[baege]

So I've been sans manual for over a year now and as time marches on I find I miss it more and more.

I've got an m240i with the zf8 and it is actually pretty responsive on the paddles shifts (I drive with paddles ALL the time).

So I am tempted to go back to my manual and force my partner to learn or not drive (she says she is afraid of being a new manual driver in a real urban enivronment, we live right downtown).

But the thought crossed my mind that missing manual might be a bit like missing an ex. You only remember the good stuff and then if you do get back together, you're like oh yeah now I remember why we broke up.

Anyone move to dct or a good manumatic, miss manual, then go back only to be like damn, we shoulda stayed broken up!

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

i know i only have 10 years behind the wheel....half manual half automatic.

the g35 manual was a temperamental bitch.
the automatics in between were easy,lazy, and downshifting from a paddle is the most un-rewarding thing.
You seem to have no cons with the manual beside your partner. maybe its time for a new partner

but srsly. idk, the learning curve is steep, especially for someone who doesnt want to do it

[NickyC]

6MT for lyfe.

[SakhirM4]

Originally Posted by NickyC

6MT for lyfe.

Agree totally, but had no choice with the new Z4 M40i

[Dagamus_NM]

Depends on the vehicle, there are some that are dull and a manual just adds a layer of BS to an already unpleasant driving experience. Others that are great with a manual. For a sports car I have always preferred a manual but I have to say that the DCT in my m3 is something completely different. I would put it into a separate category than other BMWs I have had with manual or automatic transmissions.

[Red Bread]

My wife can't drive my car. I fail to see the problem.

To be fair, she can, she just thinks she can't. She drove my old M Coupe when we lived in Laguna Beach. Tons of hills and stop signs on those hills. She'd have no trouble in flat as a pancake Dallas. But she has no interest. And that's fine. My seat and mirrors are never in the wrong place.

My ex drove my cars all the time, but she also had a manual car. I think I prefer the current setup.

Oh, and yes, if you prefer manual, you'll always miss it. I've never wanted an automatic and will likely only buy an EV, skipping multi gear automatics entirely.

[zx10guy]

I miss having a manual. Both of my cars are now autos....one with a DCT and the other a CVT....oh the horror. Even with the DCT, I miss having a manual. I have my 135i with a DCT because I wanted new and this was the last new black (well carbon black) 135i in the entire 4 state area where I live. I dived into getting a 135i when all production had ceased. When I drive my daily with the CVT, I wish I had a manual even more. I've driven manuals pretty much my entire life. The only times I had autos were when I got my first car and the two current cars I have.

The funny thing is my motorcycles are obviously manuals. But I've been having an itch to get a S1000RR. Having had extensive track time with the RR, I miss having that powershifter feature. Clutchless upshifts and downshifts once you get the bike moving. If someone can design a cage with a trans that operates like the current crop of superbikes with clutchless shifting, they'd have my money.

[BayE30]

I DD a manual car my first 17 yrs of driving, now i have been driving my m3 with DCT for the last ~3yrs. I dont miss manual for DD, it was getting very annoying as the city i live in got more and more congested. I only miss the manual transmission when i am cruising through the mountains on the weekend.

BUT if i really feel the urge, i will book a track day and take my track toy e30 out to play. This option may sound nice, but having a vintage track toy means i spend big $$$$ every single time it leaves the garage...so it doesnt leave often.

[RS DAVE]

No it's much worse, in some cases there is no manual option! so with my 335d i converted it to manual, same with my RS6.
With ex's fuck them, they all got the same thing to offer. My ex wife of 26yrs, we met when i was 17, she was 16. she asked to get back together? i said to her if i bought a brand new car and sold it with a service history, i wouldn't buy it back a few years later a few more owners and fuck off high mileage!!!!! the comment didn't go down well.

[bucketfoot]

I used to miss a manual, but years of sitting in traffic during a snow storm (or even normal traffic) has dulled the pain.

[PKL]

Fantastic thread title and concept. My answer to your question is YES! Leave the ex-girlfriend/manual behind. I have a DCT for 12 months now for the first time in my 20 years of driving, and I drive with it like it is truly a clutchless manual, NEVER driving in "auto" mode. Frankly, it's fantastic. All the joy of manual without the annoyance in traffic

[The HACK]

Here's a different analogy.

