Originally Posted by dacook

I learned something this morning listening to a radio show. I've never really known how an automatic transmission works before (don't laugh; I know a lot of you are gearheads but some of us just like to drive).
According to the car guy on the show, (probably oversimplified) spinning vanes on the motor side move fluid which drives oppositely oriented vanes on the other side, so there is no solid-to-solid contact of moving parts at all. His point was in answer to a question called in about whether it wears an automatic to ride it to hold position on a hill like slipping a clutch does on a manual.
He went on to say that at speeds over about 40mph there is a mechanical connection that kicks in so the loss of power transmission efficiency of an auto compared to a manual is eliminated. So fuel economy and power transmitted to the wheels will be the same, at least over 40 mph. He then stated that he would never buy a manual.
So my question is; is there any reason to prefer manual over automatic other than you just think it's fun to manually shift? (maybe hold a gear longer but can't tuning adjust that?)

Originally Posted by Dave89IROC

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/automa...ansmission.htm


oh, and FYI, the "spinning vanes", is called the Torque Convertor.............

Originally Posted by dacook

That's an amazing piece of engineering. Thanks for the link.
But what about an answer to my question? Why should/would anyone prefer a manual transmission? Seems like the advantages of better power transmission and fuel economy of manual no longer exist?