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I currently use a (automatic) borrowed car from the shop while my (manual) car is being repaired. I mostly do city-driving. One of the biggest issues with the

I currently use a (automatic) borrowed car from the shop while my (manual) car is being repaired. I mostly do city-driving. One of the biggest issues with the automatic is stop-and-go traffic. It's absolutely trash at accelerating smoothly but fast, and I have no choice but to either go very slowly forward to not make it janky, or really aggressive acceleration. With a manual car, smooth-but-fast acceleration is easy to achieve, but with this (Audi Q3) borrow car, it seems short of impossible to achieve. More pet-peeves of automatic VS manual I'm experiencing are outlined here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32591426 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32591426 but smooth city driving is probably what I miss the most currently, as that is mostly how I spend my driving.

fooker 4y ago
Audi Q3 does not have a representative modern automatic transmission. You should try a car with a CVT from the last 2-3-ish years to feel the difference.
- kortex 4y ago
  The latest subaru forester is absolutely insane when it comes to how much control you have over acceleration. I can creep forward at agonizingly slow speeds without riding the brake, stomp it for mostly instant torque, and everything in between. It's way smoother than any manual, automatic 6-spd, or DSG I've ever driven. Oh and you can downshift to engine brake and the Sport model has flappy paddles to boot.
- apelapan 4y ago
  There are still a lot of more-or-less-shit automatics being manufactured. Even if they collectively has gotten quite a bit better over the years. The six-speed automatic in my KIA for example, is from the past three years and it is not entirely great. It is perfectly fine 98% of the time, but those last two percent... * Shifting speed is highly unpredictable on kick-down * In certain temperatures it will slam the shift from first to second even when taking of very softly * It will randomly decide to stay in a needlessly low gear on long, gentle inclines, even though there is plenty of power in higher gears if you force an up-shift in manual mode * On low-speed sharp inclines (like my own residental street) it desperately stays in second gear to the point of almost stalling the engine, before does a brutal panic-downshift to first gear But in standard highway driving or city-stop-and-go it is really nice.
lisper 4y ago
Then there is something wrong, either with the car, or with your technique, because that is absolutely not typical.
pc86 4y ago
I'm not exaggerating when I say this is the first time in my life I've heard anyone say manuals are better than automatics in stop-and-go traffic.
deepspace 4y ago
That is not my experience *at all*. There must be something wrong with that particular transmission. I love driving manual, but a long stretch of having to commute in stop and go traffic made me switch to automatic, and it has always been a buttery smooth experience for me. There is nothing worse than the smell of burning clutch in the morning.
saltcured 4y ago
I'm not sure what country you are in. In the US, I believe the Q3 still always comes with a torque-converter automatic. A quick search seems to show lots of people on enthusiast boards complaining about the shift programming on the current generation. But, also lots of contradictory reports. It makes me think it is a UX issue where the programming works for some operators' "pedal language" and not others. We have an older generation Q3, which replaced a slightly smaller car that had a manual transmission and similar turbo 4-cylinder engine. I was a little bitter about this marital compromise in the very beginning, but learned how the car behaves and have no problems today. I only use the "manual" gear selection for speed control on steep grades. To me, it can provide smoother acceleration than I ever got in 30 years of driving manuals. It shifts quicker and with more continuous power delivery compared to any manual operation I've achieved or witnessed as a passenger. The change is learning to anticipate and speak to the car with the throttle instead of anticipating and speaking with the clutch pedal and stick. For fleet efficiency reasons, these modern automatics will prefer high gears and also use clutches to lock-out the torque converter and avoid slippage. Combine that with fuel saving coasting modes and you can potentially reach states where a small turbo engine is at low RPM with low boost pressure and a high gearing load. If you want to accelerate right then, all these bad conditions need to be reversed through a kick-down procedure, and you maximize the feeling of a delayed surge in acceleration. It's not the same transmission as the current generation Q3, but one thing I've noticed is that there is a slight risk of this sort of stuttering/slow take off when braking to a low speed without stopping. If I am at a complete stop with brake pedal depressed, the starts are very predictable. But braking into a turn lane or driveway gets the car into its most hesitant state if I try to accelerate back out of this slow roll.
sp0ck 4y ago
Smoothness depends on automatic transmission type. My hybrid Toyota with CVT is a pleasure to drive in a city. Smooth, no gear changes just linear acceleration. Any other car even those with dual clutch feels inferior at least in city traffic.

