know not everyone likes to deal with a clutch and shifting especially in heavy traffic or steep hills, but you'll see me rowing the gears with a smile on my face till the day I die.

 

Read the article in the Feb'12 issue of C&D. It might change your mind about the iQ, CVT aside.

 

I would take a Fiat any day over the IQ.

 

Mmmm I don't know. They have been making the iQ in Japan for years under the Toyota name. Fiat hmmm maybe the Arbath over the iQ.

 

Many people in the USA are just too lazy to drive a manual. They are too busy texting/ talking on the cell/updating their Facebook to be bothered with shifting.

 

I grew up in central Pennsylvania, where I used to go on a drive for fun now and then. For 16 years, I've driven manual transmissions. However, for the last three years, I've been living in Philadelphia. This city sucks absolutely all joy out of driving. It takes at leat 15 minutes to get out of the city, and even then, you're stuck in traffic on 76 or 95, only to dump out into (relatively speaking) crowded suburbs.

Now both cars my wife and I own are automatics. Considering how absurdly crappy the driving conditions are around here, it's one less thing to worry about. I'm just glad that when we bought our 06 Mini, it was an S - I didn't realize ahead of time that they had better transmissions.

I think everyone should learn to drive stick. It makes you a little more in tune with your car, and definitely gives you more control. But I don't really miss having to row through the gears as I make my way around and through Philly. I also don't have any kind of superiority complex about what kind of transmission my mass-produced car has.

 

My first mini was an Automatic. Wife said it had to be so the kids would have an easier time learning to drive and blah blah blah.

The difference was then getting a used Justa instead of a new one. A few years later my oldest now a young but good driver needed a car to get to work then flying lessons. ( now a commercial pilot is she ) So Said I, I will buy a new car and you have my old justa.

The new car was a used R53. I had not driven a stick in over 20 years! On the test drive I was so proud that my foot remembered what a clutch was and my right hand remembered what a shifter was. Bot it!!

So now my foot and right arm are fully involved. Happy happy.

silly to talk about F1 cars and paddle doodles. Minis are not that. But.

My old justa started to die. Well actually I was afraid that the CVT would soon die as the power steering went and other things threatened to. So away to the dealer we went. ( BMW finance was involved ) Got a slightly used R55 (s) for the kid. It was an auto tranny as well thats what she knew how to drive.

Spin ahead one year. Her boyfriend is a good autocrosser. You gotta try this said he. So our two minis have now gone to 4 autocrosses. Her 6 speed does not hold her back. She is consistently 8% faster than me. ( I blame my stock runflats ) She never uses the paddle doodles. Just push the sport button.

Soon all cars will be automatics. If not hydraulic torque converter units then computerized multi clutch monsters instructed by the CPU how to deliver the optimum power.

I like old school. give me a stick. Feel one with the car. Let my kid kick my *** at a race. I feel good.

cheers.

 

more control over an manual ?? i highly doubt that, when i drive my moms auto i feel like i have no control compared to my car ... id say thats a wrong stat about the autos

 

I can see you haven't driven an automatic MINI Cooper S in manual mode, then.

Dave

 

See, this is the kind of attitude that torques my shorts....like you can't be a man without a clutch pedal!

What a crock.....grow up.

There is damn little difference between a current auto and a manual, they have the same number of gears, can be up and downshifted at will, they are equal in performance (actually, MINI says the auto is quicker to 60) and only one mpg apart in fuel mileage, you can hold a gear thru a corner in either and the only real difference is that with an auto you won't push the clutch pedal down a million times over your ownership of the car. And that makes you more of a man than an automatic driver?

Please.......

I ride with lots of "real men" in their stick shift cars on track, most of them would be better drivers if they didn't have a clutch pedal. They may think they're better drivers, but when I can pull 2 or 3 sec a lap on them in my auto, well......let the numbers speak for themselves.

 

I'm not one to slag on autos. I have driven an auto S in manual mode with the cool paddle shifter things, and it was really fun. However, even in "Sport" mode you don't have as MUCH control over shifts as you do with a stick. With a stick you have 100% control over when to shift. The auto will still shift for you in manual mode in certain circumstances, won't it? I admit I only drove it for 2 days, so it's possible I didn't figure out all the nuances.


