Bob Adkins wrote:

> I don't feel that modern automatics any longer have a significant
> reliability or economy disadvantage to manual. At least not like they did in
> the old days. I'm clipping along at 26 mpg, and looks like I'll hit 27 this
> tank. Only 1500 miles on the odo. If I can get 26-28 mpg with 70% highway
> driving I will be delighted. The car is high, wide, and has a very strong
> V6... not exactly mileage friendly.

I agree that the differences are much less than in days gone by,
especially with regard to economy. However, I think that standard
transmissions are still much more durable and they are much cheaper to
start with (I think about $800 on the Sonata). I can't remember ever
hearing of a manual transmission failure on a passenger car or pickup.
I hear fairly often of automatic transmission failures, especially in
the heavier front drive vehicles such as minivans. Now I realize that
automatics outsell standards 10:1 or more, so you'd expect to hear about
at least 10 times as many failures even if the reliabilities were equal.
However, I still think a standard is much more reliable than an
automatic and they require less and less expensive maintenance as well.

However, to me the economy and reliability are just nice side affects.
I buy standard shift because I simply like to shift for myself.


Matt