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.

I'm from the UK, there's probably an element of cultural momentum behind it, but I suspect it may also be due to the less flat terrain:

UK roads can be very undulating and windy, for the couple of times I drove someone else's automatic car it always felt like I was waiting for it to figure out the correct gear - some of this is probably historically inferior designs, but the other element is anticipation...

I can see the steep hill suddenly rearing up around the tight bend, I know to drop down in advance to keep the revs high if i don't want to start rolling backwards (or more realistically in todays cars, resulting in just slogging up it) - an automatic transmission can't do that, it has to wait to feel the load just before it's too late, I can also see the top of a hill quickly drop back down so i know exactly the right moment to shift up again - In short, I don't have to guess like the gear box because I can see and know when I'm going to need more or less torque.

You actually see the same problem in new drivers, they don't anticipate or select the right gear so they crawl up hills and their cars speed tends to match the angle of the road, it's a bit like automatics are newbie drivers, they will eventually select the right gear but not before they've lost all their momentum and revs.

I'd guess that the opposite is true for the US (which by comparison looks to be as flat as a pancake) for the very same reason, you don't need to anticipate gears when the terrain ahead is unchanging, once the box can infer you want to go faster and how much faster, making perfect timing for good acceleration is probably better than a human.

Manuals are also quicker to go from a standstill than automatics. All automatics I've driven have a noticeable lag and don't inspire much confidence. This is important because we have a lot of roundabouts and it makes it much easier if you are confident about taking a small gap to get on to the roundabout. It doesn't matter at all with traffic lights which are more prevalent in the US.

Yeah I'd agree with this. Smaller more windy roads, maybe need more control.

I think a lot of it does have to do with historically bad automatics as well, and the fact that doing your test in an automatic locks you into driving them forever.

Regarding hills, I normally drive with cruise control on so if I'm going 50mph, the car will automatically downshift to maintain that speed. You'd be surprised how many people slow down by default when going up hill because they don't try to maintain the speed and you end up zipping past.

I think for most people in Europe it's a matter of cost. Manual cars are cheaper to buy, so that's what people get. When you look at the high-end segment you find mostly automatics. And everyone I know who tried an EV raves about the smooth driving experience, and loves that there's no clutch.

I believe at least part of the reason is highlighted in the article:

> Most of my sense of accomplishment came from navigating the steep curve of learning how to drive a stick shift with my dad at my side—it’s not something you master overnight.

I've noticed, in general, when people have invested significant effort into developing a skill they are reluctant to let it go. This happens a lot in programming too.

I think its cultural.

Automatic cars were expensive, only posh audis, Mercs and top end "british" cars had them, all the way up till the mid 2000s. they still feel expensive to buy (even though electric cars are all autos now) and there is a fear that they are unreliable and expensive to fix (not sure if that's still the case)

Here in the UK if you only plan to use automatic, you can take an automatic driving license, but you can't drive manuals. So its a bit pointless really. Although one of my mates did it.

Unless I'm going to do track driving, I don't really want a manual (actually if its track I'd rather semi auto)

However, when driving automatic car, I still get the panic "ARGHH CLUTCH OTHERWISE YOU'LL STALL" reflex when I am coming to a halt.

Folks are less lazy this side of the pond ;)

Although you're joking, I just want to say that avoiding needless work isn't laziness, it's efficiency. Maybe those are two sides of the same coin, but I could equally say people in the UK are being needlessly inefficient.

Not just for themselves, but for others - automatics have had better fuel efficiency (less pollution) for years now.

We could even go further and say that needlessly polluting to improve the "feel" of driving is immoral.

Yup this is what I always say. Using modern conveniences doesn't equal laziness. There's a bunch of stuff that cars do for you automatically that you wouldn't call laziness for not doing it yourself: traction control, abs, power steering, using a choke to start the car etc. I lump changing gear into this bucket.

why not walk, with that argument

You must be really looking forward to fully autonomous vehicles, then!