Comment by capableweb | Hacker News Reader

Comment by capableweb | Hacker News Reader

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Im not from/in the UK or US, but not sure that matters. I also prefer manual transmission. As my car is currently in the shop for repair, I have a borrowed car from the shop, who has automatic transmission instead of manual.

It's true that it takes less effort to drive. Easier to drive by just using one leg and easier to use one arm. But the loss of control is real, at least for me.

One example is moving from zero to non-zero. If I just release the break while standing still, the car slowly accelerates, too slowly. If I gently press the accelerator pedal, same problem. If I press is slightly more, the car accelerates too much. There doesn't seem to be a sweet-spot anywhere for a smooth but fast "takeoff", which is easy to achieve with my manual car.

Another example is highway driving and wanting to accelerate to pass someone. Sometimes the car decides that when I press the accelerator (while driving in 120km/h already), to shift down a gear to be able to speed up faster, but it's completely unnecessary, just go faster instead.

Last pet peeve is reversing. Instead of pressing the accelerator to go backwards, you release the brake pedal. But this again is hard to find a sweetspot and I end up doing stop-slow-stop-slow-stop... and so on, instead of just smoothly backwards without stopping, while being to adjust the speed.

Overall, I can't wait to get back to my car with manual transmission, so I can have a smooth driving experience again.

> Another example is highway driving and wanting to accelerate to pass someone. Sometimes the car decides that when I press the accelerator (while driving in 120km/h already), to shift down a gear to be able to speed up faster, but it's completely unnecessary, just go faster instead.

This is the number one problem I have with automatics!

Even in 'eco' mode, most tend to shift down. It seems completely wrong. It should just be in 'sports' mode that it always kicks down.

And I'm pretty sure I've driven an automatic car that had paddles to drive in manual mode but it STILL shifted down.

High loads at low revs are stressful on engines, which is why automatics won't let you hit more than 20-30% load in a high gear.

Has a modern engine ever failed from insufficient shifting down? I feel like it’s a non-issue in reality in modern engines?

Also I assume your point doesn’t apply to diesels, and I’ve noticed the same shifting down in diesel autos.

I doubt a modern engine has ever failed due to a single instance of lugging. they are pretty robust. but it does put unnecessary stress on the engine. it's similar to cruising on the highway in a low gear. the engine is designed not to fail at 5000 rom, but that doesn't mean it will last as long as if you just drive normally. why risk an early engine failure just to save a few dollars at the pump here and there?

and the point does apply to diesels, the same as it does to any engine with pistons and a crankshaft. it's just that the operating range of a diesel is a bit lower.

In my Land Rover, everything is very smooth with automatic transmission. I can switch to manual mode but it seems so unnecessary as I can hardly make car goes smoother than with default automatic mode. I think that plenty of power and superb automatic transmission make the difference. Sure for budget cars that lacks power, manual transmission is preferable.

Living in a hilly, mountainous area with an automatic transmission is a nightmare because you're constantly having to 'convince' (jamming the gas pedal a few times) the transmission to get into the right gear to negotiate an incline.

Don't most automatic transmission cars built in that last 10 years have "manual mode" that lets you provide a hint to the transmission?

I think this is largely dependent on the car, which is a pro for manual transmission (the consistency and sensitivity when driving). I personally prefer the less sensitive automatics because it's better for fuel economy. In my car, switching to Eco mode helps with this.

Yeah, you might be right. The borrow car is a Audi Q3 which I'm told is supposed to be a "luxury SUV", so I guess I'm falsely assuming the transmission/acceleration should be as smooth as a manual car because of that. I've tried all the different "Drive Select" modes as Audi calls them, where "Comfort" is supposed to make the acceleration/transmission more gentle, but it's a marginal difference compared to "Dynamic" which is supposed to be more aggressive.

I find automatic transmissions absolutely infuriating for all of those exact same reasons.

Except that I drove an auto for all but my first 3 years and last 3 years of driving.

Now I drive a Tesla and the janky auto transmissions and lag in an ICE for the engine to rev is so maddening I actively cringe just trying to drive a rental.

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