If you’re set on Civic, you definitely owe it to yourself to get the manual.
I test drove an Si Sedan last weekend, and it was sooooo much fun! Perfect clutch travel and really short throws. Go for the Honda MT and you’ll never want auto again
BTW, from Honda’s website I used Honda’s price quote request, inputted all dealerships in my area, and they emailed me some really competitive quotes. I did all negotiaion online and within minutes scored a deal for $250 over invoice.
I disagree. A manual keeps you more alert. Drivers are less likely to slip into a trance while driving. Everyone knows what I am talking about here. Those times when you make that turn that you usually make regularly, but you did not intend to do so on that specific day, etc. If you are honest you know that you have slipped into a trance while driving. A manual keeps you alert, one must be continually aware of what is going on with the tension, located next to the speedometer, etc. I have also heard that if someting goes wrong with a manual transmission, they are cheaper to replace. Personally, I just prefer to drive. Consider a casino scenario…If you like to just push the button on the slot machine, go for the automatic. If you are more of a Black Jack, Roulette, Craps enthusiast, and like to have some control or participation in the final result, get a manual.
Regarding safety, ask your insurance agent if there is a difference in insurance cost for either transmission type. I have both and have never heard of a difference.
I can provide a practical reason to get a manual trans. Save $900 when you buy new. I can change a clutch plate in my garage at home for about a hundred bucks. Can’t overhaul an automatic.
Both are really good in today’s cars. It is really just a personal preference. The real differences in mileage safety longevity etc are all very small. Get what YOU like.
You have my total agreement. It is really personal preference. The only exception is that I live in the snow belt of New York State and I find that the MT gives me more control in the snow. For an inexperienced driver the MT would be a distraction but for the experienced driver the MT is real benefit in slippery conditions. Other than that my choice of MT over AT is mostly based on cost. My car was $1000 less at purchase because I didn’t have to have the AT. I drive my cars until they are dust so I don’t care about re-sale value.
This was my favorite of the replies I read last year in an auto/manual discussion on the old board. Someone asked if they should let their daughter’s boyfriend teach her how to drive a stick. I can’t find the exact reply, but I’ll try to recite it here:
“Teach your daughter yourself. Drive her on a quiet Sunday morning to an empty parking lot, showing her how to shift along the way. Then let her try. She will put it in first, let out the clutch, and it will immediately stall. That’s when she will turn to you like she did when she was 6 years old and you knew all the answers in the universe, and she’ll look you in the eye with a what-do-I-do-now smile. Cherish this moment dearly because it will likely be last time you’ll experience it.”
That comment hit home with me as I had just taught my 17 year old daughter how to drive a stick. She drives with confidence now, but teaching her created memories I’ll never forget.
I have been driving over 35 years. This includes urban (read Boston style), rural, and everything in between. I have mainly driven vehicles with manuals. Recently I developed a handicap that necessitated switching to automatics so I now I can compare the two.
IMHO, manuals [i]are[/i] more fun to drive. As someone else stated in a previous post, they give you more control in snow, mud, etc…if you know how to drive.
Other than that, the advantages of a manual over an automatic have largely disappeared, especially in smaller vehicles.
Yes, clutches are more expensive to replace, but if driven properly a clutch can last 100,000 miles. (I know from experience on more than 1 vehicle.)
Manuals do have some disadvantages if you drive “in traffic” a lot, tho:
It is considerably harder to steer with your knees and read the paper with a manual shift car.
It is also harder to hold a cell phone up to your ear, steer, and shift at the same time. Text messaging is tough, to.
You can hold a Big Mac or a large chocolate shake, but not both.
The facts are, whichever one you like best is the best for you. Automatics cost more up front but are worth more at the back end. As far as driving in difficult conditions, when I first got into offroading 20+ years ago everybody had a manual. In the last few years, you are seeing a lot more automatics, particularly for people who do a lot of rock crawling and really difficult stuff. Every offroad web site has articles on how to convert your manual to an automatic. In short, just get what you like and be happy with it.
If you are going to do a lot of city driving, I suggest you get an automatic. The clutch pedal and gear shift can get very old in traffic. Safety is reall not an issue because that is really in your hands.
