Bad news for manual lovers

Not seeing a point unless you're trying to give me a backhanded insult. If that's the case, it'd be a silly assumption that just because one prefers an automatic going down a hill that they don't know how to drive a manual.

 

After Swift sells those automatic trucks and they go out of warranty, the next owner will replace it with a manual. A new auto is 3X the cost of a manual.

The new drivers that only learn to drive autos will be limited to driving for foul mega fleets that operate autos. Sounds good for Swift but not so good for the drivers.

 

But you let some of these guys tell it, 90% of the trucks on the road in 2020 will be Auto's. I plan on being apart of the 10%

 

No insult, just fact, I will repeat, "I feel sure its difficult for those who never drove a manual transmission." And why would i say this, because I remember the first truck i climbed into, it had a 5 X 3, & it was difficult, yet soon it become natural, & from there on I never had a problem with any manual shift transmissions. Whether it was uphill, downhill, on a strait stretch, & I never had a Jake brake to help me out, & I never lost control going down steep grades.

And I will add another fact, for those of who have plenty of experience driving manual transmissions its not the least bit difficult, where ever they may have to drive, & no matter the conditions.

Unless you consider it an insult for me & or anyone else to say its difficult for the inexperienced., knowing this, because I was at one time inexperienced.

As for me I would avoid the automatic, had an old friend truck drive that was driving one & said he liked it, but that's him.

I would pick a manual shift, the reason, not near as many thing that can go wrong with it. All the computer stuff, wires, connections, switches, can shut you down, while the manual is still trucking.

For cars & pickups, automatics are great!

I could have said your post I replied was insulting, but I didn't. You seemed to say it would be easier for every truck driver, or something like that, when they're going down a hill if they've got an automatic. That's just not true.

 

Smart move, less likely to break down, to much can go wrong with the 90%.

 

The father off a friend has been driving for 40+y.
Guess which knee he is getting replaced in 2 weeks?

 

Well I used the jakes after I unloaded this morning. Coasting with jakes on it'll downshift at 800 rpms.

 

As the adage goes, people in glass houses should not cast stones.

I suppose we'll have to agree to disagree about whether this was accomplished or not.

No, I saw that post. I just found it a bit ridiculous for you to be making your "bottom of the barrel" statement as if it's something new. According to what "they" will say, the bottom of the barrel was being scraped last year, the year before, 12 years ago, etc. While I'm sure there's some legitimacy about the direction the industry in general is going, a lot of reminds me of the claims about "stress cards" I'd heard about from prior service members as I was getting to go to BCT... suffice to say, it was ########, and somehow, I'm a bit skeptical that the industry prior to the 2000s was made up of Boy Scouts and rocket scientists, in spite of how many would seem to claim otherwise. So when I see someone like you giving in to the same hype in the same way, it strikes me as particularly... amusing, and perhaps a few other things.
As for the rest of my post - and where I erred was in not making this part clear - it was directed at the topic collectively, rather than at you.

And Miller Lite still was, is, and always will be crap beer, regardless.

 

It also downshifts loaded in auto mode. I run the Cascades daily @ 105,500.
After over 30 years of driving I could care less what kind of tranny is in it. It's a truck and I drive it to make a buck,bottom line. On a side note 2 of these auto Petes w/ less than 30k on them were broke down last week. Go figure.

 

These arguments about shifting and autos are funny. "Your not a real trucker if you don't shift gears"!! There's nothing magical about being able to drive a manual transmission.

I had an I shift and got a manual in my current truck. I don't miss the Volvo much but I sure miss that I shift. I can and have driven most current manual trannys but my next truck will have an auto again. There's just too much traffic and my knee is getting too old to BS around with a clutch anymore. I guess you could prefer an old truck without power steering and no air ride seat but I think I'm going to go with the modern products that just make life a little more comfortable. I think I'm going to have AM AND FM bands on the radio too and skip from the 8 track up to CD or MP3 player!