Why Indians Do Prefer Manual Gear-Box Over Automatic ?

[CAPTAIN STIG]

There are A Lot of cars Across Different Segments Which offer Automatic Gear-Box in their Cars. But They either come in Fully Loaded Versions or Automatic with options of ABS & AirBags in them.

So why Indians Prefer Manual Versions as I know is :
1. Mileage : They always think Manual Versions give better Mileage & in some cases they are Right ! But what About

2. Convinience : They are satisfied with Manual version. Even they think Automatic is more Cumbersome to Drive !

3. Driver's Choice : Many People Hire Drivers to drive the cars & Drivers Hate Automatics & Some Love them as Less Strain on changing Gears Frequently. But Automatic's are more convinient in Cities due to Heavy Traffic !

4. Manual versions are Cheap : Even in Lower End Cars its Available ! Where as Automatics only Top-End Models.

5. It Needs Practice : A Lot of Automatic Car Owners feel Absurd after Buying A Merc E Class or BMW i-Drive. Which many feel Cumbersome to Drive. Merc E Class offers its auto gear shifter @ Steering Wheel. Just like Old Fiat PAL !. Even when Skoda launched it's Superb Model in India. It was only Available in Automatic & after Customers complained. They had to change it to A Manual version !

6. Manual Versions have Better Control of the Vehicle rather than Automatic : This is still a Contraversy. So All Rally Car Drivers including formula 1 use either Manual or Paddle shifters. Which are More controllable in Higher Speeds.
But Even Bugatti Veryon Comes with DSG (Direct-Shift-Gear) Gear-Box not a Manual Version. But Hard-Core Race Fanatics Choice is Still an Manual Gear-Box rather than Automatic Version ?

So as of Now A lot of Automatic Gear-Box have Come including CTV & DSG & Many More. But Do you Prefer A Manual Gear-Box Over an Automatic ?
So Please Share Your Views & Suggestions on this Topic. Which will also Help others who are in a Dilema to buy an Manual or Automatic Version

[Punter]

The selection of manual or automatic gearbox is totally depends on where you are going to use the car. If you are gonna use the car in city most of times then I will prefer Automatic orelse manual transmission car for me.

Automatic transmission cars are bit expensive to maintain and I heard that the transmission cant be repaired and you need to replace the complete assemble which is again expensive affair.

For Automatic car my pick would be Honda City AT. I just love 1.5 i-VTEC engine and automatic transmission is like cherry on cake.

[Faisal]

One simple reason - cheaper to buy and cheaper to run (i.e. more km/l)

[Amish]

But for city trots, nothing beats an auto box and for twisty and smooth roads, nothing beats a manual.

[Faisal]

But for city trots, nothing beats an auto box and for twisty and smooth roads, nothing beats a manual.

It all depends on the kind of driver. Some people prefer manual gearbox even in the city, while enthusiasts would prefer paddle shifters on twisties!

[YashD]

Well, I prefer Manual gearbox because its more fun. In Automatic I feel like the car is controlling me but well in Manual I control the car and can drive it in any way. Changing gears while driving fast, touching the red lines and that sudden adraline rush is super fun. Basically, if your car is manual then you can play around with it but you cannot do the same with normal autobox.

[Faisal]

Basically, if your car is manual then you can play around with it but you cannot do the same with normal autobox.

Normal autobox is sad, atleast the ones available on majority of cars. Also DSG, which is the most popular amongst the better automatics, is known to have some issues.

[CAPTAIN STIG]

As long as the New Technologies come is Welcome. But each one has its own advantages & Disadvantages. As of Now DSG gearbox is the Best bet as it comes with Semi-Automatic Option & Also Paddle Shifters for Sporty Drives. But customer point of view keep it simple ! More the Technology develops, Less simple it should be. Take For example BMW i-Drive many still find difficullt to Operate those. & in Near Future we may see cars with Auto-pilots soon or say Levitation cars which does not need any roads to travel. But will get to your destination in sepecific time to reach there safely with Auto-pilot & Navigation !

[Faisal]

Take For example BMW i-Drive many still find difficullt to Operate those. & in Near Future we may see cars with Auto-pilots soon.

BMW iDrive has improved drastically to become user friendly, its now in its fourth generation.

[Punter]

Why Indians Do Prefer Manual Gear-Box Over Automatic ?

IMO the reason is the price and the mileage offered by Automatic Transmission cars. Most of the AT cars available in petrol variants only and all of us know that sales of petrol cars has gone down since last few months.

Diesel AT cars are out of budget of comman man so lets not discuss about Diesel AT cars.

Maintanance and spare parts availability of Automatic Transmission is not as good as manual, that would be on reason.