Manual here, always had manual cars but does get tiresome in bad traffic (I must be getting old!)

Always had manual in the UK. Here, I drive an automatic and I'm lovin' it! I drive an SUV so petrol consumption is hardly the issue anyway. Especially now it's $2.09 a gallon......

One word - patent! Seems like it ought to be running out by now, though.

englishnurse, there should not be a significant difference in insurance. But Manc could probably give you a better answer.

As for me, I want my manual back! The automatic is a pain in the arse on the hills around here. (I live at 7,000 feet and usually drive at between 5,500 and 11,000 feet everytime I leave town.)

we have both. Manual I use for getting to a from the station and the family car is automatic.

For long journeys I prefer the auto as it is easier and I can't stand having to get in and out of gear in traffic jams, but for short journeys and no traffic manual is much more fun.

Drove a friend's manual the other day for a total of about 5 miles on the freeway, and I WILL NEVER DRIVE A MANUAL AGAIN as long as I live Been here too long and too spoiled by automatics.

Definitely a manual for me - tried my husbands old automatic a couple of times and hated it. He wanted an automatic again but luckily they were hard to come by for the car we wanted so he had to settle for a manual. I think he was glad in the end - its more fun accelerating fast on the empty country roads round where we live.

I love driving stick, but not with the kids in the car with me cos they are forever dropping stuff and creating chaos in general. I need that hand free to slug down some tranquillity drinks, change the radio station, etc.....

The fuel efficiency with modern automatics has almost caught up with manual, so that's not an issue. Automatic in the UK is sooooo worth it because not only do I have enough to concentrate on, I'm not used to shifting with my left hand. I can do it, but it's more stressful.

Right now I drive a minivan cos it's easier to load the kids in and out, and the fuel economy is not too much different to a full-sized sedan -- much better than an SUV. I've gotten rather spoilt; travelling by myself in the van means I basically have a very small RV and can take any and everything I want!

Are you sure? I've bought three vehicles since I arrived in the US, all stick-shift, and all were priced lower than corresponding autos (auto's showed "automatic" as an added cost option on the window notices).

Good of you to drop in Pulaski!

Yeah, I thought stick shift cars were supposed to be cheaper to buy and run.

On a separate note, I have looked again at my auto-shift and the darn thing only has one "manual" gear and that is for 1st. I doubt I could change into first if my breaks failed on a downhill gradient ... give me manual stick any day of the week, sure automatic is much easier and less of a burden in stop-go traffic. But having a manual adds an extra level of safety if the brakes fail, with my automatic Lincoln Town Car I can't use its 5L engine's breaking power ... my car lacks decent manual gears.

not around here they ain't, when we went looking for cars, I only found two manuals, and they were a couple grand more expensive than the automatics, they were new though, and all the other places had to order manuals in...as for second hand, didn't see one anywhere...

there cheaper to run, more efficient, plus when they get old, clutch plate is a lot cheaper to replace than an automatic...

Yes, two of the three I bought were special order, but then I knew that they were really new (hadn't been sitting around on the dealer's forecourt for months), hadn't been taken for a test drive, and were the exact color and spec I wanted.

Just out of interest, what make and models are you talking about as being more expensive as manual than auto?

when I bought my crossfire it was standard as a manual but had a waiting list of 4 months - auto was 4 weeks - how does that work ? - wish Id waited though now - drove a new corvette today with a stick felt like I was doing something again ... fastest car I have even been in

New cars that we looked at, only cos all the dealers were on the same road...were Saab 95, and Saturn don't have a clue model, that had a manual each.

American brands often charge more for an automatic (at least for cars - pickups follow a different pricing scheme). Presumably their argument would be 'lack of market'. But if you get a Honda for example, automatic is usually about $1,000 more.