Why do alot of people dislike auto trucks please explain

I agree with Big Don on the "old dog" part. I've always been a "natural born leeever puller", and wouldn't want it any other way. I do appreciate the "easy" clutches of today, as years ago, I had some trucks, Macks mostly, that took both feet to hold the clutch in at a stop. To me, I just feel more in control with shifting the truck manually, and with today's high horsepower motors, you don't shift near as much as that Ford dump truck I drove years ago with a 238 Detroit and an air 4X4. (that kept a guy busy) Besides, if I drove an automatic truck now, I'd keep slamming my foot on the floor where the clutch should be.

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4440972]Besides, if I drove an automatic truck now, I'd keep slamming my foot on the floor where the clutch should be.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, like the time I got contact lenses. Never realized how often I used to push my glasses up from sliding down my nose until I nearly poked my eye out.

 

Auto transmissions...traction control...anti lock brakes...adaptive cruise control...anti-roll technology...lane departure warnings...heck, they even have cars that will parallel park for you or stop if something gets in your way and you weren't paying attention. The farther removed the driver is from the actual driving...the more the vehicle does for you...the closer you are to being irrelevant to the process and out of a job. Why would I willingly embrace ANY of it? I am a driver. It is what I do. I resent the fact that the government or anybody else thinks I should want or need this technology in order to make my job "easier" or "safer". 99.9% of safety takes place between the ears, and I don't need my job to be any easier. When a job gets to be so easy that ANYBODY can do it, the anybodys will be lining up to do the job for a fraction of what a SKILLED operator would be worth. Why would I support that? Keep this crap out of my truck...don't want it, don't need it. Better yet, keep it out of my industry, because if YOU need it, you aren't worth as much as an operator who can actually drive the truck without the assistance of all of the gadgets and gizmos they are putting in trucks these days.

 

We have Mack Pinnacles (sleepers) and day cabs, m-Drive (auto), variable geometry turbos and super singles. No problem. FYI Volvo owns Mack.

 

Volvo had nothing to do with MY Mack.

 

That's exactly why I don't like them either, especially when at 80,000 LBS and backing on slight uphill to dock... no problem with a manual but the auto killed me.

 

Now the thing is, that I did NOT need an automatic transmission to do that. I could hit it hard enough with a REAL transmission,(embarrassed myself a few times that way. . .)

 

The Volvo I shift is a gift from the gods, lol. Once you figure out how to use the features it's programmed with, you can handle just about anything.

I actually find backing to be EASIER with the I shift.

 

Advances in modern technology or a dumbing down of the industry. A fine line. I can see where it would be nice in traffic,hills,and bad knees;but new drivers should learn to shift to keep it real and not limit where they work. A lot of the fleets are auto and I wonder how long it will take before everything is auto. The exception being specialized hauling.

 

autos rock. went from 9 speed to 10 to auto. best thing ever in traffic. backing is simple and it doesnt roll back it has hill assist. at least the volvos do. yay for autos. dont ever see myself going to a manual