I’ve been driving an automatic since I passed nearly a decade ago. In that time whenever I tell anyone I drive auto, it’s usually met with some level of derision. I think that attitude is changing, but I’m still kind of confused by it in the first place.
Why?
Automatic cars used to be slower and less fuel efficient than manual. This is of course no longer true, but public perceptions are very slow to change.
Brit here who used to hate driving automatics. I used to drive on my gears a lot. A mix coasting/hyper-miling and gear breaking. Every time I drove an automatic it felt really wrong as it never changed gear as I would. I felt I was less in control.
Now I drives EVs, no gears for it to get wrong. I thought not changing gear would bother me, but it never feels in wrong gear, so I don’t notice. Though this is a hybrid I drive and it’s so odd to hear and feel the complete disconnect with the drive and engine.
This is a debate is thing that is just going to go away with ICE cars.
Am*ricans like them.
Therefore we are duty bound to hate them.
The correct answer, we can close this down now.
For the same reason that cars with engine sizes above 2-litres are rare, and always have been rare - petrol is more expensive. Automatics used more fuel, so they were only standard on high-end jaguars, mercedes, etc. Simple as that.
It’s historic. If you’d ever driven a Mk1 Ford Escort with 1289cc and a 3 speed slush-box automatic you’d understand.
Of course modern automatics are completely different but the preference for manual transmission is a hangover from those times.
There’s also a cost factor, traditionally automatics cost more to build, weighed more and performed slightly worse. Now, automatics are probably cheaper to build, perform better, but still cost more.
I don’t understand this either. I guess they used to be really bad and the attitude has stuck around?
A bad auto can be pretty terrible, but a good (or even half decent) auto is better than a manual in almost every way.
These days modern automatics allow you to select any gear in a manual fashion. Aside from the lack of clutch to control at very low speeds (on ice the wheels might just spin instead of gaining traction) it basically makes manuals obsolete.
Speaking purely for myself, not just my countrymen, I didn’t want to learn how to drive an automatic because then I wouldn’t know how to drive a manual.
Now I’ve got years of experience with a manual I’d have no objection to owning an automatic
We like to think we’re better than the Americans. /j