Question Of The Day - Saturday, April 24th

[tara g]

Originally Posted by mrblanche

It depends on what you need. A stick shift is definitely more economical, but with today's 4-speed automatics with overdrive and a lock-up torque converter, they come pretty close. And, unlike when I was young, an automatic is likely to last the life of the car with no significant maintenance. A stick shift transmission is likely to need a clutch, which is expensive on front-wheel-drive cars.

What is the life of a car mileage-wise? My hubby builds transmissions (has his own shop) and the newer Honda transmissions, Dodge transmissions (518s, 46REs, etc), and Chevy transmissions (4L60E, 4L80E, etc) are keeping him BUSYYYYY. Dodge's automatics usually last about 120k before its time for a rebuild. Hondas last less than 180k on these newer ones. The 5 speed Honda automatics last less than 130k on all of the ones that have come to the shop. Chevy's have been the worst. Clutches in manuals last about as long as automatic transmissions on average if you take care of the car, but compared to a $1600-$2200+ automatic rebuild, they're usually cheaper.

To get back to the question, I prefer manual all the way

I practically refuse to drive automatics. Manuals are generally faster (power to the ground quicker), more fun to drive, more economical, and what I've been driving since I turned 17. I have bad ghost clutch problems in automatics

Our F-350 is a 6 speed manual, our Acura is a 5 speed manual, my Camaro has a 6 speed manual, the Fiero we're trying to sell is a 5-speed. All our prior cars to these were manual except the Monte (getting a 6spd conversion) and a Grand Prix we got rid of with a quickness