I think that whatever the person who drives the vehicle feels most comfortable with is the important factor. My daughter-in-law owned a 1995 Ford Mustang with a 5 speed manual when she and my son were married. She has had such back problems that she is very uncomfortable driving the Mustang. She drives the 2000 Windstar minivan and is much more comfortable. My son rather likes driving the Mustang, although he really didn’t like driving manual shift cars until he was married and had the car available. I had a room mate in college whose father was a minister and drove quite a bit in stop and start traffic. The minister had driven DeSotos that he had purchased second hand with the tip-toe shift. He then purchased an Oldsmobile that was a hydramatic. In 1960, he purchased his first new car–a stripped down Rambler with a 3 speed manual transmission with the shifter on the column. Not long after, he began having terrible pains in his right shoulder that no doctor seemed to be able to diagnose. Six years later, the Rambler was traded for a new Rambler with automatic. Almost miraculously his pain disappeared. It finally dawned on him that the constant shifting, particularly with the shift on the column and shifting into and out of second gear was causing his discomfort. These are two cases where, for the driver’s comfort, the automatic is better.
I find that if you get the right automatic, you have an advantage over snow and ice that no manual transmission provides. But the automatic must have a position which leaves out first gear.
When you start moving ins second instead of first, slippage that would normally happen at the wheels, instead happens in the torque converter. The result is more control.
When you’re going over a hill, you coast down the hill with the clutch disengaged in a MT - you’re idling at about 600RPM, so you’re using almost no gas, and yet you’re gaining speed. An automatic would be going much higher RPMs, and would probably be maintaining or even losing speed since there’s the added friction of the engine attached to the drivetrain slowing everything down.
It is illegal to coast with the engine disengaged from the drive train in many states. It is also dangerous, because if something happens that requires you to reconnect suddenly, it can break the drive train. And that is why it is illegal.
Also, drag starts are not possible in an automatic.
Good! they are dangerous.
Also, as someone already mentioned, heel-toeing is not possible in an automatic. So when you’re driving around a corner at the limits of your tire’s adhesion, your automatic transmission may suddenly decide to downshift and that little jolt will break the grip and you’ll start to slide.
This sounds like dangerous activity to avoid too. It sounds as if you are in WAY too much of a hurry.
Lastly, automatic transmissions are heavier than manuals.
So???
I have a diskike of manual transmissions, because they cause the following troubles:
Often a driver will slip the clutch to stop on an upgrade, because he doesn’t have three feet. This causes two problems:
His brake lights are off. Not only is this illegal, but it can cause an accident. (I know of a guy who used this trick at a stop sign. He got a ticket for not stopping at the stop sign, because his brake lights never came on.)
If he accidentally kills his engine, his car immediately backs into the car behind him.
I see this being done all the time.
I can almost tell which college students have manual transmissions when the road is icy on campus. Theirs are the cars that start to slide sideways when they pull away from a stop sign or traffic light. On the other hand, certain automatics have special gearshift positions which aid the driver in these conditions.
It is much harder for a driver without many years of experience to extricate a car from a slippery condition (mud or ice) with a manual transmission.
I owned a Series II Land Rover (one of the REAL ones, al la 'the Gods Must Be Crazy - though that was a Series I-- and yes, every Series Land Rover I’ve seen that’s been used properly and carefully is EXACTLY like that one) – sometime try ‘rocking’ your car with an automatic – you will find it nearly impossible, if not impossible. And I didn’t have the ‘A’ series, so no syncro transmission. Yes, it did take about a week to get used to double clutching – but with two living witnesses, I drove to and from a VERY rural one room school down mountain canyons using only the gears and emergency break when some jerk mechanic didn’t put CASTROL in it and ate up all the seals when he rebuilt my break system – Automatics aren’t just for ‘he me’ – they are for anyone who wants the most control over their vehicle. Fortunately most roads are paved and fortunately there aren’t a lot of living drivers who scream along dirt roads in automatics in rain or snow or ice or gravel. MT’s MAKE you pay attention to where you are, what the road is doing, and, more important, you can’t talk on a cell phone and drive an MT.
Rubbish! I reviewed magazine road test data for 20 different cars with manual transmissions and found that, at 10 mph in first gear, engine speed for all but two of them ranged from 1,500 to 2,200 RPM. The exceptions were the Corvette and Viper whose engines turned 1,000 and 1,100 RPM at 10 mph. Since idle speed is 1,000 RPM or less, it is entirely possible to drive any of them at 10 mph in first gear without slipping the clutch.
