I love driving manual but its a personal preference I mean i aint gonna pretend that when im driving hand on the shift one hand drinking a soda and steering with my knee that i dont sit and say an automatic would prolly be easier. But it also makes driving fun when you got a manual.
I prefer manual. AT technology has come far. Computer controlled trans can shift faster than a human, get better fuel economy (on newer models,) and even reduce wear and increase consistency. The logic has improved and you get less gear hunting, slow response to throttle, etc and more of the time the AT does what you want it to. But- the manual still gives you 100% control over geartrain and couplings and for some fringe cases the AT will never be able to predict or act as you want. The auto will generally be stronger in a high torque vehicle, but the MT is generally stronger and longer lived in a low to moderate power vehicle like most people drive. Staring at a 30+ mike commute one way on a straight freeway covered in traffic, you lose 99% of the manual fun and 90% of the advantages. So it’s corcumstantial which is “better.” Easier to say which one lets you beat enjoy the vehicle for what you want to use it for? I’ve never owned an automatic and I’be owned a lot of cars.
If it just goes in drive, reverse, neutral, and park, that’s an automatic. If you gotta wiggle a little stick while you’re driving at all times, that’s a manual
Actually- while it was true of older designs and vehicles- in these modern times many automatic transmission designs out perform their manual counter parts in fuel efficiency, and it’s becoming more common (depending on country), automatic transmissions are often standard equipment and the manual is a more expensive option you must select. I do agree that manuals are more fun, and in my experience they have been more reliable and cheaper in long term service- it’s not fair to say that across the board manuals outperform automatics, especially not in 2018.
Yes, as I mentioned, not every car compared to every car will have one transmission type be the universal winner. Sometimes the manual will still be cheaper or get better mileage, sometimes the automatic- and the driver, terrain, and other variables will also effect it. Your talking about projected MPG of about 25. Go 2 years later to 2018 and the 8 speed automatic Camry gets 38mpg and a manual would be a much higher cost than the standard equipped auto. Let’s look at a 2018 Mazda 3 which actually is offered in manual. A sport model gets 37mpg auto and 38 in manual, but a touring gets 36 in auto and 34 in manual. So comparing apples to apples of the same year and model of new vehicle, we can see that sometimes auto is cheaper or gets better mileage, and sometimes manual, and that in just 2 years the Camry auto gained 2 additional speeds from 6-8 as the technology advanced. I’ll still take a stick over an auto personally, but the argument of fuel mileage and cost isn’t universal anymore
Also if you can drive manual, you can pretty much drive anything (that's on road of course)
why would i drive an auto?
and here most dealers will charge ~2 grand extra for automatic in a new car