3 ms·

Ego thing? Maybe, but for me it's more of a fun thing. I currently drive an automatic and would love to go back. Random addendum: German licenses do expire for

Ego thing? Maybe, but for me it's more of a fun thing. I currently drive an automatic and would love to go back. Random addendum: German licenses do expire for larger classes - I have a license for BCE (aka 'up to 40t/max') that expired a while ago. Legacy licenses in that class expire at the age of 60 I think, current licenses expire every 5 years from the day you got one. And of course there's the whole public transportation license thing (cab, bus).

freehunter 10y ago
Just take a look at some of the replies in this thread and you can see that for a lot of people, it's an ego thing. "You can't drive properly on dirt roads with an automatic". "You can't drive in the snow with an automatic." "You can't adjust weight distribution with an automatic." Nearly everyone in this thread fancies themselves a proper rally car driver because they have a stick-shift Vauxhall Astra diesel.
- darklajid 10y ago
  Right. I cannot even comment on the whole 'stick is better for rally cars' debate, because I don't care about that sport and certainly don't qualify as a driver. For me it feels closer, more direct, more fun. And .. that's about it. If someone provides convincing evidence that it's less fuel efficient (maybe?) and that automatic transmissions accelerate faster (a given?) then I shrug and say .. "But this is fun!". On the other hand: Given that I drove manual most of my life and only drove really crappy automatics so far (Smart occasionally, Prius now) I might be biased twice. Both because manual's the norm and everything else feels off by default and because probably not every automatic transmission is created equal. (Advanced challenge: Drive a Citroën 2CV - still one of the cars I love the most. 4 gears, unusual layout, weird stick position)

3 ms·

Ego thing? Maybe, but for me it's more of a fun thing. I currently drive an automatic and would love to go back. Random addendum: German licenses do expire for

by darklajid 10y ago

freehunter 10y ago
Just take a look at some of the replies in this thread and you can see that for a lot of people, it's an ego thing. "You can't drive properly on dirt roads with an automatic". "You can't drive in the snow with an automatic." "You can't adjust weight distribution with an automatic." Nearly everyone in this thread fancies themselves a proper rally car driver because they have a stick-shift Vauxhall Astra diesel.
- darklajid 10y ago
  Right. I cannot even comment on the whole 'stick is better for rally cars' debate, because I don't care about that sport and certainly don't qualify as a driver. For me it feels closer, more direct, more fun. And .. that's about it. If someone provides convincing evidence that it's less fuel efficient (maybe?) and that automatic transmissions accelerate faster (a given?) then I shrug and say .. "But this is fun!". On the other hand: Given that I drove manual most of my life and only drove really crappy automatics so far (Smart occasionally, Prius now) I might be biased twice. Both because manual's the norm and everything else feels off by default and because probably not every automatic transmission is created equal. (Advanced challenge: Drive a Citroën 2CV - still one of the cars I love the most. 4 gears, unusual layout, weird stick position)