- Look at Neary's sign, this is breaking my heart
- Yeah, I do like the sign.
(chuckling)
- This is very interesting.
(chuckling)
What's going on guys? (gentle upbeat music)
I'm Sam, and today we are going to talk about
manuals versus automatics.
This is an endless debate and it seems to be the source
of some absolutely solid memes out there,
and an absolute ton of (beep) talking in the car community.
Now, all this (beep) talking is really coming
from the guys with manuals
telling everyone with an automatic
that they are an inferior human being.
It's kind of like us PC players
reminding console players
that their gaming system is cute.
Like it's just kind the way it is.
It's this thing's not as good. - It's cute.
But are manuals truly better
and is a manual worth it over an automatic
when you're looking at buying a car?
Before we jump into this,
I just wanna remind you beautiful people
to hop on over to fitmentindustries.com,
where you can find some sick wheels,
tires to suspension for your car,
whether it's an auto or a manual.
When I first looked at this topic from Dakota,
I was like, this is easy peasy.
I know the answer to this, I'm a car guy.
And I know that manuals are the path of the chosen one,
automatics are just for babies.
Then I started thinking about automatics
and how far they've actually come,
(car engine revving)
especially in recent years.
And realize this is definitely a topic worth talking.
First, let's define what I mean by manual,
and what I also mean by an automatic,
because technology over the last 20 years
has honestly kind of blurred the lines between the two.
In my opinion, and you guys listen to me here,
a manual has to have a clutch.
That's the third pedal you see in all of those
super-cringey T-shirts, and memes, and stickers that say,
real men use three pedals.
So, manual has three pedals.
An automatic doesn't have a third pedal, just two.
But, this is where things went kinda weird
when I was thinking about this.
We have crazy gearboxes now,
where you can click through the gears using fancy,
and sometimes even carbon fiber levers
behind the steering wheel.
Top Gear seem to famously call these
flappy paddle gearboxes,
and I honestly love that terminology.
- The beautifully nerdy, flappy paddle gear change.
- Throughout their whole series they say it,
and I think it's absolutely hilarious.
- The seven-speed flappy paddle gearbox.
- To have a flappy paddle gearbox.
- Flappy paddle manual.
- The flappy paddle gearbox.
Stupid flappy paddles.
- For the sake of today,
those flappy paddles are still automatics.
No third paddle,
that means automatic here.
So why in the world would you want a manual gearbox anyways?
Aren't we advanced enough to have gears selected for us
in a day and age where I can
have someone do my shopping for me,
and toss into the trunk of my IS300 at Walmart
when I get there, just through an app.
Well, the reason all of this car purists
want to fall back on this is the fact that
you really feel more connected with the car, with a manual.
Man and machine become one with manual gearbox.
Are you the car, or is the car you?
Nobody really knows at that point.
What I do know, is that a manual transmission makes you feel
much more connected to the car,
and truly involved in that driving experience.
You're controlling when to shift,
and you've got a full-body workout with your arms and legs,
pulling and pushing,
and getting everything timed just right.
It feels freaking sick honestly,
if rolling through the gears
and rev matching as you come to a stoplight,
next to someone,
and they see you and you're down shifting all the way there,
they know that you have a manual.
It might sound like I'm making fun of this but,
it truly is just plain old fun.
You can let the car rev out
further than a traditional automatic would let you.
(imitates car engine revving)
- You know that's, part of the fun.
(imitates car engine revving)
- Getting those crispy down shifts
when you're trying to impress your passenger
is equally as cool.
Trust me, I'm a rev matching like a boss
when someone else is in the car with me.
With this control also comes great responsibility,
because you can absolutely money shift
when ripping up your (indistinct)
An example of what a money shift is in case you don't know,
is usually when you're going from second gear to third gear,
and you actually put it from second into first.
So, I like to call that a no-boy-no move,
Colin throw some footage of that in here
if someone had a drag strip.
You can totally jack if you drive train
if you drive a manual wrong.
We've all seen the brand new cars,
the toasted clutches, or the midlife crisis dad,
roasting his Corvette's clutch instead of the tires.
The risk of driving
and maybe screwing something up with this car,
does make a manual kind of cool.
And also with total control,
you have a ton of performance advantages as well.
I love drifting.
I think you guys might know that by now.
You absolutely should have a manual to do that best.
I'm looking at you Ben, my friend, we've got a,
Ben's got a really sweet drift truck
but he has an auto in it.
Gotta switch to manual.
We had an agreement guy, just change it.
When doing any sort of racing though,
having the complete control of the car,
and ability to really stay within the power band,
and feather the club when needed, can be a huge advantage.
