I have a manual restriction on my license I just got yesterday.

This. My brother in law has been a mechanic his whole life and he mentioned the same things that you mentioned in your posts. He even said at the end after explaining the pros of an automatic he said something like "Where's the advantage of manuals? The future is in automatics, they are better in almost every single way".

And that's coming from a guy (my brother in law) who likes driving stick shifts and finds all the mechanical stuff interesting.

To the poster who said worrying about looking stupid in front of everybody for not being able to drive an manual, I can tell you that as as a young man there is not one single person in my generation who gives a crap about that lol. Yes there are some people who like to drive stick shifts (like my brother in law or even there were a couple of classmates of mine who preferred them at my Community College CDL class that I took 2 years ago), but even the guys who prefer manuals don't get all weird about it and talk down to people who don't like them. It's a complete non issue.

That said, I absolutely love the drivers who prefer the manuals and I hope you guys never go away. I LOVE automatics and if anybody wants to let me drive the automatic truck through Atlanta while they take the manual, please my friend by all means you can drive that stick shift through places like Atlanta. I like my knees very much and will probably save years of life on my knees if I can drive mostly automatics for the rest of my career.

Last, for the record, I learned how to drive a truck in a manual and I have no restriction on my license. So this isn't coming from somebody whose never driven a manual before (though I've never driven one on mountains or loaded before).

And actually I had never driven a stick shift in a car either (nobody ever taught me and I didn't care or have a reason to learn). But my CDL instructors were all veterans of the industry who were in their late 60's and 70's and they said it was actually better that me (and some other students in the class) had never driven a stick shift in a car because we didn't learn any "bad habits" that the instructors would have to "unteach us".

As to the OP, I can't answer your question but go ahead and get tested in a manual if you can. The guys in the LTL section of this forum say that you will indeed have to know how to drive a manual for LTL companies like Estes, if you ever want to go the LTL route.

 

Statistics show that the autoshifts get better mpg when driven by average drivers. If you're talking about an experienced OO who learned to shift for fuel economy then that might be different but we're talking about tricks for majority of drivers who are either new or not much inclined to drive for fuel economy unless a cash incentive which then reduces the gain for the company.

 

Statistics show that the autoshifts get better mpg when driven by average drivers. If you're talking about an experienced OO who learned to shift for fuel economy then that might be different but we're talking about trucks for majority of drivers who are either new or not much inclined to drive for fuel economy unless a cash incentive which then reduces the gain for the company.
Manual brings driver behaviors into the game more than auto...

 

I’ve never driven an automatic, but if all I knew how to do was double clutch in a manual I would much rather drive an auto. I don’t understand why they teach double clutching. I’ve never yet successfully double clutched my truck.

 

at one job i had, driving for a contractor, that had way back then, the DHL contract, i was driving a Freight shaker with an automated shift transmission.... dang it, if i didn't forget to throw in the clutch pedal, every time i had to stop. PITA

then i drove a fully automatic, and dang it, if i wasn't looking for the clutch pedal, every time i had to stop.

 

Ditto

 

Once again...this is foreign to me.Got into the transportation industry in 1984 when there were no autos.

 

Almost everyone with no manual transmission experience felt "not ready" on test day. For some reason EVERYONE exaggerates the complication & difficulty shifting the manual transmission. You don't have to be perfect on test day.

 

Autos are fine if your just a door Swinger and plan on staying with maga company but if your going to smaller company or doing Specialties stuff more then likely you need to know how to drive a manusl