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Charbucks · 08-10-2007

I say give it a test drive and see what you think. I think it's largely personal preference. There's a few situations where I don't like autos:

if you are going up a hill at a speed that isn't perfect for what the car wants, they tend to jump back and forth between gears
if you are going down a hill, it will continue to shift up, so you need to apply the brakes to maintain speed
if you are stopped but in drive (i.e. at a stop light), the car will drive forwards unless your foot is on the brake
if you accelerate, they tend to downshift even if all you wanted to do was gently increase your speed

Overall, I feel more in control when I'm driving a standard. I find that the major advantage to autos is that it's easier to drink coffee while driving

.

As to economy, I think that they are less economical. First off, you do have a bit of a hit in fuel economy - depending on the car, it can be as much as 4-5 mpg difference. I'd say look up the rating online somewhere (for example, Fuel Economy is pretty decent for North American cars, but I'm not sure if there's a British equivalent). Secondly, I think (not sure though) that autos are more expensive to maintain/fix.

08-10-2007	#3 (permalink)
Charbucks Needs a new custom title Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Onterrible, Canada Posts: 557	Re: anyone drive an automatic? I say give it a test drive and see what you think. I think it's largely personal preference. There's a few situations where I don't like autos: if you are going up a hill at a speed that isn't perfect for what the car wants, they tend to jump back and forth between gears if you are going down a hill, it will continue to shift up, so you need to apply the brakes to maintain speed if you are stopped but in drive (i.e. at a stop light), the car will drive forwards unless your foot is on the brake if you accelerate, they tend to downshift even if all you wanted to do was gently increase your speed Overall, I feel more in control when I'm driving a standard. I find that the major advantage to autos is that it's easier to drink coffee while driving . As to economy, I think that they are less economical. First off, you do have a bit of a hit in fuel economy - depending on the car, it can be as much as 4-5 mpg difference. I'd say look up the rating online somewhere (for example, Fuel Economy is pretty decent for North American cars, but I'm not sure if there's a British equivalent). Secondly, I think (not sure though) that autos are more expensive to maintain/fix.