Battle of the Transmissions: M/T vs. A/T

[marv25]

Its confusing sometimes when you have cars na m/t and a/t. Sometimes, i start the m/t only pressing the brake, or sometimes without pressing anything, and it's in first gear. And sometimes in the a/t i think of the pedal parking brake as a clutch coz its located to the right of the brake, so yun habang tumatakbo, biglang tapak sa parking brake.

[ooba99]

And sometimes in the a/t i think of the pedal parking brake as a clutch coz its located to the right of the brake, so yun habang tumatakbo, biglang tapak sa parking brake.

Actually, this is true. And this is a cause of a number of accidents. Especially, pag may nakabuntot sa yo. Blag!!! sapol ang rear mo. In this case, kasalanan pa rin ng driver na nasa likod, imo.

It really takes time to get used to mix driving if you have both manual and automatic tranny as your ride. But eventually, masasanay ka rin. Just up your level of awareness to the kind of tranny that you are driving at a particular moment. And I'm talking from experience.

[marv25]

correction to my last post. the pedal parking brake is to the left of the brake. exactly the position of the clutch.

[Jun aka Pekto]

Here's a more detailed look at my take of MT vs A/T. It's strictly mine and in no way reflects on others' own unless of course it's coincidence.

I've driven two cars with similar (factory stock) straight-line performance. One is a 1991 turbocharged DSM which has a 5-spd M/T and my current 2006 Hyundai Sonata which has a 5-spd A/T manumatic. Both have mid-upper 6-sec 0-60 mph, both have low 15-sec quarter miles, both have upper teens 0-100 mph, both have +140 mph top speeds.

Heck, both even have similar hp to weight ratios:
1991 Plymouth Laser RS Turbo: 190hp/2800lbs = 1:14.74
2006 Hyundai Sonata V6: 235hp/3458lbs = 1:14.72

Although "feel" is very subjective, I felt no disadvantage accelerating with the Sonata while moving on a highway despite the A/T being less efficient than a M/T. The Hyundai was every bit as quick as the older car because its gear ratios were well done. I have yet to experience "gear-hunting" which I've seen many times with our 1995 Ford Contour (also A/T). Overtaking on a 2-lane road hasn't been a problem. Once I commit, there's no problem getting the power to the wheels. I also haven't seen problems with the gears shifting too low, resulting in engine abuse.

I think the gear ratios of the 2006 V6 Sonata's done well-enough that there's been rumors it can handle 160 mph which also happens to be the max speed labeled on the speedometer.

I think M/T holds an edge better against older 4-speed A/T. It's much less so with 5-spd and 6-spd A/T.

[DON2003]

driving A/T is more convenient but for me its not as easy as M/T

I can do everything with M/T without the worries of hurting the tranny, engine brake to stop, accelerate to full then shift, rev & swift at high speed and rpm, engine brake to cut corners, down shift to overtake, etc etc

even the new A/T can do most of these, but I don't anyone who has a A/T will drive the car as a M/T,

I try to find a tutorial in driving a A/T or faq on how to properly drive a A/T but still can't find one, may be someone can guide me where I can be educated,

[tidus1203]

Unfortunately most driving schools have their cars in MT since the popular belief is if you know how to drive MT you would also know how to drive an AT and not the other way around (which is obvious)

[Jun aka Pekto]

driving A/T is more convenient but for me its not as easy as M/T

I can do everything with M/T without the worries of hurting the tranny, engine brake to stop, accelerate to full then shift, rev & swift at high speed and rpm, engine brake to cut corners, down shift to overtake, etc etc

even the new A/T can do most of these, but I don't anyone who has a A/T will drive the car as a M/T,

I try to find a tutorial in driving a A/T or faq on how to properly drive a A/T but still can't find one, may be someone can guide me where I can be educated,

A M/T is still prone to abuse. I had a friend force a downshift from 5th to 3rd in a freeway. It's like we hit a wall. Everything (including us inside) but the car lurched forward. Good thing he managed to re-press down on the clutch. But, it scared the crap out of me and I was so ticked off I punched his shoulder raw.

