[anirudh_85]

Only AT for me. I used to be a big MT fan, but my father, having just stepped into senior citizenship, has bought an AT Honda City and boy is it a pleasure to drive! I am now totally hooked to ATs and will positively opt for one when it is time to bid adieu to my 7 year old Chevy Spark (which should happen pretty soon).

[GJ01]

Voted MT Only.

Have been driving for the last 20 years. Have driven AT cars when I lived in US for ~ 5 yrs, also now during my business trips to US / Australia and only MT cars in India.

While AT cars are comfy, I feel the driving becomes boring in AT. The left foot sits sulking as it has nothing to do, and I personally have a feeling that AT + Cruise Control is borderline comatose. There is nothing to do !

Others have pointed out that driving MTs in bumper to bumper traffic is very strenuous, but the boredom of AT is not something I like. I dont drive like its a F1 race, happy to give way to the maniacs rushing to meet their maker.

Bottomline - I just feel driving a MT is more involving and keeps you alert. So its an MT for me

[amalji]

Always AT for my main workhorse.
Even for the second car, I might choose automatic again.

Reasons

• Even if I spend just 20% of the distance on city traffic, the time share would be 50% ( assuming average speed of 20kmph on city and 80 kmph on highways ). And it's that 50% of the time that I get damn tired of driving the vehicle. In reality, the time share would be some where close to 75-80% for the city. Automatics ( even the AMTs ) makes life so easy on city traffic.
• I'm getting older and peace of mind is slowly taking over the adrenaline rush
• I'm no longer alone and automatics are certainly much much more friendlier to my wife.
• Easy on the knees especially when you have people in the family with knee issues.

[carfreak]

I voted for 'depending on the car'

There is no doubt in the fact that I love manual gearboxes. It is not based on the shift speeds or anything else- it's the feeling of being connected to your car, feeling of being in control of your car, something that I am yet to experience in an automatic. Yes, I have driven a lot of automatics and I own a vRS now. If it was available with a manual box, I would have picked that over the automatic.

Voted for the third option only because unfortunately, we lack options in manual cars which are fun to drive. Many cars that are seriously fun to drive are not available with manual gearboxes (The vRS being an example). I would not go for an Abarth Punto over a vRS just because the former has a manual box. So essentially it boils down to availability too.

Yes, in the case of certain SUVs like the Endeavour, I would pick the automatic any day. That is because I generally do not like to drive SUVs and I see them as vehicles which I will have to use if I am planning to go over a bad stretch of road or if I need to carry a lot of people/ luggage. In either scenario, I am not going to enjoy the drive.

If I am buying a car to enjoy driving it, and if there is a manual option for the car I am going to buy, then I will choose a manual any day.

[csr9]

Voted for MT or AT.

With worsening traffic conditions, I would opt for an AT as my daily drive. With both my cars being equipped with DSG gearbox’s, I rarely miss MT’s. On the downside, AT’s are expensive to fix and maintain. DSG clutch pack and the transmission fluid cost much higher when compared to MT’s. However, that is a small price you pay for convenience.

When it comes to new gen engines like the VW’s TSI, I wouldn’t mind a TSI + MT combo (Laura) which would be a blast to drive.

[Glessrob]

Originally Posted by GTO

Yep, I'm well aware that we have an old thread on this topic (link), but that's from a different era of ATs. In the early days of Team-BHP, some BHPians still drove 3-speed automatics !

P.S. Let's enjoy MTs all that we can. There won't be a place for them in the next revolution of cars (EVs, fuel cells, autonomous).

Thank you for this poll. I am strictly in favor of ATs. I am a lazy guy and I believe if the technology is available why should the driver has to do the hard work of pressing the clutch. Three cheers for the person who invented Automatic Transmission. May god bless him/her.

[veyron_head]

I do want to buy an AT but, may be it sounds silly, I am worried I will forget driving MTs after sometime!!

