Quote:
Originally Posted by extrashaky
I lived in Austin for two years, so I'm familiar with the traffic. It's ridiculous.
But I have a manual BRZ and an automatic Jeep, and I found the manual to be much better in heavy traffic than the automatic. With the auto, I had to have my foot on the gas or the brake pretty much all the time. Traffic was never the right speed where I could just coast in the Jeep. In contrast, with the manual, I could take it out of gear and coast slower than idle speed without having to ride the brake or accelerator. Or I could put it in first and creep along as low as 6 MPH in gear, which the auto wouldn't do without speeding up and forcing me to brake. I had so many more options with the manual that it was actually less work and less frustrating.
The only situation in which I have ever wished I had an auto was going uphill in stop and go traffic on the I-10 bridge over the Mississippi outside Baton Rouge. That probably took 1000 miles off the clutch and was annoying as hell. But I never had that problem in Austin, even with the hills it has, because the hill approaches weren't nearly as long before traffic would move again.
Maybe things are different for you, but I just don't see heavy traffic as a valid reason on its own to avoid the manual. I think a lot of potential new owners who don't have a lot of experience driving a manual see these comments and become afraid of the manual unnecessarily.
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Interesting. How slow can you go in MT without stalling? I drive up 2222 everyday, pretty huge hill with traffic. I’m certainly not closing door on manual, part of me loves idea, just have very little experience. Does irk me that MT gets worse mpg since I’m wanting good mpg in next vehicle.