Choosing a car with an automatic or manual transmission

Drivers often argue and ask each other which gearbox is better — manual or automatic. It's practically impossible to give a definitive answer to this question right now, but many drivers, both very experienced ones and less so, clearly dislike the "automatic", and they back up their opinion with perfectly clear arguments.

The first and weightiest argument in favour of the "manual" is the fact that cars with an automatic gearbox find it fairly difficult to pull out of a snowdrift or deep mud, so they're less suited to winter and heavy off-road driving. However, the vast majority of modern cars now come with a whole array of electronic assistance systems that stop the wheels spinning both on start-off and during sharp turns and manoeuvres. On top of that, many "automatics", naturally the pricier ones, have a winter mode.

Another serious drawback of cars with an automatic gearbox is that they're fairly expensive to service: key components such as the oil and filter need changing more often in an "automatic" than in a "manual". On top of everything else, repairing the automatic gearbox itself also costs more.

Mid-price-range cars with an automatic transmission fall quite a bit short of cars with a manual gearbox. That said, if you look at expensive cars, this drawback has long been a thing of the past there. It's also worth keeping in mind that drivers who choose an "automatic" prioritise comfort over the car's handling characteristics.

Next on the list of a manual gearbox's advantages is economy: cars with an "automatic" typically use 10-15% more fuel in city driving than equivalent cars with a "manual". On the motorway, though, their fuel consumption is the same.

And finally, let's talk about the price of the car. In the mid-range class, cars with an automatic gearbox cost one to two thousand dollars more than "manuals", while in pricier model ranges, cars with a manual gearbox are mostly offered either in entry-level (base) trims or in sports versions.

Still, despite these drawbacks, the automatic gearbox has one very important advantage, in my view: in big cities, where the number of cars keeps growing year after year, amid constant traffic jams and minor prangs, an "automatic" makes life a lot easier for the driver, who doesn't have to keep tensing up and, depending on the speed, pressing the clutch pedal and shifting gears. But this advantage mostly applies to novice drivers, who experience a traffic jam as a stressful situation and don't need the extra distraction of thinking about gear changes.

As for repair and servicing: repairing an automatic is currently only slightly more expensive than a manual, but there are upsides here too — beginners often burn out the clutch on a "manual", while burning out the clutch on an automatic gearbox simply isn't possible!