[Lambydude]

For me the decision is based on where I'm driving. If I'm driving on a highway, where the gear shifts are not very frequent, an MT is much more preferable. I get the driving thrill, overtaking is under my control and better fuel efficiency.
However, in Bangalore city traffic, it's AT anyday.

[lancer_rit]

Voted for MT only! No way an AT gives that connect and/or control that MT does.

I just bought a new Superb 1.8TSI MT over 7DSG. Its way better than the DSG IMO, costs 2 lakh less, way more reliable, 70NM more torque :-)

My other car is 14+ year old Lancer 1.5 MT. Butter smooth even today.

In general, I would only buy a car if its MT is good (and better than AT).
In case of premium segment where they don't give an option at all, I would prefer an AT which allows me to drive like an MT minus clutch pedal. The Audi A3 7DSG in Manual mode with the stick shift was as good as it gets on Alpine roads (for an auto), and I found it more involving than the 320d with ZF in similar hills roads.

[GRAND23]

Voted for AT only.
Though I am a fan of manual gears, I am bit aligned to future cars. India is going to experience AT era soon. Almost all manufacturers have planned to introduce AMT's.
My hot favorite AT is VW DSG. Supreme design and technology which gives bundles of fun. Personally, I believe India auto market will get ready for AT in just blink of an eye.
Didn't we heard about Honda's 11-speed triple clutch??
https://www.team-bhp.com/news/forget...clutch-gearbox

[W.A.G.7]

I voted for the MT gearbox. I still feel, there is fun in driving the car yourself, than letting the car drive itself. Of course, my opinion is not hard and fast like this. With the growing traffic around me, I am also now open to checking out automatics in the future. However till now, I have never driven an automatic; so rightfully I shouldn't be commenting or comparing MT's and AT's

For me, in a nutshell; the brain says that it should be automatic, you should change with the times. The Heart still says MT!

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

For me, in a nutshell; the brain says that it should be automatic, you should change with the times. The Heart still says MT!

Trust me, your Heart will sing a chorus with your brain once you drive AT for a certain period of time. No, few rounds around the block does not count and won't convert you. I was a very fierce MT fan until 2011. Never thought I would convert. Now, I don't bother looking at an MT car, no matter how good. I will rather drive an AT basic car than an MT super car. Today, if I buy 100 cars, all 100 will be AT. I'm so much smitten by AT.

By the way, why this third choice of MT or AT, depending on a car? These days, sports car like Ferrari, Lambo, Bugatti to SUVs like Rovers, LCs everything comes in AT and AT alone.

[motorworks]

I was very apprehensive about ATs until I drove the DSG Vento TSi and TDi, I mean it was simply wow!

I think MTs are great fun, upshifting and downshifting and feels like you are in total control, but off late with me spending nearly 2 hours everyday covering a mere 35 kms in Bangalore, I have started feeling that my next car should be an AT or at least one car in the family should be an AT to offer some flexibility at times. Either way one of the two cars in the family is going to be an AT in next 1-2 years!

[arunrajk81]

I thought of this for a while and I was able to enjoy MT in India, but not in US. The reason from my observation is as below.

Since its RHD in India, I was a fan of MT in India. Being a right-hander, it’s easy for me to hold steering with right hand and gear knob with left hand and I was able to handle hairpin curves also in this style.

Where as in US being LHD, it’s not very easy to hold steering using Left hand and gear shift with right hand. Left-handers might find easy to drive an MT in US. A car with paddle shift might solve this issue to some extent.

In US, I prefer an AT over MT. AT in the sense a DCT or any gearbox with electronic shift mechanism. I am not in favor of CVT and AMT (Also some CVS which simulate gear shifts like Subaru-I am excluding that too).I tried my car driving manual mode in US through roads with hair pin curves and felt it’s not very easy.Could this be the explanation for more MTs in Europe than in USA?

[CarJunki]

Currently have two cars, one each of AT and MT. The MT is old one and soon will be replaced by AT.