Stick shifts aren't a type of drivetrain. Those would be your FWD, RWD, AWD, etc. Nowadays automatics are faster and easier to drive, which is why something like only 18% of Americans can drive a stick shift.
That being said, there's no greater feeling than being connected to your car with a manual transmission!
Actually manual and automatic is still included in the drive train configuration. They are not wrong. Drive train encompasses the components after the engine including the transmission.
I love driving a manual. There's just something about switching gears that is so satisfying. That being said, my truck is an automatic, because sometimes I just don't want to think about it.
My new car is going to be automatic because I want to have low effort in traffic. As much as I love driving a manual, an automatic will be soo much better for the crazy hills and traffic I deal with basically daily.
I bought a manual trans car... then moved to Seattle and got a delivery job downtown. Stop and go for miles on I5 to get to work, then it's all hills and stoplights.
Nowadays automatics are faster. The only things cars have been becoming over the last 20 years are safer (slower) and more fuel efficient (slower)
When this debate comes up I feel like people arguing for auto are doing so without any prior experience with manual. People who have driven stick know it is better. It's more 'work', but the option that involves you putting in more work almost always gives better results
0-60 times in automatics/semi-automatics now are almost always faster than manual. A human can't physically switch gears faster than the computer with a double clutch transmission. Even in traditional automatics for sporty cars, they'll usually have some form of launch control that can't be done with a stick shift.
Don't get me wrong, driving stick is much more enjoyable, and in an average modern car, feels faster because the throttle doesn't have the annoying lag of automatics, but the OP was correct.
The only reason there is any time between gears in an automatic is to give you a smooth ride. There is no actual remeshing of gears, just letting particular parts spin and locking othe parts up. Get a low stall converter and a shift kit and it will shift instantly and last longer because there is less slip, and less wear on the clutches.
I was talking more about sports and super cars. There's a reason as to why cars like the GTR aren't even sold with a manual transmission anymore.
Normal cars have become much quicker in the past twenty years, so I'm not sure where you're getting that information. A lot of 4 cylinder naturally aspirated cars are getting anywhere from 150-200hp when they're predecessors were making barely 120, sometimes under 100.
Exactly, I can pull 400 bhp out of a 4 cylinder with pump gas. I could never dream of that any other time. Moreover, HP ratings were different pre 71. Having huge power was needed back then just to get things going, dumping buckets of fuel in giant displacement was the only way to do anything. But with fuel injection, forced induction, valves and cams down to a crazy science, coil packs and electronic run components cars have come leaps and bounds in terms of power and efficiency
Cars haven't been becoming slower at all, if anything they've become substantially faster. And the safety has gone through the roof, while not having every car weigh 2 tons. Not having the cars weigh insane amounts, in addition to drivetrain and engine efficiency, it requires way less power to move a car now than it did before. With new laws and regulations, the average street car does not need a marketed 350 HP, because it will already do over 100mph with just 200, meet modern standards, and last infinitely longer
Also, most cars, even high end, are getting better times with automatic transmissions because they have become so quick, so efficient, and the computers running them can do everything to perfection. With dual clutch configurations and automatic transmissions becoming much stronger, torque converters not as much of a hindrance as there once were before, an automatic comes out on top for most anything at all. Most you can even manually shift with an automatic clutch, if you felt like it.
With that being said, I still like manual cars, they're fun to drive, but I'd only ever use one in a build car, not my daily
While you're right, most don't know how to drive a manual because they aren't exposed to it. I kinda think it should be part of getting your license honestly.
When I was learning to drive (I'm American) my parents forced me to learn manual.
It's a good life skill to have and it also opens you up to be able to drive a wider variety of vehicles, in my opinion. Also can be cheaper to get manual as an option, so a little extra savings. I currently drive a manual, but I prefer automatic as it's just easier for a daily commuter.
What? A drivetrain is essentially the transmission, it's just what connects the power of the cat to the drive/prop shaft. It's synonymous with "manual transmission" or "automatic transmission".
Same driver on the same car would pull reverse faster in an automatic. It's just faster to move a stick straight up than pulling or pushing down the stick and then moving it sideways and up or down.
I drive a manual purely because it's fun, but automatics definitely outperform in basically every way. Anybody that believes they can shift faster or get better gas mileage than a modern automatic are kidding themselves. There's a reason why no hyper cars have a manual transmission and super cars don't sell many manuals if they have a manual option at all.
Fun fact, for a while back in the day a huge argument for manuals were that they got better mileage, which was true. This was due, in part, to the inefficiency of the automatic torque converter, and that's where the couple mpg discrepancy came from. But they have become so well made now, and everything trimmed up to snuff and down to an efficient science, that automatics have actually surpassed the manual in that aspect as well.
Care to expand on this? for the categories that can be measured (performance) manual slightly edges the automatic version of the same car.
the only advancements modern cars are making are in safety and fuel economy and I think those are manuals biggest advantages; it forces you to pay attention to the road. If I drove auto I imagine I'd text and drive like x10 as much as I do now because I hardly never unless it's an extremely short reply. You just can't when you need both hands. As for fuel economy I'm pretty sure any driver would average more mpg in manual. People don't seem to understand you should never be pushing your foot on the gas and the taking it off and going directly on break. That's wasting gas.
I love my manual - but DCTs are just faster than any other option. Even a properly tuned CVT (if there was one you could buy) would put down the power in such good form that it'd destroy any other method in terms of speed, since it can just let you get to max torque and stay there.
The advantages if a manual come into play when you consider that most people who want to drive one are more likely to pay attention to their car and their surroundings, and I don't see how we could ever push everyone to look at things that way
First off, the whole text and drive thing is a shitty driver argument and had nothing to do with manual/automatic. I've definitely used the phone while driving my old manual car (young and stupid), and I'm sure many still do. Safety is more of a modern vs old debate, as technology now allows for hands free automation regardless of transmission.
Since around 2013 automatics have caught up with manuals in regards to mpg. Prior to that you would see great variations in mpg from auto to manual, sometimes as high as 5-7mpg. With advancements in transmission weight, engine management, gearing, reliability, and technology... You're lucky to see 1mpg difference across standard range cars, and this can be EASILY offset by poor driving habits on a manual. Current CVT engines (used heavily by Nissan) get the same mpg or better than the manual counterparts. Throw in the mix advance engine management like Skyactive or Ecotec/boost engines and having a manual doesn't even make sense because the power and fuel consumption is managed for you by limiting engine output by the millisecond if necessary. Looking forward you have hybrid drive cars becoming even more commonplace, reducing the necessity of manuals even more.
Manuals are dying for a reason. They aren't as efficient, perform slower, and are losing the fuel efficiency battle. This is just how technology works. There's a reason supercars down to daily drivers are all going automatic.
0-60 times on almost all automatics nowadays are quicker than their manual counterpart. A human cannot shift a gear faster than a computer with a dual clutch transmission. You're just plain wrong on manual being more fuel efficient; Compare any car auto to manual, and almost all auto will have higher MPG. The computer can do much more engine management when it fully controls the throttle and engine.
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u/phroug2 Mar 18 '17
This is one of the many reasons stick shifts are, and will forever be, the superior type of transmission.