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In the UK most cars are still manual. Less so for the more expensive you go but I'd guess more than 90%. I have driven automatics a handful of times. The longe

In the UK most cars are still manual. Less so for the more expensive you go but I'd guess more than 90%. I have driven automatics a handful of times. The longest I spent was 2 weeks in a motor home touring the Rockies. While I can see the appeal for around town driving driving up and down grades was a bit of a pain. Basically I had to learn the behaviour of the transmission and use a combination of the exact amount of throttle, hold down gears and flicking between tow haul and normal to get the gear I wanted. It was more hassle than having to change gear manually.

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babypuncher 8y ago
It sounds like your motor home just had a really crappy automatic transmission. I've spent a lot of time driving around the Rocky Mountains (since I live here) and have never really had this issue when towing trailers.
- VBprogrammer 8y ago
  Probably somewhere between that and me not trusting it do it's own thing.
  - singingboyo 8y ago
    One thing that sticks out to me is that you say you were trying to get the gear you wanted - having driven various automatics, that's never really been what I'd care about. I just aim for a speed. Older automatics you end up noticing gearing sometimes, but just incidentally, and on CVTs, which is what I have now, you really don't care about 'gears' (which don't exist for CVTs anyway). That said, I have driven automatics with some weird gearing where specific hills mean you'd oscillate around the desired speed. There, you do end up caring, unfortunately. That said, that's the kind of situation where the manual mode on newer stuff comes in, and on older stuff, you'd have a few gearing sets (Drive/Low/3, on a grand caravan I used to drive. Never did figure out what 3 was good for...)
    - VBprogrammer 8y ago
      Yeah, I'm sure that's the correct way to drive with an auto in general. The problem was a v8 E350 is horrifically noisy when it's revving hard. Moving from a steep down grade onto a flat it would often refuse to change up. Similarly, when moving from a flat onto a steep down grade getting it to change down fast enough to avoid using a lot of braking was tricky.
mjklin 8y ago
You’ve brought up a good reason why Americans should learn manual: in case they rent cars in other countries. I rented a car in Costa Rica whose clutch had been destroyed by the previous renter, which fact did not make itself plain until we were on a mountain road. Wish he had learned stick!
- singingboyo 8y ago
  But... how? When no one owns a manual, you can't learn to drive stick. My dad had a manual car that he'd kept for 20 years, and I haven't seen one since that went, about 10 years ago. (I could've learned on that had I gotten things together, but didn't. Given its condition near the end, that's probably a good thing.) There's nothing around to learn on. It's a vicious circle sort of problem at this point. Less manual cars -> can't learn stick -> can't drive stick -> no one buys manuals -> less manual cars. In the end, I can learn the concept, but I won't really know how to drive stick unless I have a manual... and I'll never buy a manual, so the only possibility is that I'll start off ruining the clutch on some rental. (Or, more likely, I'll go out of my way to rent automatic... but that may not always be possible)
  - tspike 8y ago
    Even the people who insist on manual reinforce this cycle because the only cars that have one are older, so they buy used and then the few manufacturers who offer manuals in new vehicles look at the numbers and say, "hmm, nobody seems to want a manual."
martinald 8y ago
Seems to be really changing in the UK. I don't drive, but nearly all my friends/family members who used to have manual now have automatic. Also, most Ubers these days seem to have automatic transmission.
- leoedin 8y ago
  Most Ubers in London are hybrids because that gets them off the congestion charge. Hybrids are automatic because there's essentially 2 power sources. Outside London it seems to vary more, but then a lot more of them are manual.
  - martinald 8y ago
    No it doesn't, any taxi or private hire vehicle (PHV), allows you to not pay the congestion charge. I know a lot of people that have registered their vehicle as a PHV to get out of it (costs around £200 a year).

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babypuncher 8y ago

It sounds like your motor home just had a really crappy automatic transmission. I've spent a lot of time driving around the Rocky Mountains (since I live here) and have never really had this issue when towing trailers.

VBprogrammer 8y ago
Probably somewhere between that and me not trusting it do it's own thing.
- singingboyo 8y ago
  One thing that sticks out to me is that you say you were trying to get the gear you wanted - having driven various automatics, that's never really been what I'd care about. I just aim for a speed. Older automatics you end up noticing gearing sometimes, but just incidentally, and on CVTs, which is what I have now, you really don't care about 'gears' (which don't exist for CVTs anyway). That said, I have driven automatics with some weird gearing where specific hills mean you'd oscillate around the desired speed. There, you do end up caring, unfortunately. That said, that's the kind of situation where the manual mode on newer stuff comes in, and on older stuff, you'd have a few gearing sets (Drive/Low/3, on a grand caravan I used to drive. Never did figure out what 3 was good for...)
  - VBprogrammer 8y ago
    Yeah, I'm sure that's the correct way to drive with an auto in general. The problem was a v8 E350 is horrifically noisy when it's revving hard. Moving from a steep down grade onto a flat it would often refuse to change up. Similarly, when moving from a flat onto a steep down grade getting it to change down fast enough to avoid using a lot of braking was tricky.

mjklin 8y ago

You’ve brought up a good reason why Americans should learn manual: in case they rent cars in other countries. I rented a car in Costa Rica whose clutch had been destroyed by the previous renter, which fact did not make itself plain until we were on a mountain road. Wish he had learned stick!

singingboyo 8y ago
But... how? When no one owns a manual, you can't learn to drive stick. My dad had a manual car that he'd kept for 20 years, and I haven't seen one since that went, about 10 years ago. (I could've learned on that had I gotten things together, but didn't. Given its condition near the end, that's probably a good thing.) There's nothing around to learn on. It's a vicious circle sort of problem at this point. Less manual cars -> can't learn stick -> can't drive stick -> no one buys manuals -> less manual cars. In the end, I can learn the concept, but I won't really know how to drive stick unless I have a manual... and I'll never buy a manual, so the only possibility is that I'll start off ruining the clutch on some rental. (Or, more likely, I'll go out of my way to rent automatic... but that may not always be possible)
- tspike 8y ago
  Even the people who insist on manual reinforce this cycle because the only cars that have one are older, so they buy used and then the few manufacturers who offer manuals in new vehicles look at the numbers and say, "hmm, nobody seems to want a manual."

martinald 8y ago

Seems to be really changing in the UK. I don't drive, but nearly all my friends/family members who used to have manual now have automatic. Also, most Ubers these days seem to have automatic transmission.

leoedin 8y ago
Most Ubers in London are hybrids because that gets them off the congestion charge. Hybrids are automatic because there's essentially 2 power sources. Outside London it seems to vary more, but then a lot more of them are manual.
- martinald 8y ago
  No it doesn't, any taxi or private hire vehicle (PHV), allows you to not pay the congestion charge. I know a lot of people that have registered their vehicle as a PHV to get out of it (costs around £200 a year).