what would you rather drive/race auto or manual

[vktorana]

lol i puch prefer a manual. my first car was a torana! old 4speed! drop it in any gear and she would answer the call! my vk had the 3sp auto. anyony got 4sp to fit a 202?

 

[shreks vp]

for fun manual but gotta have h/d clutch

 

[Craig Facey]

So have any of you people who voted manual ever driven a manualised (shift kitted auto)? Cause they kick A!

 

[losh1971]

I prefer autos. I couldn't be bothered shifting through gears day in day out through traffic. On the most part autos tend to be stronger as well You also tend to get more life from an auto compared to a manual.

 

[afstruct]

Manual, sooo wish my Maloo was not self shifting, at least the monaro is manual.
My torana and the HQ tonner were both autos as well, actually so was the ford GT Capri but it came with a couple of 4 speeds so even though autos were rarer ,first thing I did was stick one of the manuals in it.
Just find it more engaging to drive a manual and have never thought of being stuck in traffic with a clutch as a pain .

 

[afstruct]

So have any of you people who voted manual ever driven a manualised (shift kitted auto)? Cause they kick A!

No , but I'd love to try , whether it ever happens to the maloo , don't know .
Strangely even when the auto **** itself I didn't convert to a manual.
Can't quite understand why I haven't been happy to change it because I know I'd love driving even more.

 

[losh1971]

Yeah in some cases a manual is better. When I was young with a Capri myself, an auto would have been boring. Having not raced cars only bikes i would say on the track a manual would be better, because like you say Afstruct you have control over the gear changes. I know from racing bikes you sometimes want to keep it in lower gears but redlining because thats where you can keep the vehicle in tbe power range.

 

[afstruct]

Yeah on the track obviously, but for me on the road being able to put your foot down hard or most of the time reasonably hard in that mid range grunt area just doesn't work for me . Maybe a more modern auto is better like that (don't know),( but I don't own a more modern auto) , and while these days they are better and quicker I would still if I had a choice pick a manual for what to me is a more personal involvement.
Would have picked a manual maloo if the right one had been available but I'm not stupid ( although some friends might say different) , mine was by far (I think ) the best available at the time, low kms , two owners, no real mods at a good price.
In fact I'm lucky owner did not do the dodgy as between when I paid a deposit for it and picking it up someone else offered $1200 more than I paid and $1000 more than they were asking, sight unseen .
( they told me this when I picked it up ) , morals and suppose he was happy that I'd look after it.

 

[Drewie]

I drove nothing but manuals for the first 15 years after getting my license, 4 cylinder and 8 cylinder. As the family came along I moved to an auto as the wife was not fond of manuals, so been driving autos for a few decades now, every now and then I drive a manual, my daughter has a manual Subaru, bit like riding a bike, I drive it every now and then, she leaves it at my house when on holidays, she is overseas with work at present for 12 months so I have been using it fairly often, I enjoy driving the manual, but if I was to buy a new car I think I would probably buy an auto.

Quite a few different autos on the market, not keen on these CVT autos, my son had a VW Golf with the DSG auto box that was a bit of an odd thing at times, if I bought an auto again I would prefer a traditional torque convertor auto. If the wife stopped driving before me I might consider a manual again, depends on the car I was considering and what type of auto it had.

Many years ago I worked as a driving instructor, taught lots of people to drive manuals, could tell you lots of funny stories of the people I taught.
Never got involved in motor sport, but definitely would go the manual in that case, almost had a go at motor sport, I built a very potent
Morris Cooper S back in 1968 for hill climbs but due to family issues never went ahead and actually competed, used it as a road car for a few years then sold the car to a friend who used the engine in a newly developed motor sport called Rally Cross which they ran at Calder Park.

 

[VS 5.0]

Having daily driven my manual VE now for a little over 12 months, I do not miss the auto VS I drove for near on 19 years. (To avoid doubt, there are times I miss the 5 litre VS, just not driving auto).

There were many times over that period that I wished that car was manual. Especially having got into the VS from a 304 M21 VK that I had for around 7 years.

Manual is just so much more engaging. The lightness of late model clutches these days makes it nowhere near the chore it was back in the VK days. Far heavier clutch on that car. Perhaps that is related to hydraulic as opposed to cable.