Manual Or Automatic

[angiud]

In my country (Italy) 95 or more % of the cars have manual transmission (we like more sport drive) but what about Thailand??

[Grant]

I like manual but have to drive automatic because cars with manual gearbox come with very poor specification and without many options

[tom yum goong]

i drive a manual because i live in Phuket, but in Bangkok it has to be an auto box.

[teej]

In general, I enjoy manuals.

Problem in Thailand is that the Top Spec of all cars is always offered in Auto only...

[Naam]

In my country (Italy) 95 or more % of the cars have manual transmission (we like more sport drive)...

status of 2006:

quote: Except of course in Italy. The newspapers here – possibly encouraged by auto companies with something to sell – have lately been headlining on the “boom” in deliveries of passenger cars with automatic transmissions. Last year the number of vehicles so equipped leapt to 9.07% of the market. Ten years before, in 1996, the figure was barely above one percent

[gmac]

Driven manuals all my life but since coming to Thailand the city traffic has converted me to auto. Would still prefer manual for non-city driving.

[moo9]

Manual for sure, for a sports drive. If you buy top end auto transmission from BMW, Mercedes, Porsche etc. it's another story. But when I drive a Camry automatic I feel like riding my bath tube. On my Vigo I have chosen manual as well, my lady does not like that too much, but it saves at least 1/2 litres on 100 km. And certainly it is more fun!

[indothai]

I drive a manual when there are no traffic in Bangkok.

[JAS21]

Manual for sure, for a sports drive. If you buy top end auto transmission from BMW, Mercedes, Porsche etc. it's another story. But when I drive a Camry automatic I feel like riding my bath tube. On my Vigo I have chosen manual as well, my lady does not like that too much, but it saves at least 1/2 litres on 100 km. And certainly it is more fun!

My last 'manual' was, I think in '97, (on a 'P' anyway) when I bought one of the first 6-speed M3s in the UK..hated it and its been auto ever since. Now have 520d auto..wonderful and wife has mazda lantis auto..a manual for me anywhere, never mind here, is a big no no. Still I've passed the boy racer stage, a while back now! The 520 has one of these 'sequencial things' just about never need to use it though. Although the push to the left drops a gear, better than kick-down in my opinion...so AUTO every time for me.

[Gary A]

My truck is a manual and the car is an automatic. I would prefer the car be a manual too but the auto would no doubt be better for my wife IF we lived in Bangkok. Out here in the boonies, my wife would just as soon drive the truck as the car. It has turned out that buying the car was a waste of money. A year and a half and the car has 12,000 kilometers most of which are mine from trips to Jomtien.

[quiksilva]

My car is manual its great fun to drive but traffic can be a bore though.

[Gary A]

My car is manual its great fun to drive but traffic can be a bore though.

Heavy traffic is a bummer no matter what transmission you have. I think the main reason I like a manual even in Bangkok is because it gives me something to do.

[henryalleman]

My car is manual its great fun to drive but traffic can be a bore though.

Heavy traffic is a bummer no matter what transmission you have. I think the main reason I like a manual even in Bangkok is because it gives me something to do.

manual, no doubt about it, I rented an automatic once, never feel more bored in my life, its take all the fun of driving away.Even in the hel_l of BKK traffic jam I prefer manual.

[dominique355]

There is a 3rd option: a gearbox with actually 2 gear units and 2 clutches. It is offered by AUDI, Volkswagen and now also by Porsche and Ferrari (the new California). It combines the advantage of a manual gear, where you are in full control which gear you want, with the advantage of an automatic: just pull a lever (right for up, left for down) and the rest is done by the electro-magnetic actuators. Think of it as 2 gearboxes, one for the 1st, 3rd and fifth gear and another for 2nd, 4th and reverse. If you are in 1st gear, the other gearbox has already selected 2d gear and all you have to do when you shift is to open clutch no. 1 and close gear no. 2. Smoother than a conventional automatic (with hydraulic converter and planetoid gears) and fast than any conventional manual.

You an also select fully automatic (when your Missus wants to drive), and it handles like a conventional automatic.

That would be my choice for sure.

[willy1957]

In my country (Italy) 95 or more % of the cars have manual transmission (we like more sport drive) but what about Thailand??

The majority of the one two fives bikes come with manual transmission.Over the last two years, the automatic bikes increase in popularity.Yamaha is doing good business with their latest versions of this models, the Nouvo and Fino. They are easy to ride and you can have more attention to the road than to your gearbox, wich is no luxiourity in Chiang Mai. I saw you are actually talking about cars , sorry for this, but I let my reply as it is

[mgjackson69]

Definitely manual...with the possible exception of going upcountry during Songkran

My first time driving in Thailand was on Songkran eve....took us 13.5 hours to drive from Suk Soi 4 to Chok Chai (30 km south of Korat).

I still like the manual.

[aussiebebe]

I have always prefered manuals, but since trying automatics in Thailand, I've changed my mind. The thing I hate the most about auto is when you come to a complete stop, with the selector in 'D' - do you change to N or not? I wish sometimes wish there was a clutch!

[OdeTheBear]

Automatic is my choice always for cars and mopeds. Big bikes - well, they have to be manual naturally. Don't know of Italian cars, Ferrari as automatic? Well, maybe not...