Also, not too many people know how to drive a manual, which lessens the chances of successful theft.

 

I drive a 2013 dodge 5500 6.7 6 speed dump during the summer and love it. Smooth, powerful, and it's fun running through the gears. It's probably the easiest standard I've ever driven.

Also drive a 99 international dump for my uncle part time with the Eaton 8LL and I can tell you if that was in a pickup I'd light a match and walk away.

I enjoy stick, but I also enjoy the auto paired with my 6.0. Easy to drive, and 4x4 lo it will crawl no problem. I think the argument for why manual trans were so superior to autos died after the 4r100 was replaced by the 5r110. Modern autos are great. Although I will say there is something special about being in complete control with a manual that makes you feel special running down the road. Just my humble opinion

 

I know there is zero concrete evidence to back up the following, but it just feels weird to start your truck, plunk a little lever down, and drive away. I guess it is just more satisfying for me to move around a lever and have a clutch pedal that is at the mercy of the drivers skill and experience. Just kind of feels right to drive something that needs actual practice to drive IMO.

I have nothing against they guys who drive autos or their rides, it is simply down to personal preference.

 

I love the manual transmissions as well. Learned to drive on an 18-speed International Eagle, so maybe I'm partial.

Sold my half ton automatic for a 3/4 ton manual that was ten years older and in much worse shape, I wanted a manual that badly.

Also, it was a Chebbie

 

Oh really...

care to demonstrate?

 

The exact same way you do with your stick shift, just use your fingers to shift instead of hands.

 

I love manuals also, and have had many of them, but I'll never again have one in a daily driver. As for the Ram and the manual, I'm almost willing to bet that option disappears next model year.

 

I don't know the official numbers. At our dealership its pretty much 0% on the V6, 25% on Ecoboost, and 50% on GT... if any of them are a convertible it's at least 90% automatic.

 

I don't miss it one bit. Drove em all my life and what a pain in traffic. Yea sure it's fun and I'd love one in a 60-70's Bronco, if I could ever have one. But for all the towing, hauling, and daily driving I don't miss it one bit. Was fun to have manual shifting with my Suzuki GSXR-600 but I beat the snot out of that bike and wanted each gear to go to 10k rpm. Don't need that in the truck.

If you're getting at all stuck in the snow with 4x4 you shoudn't be out in the storm then no matter auto or manual, 4hi/4lo, 2nd/3rd/4th gear, etc..... I know snow. Got 7' of it in 3 days last year and multiple 1'+ snows every year. Only time I've ever had an issue in my truck or Escape is during that 7' when I tried to plow through 3-4' of snow with the truck. No lift, dually, "all terrain" tires, wasn't the best combo. Only stopped because the snow was up to the grill and you can't just push it.

Yep it costs more to have an auto, maintain an auto, and repair one. So be it. Not to mention all the other stuff stated above with emissions and other regulations.

 

I believe manuals have their place but they definitely being weeded out. Even in semi's most now are smart shift (no clutch but still the shifter to select the gear) or automatics. So if even those are going the way of automatics i'm surprised that small pickups even still have manuals. I Drove for 12+ years in the rocky mountains with tridem crane trucks on roads that had atv only signs on in the oil and gas sector and in those cases I can vouch that in the early days at least the manuals were the only way to go. We tried an automatic in some of those hills and you would get to hills where the wheels would physically stop turning requiring the standards to back down and help pull them up the rest of the way. I do miss those fun days but the new automatics are an entirely different breed than those that came first.

 

Good luck.

"Manual" mode doesn't let you do dumb things like over-rev or stall. It just lets you hold gears, downshift within limits, and start in 2nd... (possibly third, too, but no higher).

 

I find the manual mode on autos is completely pointless. It is so numb, so little feedback, that there is no point trying to shift with it. It is not a manual substitute, IMO.

Manuals also have the advantage when it comes to engine braking.

 

I don't think my manual mode is pointless. In fact, that's one of the biggest reasons I again went with a Ford when I bought my truck a couple months ago.

 

I like an automatic. Plowing snow is sure a lot easier. I've replaced quite a few clutches and don't need that aggravation. If I want to use manual mode it works great!

 

I worded that poorly. The manual mode does work, that is a fact, but I do not feel like it is a direct substitute for a manual transmission.