Long, LONG time ago I used to be pretty proficient with markers, since I was an illustrator by training. And I don't mean markers as in permanent markers, but real, high-end markers that you use for artists. I had in my arsenal a 100 piece market set (that set me back $500), a 120 piece color pencil set (that set me back like another $200), and a 12 piece inked pen set (I think that was another $100). I was expertly proficient at illustration with these tools.

My 11 year old daughter is learning art and illustration right now, but she does it on her iPad Pro. The results are excellent, as the pen and the apps do an amazing job at simulating the effects of different tools on different medium. I suppose I could never get the same result, as it's capable of switching back and forth between markers, pencil, and ink effortlessly. On top of it it simulates paper grain or canvas textures. Modern technology is truly amazing.

It's been nearly 20 years since I had to do illustration for a living, in fact, it's been so long that it felt like an entire lifetime ago. Now a days unless you're a well recognized illustrator, you're not making a career out of doodling. And even if you have a successful career as an illustrator, you probably at one point or another honed your skills on the computer as well as on physical media. I for one, liked doing illustrations, even though my job is in marketing and management now. So I never let the skills slide, and I pick up a pen/pencil/marker and sketch in my sketchbook whenever I want to unwind and get into a zone. But I found myself using the iPad Pro with the Pencil input more and more, as it 1) doesn't have consumables except electrons and 2) easier to clean up and 3) you an actually undo mistakes rather than having to go back and fix.

But I miss the physical sensations of blending the markers, the touch and the feedback of the pen/pencil dragging on media, the smell of the markers (OMG. I know it's toxic as f**k but holy sh*t do you get a good high from it), the pencil shavings, and the dirty fingers after a good sketch session. I don't do it nearly as often as I used to, simply because, well, I'm not being paid for my illustration skills. Plus my skills have mostly transitioned over to the digital front.

It's different. I can argue that the digital medium is superior in a lot of ways. And really, I do create faster in digital. It's performance is hard to argue. The same artwork that I can create in Illustrator vs having to hand draw it is about 5x-10x the time, if not more.

But at the end of the day, often times I'll pick up a pencil and just start to doodle. It's like an old skillset that very few people have, and most don't teach anymore, and frankly, I'm PROUD of the fact I can still do illustration on traditional media and do it well. And really, I can do it really well and the stuff comes out amazing if I put my time into it. It's far more rewarding even though the end result probably isn't that different.

But if you ask my 11 year old? She's like, "daddy why don't you just draw on the iPad?" She doesn't know what she doesn't know, as for her, she's never had to pick up a pen to do what she can do on an iPad. It's just weird to me, but for her it's 100% more natural to draw directly on a digital medium.

I dunno. Here's the last time I was "commissioned" to draw anything, and this was all done digitally. I don't think I can get as detailed with a pen/pencil/marker technique, certainly for some of the details like the QR codes and the brand/marques on the car. But I probably would have had a lot more fun doing it in pen/pencil/marker that's for sure.

I don't think it's an "ex" situation. It's more like for me, as a skilled artisan, the difference between different techniques that produce same result, but different experience. One is technically superior, exact every time, and may even have better results. The other is intimate, tactile, REAL. There's no shame in liking one over the other, but there is a REAL difference in skills involved to do either.

[The HACK]

On another front, I've been experimenting with the art of home cooking. For nearly my entire adult life, it was just easy and convenient to go out for dinner or buy something from a fast food joint.

The last 5 years or so has really forced me to re-think my eating habits (health reasons). And so I started preparing home meals and eventually got to like it. Most of the time though, the Missus prepare meals at home, or we'd eat with my parents and my mom would do the cooking. But I've actually gotten very proficient at certain cuisines.

Sometimes we would be at a restaurant and order something expensive, and my first thought would be "I can do this at home and do it better." But with a full time job, family obligations, and expensive and time consuming hobbies, cooking from scratch is something that I can't do regularly. So we continue to eat out, or at my parent's house, because it's easy and convenient.

Occasionally I'd fire up the oven to make something, and the end result is usually pretty spectacular (at least to my taste buds). Knowing I can do certain dishes as good as the best restaurants or my mom, I take certain pride in doing it, I feel rewarded when I cook it, and I am rewarded when I eat it. But it does take time, preparation, and manual labor...But boy howdy, every time I cook, it just taste BETTER knowing I made it from scratch.

