Really big ones.
Well, ideally I’d set myself up with a subcompact manual transmission for commuting, and an automatic pickup truck with tow package to get started on my bucket list. Wait, modify that. If money were no object I’d get something like a Nissan Leaf for the commuter car. On the other hand, its more likely than not that by this time next year I will be employed somewhere else than my current job, so its kind of hard to know what my commute will look like, isn’t it?
P.S.- I guess I should answer the original question, huh? IF I had to make such a commute, (if it were absolutely unavoidable) I think I would want an automatic transmission. As things are for me, I don’t consider it a burden to get stuck in the occassional traffic jam in my manual transmission car.
P.P.S.- Good point, @db4690 I may yet end up as some sort of “fleet vehicle” driver. I think most of the types of vehicles I mght end up driving would have automatic transmissions, but who knows where the road of life leads?
If money were no object
We wouldn’t be having this discussion 
If money were no object? I’d get a Bentley Continental droptop, a Toyota Tacoma pickup, a house with an eight stall garage (two deep and four across) with a lift, and start working on a hot rod. I might get a restored Spitfire just for kicks… if I could get into it. I always loved those cars.
The Bentley would be a slush (automatic), everything else would be stick.
If money were no object my garage would need a turn table because I’d have a few airplanes as well as cars. >:)
Travolta runs his 707 right up to the car… er… Planeport that extends from his house. Why shouldn’t I?!
I have driven manuals most of my life and have not had issues in traffic. Actually, most of these were driven in congested areas. Now, we are 3 driver/2 car family and I am the only one who likes manuals, so they are both AT.
The only time I had trouble in traffic was with a 1940’s Jeep WIlly’s I had restored. Three speed with no syncro and no brake booster. The most difficult part was holding the brake on a long red light when on and incline/decline. I would sometimes turn the car off in gear on those lights due to leg cramps.
My vehicles are all manual and sometimes I get stuck in congestion. I deal with it.
One thing I do is strive never to come to a complete dead stop. Even going at a slow walking speed makes the difference between having to do a clutch slipping start and just engaging the clutch on an idling engine and then opening the throttle.
This means looking ahead at what’s happening at the next red light and slowing down early instead of racing up to the intersection and then coming to a dead stop necessitating a clutch slipping start.
On my motorcycle, I make it a game to see if I can ride without putting my feet down in congested traffic, and I can balance my bike at a slow walking pace.
Not only is driving like this kind to clutches, it’s kind to brakes also, plus you get really good gas mileage as a bonus.
Impossible in Boston. Sound, rational thinking, but impossible in Boston.
Boston, NYC, Chicago, I would not want to live within 50 miles of any of them. On second thought, make that 75 miles.
I’ve driven in all of them. Also Miami, LA, and even Honolulu. I agree with you. I’m not much of a “city boy”. My son, on the other hand, likes it right outside of LA. Different strokes for different folks.
In the 1940s, Packard and Hudson tried to help drivers of standard shifts avoid using the clutch with an electric clutch offered on the Packard and a vacuum operated clutch on the Hudson. I don’t think either these systems worked very well, but it did eliminate having to use the clutch. Sometime in the 1960s, AMC offered something called e-stick on its Ramblers that eliminated the clutch. I don’t know think it was a very popular option.
The last car I owned with a manual shift was my 1965 Rambler. After that point, used cars with a,manual transmission were hard to find,and new cars had to be special ordered. The fully automatic transmissions were popular right from the start. Pontiac first offeed an automatic transmission in 1948. 85% of the eight cylinder Pontiacs sold that year and_50% of the 6 cylinder Pontiacs were equipped with automatic transmissions.
Been there, done that.
With some experience driving a stick is second nature.
My neighbors ran into someone with their new 59 Chevy and decided to fix it themselves. So they bought a 49 or something DeSoto to use in the meantime. I’m sure that Desoto had some type of automatic clutch, like a centrifugal clutch so you could leave the clutch out and in gear with your foot on the brake and only needed to use the clutch to shift. That was a long time ago though.
gallant: When I was about a month shy of 14 years old (Summer of 1966) I was able to land my first hourly wage job because my Father had already taught me how to drive a clutch. The job was driving old beat up military jeeps towing irrigation pipe trailers. Crash box 3 speeds and todays drivers would think the brakes were non functional. $1.00 per hour. Minimum wage was $1.25 but agriculture and food services (restaurant work) were exempt. At my age the jeeps were so challenging/fun I would have paid to drive them! When I joined the Army in 1977 I occasionally drove the M-151 jeeps. I don’t know if they had syncromesh transmissions. I assumed not and just double clutched away!
the same mountainbike: A few of the Bostonians I have met describe it as total traffic anarchy. I have encountered this in foreign lands. It is not pleasant.
@sgtrock21 Mine did not have any synncro. I had just started working in a rural area. I sold my other car and invested the money and with my 1st paycheck bought this Jeep. There was a lot of downtime at my rural area job, so I restored the thing. It was great for off-roading which I did some but really not so good on fwy. I think I still get nostalgic when I see one and it is so bad that even my friends would send me pics if they see one on the street.
the same mountainbike: I lived in San Gabriel right outside of Los Angeles for 3 years in the mid 1970s. I could not figure out why the idiot commuters “parked” on the interstates for 3+ hours to go 30 to 40 miles. There are hundreds of boulevards and many 2 lane state highways. They could be congested but you were able to keep moving. I found I could use them and cut travel time by much more than half. While there I occasionally drove the company van with A/T. The rest of the time was various vehicles with M/T.
gallant: The jeeps I drove at the farm were WW2/Korean War vintage with no syncros known among my peers as a “crash box” transmission. The M-151s I drove in the Army were 1960s/1970s vintage.
I don’t drive into Boston anymore. The MBTA more convenient. Boston is a very walkable city. And the T is pretty good at getting you places you need to go…except last winter.
I lived with Los Angeles rush hour traffic with a manual transmission for a few years and I was quite irritated with the automatic of the rental car that I had while mine was at the body shop. The almost nonexistent engine braking had me going back and forth between the stop and go pedal; that was tiring within an hour. In my own car I would keep it in a low gear and use the throttle as my primary speed control.
Modern clutches are fairly easy on the left leg; the clutch in my current car is so light the clutch pedal assembly is made of plastic rather than steel. If you’re a competent driver, you only need the clutch to get going. And if you’re willing to keep a safe distance behind a semi truck, they would have you rolling through rush hour traffic as much as possible. If you don’t want to start and stop in a manual, those truckers really don’t want to stop and go through 5 gears just to reach 20mph
The only time I wanted an automatic in rush hour traffic was when I drove a bus with a non-synchronized stick, no tachometer, and a clutch that you practically have to stand on. An hour with one of those had me limping into the office as I turned in my paperwork