Is manual better than 8 speed auto?

[Stan H]

The manual just doesn't hold up as well as the auto. Not made for the truck and limits you from doing things with the truck.

I am a huge lover of stick shift vehicles, but the Gladiator just isn't a vehicle for it to make sense. Definitely fun to row the gears, but that's about where the plus of the MT ends. Everything else, the AT is superior.

Well I have trouble in Jeep funland over here . Getting ready to do a transmission replacement ‍

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[Chestnut]

What do you all prefer?

You can't ask what is better (an objective question) and then request a subjective answer. That's just asking for a poo storm.

Manual. I don't care if the auto is objectively better in every aspect across the board. If it doesn't have a 3rd pedal and a big ol stick, I don't like driving it.

I don't understand so much hate for the manual. I love mine.

It's hate from the people that don't LOVE Manual transmissions.

Drive through Atlanta traffic with a stick, or, when a major interstate in that area experiences an accident on hills and you have to stop/go/stop/go/stop/go up hills and down hills.
SOOO thankful it was an automatic. You'd wear out a clutch in some of that traffic.

I never understood this argument. Let a gap open a bit and just let it roll in 1st. I do traffic daily and honestly it's easier in my manuals than autos. Autos idle too fast, so you always have to hold the brake. I guess i learned to drive in traffic with a 450 whp honda running a 3 puck cerametallic clutch. After driving that for 3 years you walk with a limp cause your left leg is double the size your right.

 

[Thunderspud]

Personal preference.

If people are being honest, this is the answer. I have mentioned it before on here.....But I will never understand why some folks seem so adamant about applying objective reasoning to a subjective discussion.

I didn't buy any of the Gladiators we have had (both auto and manual) because someone else had an opinion on which was "better".

To the OP (putting aside this is probably all just engagement bait), I say just drive your truck. Enjoy it. I promise you, my opinion of how you do so is simply not relevant.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

never understood this argument. Let a gap open a bit and just let it roll in 1st. I do traffic daily and honestly it's easier in my manuals than autos. Autos idle too fast, so you always have to hold the brake. I guess i learned to drive in traffic with a 450 whp honda running a 3 puck cerametallic clutch. After driving that for 3 years you walk with a limp cause your left leg is double the size your right.

LOL - let there be a gap and you have someone in that gap. We've been there, done that.
It's hard to let it idle along or "just let it roll" when going UP a mountain interstate.

I grew up driving sticks because automatics were much more expensive and rare - they just didn't exist as used cars I could afford. I didn't get an automatic until about 1984, and I had been driving over 10 years by then. All of my big farm trucks (grain box type trucks, tractors, etc. were of course "clutch" type things.

I've been in the types of traffic over 50+ years of driving where at times I wish I had an automatic, and times when I was glad I had an automatic.
(in heavy traffic, I slap it into manual mode and shift myself - saves transmission heat and weal)
Yeah, I know heavy clutches - race cars and Case's biggest factory 2 wheel drive tractors, so it's not like I'm limp-legged.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

If people are being honest, this is the answer. I have mentioned it before on here.....But I will never understand why some folks seem so adamant about applying objective reasoning to a subjective discussion.

I didn't buy any of the Gladiators we have had (both auto and manual) because someone else had an opinion on which was "better".

I say just drive your trucks. Enjoy them. I promise you, my opinion of how you do so is simply not relevant.

I like BOTH - depending on the situation, conditions, and so on. I enjoy the T5 in my car - until I don't because of heavy city traffic - and that bit about leaving space - both my wife and I constantly yell at Iowa drivers because if you leave 16 feet, they'll force their 17' car into that space and then finger you for not leaving more space for them. It's just how it is here.

 

[LouisvEarlleJT]

I don't understand so much hate for the manual. I love mine.

I think it gets read as hate but it's not. The data shows that the stronger and less problem prone drivetrain was/is the automatic for this particular vehicle.

The second you type ^this^ every manual owner on their original clutch with 117,000 miles who tow tandem axle trailers loaded with wet clay every other day will come out and say theirs is perfect. To that I say - glad you got the exception.

 

[Chestnut]

LOL - let there be a gap and you have someone in that gap.

OH NO! now your 18 feet further from your destination! Chances are aggressive driver McGee is going to switch out in a couple min than back in. No skin off my back, I'm not in a race where position matters.

Also i leave more than 17 feet usually like 2-3 lengths.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I think it gets read as hate but it's not. The data shows that the stronger and less problem prone drivetrain was/is the automatic for this particular vehicle.

The second you type ^this^ every manual owner on their original clutch with 117,000 miles who tow tandem axle trailers loaded with wet clay every other day will come out and say theirs is perfect. To that I say - glad you got the exception.

Agreed - no hate here. I grew up with and still have a 5 speed car in my collection. It's just that I've found for my needs for a TRUCK, the manual doesn't fit well. Note the words "FOR MY NEEDS" and "FOR A TRUCK"
I've had several trucks over the decades that were sticks - from a 3/4 ton chevy with the huge gearbox under the floor, long stick and granny low to 2 grain trucks with big manual transmissions, heavy clutches and over/under differentials with electric shift.
I actually enjoyed driving the EARLY manuals a lot better than later ones. IT seems they decided to gear reverse up so high you can outrun cops in reverse with some manual transmissions.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

OH NO! now your 18 feet further from your destination! Chances are aggressive driver McGee is going to switch out in a couple min than back in. No skin off my back, I'm not in a race where position matters.

