Confused - Automatic or Manual on luxury car?

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Wed 12 Apr 2023 14:42
Confused - Automatic or Manual on luxury car? - Warning

I watch a few YouTube videos on cars.

I happy to seen a well known YouTuber, who scorned someone had got a manual in an high end luxury car.

However, another YouTube enthusiast M539, did n't like automatic on his BMW, and preferred manual on country windy roads.

Just wondering what the wisdom of this forum have to say on the matter?

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Wed 12 Apr 2023 15:02
Confused - Automatic or Manual on luxury car? - movilogo

What do you want?

Some luxury cars are only available as auto.

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Wed 12 Apr 2023 15:47
Confused - Automatic or Manual on luxury car? - badbusdriver

Most luxury cars these days are auto only(and I'm not counting EV's). Also, a 2nd hand luxury car with a manual gearbox will struggle to find buyers and almost certainly fetch less money.

On a winding country road?, depends on how you drive I suppose. If you like to be as smooth as possible and preserve momentum, auto is fine. But if you like to wring the car's neck to get every last ounce of performance, manual (or an auto in manual mode) would be more satisfying in most cases.

Personally, I much prefer auto if it is a good one.

As an aside, when I started driving buses, Stagecoach still had a handful of manual coaches. I did take a degree of satisfaction in driving one of them, but cars?, meh!

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Wed 12 Apr 2023 15:56
Confused - Automatic or Manual on luxury car? - pd

Larger luxury cars with manual were always an oddity. BMW used to do a 540/545 with a 6-speed manual for example but was outsold 20:1 by the auto.

These days there is no chance. Manual is dying with many manufacturers (you can't buy a manual Volvo now I think) dropping it all together. Younger drivers seem to increasingly view learning to drive a manual as a waste of time.

In many ways it makes me a little sad as I enjoy driving a manual car for short bursts but for a day-to-day car auto all the way thank you.

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Wed 12 Apr 2023 16:14
Confused - Automatic or Manual on luxury car? - John F

On many autoboxes there is a manual option. My last Audi A6 (ZF HP5) had the 'tiptronic' option using the selector/gear lever, as does my current A8 (ZF HP6), which also has flappy paddles. Mrs F's admittedly not luxurious Peugeot 2008 (Aisin EAT6) also has a similar tiptronic-like facility.

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Wed 12 Apr 2023 18:52
Confused - Automatic or Manual on luxury car? - Terry W

Manual gearboxes had their place when (a) power outputs of most European cars was low, and (b) TC gearboxes soaked up power and fuel.

Gearboxes are much improved, typical power outputs on even basic cars much higher. EV does not need a gearbox. For a luxury motor an auto makes complete sense. Manual is now a legacy system of limited relevance to most drivers.

For a performance car a manual may give the illusion of greater driver input and control. But a 300bhp+ car really needs a track to be driven anywhere close to its limits.

The sad reality is that most drivers probably haven't the slightest clue how to drive a car safely close to its ultimate limits!

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Wed 12 Apr 2023 19:58
Confused - Automatic or Manual on luxury car? - mcb100
Give me an EV with one pedal operation so I don’t need to go near the brake pedal, adaptive cruise control that will bring the car to a halt and set off again and I’m happy.
Bring on full autonomy (not that I think we’ll see it in the next decade).
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