As for engine braking.... Whether engine braking with a M/T or wheel braking with an A/T, you're stressing something. With the A/T, the stress is on the brake pads while with a M/T, the stress is on the engine (just watch the rpms fly) and whatever gear the stick is at plus the clutch. Personally, I rather stress the brake pads. They're way cheaper to replace.

When I round a corner, I obviously have to apply the brakes, but just enough to make it through safely. Soon as I'm through, just punch the gas and the car goes. No need to row the gears or worry about a sub-optimal clutch release with each shift.

I'm not the most experienced driver around. But, I've driven stick almost exclusively for 13 years plus another 13 driving both stick and A/T cars. I'm comfortable with either transmission. I'd probably notice more the differences in transmission if my cars were underpowered. But, I haven't had a car lacking in hp since my 1986 Nissan Pulsar NX (55hp, 5-spd M/T).

[jjon10]

My first car is an A/T. I could drive M/T pero nanibago ako when i drove my car as in naghahanap ang paa ko ng clutch pero i think A/T is much better all around less hassle sa pag change ng gears and everything, yung bang relax paa mo if its a long drive pero ngawit naman pag sobrang tagal, i once had pins and needles on my right foot, dahil naka tapak sa accelarator for so long anyway i would say A/T nalang i mean it does what M/T meant to do pero minus clutching lang.

[iamAYI]

kahit anung gawin mas marami pa ring advantages ang M/T over A/T lalo na sa maintenance and itatagal ng car. panalo ang M/T!

[glenngj]

The Automatic transmission vis a vis the Manual transmissions has its own pros and cons. Lets see what they are.

Firstly, as we all know that the AT (Auto Transmission) is much more convenient and enjoyable than the MT (Manual Transmission). Well, lets talk convenience here. We know that the car is run on 4 basic things besides the judgment of the driver. They are the steer wheel, the pedals, the gear shaft and the other control including lights, wipers, horn etc. If we subtract one of those jobs, we reduce our efforts in driving by 25%. All you have to do is relax both your hands evenly on the steer wheel rather than constantly engaging yourself in switching gears as per the changing speeds. Also one of your leg is as good as not required as there is no clutch pedal. When we talk about the driving pleasure, well with the efforts reduced the car definitely seems to be a much better machine than otherwise.

Some Basics - Just like that of a manual transmission, the automatic transmission’s primary job is to allow the engine to operate in its narrow range of speeds while providing a wide range of output speeds.

Without a transmission, cars would be limited to one gear ratio, and that ratio would have to be selected to allow the car to travel at the desired top speed. If you wanted a top speed of 80 mph, then the gear ratio would be similar to third gear in most manual transmission cars.

You’ve probably never tried driving a manual transmission car using only third gear. If you did, you’d quickly find out that you had almost no acceleration when starting out, and at high speeds, the engine would be screaming along near the red-line. A car like this would wear out very quickly and would be nearly undriveable.

So the transmission uses gears to make more effective use of the engine’s torque, and to keep the engine operating at an appropriate speed.

The key difference between a manual and an automatic transmission is that the manual transmission locks and unlocks different sets of gears to the output shaft to achieve the various gear ratios, while in an automatic transmission, the same set of gears produces all of the different gear ratios. The planetary gearset is the device that makes this possible in an automatic transmission.

We clearly can make out, that the AT vehicle is very convinient and a smooth drive compared to the MT, but there are a few drawbacks in the AT. Firstly, the At gives a much lesser mileage than the MT, besides if you ask some of the good drivers, they really prefer the MT to the At. WHAT????? WHY would anyone prefer a MT over an AT? Well, the fact is that the AT is designed to change gears at a specific range of speeds, for example, the gear might shift from the first to the second lets say when the car hits 20 KMPH and then from second to third when it is doing a 50 KMPH and so on. That leaves a driver with little option to choose his drive mode. Some drivers prefer to rev the engine on every gear, which would mean, he probably would like to hit the second gear only when the car hits a 30 KMPH and the third when its about 65 KMPH whereas the others who would like to conserve fuel, might switch to a higher gear a little early.

The difference - AT being very easy to use and smooth, MT gives you more options and is easy on the budget month after month. Having driven both, seems like, the AT is really good when you out on a vacation or generally if wanna enjoy a drive, but the MT is good when you going to work, braving the traffic.