I would call myself a "car enthusiast" and I drive an automatic - I feel like even in dangerous situations, I have full control of the car. Whether it's sudden need to stop or accelerate, I have full control. In a manual car I've had a few near-accidents where the car just stalled because I was so concentrated on braking and avoiding the obstacle - Which was great, except that I found myself in a middle of a dual carriageway, sideways, with my engine off, stressed to hell, so actually moving out of the way was a huge effort. I had a similar situation in an automatic and there's no such problem - you need to brake, you brake. You need to accelerate - you accelerate. I just think that an automatic transmission allows you to concentrate much more on what's going on around you, without having to worry about being in correct gear and using the clutch.
Never experienced that but you have way more control in a manual excluding powerful electric cars.
You need to stop fast, well you have gears to utilize quickly in a manual. Need a pop to get out of a sticky situation? Drop the gear to get in the power band and pull away. I don't understand your argument other than manuals being more error prone.
Certainly you could stall it in an intersection if you aren't experienced as an example.
I haven't seen a report on this but I'd wager manuals were safer in practice before the smartphone and became even safer after. You can't be messing around with distractions nearly as much in a manual.
Sure, but in a manual some percentage of my brain is always dedicated to thinking about which gear I'm in. In an automatic I have 100% attention on the road.
And when I said "stop quickly" I meant "a person steps out on the road in front of you". Gears won't help you here, because I don't believe anyone can downshift in the 2 seconds left to impact - the best you can do is press the brake as hard as you can. The difference is that in a manual every time I had to do that I was left with a stalled car because I didn't press the clutch in time, while with an automatic I could move out of the way very quickly.
I don't know man, I've been driving manuals for the past 7 years, and I bought an AMG car this year - which only comes with a 7-speed DCT transmission. I would never ever go back to a manual, unless it was like a Miata, or GT86 - those cars I want to drive with a manual, because they are super fun on a back road with a manual. But daily drive + almost 400 bhp? Only an automatic.
Edit: also, you are saying that in a sticky situation you can just drop a gear to get in the power band, like you can't do it in an automatic - in an automatic, you just press the throttle down and it drops as many gears as needed. Want full maximum acceleration that the car can technically offer at the moment? Press it fully. Want to accelerate quickly but without dropping 3 gears down? Press it half way. I feel like that's tons more control than in a manual.
> in a manual every time I had to do that I was left with a stalled car because I didn't press the clutch in time, while with an automatic I could move out of the way very quickly.
I can see it happening, and I've observed it with people who have learnt to drive on auto, but that's just a reflex problem due to inexperience.
If you're used to driving manual, just don't have to think about disengaging the clutch when braking hard, but you still do it, and you don't stall.
As for "pressing the throttle down and it drops as many gears as needed", in my experience it takes a noticeable amount of time until the car understands it has to drop gears. It's just not really rational to argue that an auto car gives you as much control as a manual.
Well, I come from a country where automatics are almost non-existent and very much frowned upon(Poland). I've only learned in a manual, and I haven't driven an automatic until after I already had 5 years of experience in a manual, and then drove a manual for another few years anyway. Had a selection of both sports and off-road vehicles, all in manual - yet I never had the reflex to press both clutch and brake in an emergency situation - it was always full brake first, clutch second.
In my experience, with all the autos I've driven, the transmission downshifts much quicker, smoother, and more intuitively than I ever could. Maybe I've only ever driven top-tier automatics, and a normal auto box is poor in that regard. No idea.
When you have to stop to not hit a child, a running engine is not your biggest concern. In other situations (still rolling), you can downshift afterwards. You are used to use both feet together anyway, so the reflex would be to kick both pedals into the ground.
Indeed. Part of the driving test in the UK (which the instructor may or may not choose to ask you to do) is to behave as if a little child just ran out into the road in front of you. You just mash the brake and clutch at the same time and sort it out afterwards. It's quite a natural action.
Most automatic transmissions that people have are crap and are geared much differently. If you took the avg auto, I think youd agree on the sluggishness of getting in the power band on demand.
You might have 100% attention to the road in an auto because you're a good driver but I just saw a report on the number of deaths smartphones cause and it's crazy.
