getting fast cars in automatic....

[React1oN]

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I can understand driving automatic if you live in a city with a lot of hills. Using the hand brake at every stop sign gets old really quick.

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you're doing it wrong.

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[Ricky_Bobby]

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I can understand driving automatic if you live in a city with a lot of hills. Using the hand brake at every stop sign gets old really quick.

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you're doing it wrong.

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I think I know what's going on here. My uncle used to use the parking brake at hills instead of just holding the clutch in and moving his feet quickly to take off. I've seen other people literally sit with the clutch half engaged to hold it in place, which is of course absolutely horrible.

I still don't know what is hard about learning the timing to move your right foot from the brake to the gas quickly while letting up on the clutch, but I guess some people were never taught properly.

[JackWilson]

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I can understand driving automatic if you live in a city with a lot of hills. Using the hand brake at every stop sign gets old really quick.

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you're doing it wrong.

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I still don't know what is hard about learning the timing to move your right foot from the brake to the gas quickly while letting up on the clutch, but I guess some people were never taught properly.

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In South Africa we drive pretty much only manuals and 99% of people can't do this reliably on an uphill. It's generally just safer to use the hand brake.

[CharlieDontSurf]

I don't know how to drive stick.
But if i was going to buy some sweet sportscar to drive along the highway or late at night etc I'd def just take the time to learn it. But living in LA I would never want a manual as my full time car.

[dlorc]

MT in cities is nasty.

MT in any other situation is sheer joy. If you enjoy driving get an MT if you think driving is just to get you places get an AT and dont bother getting a nice car.

[z28dreams]

OP,

What it really gets down to is what YOU want to drive. Who cares what other people think of you - it's not their car.

Basically, there's a huge stigma attached to owning a sports car in automatic. In the past, it was because these transmissions were slower. This is hardly the case anymore.

The sad truth too is that 90% of manual drivers suck bad enough that people in an auto would keep up with or outrun them.

I can drive stick, but have never owned a manual, so I'm not particularly good at it. Having always lived in or near a large city, the thought of driving in rush hour traffic with a manual makes me want to vomit.

You can still get the manual control of a car without dealing with all that crap - paddle shifters and other semi-automatic systems out there make this possible.

My suggestion is to go take a day or two to learn manual, and then decide if you are willing to sacrifice some convenience for the "fun" factor. It's useful to know, and you may prefer it.

For me, living in DC and driving on the beltway, that "fun" factor is quickly canceled out by 90 minutes of stop-and-go rush hour traffic every day.