Personal opinion if you can't ride I mean drive stick your not a real trucker

That's common, when the vast majority of people stop using something, they tend to just go away.. but you won't find me crying over the lack of multi-stick transmissions...

 

Truckers have to be about the only people who act like having a nice, comfortable truck that’s easy to drive is a bad thing.

Of all the farmers I have in my family I’ve never heard any of them complain about how field mapping and yield mapping and auto steer and computer controlled flow rates are making farming too easy.

 

its similar.. back in the day.. the good tractors had an umbrella mounted to them

 

Biggest problem I have with automatics is ice. Last company job I had was at USF Holland. They were just starting to convert to automatics. One night the yard was all iced up. Every single automatic had to be towed off the ready line because we couldnt move. Not one single manual had to. Got to my meet point that night and swapped trailers and it took me 45 mins to get out from under my box and under his because of 1/8 inch of ice in the parking lot.

Had to special order my truck to NOT get an automatic in it when I bought it. Sad state of affairs...

 

IMO the automatics should be set up like manuals and have a quick way to switch the linkage over so the shifter works in case the shift solenoid isn't working. I wouldn't mind having an automatic except I just can't see being broken down because the automatic shift mechanism isn't working.

 

I drive city often. I try to never come to complete stop. No stop no clutch.

 

When I was training we could only wish for automatic. The technology to do it was not even possible.

Not many drivers today can drive a 2 stick transmission. Who would want to ? Their is no need for that skill today. I don’t think driving automatic today makes you less of a driver. Driving a manual is good skill to have because it give you more driving options today but in the future automatic probably will be standard and the normal thing. Just like we don’t see any 2 Stick transmissions today.

 

Well, it also is a philosophical question. How much ‘comfort’ would you sacrifice for more money in your pocket? Or, how much money are you willing to sacrifice, for comfort?

 

Weird because all the problems you say everyone has I haven’t had any. Most of the complaints about autos can be programmed out of them if people research what can and can’t be done. Fleets have them programmed for what works best for them, but an owner operator can get an auto to do just about anything they want it to, within reason. I’ve been in plenty of bad weather with mine and the auto has never made me get stuck. Turn off the traction control, put it in manual, and drive with common sense and you’ll do just fine.

If you want to shift all day more power to you. But saying autos aren’t reliable and all the other arguments against them likely come from people who haven’t driven any of the latest ones paired with the correct drive train to run the truck where it needs to be.