And also it's just kind of stupid fun
when you're on the track and you have that complete control,
and you're involved with the car in that way
like I said before.
Let's jump on over to automatics right now.
And why in the world would you want an automatic?
I just went through all the cool stuff with a manual.
Frankly, - CVT transmisssions.
- There are some bad automatics out there.
CVTs can be kind of trash and not so fun as an enthusiast.
Nissan, I love you, but I'm kind of looking at you here.
Those are just horrible.
(car engine shuddering)
But autos can be great.
Look at drag racing for instance,
there are a ton of guys out there
running some insane quarter mile times,
that are only possible
with lightning-quick shifting of an automatic.
A human just can't be that quick, plain and simple,
there's really no argument there, unless you're the Flash.
Also, in my classification of an automatic,
those flappy paddle gearboxes can really be fun
if they are done right.
So let me tell you about that.
My friend Mario, let me drive his GTR,
and I first put it in straight up automatic.
I wanted to see like it was normal automatic car,
what was the car like?
And honestly, it felt like a big Maxima
and it was super easy to drive and comfortable.
You could drive that all day, every day, it was easy.
I could turn my brain off,
and just drive and just enjoy the car.
Then I turned into manual mode,
where I had to click through the gears and holy balls.
The first time I kept my foot to the floor
and just clicked up through third and fourth gear,
I was giggling, (upbeat music)
because we were going so fast with absolutely zero effort.
It was amazing, plain and simple.
Of course we are on the street going the speed limit.
But, that same principle on the track
can help you get those lap times down,
and prevent any awful money shifts or miss shifts
like I talked about with manuals.
There's really not any margin for error
with those flappy paddle gearboxes
- Stupid flappy paddle.
- But what about the cars?
Not all cars come in both (upbeat music)
so you don't have this option
of choosing either manual or an automatic.
Yeah, this is kind of big dumb.
Some cars are only available in either automatic or manual.
The new Supra is kind of a big deal.
And the fact that it didn't debut in a manual
was honestly crazy to some people.
It causes huge rift in the car community.
side note though,
I fricking love Dakota Supra,
and that car is absolutely dream-level car for me
and super cool to have.
I said that 'cause Dakota is bricked up now.
(clears throat)
The type R is available for sale right now in only manual.
This might change the next generation,
but it goes to show how people are liking new automatics
with the flappy paddle gearboxes
- Stupid flappy paddle.
- Manual swapping is pretty darn common,
and something a lot of people
do to cars that are automatics.
The reverse of course, isn't so popular,
without some major technology and a huge bank account.
Right now in 2022, manual transmission cars,
are tending to fetch a higher premium
over their automatic counterparts with the same type of car.
Let's look at one example here.
So IS300s, I've got one,
the factory manual versions are kind of rare,
but they're going for absolutely stupid prices right now
compared to their automatic versions.
I kind of wish I would've known this,
and that this would've,
this would happen before drifting mine
and taking any value that car had out of the equation.
But also let's look at Mustangs and Zs,
and you see the absolutely same trend
with manuals fetching a higher price on the used car market.
This is happening because
true factory manual cars are becoming well,
they kinda became less common, and I really think though
that we're starting to see a resurgence
of the manual enthusiast cars, and I freaking love it.
You might think that we're getting a little sidetracked here
but let's go back.
Let's answer the video's question,
Are manuals worth it over automatics.
In my opinion, yes.
100%, a manual is worth it over an automatic.
I just love the control you have and how involved you are
in the driving process with a manual car.
Swapping into a different clutch,
or changing to a lighter flywheel,
it makes the car feel so much more different
and makes every stop and go little adventure in traffic fun.
'Cause you can really change the car feels
in just a few parts and change that driving experience.
I really, really, really enjoy where automatics have come
and especially from where they started where they're now.
And it's kind of sad this is Mario's GTR as an example,
but it just isn't the same.
The ability to scream through the gears
and with their foot flat to the floor is super fun,
I absolutely dig it.
But, there's nothing like dumping that clutch,
and lighting up the rear tires,
and getting that perfect rev match
that you, as a human did, not a computer.
All right,
I know some manuals have this feature now
but that's cheating.
Y'all paid for that stuff.
I appreciate you guys watching this video
debate in the comments what you think is best.
There's a lot more to this topic
than just what I covered here at a really high level.
Y'all know Edgar is gonna be diving into the comments
from our end as well,
and be sure to say hi to him.
Yeah, I love you Edgar.
Don't forget to swing over to fitmentindustries.com
and check out the cool stuff we have
for your auto, or your manual equipped car
when it comes to wheels, tires, and suspension.
Appreciate you guys watching this one
I'm Sam, peace.