Hey, think we all love a stick but some of use have come to appreciate the advantages of an automatic transmission especially when towing. Aint nuttin better that the sound of the engine revin and the force upon your chest as you throw er into the next gear with an eye on the tac as she hits 4800 rpm< or whatever is the cutoff for your particular rig>. Yep, love it, allways have and always will. But, keep in mind that in the above scenario I had already checked things out and new I was good to go before my attention was allowed to be captured by engine, tach, gear shift and bacame one with my HO mustang. Aint the same as puttin down the highway pulling 12k or more with an eye to the mirrors and full attention on the road..........yeah right, now the truth. Puttin down the road with Gipsy, one of my treeing walker hounds next to me and a good johnny cash disc playin sippin on a cold one. Got too much to do with my hands instead of shifting. Man its hot here today! I love it!

 

I've been driving sticks since I was 11. I have since said that I would never own an automatic.

That being said, I have driven in traffic for the last 2 years and now live in town, so I can see where the auto guys are coming from. My left leg is going out on me at a much quicker pace than my right. I'm sure a decade of gymnastics didn't help my knees out much though.

Actually I've been contemplating buying a newer SD and I've been wrestling with the decision of stick or auto, so this thread definitely made for some interesting reading. One of my biggest problems is that as a girl I'm not as tall as who the truck was designed for. I feel like an idiot driving my dad's stick SD because my legs are too short for my heel to rest on the floor so sometimes there is a little bounce in the pedal, which I'm sure makes me look rediculous to anyone watching who knows what a diesel should sound like while accelerating. Plus I have to have the seat so close so that I can reach the floor when starting it but then I hit my shin on the e-brake release lever every time I shift gears, which does not feel good. So I'm still torn. I always said I would never have an automatic...especially in a truck! An auto is starting to look not so bad though...i dunno.

 

??? autos arent as tough. i have an auto stroke, and a manual. when towing big, i try to use the manual.

to have fun, i want an auto. to work, manny all the way. you can tow more, and do it faster. you are limited with a 4sp. auto. but with a 6 sp. manny, you got alot more to go with, if you know how to drive it.

 

You will love the new SD's with adjustable peddals. Ford addressed that probem back in 2003 or 4. Seat goes up and down too. If you live out my way your welcome to take mine for a spin which has the adjustable pedals and all that other sissy stuff<smile>. You could go to the dealers and drive one but if you do you will be hooked, they are sweet trucks.

 

No one makes a four speed they are all six speed autos for 07. The Ford is called a five speed but is actually a six speed that skips third when cold and fifth when warm, or something like that. I have been trying to decide which I preferr for years and can never nail it down, they both are good.

 

I plow snow with my trucks.a lot of short runs,autos work better for me.also i like my coffee late nights.

 

snow plowing? you would have to have a left knee made of titanium and ligaments made of goodyear rubber. i love shifting gears all day long in pickups,semi's, sports cars and my bike, but if i were plowing every year, no way.

 

I searched for 7 weeks for a SD 250/350 Lariat V10 6-speed with low enough miles.Could not find an acceptable truck anywhere(Ford dealer searched 900 dealers nationwide).I ended up ordering an 08 F250 to get a manual trans.My last truck was an 01 F250 SD with an auto, and if I can help it I'll never own another slush box tranny truck.The 01 was the first vehicle with an auto I've ever owned,and I loved everything about the truck...except the auto.When you are doin' any real 4 wheelin an auto just don't cut it,you are always on the binders.I put the 01 on it's lid about 8 weeks ago on a snowy, icy highway-totaled.Just can't get it out of my mind that if I had had the better control of a manual trans it wouldn't have happened.

 

.The 01 was the first vehicle with an auto I've ever owned,and I loved everything about the truck...except the auto.When you are doin' any real 4 wheelin an auto just don't cut it,you are always on the binders.I put the 01 on it's lid about 8 weeks ago on a snowy, icy highway-totaled.Just can't get it out of my mind that if I had had the better control of a manual trans it wouldn't have happened.[/QUOTE]

Sorry to hear about your accident and wish you the best with your new SD. I spent a lot of years in jeeps off the road and there are pros and cons each way. True you can't rock with an auto like you can with a stick but the auto keeps you going on a steep slope much better than a stick. With the stick swappin gears going uphill often results in a wheel breaking loose which often stops one cold. Many times with my tricked out v8 jeeps I would get stopped on a steep up hill only to watch an old 4 banger putt right on past me. Then one day I understood why. The little 4 didn't have enough juice to break the wheels free when swappin gears but had enough to chug up the steepest hill. At about that time I realize that the auto would do the same for the v8's, and they do.

 

I am amazed this thread has generated this kind of attention. Also amazed that roughly 1 third of th people (from the poll) prefer the manual. With those kind of numbers, why is it so hard to find a manual?

 

I wish I knew!! I hate that the manufacturers just aren't putting them in vehicles like they used to. I hate going to the dealerships and walking around a lot with zero manual trucks, its just not right!

 

because people don't want to get rid of them.

I certainly don't intend to, until it's run into the ground.

 

I don't follow.. how is that the case?

 

I was dead set on getting a manual in my SD, but then I thought of all the naughty stuff that happened in my 01 F150 auto, a stick would kinda get in the way of a lil road on those long, late nite trips... So I got an auto, but sometimes I wish I had a manual

 

naughty stuff??? of, u mean recreational activities. Hey, thats what SD's are for as well as work and all the more reason for the auto and the 40/20/40 seats.