Motors Why do Americans predominantly drive Automatics?

actually even 2006 base models have manuals(at least the ones i seen), but for some reson(like on gti) autos have better 0-60 times(i noticed that only for gti)

actaully my uncle have a crown victoria from 80's, 82 or so, his grandmother used to drive it, it have an auto and it still works, and that car is a daily driver

 

*gets spoon out*

seriously if you can't get the hang of changing gear without destroying the box you really shouldn't be on the roads.

 

As yet another Ameri-Brit Hybrid, I find this thread quite interesting.

I moved to the UK when I was 10 years old (From Boston... shotgunefx, your comments about the the big dig and the north end, I feel for ya, plus It makes me miss pizza from Umberto's and a cannoli from anywhere.... ), so I can't comment on the american way of learning to drive, However, my personal opinion on where the difference stems from is nothing to do with lazyness (ok, maybe a little bit, drive thru McBurger joint, Drive Thru Banking, Drive Thru Krispy Kreme, Drive Thru wedding chapels, need i go on?), just the way car culture developed in the two countries differently.

For this we need to go to the 50's
In the US, think The birth of Rock, and teenage independance (and the bench seat!) and drive-in Movies. think Happy days and all the other images that inspires. the lifestyle was centred around having a car just to be able to go anywhere (cos the burbs are so damned big!).

lets move to the UK in the same time period.
Post-war. 'Nuff said
the country was still spending every penny it had re-building everything destroyed from air raids. If Dad had A car for the whole family you were lucky, enough money to run the thing for essential trips, even luckier. so luxuries like auto boxes were not usually forthcoming.

As a result, I don't think youth car culture really came to Britian til much later. (I could be very wrong about this... I wasn't around then, this is just the impression i get from people who were...).

So now we have a situation where most cars on the road in (say) the 70's in America are Auto and most in UK are manual.

Combined with a difference in the teaching, In USA (I believe) there is Drivers Ed in schools. In the UK it's all done in your own spare time and expense. And very few driving instructors will teach in an automatic, mainly because if you learn and take your test in an auto, that's all you're allowed to drive thereafter.
wheras over the pond, it seems like it's just a case of 'get the test out of the way as quickly as possible, then try and pick up stick a couple of hours a month in my brothers/uncles/neighbours/grandads stick if i need to...'

Since the volume of cars dictates what you'r first car is, that then dictates what you're likely to drive the rest of your life...(not always tho)

oh and BTW auto drivers, when you have learnt how to drive a stick properly, it's not one more thing to think about, you do it naturally and don't think about it. kind of like walking and breathing at the same time.... if you have dificulty doing those together, you shouldn't be behind a wheel at all

As for the 'all roads in america are straight' Go pretty much anywhere in New England, and the terrain is as twisty as anywhere in the UK, with cities as hard to navigate as well (last time I was over I refused to drive in Boston, even in an auto!)
just my 1.2p/2c
Al

 

Lazyness you could call it, but I like being able to hop in my truck and not have to shift forty different times before I make it out of the neighborhood. I have no problem driving a stick, infact the first truck I learned on was stick. Drove for a while with another stick truck, but my automatic transmission doesn't unmotivate me to go somewhere like manual does.

 

I'm an american, and I know a lot of americans that drive sticks... but we're also all military, too. I have a manual truck, for the fact that it's easy to work on, I had to change the clutch out once, which I wouldn't have been able to do in 4 hours if it was an automatic...

 

auto's are much more complicated than manuals

 

You dont understand. In the morning im grogy and trafic is killer. I just ease myself along trafic thats moving 10-15mph and try to wake up completly.

That and the fact that somedays im hauling 800-1000lb of materials and honestly that would make me weary of driving manual. Its not that I would not get the hang of it. But I would need to rething my morning route.

 

Still buying a Mustang, despite it's puny 300bhp... Manual of course.

 

i would buy a camaro with 500+hp

 

i found one very complicated roundbout:

 

OK, what was that road designer smoking.....and where can I get some?

 

They are driving on the left, so my guess is its in england, hence the crap design.

'doc

 

After looking at this, I've developed screaming voices in my head!! Where do I... how does one... This would make want to

 

Aah, the delights of Swindon's Magic Roundabout. I lived there for a few years, and crossed that all the time. It works really well, and isn't as complicated as you'd first think!

My missus lived in Swindon for years before she even attempted it, and even then it was in the middle of the night.

 

there's one like that in Hemel Hempstead too.... along with some other wierd junction designs (there's a road R&D centre there)

 

Wow now that's a complicated path. I've seen pieces of music easier to follow.

 

Dont care about power really. 300bhp is enough, and besides... it's an icon.. and I love it.

 

Roundabouts are perfect without traffic lights. Here in the Netherland we have some roundabouts with traffic light, and the only moment when there is a good trafficflow there is when the trafiic lights don't work

 

OMFG, that road is as complicated as it gets

 

camaro is a big icon and winner in lots of races, plus camaros are much better at handling on high speeds, and also camaros were chosen 3 times as a pace cars, i'm not sure if 70's models were, but if they were then it's 4 times