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Automatic

That an automatic is more comfortable needs no discussion. The interesting question is who gets the premium back. It pays off where you pull away often — heavy traffic, gradients, towing — and least of all on an open motorway, where a manual barely shifts either. Against that stands a service item a manual does not have, and a repair of a different order of magnitude when it fails. If you sit in traffic you gain; if you drive to the mountains twice a year you are paying for comfort, not for savings.

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What matters

  • Your licence has a say. Anyone who took the test on an automatic carries a corresponding restriction as a code on their licence in many countries and may not drive a manual. At resale that works the same way round: an automatic can be offered to anyone, a manual cannot.
  • For towing the automatic is the cheaper drivetrain, not the dearer one: a torque converter takes up the load when pulling away on a slope, where a clutch slips and wears doing it. Tow heavily and often, and an automatic saves you a clutch and settles the outfit.
  • The consumption penalty of older automatics has gone on newer multi-ratio gearboxes with a lock-up clutch that engages early — in places it has reversed. So compare the consumption figure of the specific engine and gearbox combination, not the type of transmission.
  • If comfort is the only reason you want an automatic, compare electric and full hybrid cars too. There is no step gearbox there, and so no clutch, no converter and no dual-clutch pack to fail — the smoothness comes with the design.

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Common questions

Does an automatic cost more to run than a manual?
In parts yes, in parts no, and the total depends on use. It is dearer to buy, dearer at a gearbox oil change where the maker specifies one, and dearer when it fails. It is cheaper wherever a manual eats clutches: in traffic, on hills, with a trailer. Work it out on your own profile rather than a rule of thumb — and get a garage to quote the gearbox service on both versions of the same model, which is the one figure that can be fixed in advance.
With an automatic-only licence, may I drive a manual?
No. The restriction appears as a numeric code on the licence and holds until it is lifted. It is lifted by a test on a car with a manual gearbox; how that test runs, what it costs and whether tuition is required is set by the licensing or road traffic authority of the country you live in. Check that before buying a car you would then not be allowed to move.

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