Are manuals basically going away for the automatics?

Not saying im an expert but i have been driving a year only and i would say no... i dont ever see manuals going away. there are very few companies who use auto's and to me having to shift is part of the mistique and part of what makes a good trucker

 

Some of US Express accounts are getting rid of their automatics for manuals. They arent saving as much money as the hype given.

 

I drive an auto now. It has some benefits . Dnt got to shift in traffic. Shifts at low rpms . Downs they suck at backing up very touchy. Also if ur trying to get into a hard spot clutch gets hot n starts jerking truck lol. Going up hill I put in manual gets me up faster cuz I can run rpms up.

 

It's Fleetwide throughout all their major partner companies (Total and Arnold). It's actually pretty hard to find an automatic these days amongst their fleet

 

Auto's will never fully replace manuals. There will always be those that buy into the manual being the mystic thing. There are benefits to both but I love my auto. They will do things you cant like drop two gears on a hill when you forgot where you are and find yourself in a pickle. They are not hard to back if someone is having problems like clutches getting hot its operator error. They do add about 50 lbs of wieght and cost a little more but for me they benefits far outwieght the drawbacks. They don't really help fuel mileage as far as I can tell but I don't care. The technology is far better now than earlier versions I will say that. I wont say that I will never buy another manual but I don't see it anytime soon. I've been doing this a long long time and been running autos since 2001. One trip through Austin Tx or Nyc or LA at rush hour with one and you will soon be in love with it.

 

Well I'm new to autos so prob why lol

 

Once you get used to em you will love it.

 

Oh I love em but they got downs for me lol

 

Yeah that's what the company tried to tell me when they put me in mine as a 'reward' for being so dependable and doing such a good job. I came to it with an open mind and have given it a fair shot at proving me wrong but 6 months in it and I'm not going to be able to get out of this thing quick enough. I detest it. Even in DC traffic. To each his own I know some guys love em but I'm just waiting for the day I can get out of this one and back in a real truck.