It's like that switching between autos and manuals. I've driven manuals my entire adult life, and currently there's 2 manuals and 2 autos in the stable. I take the auto mostly because they're the two convenient cars (seat more than 2), but whenever I need to go somewhere by myself I always take the MZ4 Coupe or the Corvette, because frankly? I like to shift myself, and I am damn proficient at it.

[Efthreeoh]

There is no substitute for a 3-pedal manual transmission just the same as there is no substitute for pu - - y.

Just sayin'

[86Zed]

To each their own - my wife and I sold a failed automatic DD experiment (~1 year) to purchase an older MT daily. It gets driven in inclement weather and all traffic situations, without complaint.

As for the OP, find a manual M240i to borrow or rent (Turo)? Ought to give you your answer immediately. My wife learned manual and has never looked back.

[King Rudi]

Some good and funny analogies in here. I certainly miss my 6MT to just get out and enjoy driving although when I find myself downtown somewhere, I do not miss it all in stop & go traffic.

[Savageenterprise]

As my DD I had a manual g37s...then swapped that out for an acura TSX. Figured the same thing, get a boring regular car for a while, cut costs etc. and all I did the whole time I owned the car was shop for another car lol. If I would have got it in stick it may have made it entertaining enough to keep for a while but I just couldn't do it.

I will say my situation for commuting is different than most since I work from home so driving in rush hour traffic doesn't even come into the equation for me. But even still, I would love to keep a manual in my garage for as long as possible and I'm very happy having my manual 340 now.

[Andyh1]

My Z4MR is a 6-speed and my DD is a 6-speed Mk7.5 GTI... manual for life!

[Run Silent]

Originally Posted by Now_Rudi

Some good and funny analogies in here. I certainly miss my 6MT to just get out and enjoy driving although when I find myself downtown somewhere, I do not miss it all in stop & go traffic.

I know where you live - what exactly do you mean by stop and go traffic?



Are you referring to when there is another car at a stop light with you?

[King Rudi]

Originally Posted by Run Silent

I know where you live - what exactly do you mean by stop and go traffic?



Are you referring to when there is another car at a stop light with you?

Downtown Crossville has roughly 5 intersections with stop lights at each one of them. Friday night after Bingo and Sunday after church is out, the traffic can get pretty bad. There are times where it takes me more than 7 minutes to get home.

I used to have offices between the Tri-Cities and Nashville. I traveled East and Middle TN all week long.

Thus the "downtown somewhere" (implied not downtown here)

[Aaaaaaaaa]

Drove manual S60R for 6-7 years then went to AT for 6 years. When deciding on trans for the M3 I was initially open to either but as soon as I test drove the manual I knew immediately it had to be manual. Just felt so right. I'm quite torn what to do when the lease is up.

[Humdizzle]

celica gts manual, e36 m3 manual, then had an e46 m3 manual. sold it in 2012 for a GTR. I liked it.. DCT was kind of new to the scene and it was ridiculously fast. Not just acceleration, but braking too since I didn't have to heel-toe like my life literally depended on it.

Then I got a scion FRS because I was getting the manual itch again. and needed something better than an 03 corolla to daily. Just one test drive and I knew I had to have that car.

Replaced GTR with another DCT... Ferrari 458 since no other supercar really offered a manual.. (991.2 GT3 came out later though).

Drove the FRS to work and back for a year. 80 mile round trip on a boring highway. and for that the car was terrible. low gearing, buzzy, bad build quality (things just rattled), the stereo was pretty bad too.

Traded in for a new daily. f30 335. I welcomed the comfort and ease of use with the ZF8. plus it was just way better built inside. But driving the car hard... it just doesn't give any feedback and the downshifts are slooow. like its a great auto... but doesn't hold a candle to any dct I've driven. its really the delay on downshifts when you are braking hard into a corner that I hated.


Got a 2009 civic auto to take to work. Sold the f30.. picked up nice used f80 6 speed. Probably going to sell the 458 for a manual .2 GT3 soon as well. Honestly I don't think there are any drawbacks to a manual anymore since they can do no-lift-shifts and auto rev match downshifts now. At least from a performance standpoint. If you live in stop and go traffic and only have one car I could understand though