Ah, this is such a fun subject. Having driven both kinds of tranny's for
daily drivers, I would buy an Auto over a manual any day of the week in
Southern California with one exeception: having a turbo charger on the
vehicle. Traffic SUCKS with a stick shift. By the end of your drive you are
dead, your leg is dead, your arm is dead, and your clutch is screaming "Help
ME!!!". In the past, sticks ruled the towing world, now it's autos. Most new
big rigs use autos now, and towing with a stick shift really sucks at times.
So here's my winner comparison:
Effiency of Power Transfer: Manual
Ease of Use: Auto
Reliability: Toss Up
Less Cost over 200Kmi (no breakage): Auto
Less Cost over 200Kmi (service costs): Toss Up
Less Cost over 200Kmi (entire vehicle considered): Auto
Less initial Cost: Manual
Higher Resale Value: Auto
Distance Driving: Auto
The whole point it, Automatics don't require you to baby sit them. You
can't make a mistake in a shift and blow your engine or tranny all over the
pavement. You can with a stick. When an auto runs out of life, you buy a
re-build kit and it's immediately re-born. With a stick you have to
re-purchase the whole damn thing cause even the case gets worn out by the
gears. You can own an auto and never do anything to it execept change the
oil. I guarantee a stick will need a $500 clutch job every 50K miles unless
you baby the heck out of it and you can get 70K. To be honest, the costs are
about the same for the tranny itself over their lives, but the real damage is
what they do to the truck. Autos are softer and easier on the drivetrain
components than the sticks are. When you stick folks are slamming it through
the gears you're killing your engine, differential, driveshaft, axles, tires,
frame, interior components... etc... etc...
Essentially, Autos are easier on the driver, the vehicle, and in the end,
your wallet. In So. Cal. an auto is worth about $600 more in resale value
compared to a stick. That's really what you paid for it in the first place so
you don't lose anything overall.
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