Automatics..for newbies..really???

I'm going to bet you didn't learn to drive a manual in twenty minutes. What makes you think twenty minutes is long enough to learn the automatic or form a qualified opinion about one?

It ain't a car. Its like any other truck transmission in that it has its own unique quirks and you need to give yourself time to learn them. Its hard to put the specifics of it into words but in a nutshell, if you try to drive an automatic the same way you're used to driving your manual, you're going to hate it every time. Its a different beast and it takes time to get comfortable with it. Took me about a week to learn the quirks. Once I did that, I realized that 99% of these automatic/manual threads wouldn't exist if most of the people posting in them actually drove the autos long enough to learn them. But twenty minutes ain't gonna git it done.

 

True -

But those are off road trucks, not meant for highway speeds or distance driving.

 

However automatics are more fuel efficient over the long run.

The only clear cut advantage I can think of of manual is going up grades, but then again I believe that most auto shifts have a manual mode. Is the manual mode similar to shifting?

Also all that wear on your shoulder joint from repetitive shifting? No thank you. If I'm gonna wear one of my joints out I'm gonna do it while doing something I enjoy.

Obviously neither choice is wrong, but my preference after I learn how to shift a manual smoothly and properly is to drive an auto.

 

That's what concerns companies the most; saving money.

I really can't say much about auto vs. manual regarding fuel economy, upshifting/downshifting, grades, etc. - I've never driven one.

Regarding shoulder or knee pain from shifting; if you drive through city traffic often, you'll definitely learn to float.

 

I got it the first time and disagreed with it and said so. My reading comprehension skills are quite good, impeccable actually. So reposting it isn't really necessary. I disagreed with you the first time and I still do now.

If you learn to shift a manual in school, you've got to get out on your own a while (i.e. without a trainer or anyone else in the truck) before you really master it. I don't think it makes any difference whether you do that right of school or a year later or ten years later. I just don't think it matters enough to worry about.

Guys talk about ending up with limited job options if you drive an automatic right out of school. But I think that's nothing more than talk. Do you personally know of anyone who couldn't get a job because they had driven an automatic? Anyone at all? Not 'I knew a guy who had a cousin who was married to a guy that went to school with this other guy who said he couldn't get hired' but do you actually know of anyone first hand where this happened? If not, then how can you argue that its a problem?

 

Wow, based on the comments in here, I'm now wondering how I've managed to drive 1.3 million miles combined in 2 seperate autoshift trucks. Through, rain, sleet, snow, hail, ice, over 6%, 7%, 8% and 10% grades, consistently 70,000 lbs +.

I'm really scratching my head as to how I made it from Denver to Center, Co. and back at 82,500 lbs on US 285 today, or how I'll make it from Denver to Santa Fe and back tomorrow at 79,000 lbs.

Not to mention all those trips over Wolf Creek, Red Mtn., La Veta, Molass, Coal Bank, Vail, Eisenhower, Genesse, Floyd, Sherman, or to Seattle and back. Not to mention all those trips (close to 4 dozen now) to Billings, Bozeman, Belgrade (in the winter for most of them).

Oh, and I can just as easily hop back into a manual and within an hr or two have the whole shifting, clutching thing working just fine.

That said, yes, every driver should learn to drive a manual first before going to an autoshift or automatic (which I've driven a fully auto over some of those same roads mentioned above). But, just like sex and bicycling, once you learn how, you never forget. As to why there is peddling involved in sex, I'm not sure.

I really really really hate when this topic comes up. Look, the reason most of these old timers can't stand an autoshift or an automatic is they are unwilling to accept change. I'm really amazed most of them have figured out how to walk and chew gum at the same time, or use a cellphone.

I work for a small fleet that has 10 autoshifts and two manuals, both of those manuals are going the way of the dodo bird before the end of '12, all of us drivers can drive either transmission. The only driver who still drives one of the manuals on a daily basis is pissed, he wants to keep his manual. Guess what, as the boss told Grandpa, you'll either make the change or you'll have to retire.

 

Well, a guy I roomed with for orientation drove an auto for 11 months prior to seking employment elsewhere. Company #2 for him doesnt have auto's only manuals. He was in danger of getting sent home. He chose instead to leave witht he option to come back. Thankfully his school from a year ago agreed to provide some refresher instruction at no charge.

 

ok i have to put my 10 cents in here

i drove school bus at a time when the company i worked for where getting rid of the buses with manual transmissions my bus was a 19 passenger and i went down a steep driveway fine turned around got half way up the drive and slid into some trees they sent me another bus for my charter and when they asked me if i could drive stick i said give me 5 minutes and i will learn (heheheee) needless to say they sent me another bus with a automatic then after i moved to iowa to help on the family farm and drive grain truck i went to school for a week the test truck was a automatic and i spent a extra day at school to learn how to shift a manual well the trailer they had hooked to the truck had frozen brakes so i said forget it i guess i can go home and learn fast for the guy i was gonna haul grain for

just and fyi yes it say student i am going back to the same school where i got my cdl to drive a grain hauler and become a real trucker

 

Meh,I drive an auto-shift 10 speed routinely running at 100,000 to 104,000lbs.
(I've been as heavy as 125,950)
It's just different is all,like anything else you get used to it.
I'd rather have a 13spd any day but the auto-shift gets the job done once you get the hang of it.
That said I think a newb should learn with a regular manual shift,especially mountain driving and in particular in Winter months out here in the West's big hill mountain pass country.
The thing I really hate about the auto-shift is that even in manual mode it's tied into the tach and won't let you shift when you want to,it'll just ring an annoying little alarm back at you until you get into an rpm range it's happy with.
This is a PITA when you want to downshift on a hill,it requires a lot of brake action first,heaven help you if the brakes fade,you aren't going to get a lower gear.
I know you should always be in the right gear for a decent before you go down but in the real world once in a while you need to do a downhill downshift and with this auto-shift crap the rpm range is very limited .
With a stick you can give her a hard bump if need be and get that gear,with an auto you're at the mercy of the computer to do it and it ain't going to happen sometimes.