Also i leave more than 17 feet usually like 2-3 lengths.

LOL - WOW, twist it around as if I AM the problem? Nice.

you totally miss the point. It's not "oh no" like you suggest, implying I am the problem, it's a matter of once you back off again (like I do) then the next one goes in, you back off again, and so on.

So stop being that guy, trying to put it on me - I am not in need of being one car ahead of the next guy like many drivers are I am against idiots that DO need to be ahead instead of falling in line behind me. THEY cause a lot of accidents here. They drive like they are in the country, on major highways. Even my son noted the big difference between driving in IA vs. FL and other states he's worked in.

Looks like you are trying to twist it around here.

I keep backing off - doesn't matter - you can't leave any distance around here. Go ahead and visit some time. You'll be frustrated as hell. I've had drivers from Toronto/Canada, TX, PA and CA complain about things here.
Try to be polite and safe and get paid back with people almost not clearing your bumper, then fingering you as if their problem is yours.

those drivers are a huge danger and problem here. Some shove in and then suddenly hit their brakes.

 

[Chestnut]

The data shows

This isn't an argumentative question but I would just love to know what i'm getting into with my MT, What data? Is there data on transmission failure rates? Are we talking the clutch recall? If we are talking the clutch recall, is that a fair data point? At any point anything can be subject to a recall due to poor manufacturing, poor design, etc.

Secondly is the clutch considered part of the transmission? It sits inside the bell housing but is replaced with out having to open or modify the transmission.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Transmission, fine.
Clutch, sucks.
It's like so many things - does the truck suck because the seats are bad?
Can't have a stick without some sort of clutch, but that doesn't make the transmission itself bad.

 

[Chestnut]

Go ahead and visit some time.

Oopps, didn't mean to touch a nerve. Sorry. Your right I dont' drive there. The closest I've traveled regularly to your area is Davenport & Cedar rapids. I will say the worst area for driver's I've ever been is Buffalo NY. Between Rochester and Erie my temper was tested. That was AFTER driving through Brooklyn and Manhattan.

I usually don't get people to jump lanes like that unless traffic is moving 10-15mph. When it's literally stopped a 2-3 length gap doesn't get used here. I also don't have that many miles in those situations. I only have at best 500,000 miles total behind the wheel of an MT vehicle.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Oopps, didn't mean to touch a nerve. Sorry. Your right I dont' drive there. The closest I've traveled regularly to your area is Davenport & Cedar rapids. I will say the worst area for driver's I've ever been is Buffalo NY. Between Rochester and Erie my temper was tested. That was AFTER driving through Brooklyn and Manhattan.

I usually don't get people to jump lanes like that unless traffic is moving 10-15mph. When it's literally stopped a 2-3 length gap doesn't get used here. I also don't have that many miles in those situations. I only have at best 500,000 miles total behind the wheel of an MT vehicle.

I actually found that though the traffic was frustrating as heck around Atlanta and other areas in KY and so on - the drivers were not rude. Some even saw your signals or intent and were polite. Here, they see a signal and will close the gap to prevent you getting in.
I've had people in MO actually STOP on a busy city street to let me get out of a parking lot. Doesn't happen very often here.
When my son recognizes it, and guy who drove from OR to Toronto, CA and said the worst part of the trip was here, there's a problem.
Traffic is one thing - if everyone just relaxes and acts like you were sitting next to the other person instead of isolated in a big piece of metal and glass, it's tolerable (even with my severe ADHD - I can handle traffic in the south - people are nicer, IMO)

TIP- DO NOT attempt to drive from IL to Des Moines, IA after an Iowa/Iowa state game on a Saturday night. They are the rudest most dangerous people I've ever driven around. Making it worse - the trucks that get into the left lane and stay there, side-by-side with another truck, for 20 miles on top of the IA/IA State moron fans.
Give me KC, MO rush hour over that.

 

[LouisvEarlleJT]

This isn't an argumentative question but I would just love to know what i'm getting into with my MT, What data? Is there data on transmission failure rates? Are we talking the clutch recall? If we are talking the clutch recall, is that a fair data point? At any point anything can be subject to a recall due to poor manufacturing, poor design, etc.

Secondly is the clutch considered part of the transmission? It sits inside the bell housing but is replaced with out having to open or modify the transmission.

It's really the clutch, but there's compounding issues. If my memory is correct, prior to the recall, Jeep released a computer flash that was supposed to nerf the manual vehicles to keep them out of the operating range that they thought caused high heat situations. Then came the clutch recall. So if I were to get into a manual I would swap out the clutch (myself, with an aftermarket unit such as centerforce, etc.), and make sure that the flash was reversed (if it happened).

After doing those things you'd have a reliable manual that should operate within the bounds that it is advertised to operate in (in terms of towing, etc.).

I don't have failure rate data or anything though I bet it could be found on NHTSA (maybe).

 

[Chestnut]

Clutch, sucks.

Yeah, it's not great. It's drive able but not great.

I'm subject to the recall, I'm very tempted to see if i can get someone to replace the clutch with parts I provide and go aftermarket. I haven't figured out what I'm going to do yet.

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