Hacker News Reader

Comment by vbezhenar | Hacker News Reader

I used cars with automatic and manual transmissions and I prefer manual. I just don't see any benefit of using automatic transmission. Manual transmission is cheaper. Manual transmission is simpler and drastically cheaper to repair. Cars with manual transmission can be towed. Automatic transmission often makes a wrong choice, so I often need to override the selection of gear. Using manual transmission is not hard or exhausting. Also automatic transmission for some reason does not want to use engine as a brake, so I need to push my brakes more often, with manual transmission I rarely have to reach brake because I can just release acceleration and it'll slow down well, I only need to brake to make a full stop.

View on HN

You're comparing an ICE-engine Automatic with an ICE-engine Manual.

An EV doesn't have a transmission in the conventional sense (1). It's just a final drive from the motor to the differential (which you'd have in any conventional ICE gearbox anyway). The motor is always connected, and can drive from zero speed to maximum in the same gear. It's a totally difference experience to an 'automatic' ICE car as there are no shifts. It's like a part of the car is just no longer there - and for good reason as electric motors can provide torque over a much wider range of speeds than an ICE engine can.

The gearbox in an ICE car is only there to cover for the inadequacy of ICE engines. It's missing from EVs because it's not needed.

Life-long petrolhead here (driven as an amateur in the WRC for reference). Bought my first EV a few years ago, and never going back. It makes zero sense for most people to have an ICE car now. If you've not driven one, reserve judgement about the transmission as most people I know who've driven mine have found it a revelation.

(1) with the exception of the Porsche Taycan AFAIK.

Hello fellow EV-head! (Is that a word?)

I loved my 15-year-old Kia Rondo with the V6 and 5-speed transmission and manual up/down override. It was very peppy and surprisingly great for a plain old crossover SUV.

Last year I went on a road trip to a friend's wedding 80 miles away. The Rondo was showing its age, so I wanted to rent a more reliable car, was curious about EVs, and found a Kia EV6 at my local Hertz outlet.

OMG. The driving experience was so different! The torque is always there when you need it.

A couple of months later I got one of my own. I was amused that the window sticker says "1-speed automatic".

Speaking only for you and me, and without any political implications, we are not going back!

> I just don't see any benefit of using automatic transmission

Not having to deal with gear shifting is a huge benefit for me. It takes out one non-trivial element from the whole driving experience and lets me focus more on all the other things you need to do while driving. It’s also more relaxing, especially combined with adaptive cruise control. And I never worry I will mess up the when starting from a full stop and have to restart the car. Especially when starting from an uphill.

From what you described you’re the type of person that likes to have full control over the car and how it behaves, and that’s totally fine. But many of us don’t, we just care to get from point A to B with as little friction as possible. Sure, it’s more expensive to get and maintain, but that’s a price I’m fully willing to pay.

>It takes out one non-trivial element from the whole driving experience and lets me focus more on all the other things you need to do while driving.

Your mind is not very busy shifting if you've been driving manual for a while.

Shifting gears manually is not harder than, say, walking or running. It becomes second nature.

I think it's more fun as you _feel_ the relationship between the engine revs and the movement of the vehicle but in congested traffic it becomes a nuisance too.

Are there any dual transmission vehicles which manual and automatic transmissions???

> Are there any dual transmission vehicles which manual and automatic transmissions???

Yes, but Koenigsegg is not a brand that's in budget for most of us.

Yes, luxury 'sport' cars. You often have automatic and sequencial.

Sequential is manual but better when doing 0-130 in 3s,a bit worse when doing regular driving.

How can it be cheaper than not having a transmission at all in an EV?

> Automatic transmission often makes a wrong choice, so I often need to override the selection of gear.

That sounds suspect. In the past 20 years I’ve found it makes far less errors than when I drive manual transmission over the same time. The set points just differ.

The curve for engine breaking is also not absent, just different I regularly release the accelerator in an automatic transmission, and it will slow down to a stop

Automatic transmission doesn't know your intention in 5s, so it consistently makes the wrong choice there if you intend to slow down or cruise until a red light.

> I just don't see any benefit of using automatic transmission.

I used to think like that, but driving a manual tranny in one of the most congested cities in the world, with bad hip joints (the left one the worst) at the age of 50, it takes it's toll.

So I bought a Chinese EV a couple of months ago and couldn't be happier. No more clutching a thousand times a day was a huge QOL improvement.

Even if I go back to ICE, it would be an automatic. I don't drive for fun anymore, I just want to get to where I'm going with the least ammount of effort possible.

The worst feature of manual transmission is being stuck in a traffic jam and constantly pressing clutch pedal and shifting in and out of the 1st gear. Everything else is non issue, this is painful.

> I just don't see any benefit of using automatic transmission

It is automatic

I have better uses for my time and attention than matching rpms and flicking a lever, especially in stop and go traffic

> Cars with manual transmission can be towed

Automatic cars can be towed, just read the manual (for reference: https://mechanics.stackexchange.com/questions/22275/can-a-ca... )

I had to replace a handful of clutches, but never had any maintenance done on automatic transmissions (having owned 10+ manual, and 5+ automatic). For just the money I would opt for automatic, let alone the performance that is much better than with manual gear nowadays.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com