Autos vs Manual transmissions

The owner of my company is going back to manuals with drum brakes because there has been no cost savings with autos and discs. In fact, the autos have cost more than manuals, because we teach drivers how to properly shift without the clutch (and the autos feel that 2000-2200 RPM is a good RPM to shift at).

 

I used to do the exact same run twice a day with the exact same freight. Drove a cascadia with an auto or a Columbia with a manual. I always got better mpg in the Columbia. Both had the same engine and the Cascadia was just a little heavier.

 

Did one have to push the exhaust through a dpf while the other did not?

 

Yea, that's not the same truck. The old Columbias have a much different profile. The trucks could also have different gearing, and of course weight matters. Every pound matters. When I pull an empty trailer I can manage #### near 10mpg. But put just 2-3klbs in it, and it drops to below 8. Put 45K lbs in it and it drops below 6.

We have 2014 Cascadias with manuals and 2015 Cascadias with automated manuals. Other than the tranny, the trucks are identical. Overall the entire auto fleet gets about 1mpg better than the standard. We also don't have many issues with the automated manuals. Now, it's all our company will buy. Not for fuel savings, but for driver fatigue. Get caught in downtown Chicago doing light-to-light with a standard for 3 hours and with an automated manual. Even floating the gears, when it happened to me, my left leg was throbbing and I was worn out by the time I got out on the interstate.

The same thing happened during training in the same city. After it was done I was fine. In fact I made the comment on how bad I felt for the manual tranny guys around me.

What I DONT like about the automated manuals is that they sometimes have a weird hesitation. More than once a light turned green and I stepped on the gas and the little man under the hood telling the engine to go must have gone on potty break. My instructor said "Why aren't you going?" and I said "Because your truck f8888ng sucks." It did it more than once.

At least with the manual when I pop the clutch the acceleration is right there.

 

its easy autos vs manual is what separates the men from the boys. Very few people can shift anymore without jamming or scratchin

 

Yes for the average driver.

Not so much when you truck long enough to consider 5 MPG excellent mileage and now crow and praise 7 piddling miles to gallon as fantastic. (60's until now) especially when spending thousands in pretty skirts and chrome wheel covers....

Autos pay for themselves in about 18 months compared to the average newbie driver with a manual. It also eliminates many problems but they are not perfect and sometimes.... *Drumroll...

Made even worse by company people fat fingering software options with which they know absolutely nothing about.

Which is why I have the position that I will die with a manual in my hands, I would gladly have a manual truck and take on a automatic in any length fuel mileage match up and see which one of us come out on top. Ive had it both ways, auto and manual back in 2001, there are certain things to a auto that you must have such as a paddle enabled manual mode so that for those particular situations you have her. Not the other way around.

 

I like the autos because they have fantastic compression braking. The manuals just don't. I can't rev the engine high enough to get it into a low enough gear to really brake the truck well. Autos also free up precious floor space, a square foot in a truck with 25sq ft of floor space is alot. It also gets rid of the annoying stick which is always in your way.

 

Lol

 

But my manual pays the bills and they aren't talking about moving me into an automatic so I get to continue to play with my stick......

 

All the megas are shifting to autos, the AVERAGE mpg are better with auto since they can program shift parameters for mpg and takes user error and those inpatient like myself out of the equation, besides the average window licker can barely keep it between the lines, much less have to worry about shifting.

The only auto I’ve ever drove that was worth a darn and would even consider buying was the i-shift/m-drive.. the other autos are junk.