[Geo_Ipe]

Well very interesting thread indeed!

I'm going a bit off topic, but only because I think it is relevant. The first 'thing' I ever drove was my pal's Kinetic Honda. It was easy to ride and all I had to concentrate was to stay on the road and not end up under a bus. That was a good 10 years ago.

Then I upgraded to the motorcycle! Learnt to use the clutch and gear. But by this time I knew how not to end up under a bus on the road. And then it became a breeze too.

Then I learnt how to drive, on a manual hatchback. Out of the three, this was the easiest since I already knew how to behave on the road and how the clutch - gear mechanism worked.

Now let me fast forward to present day, I drive a Wagon R Vxi. And recently I had the chance to ride an Activa. I honestly felt like a 16 year old! It just didn't feel grown up enough. I didn't feel any involvement!!

I'm sure a lot of BHPians grew up in a similar way. Once you outgrow something, it never will feel ENOUGH afterwards. I guess in the AT dominated markets, kids start driving an AT once they're 16. And that's wat they drive til they're 96!! I bet > 90% can't even drive a manual. So what I'm trying to say is that in our market and automobile culture, the gears are an integral part. And once the clutch - gear mechanism is built into you, you can't get it out!
And if you really have a grudge against the clutch, the mechanism was never really built into you.

And another note to GTO:

Us BHPians are in this forum because we love to drive! A normal office commuter who complains of the clutch wouldn't even be on TBHP!
So even though the thread is interesting, I feel it is a little bit out of place on TeamBHP.
"I love manuals" has to be the undisputed winner.

[Enigmatic]

Lets take it this way .

Team - Bhp being a community of driving freaks , most will not opt for an automatic as it interferes with the pleasure of changing gears by yourself . A computer takes over your job and hence the driving experience dilutes . A very reasonable approach to why automobiles are not that very popular in our "Market".

However if we are talking about the "Mass Market" which if we take into being the sub 10 lakh car market , most people are not driving freaks like us lot .
All they want is a car that takes them from point A to point B . However the most important point fort them is Fuel Efficiency . Just look at the diesel counterparts of any model outselling their petrol counterparts .An automatic gearbox will give lesser miles per gallon and hence the hesitance in the market .

Another important contention is that Diesel hatch/sedans are already on the higher side of the price band than their petrol counterparts . In most of the cases the difference between the similar petrol model to the diesel model is around Rs 70,000 + . Now if you have an automatic as well , if im not wrong the price would go up by another Rs 50,000 if not less !.

This means that people who are already stretching for a diesel car have to stretch more for an automatic option and then in return they would get lesser miles per gallon.

Im not sure how well this theory of paying more and getting less goes down in our " Mass Market " .

Hence the failure of automatic cars in our "Mass Market "

[jesal]

i am on my 5th automatic car in 6 years since i started driving autoboxes for good in bombay since 2005. in the early 90's ive driven a few toyotas and mercs with autoboxes and in a place like bombay its pretty darn good. this might be a car forum and you can say oh manual gives me control and all that crap, but in real you are not a trained racing car driver and in india you do not own insanely powered cars either, so driving a 70bhp car is not going to give you a lot of driving abilities. and also this indian mentality of mileage coming low is utter crap, the more clutch you ride in a manual the more fuel one uses so how it gives more mileage beats me. in an automatic the computer decides what best for fuel efficiency and puts it in for you. so ive had brilliant mileage on all my auto cars. for eg : honda city : 11, hyundai i10 : 9, honda civic : 10, Volkswagen vento : 12. these are city figures only and on highways ive got more, done and tested and lived it and very happy as well. the only problem is not all companies are bringing in the autoboxes in india for a very good reason, its difficult to convince people to shift to one. the cars are easy to fix as well if you know where and how to. parts are same cost as manuals as well. you have to own one to know one, there is a reason why high end cars only come in autobox because the driver screws the car up so its better if a computer plays safe and does the job for a horrible driver. indians mainly are bad drives since there are no rules and most rules are broken on a daily basis, if you say you have never broken one law driving here, youre a plain liar.

[BlackPearl]

My reasons for for manual cars are same as GTO's, heck I spent 6 months in USA to find a manual Toyota Camry . Both my cars in USA (accord and camry) are manuals though I knew well that it would be tough to sell them in this automatic dominated market. To reiterate, my points in favour of manual transmission in decreasing level of importance are-

1. Love to drive and the feel of changing gears manually
2. Reliability of manual transmission
3. Control
4. Efficiency

[vu2pmc]

I would have liked to buy an automatic provided my second car ( daily use/ work) could have been a diesel under 5 Lakh pricing...

