Manual VS Automatic Semi Trucks? 🚛 🤔

What do you prefer driving and why?

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[ronwreimer]

Shifting a manual makes driving a truck fun. That perfect shift that falls in with no resistance is very satisfying.

[DJPereira]

I like being able to control which gear I'm in and ether lower or raise rpms as I want to. Floating gears I guess is something these auto drivers will never know. Glad to be able to have the opportunity to still drive a manual.

[scryla]

I have a 13 speed ACERT Peterbilt that I LOVE! But I’ll admit when I drove my buddie’s automatic Mack it was good to just steer for a while. I’ll NEVER have one for myself unless I get too old to shift

[dirtyjobs]

We run both manual and automatic in an off highway application, log hauling / low bedding in central British Columbia often winding steep grades with 7 axle units hauling 77, 000 - 80, 000kgs (176, 000 lbs) often we will have 2 sets of drive axles chained up with tripes and sometimes all 3 drive axles, the automatics can be the trickiest in this situation as they will shift down at the most inappropriate time when your climbing a hill causing you to spin out, if your good with an automatic they will work well in this situation but most drivers prefer the standards for off highway. We hired a lady few years back and she would not drive the automatics, she weighed about 140lbs and could throw 4 triple tire chains on faster than any of the guys we hired and drive better than many of us including me.

[JETZcorp]

I'm just in CDL school at the minute, and all our trainer trucks are late-80s 9spd and 10spd manual Freightliners. Learning to shift these things is fun and satisfying. My instructors have been taking me through the "downtown grinder" practice route without using the clutch pedal. I feel like if I can do that without too much issue, it really shouldn't be a problem for someone who's out driving professionally every day. When I come out the other side and start looking for a company, I'm really dreading ending up in some rolling iPad with a "D" button. That's not to say I love the dilapidated old farm tractors we're training in, but I just want to be connected to the machine. Give me good hardware, you can keep the software.

[daviddonaldson]

I love my manual. Automatic allowed anyone to drive a truck, now you have trucks driving like cars. No signal, cutting other drivers off the norm for trucks, just like cars.

[cristianocr]

I prefer drive manual transmission cause where I live snowing I feel more comfortable to control the truck

[BobDiot]

I want a manual. So much better control over the truck, especially in inclement weather.

[ulkeshkarne]

I love automatic transmission trucks instead of manual this change should be positive

[sjd]

Drove a automatic once and dam computer down shifted on me on sheer ice and almost cost me to crash...went right back to 18 manual as soon as I got home...never again will I use automatic

[Suntan]

Might need to do a poll on how many accidents happen on automatic transmission vs manual. Smaller companies that have manual transmissions have them for a reason.

[alkohl]

43 years out here driving. Started on a 5x4. Since then I've driven 9, 10. 15, and 18 speed transmissions. Last 3 trucks I've bought have been automatics.

I have no reason to go back to a manual. Most companies that do purchase automatics have a tendency to reduce their effectiveness but turning off some options. Those are the ones that usually breakdown.

[charliebrown]

Mixed on the issue I like the manual because of Torque and power and more Automatic when I’m sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic are a backup on the HWY

[mrbryguy]

I have a 10 speed that I’m about done paying off and honestly I would not mind owning an automatic. Some years ago I drove for a company that shipped cheese to the west coast from the Midwest and I had an auto Volvo 780 and absolutely loved it, it was a dream to drive and the automatic trans only made sense lol

[jeffreygoldberg]

I will never drive for a company that doesn't have any manual transmission trucks. I refuse to give up the control that a manual transmission gives me as the driver. Besides; every truck that I've driven with an automatic transmission has broken and left me stranded.

[driverben]

Automatic kills the spirit. In the same the spirit of the show Two and a Half Men is killed without Charlie Sheen

[MMINacozari]

I 100% go for automatic it's no brainier
.
.
New transmission are amazing

[victoriaheffernan]

Manual I’ve driven for 3 companies in a row that’s all automatic I hate it but it’s so hard to find a company with manuals that also pay their drivers well

[timbango]

Not a trucker, but it seems that a manual would be more fulfilling and gives you pride. But auto just makes way more sense, specially with traffic now days.

[friendofvinnie]

Negative it's all going to lead to automation