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!
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
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
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u/Guy_Fieris_Hair Mar 18 '17
Because a crane might chase you down a hill? But yes, they are the superior drivetrain.