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There are pro's and con's to bothFeb 12 '00 Write an essay on this topic.I learned to drive on a 1961 Austin Healy Bug-Eye Sprite, and later on owned a 1957 Bug-Eye. Until about five years ago I only owned foreign cars with a stick shift. Stick shifts were my first choice. Yes, they had a lower resale value, but they were also somewhat less expensive to purchase too. Kids and the need for a larger car made me have to transition from a stick shift to an automatic car. You cannot buy a station wagon or mini-van with a stick shift as far as I know. At the same time I changed from being a foreign car buyer to an American car owner. I liked cars with a stick shift because I felt I had more control of the car in a variety of weather conditions and terrain. I could use a lower gear in snowy/slippery weather for example to avoid breaking coming down hills. I could choose what gear I wanted for sharp curves, passing or driving through mountainous country. The older cars (like the Healy) had only four forward gears, while later models of cars added the fifth gear where you could improve your gas mileage quite a bit -- the engine did not have to work as hard through the additional range of gears. Stick shifts were also fun, especially when combined with a small 2-seater. You could zip along in and out of small spaces, even though driving next to a tractor-trailer was pretty intimidating! I will never forget the time my brother came out to visit and wanted to take the Bug-Eye for a spin---off we went into the rural countryside, down and around back dirt roads running at a pretty good clip, when we came around one corner and were faced with 2 planks going over a deep water ditch. Well we we going a bit too fast to stop and thank goodness those planks were close enough, because some how we just made it over. You cannot get the same feel or excitement with a big 'ole automatic, I do not care how exciting the advertisements try to make them seem. A big drawback to stick shifts is city driving where there is a lot of traffic, stop and go holdups, and the need to "keep it in 1st" for miles because of the bumper-to-bumper traffic (like in NYC/Long Island). Your left leg starts to get so fatigued it begins to shake when holding in the clutch waiting for the traffic to move. Automatics are the best choice for that kind of driving. Stick shifts are no fun in these situations, especially if it will be a daily regime. Another drawback to stick shifts (if you are not good with the clutch) are where there are numerous stop lights/intersections at the tops of hills. If you cannot quickly switch from being stopped to moving forward (not rolling backward) you may wish to either get more practice, or switch to an automatic. Automatic's are easier on the legs, and you do not have to worry about what gear you are in. You can drop them into a lower gear if you need it, but you can only go so fast or the engine rev's up way to high. There is also an overdrive if you will be driving at higher rates of speed for some distance. Overdrive may not be the best choice for your overall engine if you will be driving on a lot of hilly, curvy roads where you will be changing engine speeds frequently and making the transmission work harder. I have enjoyed driving automatics, not in the same way as a stick shift, but it has been enjoyable none-the-less. It is nice to know that I can drive either kind of car and that I have been able to experience driving both. I will stick with automatics, I'll go with the stick shifts for fun now!  |
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