Is the manual transmission a good choice for an everyday driver?

[kendalldwhite]

Originally Posted by travace

manual is a good choice PERIOD.... i dont understand why anyone would want a sports car that isnt.

Very True!!

[HotLava]

This will take some searching, but look through the posts of forum member MOTO-P. He races his FR-S and uses an automatic. He has a HUGE number of posts about auto vs mt.

My first manual was a 1982 Kawasaki KX125 motorcross bike. I learned to drive on my dad's 1978 Ford Bronco which has a manual transmission. The car I sold to buy my FR-S was a 2005 Mustang GT with a manual 5 speed transmission. My FR-S is an automatic.

I would buy a POS manual and drive it for a few months. Honestly, don't make the WRONG decision, and don't listen to a bunch of strangers on the internet. It's a 25k+ purchase. Both transmissions (for the price) are world class. But make a decision that's right for you and based on DATA and not opinion.

[HotLava]

Here is the post you want to read:

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6485

[GNS]

MT is more reliable and durable - this is fact, that's just the way it is. It also gives you as much control over the gear shifts as possible. You won't be able to do stupid things like shift into 1st at 100mph, but you can certainly do damage to the clutch if you ride or slip it too much (aka 'half-clutching' it) - that's assuming you learn improper techniques and never know what you're doing wrong.

Ultimately the reliability, the control and driving engagement (rowing the shifter yourself) are big reasons to choose the MT. Choose the AT if you are constantly stuck in stop and go traffic for long periods of time, or if you're not willing to learn how to drive stick, or if it's a shared car with someone who doesn't know/care about MT.

Given a choice I will always choose MT, unless I'm buying something extraordinary like a GT-R. If the MT in the car sucks, then the car is not for me no matter what. This is not snobbery, it's my strong personal preference.

[pyro530]

In my car history I have had 2 automatics and 6 manual transmissions and I haven't owned an automatic car since 2007.
Unless you live in San Francisco, a MT car is fine for daily driving.

[Carban]

COMPLETELY depends on you as a person. Personally, I dont think they should have built these in automatic, but apparently there was a huge demand for the AT so they ended up making wayyyyy more AT's than MT's.

And, referring to ur comment about "power sliding" and "redlining", please remember to be safe and smart. I like to keep a good reputation for us 86 owners.
GOOD LUCK!

[driftartist]

everyone has their preference and i respect that......all i am saying is that for me.....i will NEVER drive auto again.

[Sasquachulator]

Its not a question about whether the stick is a good choice for daily driving or not, its a question of if the Stick is the choice for you period.

No other factors need to come into play. If you like driving stick, then everyday driving is a nonissue. If you feel indifferent between manual and automatic, then manual might not be for you.

You either like driving stick or you dont.

well ok the other factor that needs to be is that its a sports car. Sports car = manual.

[whaap]

There was a time that if you drove a car you drove a manual transmission because there were no automatic transmissions. Then, as the automotive industry progressed automatics became available and over time became more and more popular. As their popularity increased the people exposed to using manual transmissions diminished to the point that it was almost rare that someone, especially some young one, knew how to drive a manual. It now seems as if it's almost a cult thing. Sort-of a measure of a persons manliness to be able to drive a manual transmission. It gives macho man bragging rights that he qualifies for a secret society that most drivers aren't capable of reaching.

Today there's a lot of chest pounding by this prestigeous group of people who take great pleasure in "putting down" the average guy who might buy or drive an automatic. It's all a bunch of nonsense. Both systems have their advantages and both have their disadvantages. There's no question you're more involved in the driving process if you have a manual but no matter which system you have it doesn't change the fact you're moving your butt around in a pretty spiffy little coupe. Buy the one you want.

End of rant.

[Veloist]

In third world countries there are more manual transmission cars on the road and thus more manual transmission drivers...even in the crazy traffic jams.

Wish I could say the same about America, it just makes a generalization that we're lazy drivers.

I don't drive stick yet because my dad (who learned driving with an m/t car first at 12 years old in the Philippines) bought A/T cars because my mom didn't want to learn. She's an example of a lazy driver.

Now that the FR-S is coming, my dad is ready to teach me, but on a beat-up car. I'm definitely not a lazy driver...I can't wait to drive stick!

Edit: I want to disclaim that if you drive an automatic, it doesn't automatically mean you're a lazy driver. We all have our reasons

[dori.]

The stock clutch in this car is soft so you should have no problem in traffic

[DaJo]

Originally Posted by GNS

MT is more reliable and durable - this is fact, that's just the way it is. It also gives you as much control over the gear shifts as possible. You won't be able to do stupid things like shift into 1st at 100mph, but you can certainly do damage to the clutch if you ride or slip it too much (aka 'half-clutching' it) - that's assuming you learn improper techniques and never know what you're doing wrong.

Ultimately the reliability, the control and driving engagement (rowing the shifter yourself) are big reasons to choose the MT. Choose the AT if you are constantly stuck in stop and go traffic for long periods of time, or if you're not willing to learn how to drive stick, or if it's a shared car with someone who doesn't know/care about MT.

Given a choice I will always choose MT, unless I'm buying something extraordinary like a GT-R. If the MT in the car sucks, then the car is not for me no matter what. This is not snobbery, it's my strong personal preference.

Although you've got some good points there... I must say if you look at this board, majority of the FR-S here that are MT actually experience more of the "idle dip" problem... so your reliability and durability fact of the car is not exactly "true"; technology has advanced.