However I will concede that in the broader sense of the word "Control," you can indeed shift without taking your hands off the wheel, which allows you to shift easier going into a curve etc, so if that's what you mean then I suppose I agree!

I was still happy to get into my manual base Cooper after. For me it's about using the revs to squeeze everything out of that little NA 4 cylinder engine. That's where the fun is.

 

Manual mode is not and will not ever be like driving a manual transmission. First off clutch is not there and second the shifter is not there. Now onto number 3 and probably the biggest of all of them. I find myself having to hit the padal at least 500rpm or more ahead of where I want to shift so that it will shift where I want it to and not bounce of the rev limiter. With a stick shift you can wait all the way up to just before the rev limiter before shifting. I feel less at home in an auto MINI then when driving my BMW. The BMW doesn't bother me because that is what I wanted for my daily commute and the MINI is my weekend warrior. I might make some of the Cooper owners mad but those really need to be in a manual becuase with the auto they take up a lot of the power in them.

 

The point has been made by others and it's a valid one about drivers of standard transmissions being less distracted drivers overall. There's probably no way to quantify this, but it just seems intuitive.

That said, it truly is a personal choice. I picked a standard in my '02 R50 because my previous car ('84 Encore) was a manual and I really liked driving it. Before her '03 R50, my wife picked an automatic in her '02 Corolla to make commuting easier on her. After driving my R50 for a while, she decided to get one and got the manual for the fun factor and also to avoid the CVT, which she test drove and liked the way it "shifted".

It's also true that practice does not make perfect. I'm hands down the worst shifter I know- I'm sure my car calls me "Mr. Crunchy". My wife is awesome at driving standard, however, and apparently I taught her to drive one many years ago!

I'm sort of starting to look for a father son project MINI. For that I'll probably get an R50 CVT model because you can pick them up pretty cheap and because I remember that it's easier to learn to drive if you don't have to worry about shifting, too. Given the fact that this will be a project car, I'm sure my boy will know to take care of it and hopefully will get many miles out of the CVT.

That said, everybody should know how to drive either type of transmission. You never know what situation you will find yourself in. Or maybe not- I always laugh when I hear about the carjackers who force someone out of a standard transmission car they can't drive!

Val

 

My grandmother drives a manual; I completely dismiss the idea that manual drivers are less distracted drivers. I fear for my life when she's behind the wheel. Her ability to shift the car is like breathing to her, but he ability to check her blind spot is another story. A bad driver is a bad driver; the type of transmission they have is largely irrelevant. Hell, when I was in high school I "mastered" the art of shifting while holding a cell phone.

 

My point was not that one is better than the other, I was directing my comments specifically at those who look down their noses at people who drive automatics and call them "less" than men.

It's that attitude that pi$$es me off royally.

To those who say you can't control the engine in in auto or you can't shift it when you want to - you're not doing it right. Come ride with me on track and see how it's done. Or watch this vid, skip ahead to about the middle to miss the slow outlaps. You'll notice I'm taking my hand off the wheel to shift with the lever.
The other thing you'll notice is a smooth flow of power, no jerkiness, no missed shifts etc. I'm not saying it's better, I'm saying in the hands of a good driver, it's everybit the equal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkGpL...9&feature=plcp

 

Sorry, I had an auto S as a loaner...I tried so hard to feel enthused driving it. but couldn't wait to get back to a Manual...Different horses for different courses..

 

My truck is a manual too. It keeps people from wanting to borrow it. When thet ask I just say "sure....it's a stick though...." Then they go " Oh...I can't drive a stick."


I bet in 10 years, there won't be any new vehicles sold with a manual at all, none.=(

 

Nah, there will still be manuals sold. Heck, they're still selling cars with live rear axles, after all! They'll sell manuals because they're cheaper to make, and because some old fogies like us will buy them.

 

After watching that video I am still not convinced. If you are getting any jerkiness(which you get from popping the clutch) or missing shifts(shifting to fast) you are doing it wrong. Smoothness I can get with a stick just as easily and quicker because I don't have as much parasitic loss.

 

When I drive an auto I feel like the car is controlling me.
My wife and I have never owned an auto.
But we're "control" freaks!

 

Someone please close this thread, it's doing nothing but harbouring ill will.