fooker 4y ago

Audi Q3 does not have a representative modern automatic transmission. You should try a car with a CVT from the last 2-3-ish years to feel the difference.

kortex 4y ago
The latest subaru forester is absolutely insane when it comes to how much control you have over acceleration. I can creep forward at agonizingly slow speeds without riding the brake, stomp it for mostly instant torque, and everything in between. It's way smoother than any manual, automatic 6-spd, or DSG I've ever driven. Oh and you can downshift to engine brake and the Sport model has flappy paddles to boot.
apelapan 4y ago
There are still a lot of more-or-less-shit automatics being manufactured. Even if they collectively has gotten quite a bit better over the years. The six-speed automatic in my KIA for example, is from the past three years and it is not entirely great. It is perfectly fine 98% of the time, but those last two percent... * Shifting speed is highly unpredictable on kick-down * In certain temperatures it will slam the shift from first to second even when taking of very softly * It will randomly decide to stay in a needlessly low gear on long, gentle inclines, even though there is plenty of power in higher gears if you force an up-shift in manual mode * On low-speed sharp inclines (like my own residental street) it desperately stays in second gear to the point of almost stalling the engine, before does a brutal panic-downshift to first gear But in standard highway driving or city-stop-and-go it is really nice.

lisper 4y ago

Then there is something wrong, either with the car, or with your technique, because that is absolutely not typical.

pc86 4y ago

I'm not exaggerating when I say this is the first time in my life I've heard anyone say manuals are better than automatics in stop-and-go traffic.

deepspace 4y ago

That is not my experience *at all*. There must be something wrong with that particular transmission. I love driving manual, but a long stretch of having to commute in stop and go traffic made me switch to automatic, and it has always been a buttery smooth experience for me. There is nothing worse than the smell of burning clutch in the morning.

saltcured 4y ago

I'm not sure what country you are in. In the US, I believe the Q3 still always comes with a torque-converter automatic. A quick search seems to show lots of people on enthusiast boards complaining about the shift programming on the current generation. But, also lots of contradictory reports. It makes me think it is a UX issue where the programming works for some operators' "pedal language" and not others. We have an older generation Q3, which replaced a slightly smaller car that had a manual transmission and similar turbo 4-cylinder engine. I was a little bitter about this marital compromise in the very beginning, but learned how the car behaves and have no problems today. I only use the "manual" gear selection for speed control on steep grades. To me, it can provide smoother acceleration than I ever got in 30 years of driving manuals. It shifts quicker and with more continuous power delivery compared to any manual operation I've achieved or witnessed as a passenger. The change is learning to anticipate and speak to the car with the throttle instead of anticipating and speaking with the clutch pedal and stick. For fleet efficiency reasons, these modern automatics will prefer high gears and also use clutches to lock-out the torque converter and avoid slippage. Combine that with fuel saving coasting modes and you can potentially reach states where a small turbo engine is at low RPM with low boost pressure and a high gearing load. If you want to accelerate right then, all these bad conditions need to be reversed through a kick-down procedure, and you maximize the feeling of a delayed surge in acceleration. It's not the same transmission as the current generation Q3, but one thing I've noticed is that there is a slight risk of this sort of stuttering/slow take off when braking to a low speed without stopping. If I am at a complete stop with brake pedal depressed, the starts are very predictable. But braking into a turn lane or driveway gets the car into its most hesitant state if I try to accelerate back out of this slow roll.

sp0ck 4y ago

Smoothness depends on automatic transmission type. My hybrid Toyota with CVT is a pleasure to drive in a city. Smooth, no gear changes just linear acceleration. Any other car even those with dual clutch feels inferior at least in city traffic.