lies! no power + tall gears = suuuper slow

 

If you make a lot of highway the A/T will be cheaper on gas since the gears are longer. And it will be less noisy.

6th gear would = same power on first 5 gears + less gas and noise on the highway. M/T drivers should be able to downshift to pass... It's not like in Europe when they all drive M/T because it was the only thing available until a few years, so they all went to turbo diesel engine because of the torque, so the lazy old lady woul pass without dropping a gear or two. But in NA manual are not bought by these people (except maybe a few people who want to save 800 bucks), so we don't care about torque, downshift and make the engine scream up to redline.

And the 2-3 first gear could be a bit longer, on the echo/yaris the 2nd goes up to aroung 110kmh-65mph. Or a higher rev limiter at least (only 400rpm after the power peak). I went to an auto-x recently, at some places even short geared, the 2nd was too long, so I had to put the 1st, but then I was bouncing on the cutoff after 2 seconds... The 14 inches tires didn't help too.

 

Just bought a 2010 TW Sport Fit w/navi AT. My wife will be driving it mostly as she has a longer commute than I do. There is usually heavy stop and go traffic; so buying an automatic was automatic. Plus there are those cute paddle shifters to play with if we get bored driving in automatic mode.

I learned how to drive a standard transmission as a teenager on a Datsun 1600 station wagon. Living in Seattle with its many steep hills, I quickly learned how to interplay the stick, clutch, gas and parking brake while stopped on a hill.

My last ride was a 1990 Nissan Sentra 4MT with 193,000 miles on it. It was time to do some major repairs or trade it in. They gave me $200 for it in trade for my Fit and I took it!

Driving a stick is fun for sure, but having an automatic is comfy for me. And as always, YMMV.

macdanny

 

I've always driven manuals, except for an occasional lapse. But it's been MT's only since I got married, this way the spouse doesn't swipe the new car!

First car I ever drove was a manual, an old Chevy woodie, wish I had it now!

 

2010 Fit sport manual for me. I bought my 2004 civic si and had my dad drive it off the lot because I didn't know how to drive manual at that point, but knew that I wanted the control the manual gives you over the car. It is also fun to know that I can do something that not everyone else knows how to do, like my wife, tried teaching her twice, didn't take.

 

I am totally hooked to MT cars now. I really love the simplicity of the stock MT FIT. Its the lightest, mechanical simplest, cheapest FIT available and it really is so much fun to drive.

I say this many times but I really really can not think of any reason to own an AT when the MT is cheaper and just more fun to drive. Contrary to what many people say but driving a MT is not hard at all and you guys haven't seen how bad traffic, roads or hills are here. I could also text message or do other things with one hand. In traffic I don't even need to use any of my hands at all.

The MT Fit is very easy to drive. Give it a try. Its not hard at all and its a lot of fun. Contrary to some older MT cars.

 

The MT is crap but it still beats an auto!

 

I'm self taught on a manual transmission... I've discovered I love the manual in a little car. Shifting is effortless and automatic.. now in a truck, I will go automatic only. In a vehicle that actually has low end, torque converters work to your advantage

The only thing I dislike about the manual trans on the Fit.. the clutch delay valve really messes me up. It shifts nice other than that. The automatic is a slug.

 

There won't be torque converter soon probably...
But M/T is still good on cars with low end (like tdi), you just stay in 5th gear to pass on a road and still get a lot of acceleration.