[thebmw]

Originally Posted by P7X

BUT everyone else... is being lazy and not that interested in driving IMO. Cars are becoming easier and easier to drive, not forcing anyone to become a better driver, more and more the car is doing all the work. Learning stick did and still is forcing people to be a better driver and nowadays forcing people to pay attention to what they are doing.

And super sadly, ^^this. Drivers are getting worse and lazier. Automatic transmissions ENABLE texting while driving. So maybe that is an even more compelling argument for manuals.

[raleedy]

Fun fact: if you are careless with the clutch and kill the engine, AutoStart/Stop will re-ignite it for you (unless you have disabled it). Also, ASS is much easier to manage with MT than with AT.

[1LegitM235i]

This topic can be subjective and it's relative to their own preference. Glad to see no hater comments here. The driving engagement of my manual has always been about for me since purchasing this car. My five previous cars were manuals. I'm sure I've said it numerous times on this forum from other threads.

Let me share with you guys what driving engagement that I'm talking about. Over the weekend I left a BMW BBQ meet and took my time driving home until one my friends GT4 drove by. At that point, my motivation to keep up and drive enthusiastically kicked in a heartbeat. I kept my distance at first and before you know it, it was on! You know the best part of it as I was accelerating to pass the GT4? The freakin' manual! I was rowing the shit out of it! I'm still impressed with the power it put down while using 3rd, 4th and 5th gears. When you're cruising with this car, the downshift is mesmerizing and can be scary(dropped it into 3rd and kicked the back end a bit). There is nothing like the feeling of control over that amount of power between three pedals and six gears!

Whether you have a manual or an auto, enjoy it to the fullest! If you have regrets about it, switch to the one you prefer. Drive enthusiastically my friends!

[Y0tsuya]

Originally Posted by raleedy

Fun fact: if you are careless with the clutch and kill the engine, AutoStart/Stop will re-ignite it for you (unless you have disabled it). Also, ASS is much easier to manage with MT than with AT.

Agreed. MT + ASS is very smooth. ASS with AT results in abrupt stops unless I control the brakes veeeeerrrrry carefully. Actually stopping with AT on my (wife's) 340i is pretty abrupt regardless. Hard to get the same level of smoothness I can achieve with coasting to a stop in neutral.

[1LegitM235i]

I hear you Y0tsuya. I down shift to 3rd and put it neutral prior to the stop and come to a smooth stop. I hate using ASS for as sometimes I'm too quick for it to realize I have it in gear, so I hardly ever use it. Plus I get the funny look from people when I use it and think I killed the engine.

[thebmw]

Originally Posted by Y0tsuya

Agreed. MT + ASS is very smooth. ASS with AT results in abrupt stops unless I control the brakes veeeeerrrrry carefully. Actually stopping with AT on my (wife's) 340i is pretty abrupt regardless. Hard to get the same level of smoothness I can achieve with coasting to a stop in neutral.

So let me get this straight, Manual ASS is good and Automatic ASS is bad. And to think all these years I was hoping for automatic ASS but now you are telling the ASS is smoother when I try it manually. BTW, TMI on the abrupt ASS issue.

Sorry....I had to.

[Y0tsuya]

Originally Posted by thebmw

So let me get this straight, Manual ASS is good and Automatic ASS is bad. And to think all these years I was hoping for automatic ASS but now you are telling the ASS is smoother when I try it manually. BTW, TMI on the abrupt ASS issue.

Sorry....I had to.

Yeah pretty much. ASS turns off the engine when you come almost to a stop. When I modulate the brakes trying to achieve a smooth stop, turning off the engine results in an abrupt stop, the opposite of what I'm trying to achieve. People who slam on their brakes then jerk them to a stop probably won't notice any difference.

On my MT I usually coast to stop in neutral and ease off the brakes gradually in the last few feet so there's no jerking sensation when the vehicle finally comes to rest.

[Kolyan2k]

I've got 535i xdrive as a loaner now.....not feeling this automatic really. It's rated 5.6 sec car but feels like a heavy pig.....drives nice though. I can't imagine myself switching through 8 gears manually too. Glad I picked and even overpaid for manual

Edit: Compared to my Lexus 6 speed auto and of course there is no comparison, ZF8 is much better

[BentZero]

Tonight my wife asked me if I'd ever go back to an automatic transmission in my lifetime. I told not if I can help it.

[redontheline]

Reading these threads with the car in the shop feels like waiting on production and delivery all over again. The few times in my life I've been stuck in stop n go traffic on a steep upgrade I have wished for auto (before hill assist) but it's a preference no brainer for the balance. The unknown driver also gets a silent "right on!" whenever I check a parked performance car and see the MT.

I loathe inattentive driving and agree autos facilitate it for the masses. And don't get me into the joke we call a driving test in the US. But I also understand where people who don't like driving as a whole would prefer to just push a pedal and go.

[siwo]

#SaveTheManuals
Took delivery today (July 28th) and the delivery guy who was showing me around the car told me that within the last 6 months mine is the 2nd manual transmission car that he dealt with. He told me it's exciting to see someone buy a 6MT vehicle! Wow... (I'm located in Toronto)

[BentZero]

Originally Posted by siwo

#SaveTheManuals
Took delivery today (July 28th) and the delivery guy who was showing me around the car told me that within the last 6 months mine is the 2nd manual transmission car that he dealt with. He told me it's exciting to see someone buy a 6MT vehicle! Wow... (I'm located in Toronto)

Congrats!!

[Merc for hire]

Originally Posted by siwo

#SaveTheManuals
Took delivery today (July 28th) and the delivery guy who was showing me around the car told me that within the last 6 months mine is the 2nd manual transmission car that he dealt with. He told me it's exciting to see someone buy a 6MT vehicle! Wow... (I'm located in Toronto)

Haha is that true? Maybe I was the first one

[ThreeToTwo]

Originally Posted by raleedy

Fun fact: if you are careless with the clutch and kill the engine, AutoStart/Stop will re-ignite it for you (unless you have disabled it). Also, ASS is much easier to manage with MT than with AT.

Good point. As a manual driver for 99.9% of the time, I often wondered why people here complained so much about it but then I realised that it's a little different with an auto. On a manual, there's a good cue to restart the engine as the clutch goes down, providing a little more time to the system. I leave my 235 permanently on ASS, I don't recall it letting me down yet.

My fun fact: remember that you can always get the engine to restart by twitching the steering wheel (and you still have one of those in an auto)

[rich8566]

Here are some of the reasons I still like manual transmissions:

1. I get to control exactly which gear I am in at all times.
2. I can choose to skips gears, both up and down the tree, if I so choose.
3. I can control engine speed when I get on it to make a pass, which means that I don't get an automatic kick-down that creates wild and crazy noise and revs.
4. I can control my pace with the throttle more easily with a manual transmission.
5. Given #4, above, I don't need to use the brakes as often as I would with an auto gearbox.
6. Modern clutches are very light compared to what they once were so they are hardly an effort to drive these cars even in traffic.
7. Manual transmission cars are great theft deterrent devices.
8. The pure joy and hands on feel of working the clutch and gearbox bring great joy to purists.