I endorse most of the mails here, that, petrol efficiency, pricing and higher maintanence cost are perhaps the compelling reasons that I havent thought about it till date.

[Abes]

I am still waiting for a reliable A/T vehicle with a good ground clearance, lots of space inside, a diesel heart & minimum safety feature like ABS, EBD & Airbags, well within a price tag of 10L on road, in Kerala. Something similar to Duster or Mini Xylo or Ecosport A/T's!!

Outside India, I have always driven A/T petrol cars; fuel cost or GC has never been an issue!

[Crazy4.Cars]

Well i voted for Maintainence concerns, Isnt more expensive to maintain these AT cars?

In MT hatchback cars its simple if your clutch goes get it replaced, it may cost between 4 to 10k however in AT if the auto clutch mechanism gives up i wonder what is the cost of replacing it.
(In the 2 wheeler market its a different story, Honda activa/Suzuki Access have done a good job, they have taken care of most points like FE, maintainence & performance)

[Guna]

I have not voted as I have already switched to an automatic. However I am still not entirely comfortable with automatics in spite of driving one for more then 3 years. My concerns are

• FE
• Indifferent driving experience. It is convenient in the crawling city traffic but on highways I still prefer MT.

All my futures cars will still probably automatics but DSG (and the likes) with manual mode.

[n.devdath]

My next car will certainly be a Skoda diesel DSG. Period. There is nothing to beat this combination at that segment at the moment.

[civic-sense]

Originally Posted by Geo_Ipe

And another note to GTO:

Us BHPians are in this forum because we love to drive! A normal office commuter who complains of the clutch wouldn't even be on TBHP!
So even though the thread is interesting, I feel it is a little bit out of place on TeamBHP.
"I love manuals" has to be the undisputed winner.

Disagree. In fact, the normal office commuter (read, the mass market), who also never get to know of TBHP, never buys an AT. And, TBHP is full of members who drives automatics (City ATs, Civic ATs, Laura ATs and lot more). Do you think that they don't love their drives?

I switched to AT after 12 years of driving manuals. That was when I went to US. After coming back, I started hunting for ATs. I do shift gears while driving, even in my AT, but not with my left hand, but with my right leg.

[aks_karthik]

I am also looking for Skoda/VW Diesel DSG by March 2012. XUV 5OO W8 AWD is also in the list of choice.
More cars, More Confusion

[RadiantKarma]

Very interesting results - large no. of petrolheads willing to switch to automatics right away.

Once the market for autos is developed, economies of scale would substantially bring down the cost premium. Advanced auto trannies and re-skilled labour would address the concerns on FE & maintenance to a great extent. This means bigger transition to autos. With changing trend, even some of the present day manual lovers would have a change of heart.

Auto companies ought to sit up and carry out their own detailed surveys to confirm the trend and tap the opportunity.

[anilkalvani]

My factory is in Andheri East & i stay in Bandra West. The distance is precisely 12.6 kms but it takes 1.5-2 hours to cover it on a usual day. The only thing you encounter is start-stop-start-stop on the whole journey, except for a 2.5km stretch on the Western Express Highway but that too these days is horrific. In such scenario's, do i miss a manual. NO. Will i give up my Automatic for Manual driving pleasure. NEVER. My left knee & ankle thank me everyday of my travel & i am just so relaxed that cannot even describe it. An sorry "Geo_Ipe" but being a team-bhpian does not necessarily make you a manual lover. The main criteria should be "a practical solution and adjusting according to your situation". I bought my i10 AT in 2009 and have never looked back ever since. Bought a Vento AT this year & a Diesel AT, either hatch or sedan, will be my next definite buy to replace my Logan dCi.

[ironshark]

I chose the second option "I LOVE MANUAL TRANSMISSION". Having said that, I also feel that the extra cost premium is not worth it. I am sure, in a cost conscious market like India, manufacturers might have done extensive research hence they are sceptical of getting automatics on the sub 10 lakh segment.

[ethanhunt123]

While things like Laura DSG are tempting, i would probably not buy an Automatic for the next 10 years as they take away the joy of driving for me. Sometimes when stuck in bad traffic, i do wish for AT; but the joy a MT gives on a open highway is enough deterrent for an AT.

Maybe if Laura DSG came with paddle shifters in lower trims, i would give it a thought.