What do expats prefer when driving is it automatic or stick shift? I prefer automatic as you are not forever changing gears at traffic lights, although I do think petrol consumption is better with stick shift. My family in the UK often ask what I prefer as I always drove stick shift in the UK

With you on this one.

Time warp?

Stick shift would be my choice every time.

I was once driving a Citroen Diane (with an umbrella stick shift that comes out of the dashboard) down a hill in Preston (yes, there are some rather short steep hills in Preston) and the brakes totally failed. (The car was on its return trip from an MOT where the MOT mechanic really tested the brakes hard). I brought that car to a stop with the gears and the handbrake (which was more akin to an umbrella than the gear shift).

I now drive a Lincoln, it has an automatic gearshift, which works fine, but I really dislike driving a heavy car without a stick shift. If the brakes ever fail on my Lincoln while driving downhill I doubt I will be able to stop it as quickly as a Lincoln with a stick shift (I don't know if there are any Lincolns with stick shifts), but with a stick shift the 5L V8 Lincoln engine could be used like a fail safe brake to slow the car. My Lincoln has an integral 2nd gear - but no third gear. I guess I could throw the car into 2nd gear and really crunch the gearbox, but I rather go through 3rd gear to get to 2nd gear.

Somebody please, find me a Lincoln with a stick shift. Morphed from the line, "Somebody, please find me a tailor"; from one of the BBC RD shows, and a line uttered by "the Cat".

I drive a stick shift, but I work from home and nashville traffic is not bad.

if i lived in atlanta/LA/new york etc and had to drive in then i would drive an auto

I like the train.

Manual in SF is a waste of time, automatic for me!

Manuals aren't great with fuel economy, nor pulling out of the snow and the like...but if I were stuck in traffic jams everyday, I think I might prefer the ease of a automatic...though what's wrong with coasting?

Drive an automatic though, and hate it...but manuals cost more to buy and hardly ever see them...

You should try the Subaru manuals. When you are stationary on a backward slope and push down the clutch and brake together, it automatically engages the parking brake; it automatically release it when you start going forward again. Magic idea -- dunno why nobody else thought of it! Works a treat when you've got used to it.

Manual - VW Bug, perfect for the town driver like myself - better control, excellent fuel consumption; would despise having an automatic though for the Hubster it's a necessity with that crappy DC commute...

I have a stick, 'er indoors has an auto. I commute 20-30 minutes to work, mostly outside the rush hour, mostly on the freeway; she does the daycare run and trips to the mall - mostly surface streets, often at peak times.

Cheers,

Pat

100% manual, no question. I disagree with the snow bit, I drove 3 automatic cars in the snow and had wheelspin in all of them, with my car nothing. I also like the fact that if I want to be in 3rd gear at 50 going onto the highway or Go directly from 2nd to 4th, I can. I also feel that I can pre empt things better, I know I want to drop it down and overtake, an automatic thinks about it for a second and then does it!

Auto for me, because I'm lazy and don't see the point in constantly changing gears in traffic to and from work.

1st..2nd.brake..stop...2nd....3rd..brake.2nd....3r d.brake.2nd stop for 2hrs a day.

Our car (Volvo XC90) has a weird gearbox; it's an automatic but you can choose to drive it as a manual.....but I can't see the point as there isn't a clutch! (There is also a 'W' button for Winter driving on icy roads which pulls the car from stop-start in a higher gear). Like PA/Franklin, I do feel more in control in a car with a manual gearbox, especially in an emergency situation and being able to go down a gear when going into a bend rather than totally relying on the brake pedal.

I didn't think I would be able to drive easily using a a stick-shift on my right, but when we were in Estonia last Summer we had no choice and coped fine with the VW Jetta we rented.

We will probably have to buy another car later this year as our son will be taking his driving test and three drivers in the house and one car to share will be a nuisance! I'd love our son to learn how to drive with a manual gearbox as it's like riding a bike - once you know how to do it you never forget. Unfortunately the driving instructors around here don't even have cars with a manual gearbox - they said there is no demand for it. Our teenager will want to drive up to the mountains in the winter to go snowboarding so I guess we will be looking at an old Subaru...hope they come in manual versions.

Also Newark is 10 miles away and one of the car crime capitals of the US, cars are often stolen from the shopping malls in our area (a big trend is to steal those xenon headlights too).....but most of the thieves don't know how to drive a manual so they rarely steal them LOL!

are there insurance implications ie does one cost more to ensure than the other?