I also hate to call you out, but if you were to buy a GT-R, you wouldn't have a choice to get a MT anyways...they only come standard with the six-speed automated dual clutch transmission. (AKA automatic with paddle shifters, but with clutch mechanics)

[Travis]

There is no excuse aside from injury to get an auto. I got my first car in manual and learned on that with no problems

[HotLava]

This is from forum member Moto-P:

Choose Semi-Automatic Digital Shifting AT, if you want "MOST" out of an FRS)

If you have a multi-role task for this car with commutes, and even lending the car occasionally to folks.
If you appreciate modern drivetrain that is much more sophisticated than older traditional MT.
If you want to learn how to drive exotic cars like Lamborghini or Ferrari, and even LFA's as those are now mostly e-shft cars as well.
And let me add that the FRS's AT system/software/actuation is so precise and intuitive that despite the torque converter design being very different mechanically from those of twin clutched e-Shifts on exotics, the actual driving feel and timing is very similar and quite useful in the raceway as well.
If you want to learn how to drift. (yes I said this again, because this AT in full-no-nannies mode is very much capable of sliding gracefully into corner apexes and doing donuts around cones with Torsen LSD equipped on all FRS)
If you have a dumb foot that can't seem to learn how to heel/toe under FULL braking, sliding on all fours, and during your flight to an apex (or into a wall of Turn 10 at Laguna Seca, at alarming speeds) in a MT despite your best efforts.
If you like having the third button on your center console than a blank piece of plastic by your shifter.
If you already had your share of learning to drive competitively, and you know what the heck you are doing on a racetrack.
If you don't know what the heck you are doing but you want to look better on the racetrack.
And you have the time to explain what the hell I am writing in detail here, to every damn person that asks "YOU OF ALL PEOPLE got and AUTOMATIC????" LOL!!!
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Unlike the normal traditional AT, this one is bred of performance driving, and as such, in one of the 5 modes of programming combination of VSC, TRC and shifting, the car will become fully manual to the point where you can ride the rev-limit and destroy your engine just as in a MT. And not shift till you tell it to. It will also allow downshifting with more precision than in a manual, and with less driveline shock, which may be of benefit for those already seasoned in performance driving.

And for me, this is my first FRS, and one which I will drive EVERY DAY for daily use of all reasons I have a car for in my life to get to places. It is not my dedicated race car, which my old faithful AE86 will now be able to become because of this car's arrival. And when it is time for me to build a track dedicated FRS in the future, I will buy one in a few years, used, and out of warranty as I will hack that to my desires and really make use of the platform that is so excellent.

I don't have a need to pretend being a 1980's driver, when all modern F1 and WRC Rally cars also have no clutch pedals and relies on digital programmed brains and hydraulics to make things go faster. Especially in a car that is born in 2012.

Still, I will buy and have both eventually, as FT86 siblings are something I have been working on with the Chief Engineer Tada for the last 5 years, if very little as speaking my opinions, and having him listen, and answering questions he may have had. And as such, it is possibly the first and the last car that I had such opportunity, as a common folk...living outside of Corporate R&D labs.

This is why I chose the Automatic. It's something appropriate in 2012, and for many of us, a more advanced and versatile form of a manual transmission to allow many things without much compromise at all.

Lastly, you may have noticed that the AT has a much taller gear at 6th, and wider gaps in those gears under it. While in theory, (for the numerical stats geeks) it provides for a more ideal way to deliver power, you need to remember that closer the gears are packed, the more busy you are on the track shifting through them.

I found the MT almost challengingly busy on the raceway, and unless I have driven this thing for weeks, my body's natural muscle memory lacking was a handicap for the one day I only had on the track. This explains why most journalists at the event were also posting similar or faster laps with the paddle shift mode of the AT. And I'm no foreigner to MT shifting on the track, having won a few shiny sticks on wood in SCCA with many cars.

With this smart AT, one can concentrate on the delicate balancing of the contact patch on this very peaky and ultra responsive car if you can let the transmission do its thing, as long as the AT is doing it well enough according to your intuitive timing on the track. And this one does.

The ratio from 1-4th are pretty close to the MT, and if you know racing on tracks with 200hp lightweight cars, 1-4th are the only gears you'd use for racetracks anyway, outside of very big tracks like Laguna Seca or Super Speedway based infields. So argument about 5th and 6th being away from 4th is sort of a moot point for most enthusiasts as well. At medium speed Spring Mountain Racepark, where fastest trap in the straight was about 104mph, it was still in the middle of 4th gear and only for 2-3 seconds before dropping to 3rd again. Get what I mean?

Also on the more mundane side of the deal, the ultra tall 6th gear proved to be very quiet on the highway, revving almost 800rpm less in cruise than in the MT at 85mph (the usual Interstate rural highway speeds in the USA). And fuel consumption also will reflect this as well.

So there you have it. You can perhaps print this out and keep it in the car, if you choose what I call this a "SPORTS SMART Semi-AUTO" in case you run into a muscle head who gives you crap about that PRND-M on your center console.

I sincerely hope that this can help your decision-making, and help you head over to the Scion dealership faster, so that the precious 1500 or so units allocated for each month of BRZ/FRS for the US of A, will end up in your garage, and you spend more time on the road with a smile on your face, than lurking here on the forums wondering what it is like...

Whatever you choose, do it, as once the FRS hits TV commercials and are seen on the road, your order will be backed up by several months, I suspect. In Japan, the wait-list is now November as of May, and growing, if that's any hint that you should really hurry.
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