Why do car companies still charge extra for automatic transmission

[MsAnthropy]

when things are cupholders, cruise control and floor mats are now standard? I just don't get it.

I want a Saturn Sky so bad I can taste it.

http://www.saturn.com/saturn/vehicles/sky/overview.jsp

[mikeytherat]

1. Automatics are far more complicated with many more parts

than a manual transmission. This is most likely why they cost a bit more.

mikey_the_rat

[MsAnthropy]

2. Yeah, but it's 2006!

They don't put an 8-track in there and charge extra for a CD player!

I'll never be able to afford that Sky.

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. What they should do is offer a discount for manual

I think you're right - automatic is so much the norm now, that it's silly to continue to think of it as an "option".

We're really to the point that manual is the option, at least for cars.

The Saturn Sky is a niiiiiiiice car!

[TommyO]

4. Some cars like the Sky deserve a manual transmission

But then I'm a manual type guy, more comfortable flogging a clutch and shifter than letting the car's computer do the work for me.

[B3Nut]

5. An automatic in a sports car

seems almost sacreligious... ;)

I had to get an automatic in my new car (Kia Rio5 hatchback) beacuse my wife can't drive a stick. It's alright I suppose, and the auto in that model gets better highway MPG than the manual due to a taller final drive, but I do miss stirring the gears. For a long time a car just wasn't a car without a stick, sticks are much more fun to drive. :)

Todd in Beerbratistan

[TommyO]

8. The MPG ratings have flipped

It used to be that a manual transmission would give you better mileage than an auto, but that was in the days of three speed automatics. Now that some autos are offering up to seven forward gears with carefully chosen shift points, many automatics are getting better MPGs than our beloved sticks.

[MsAnthropy]

10. Whew, I feel totally vindicated now

:bounce:

[billyskank]

16. Not when I compared them

If I look at the same model car with the same engine and compare the manual and auto transmission performances, the manuals always accelerate slightly better and get better mpg.

Maybe they do things differently in Europe, but our automatics are not more efficient.

[Mutley]

6. Since I drive a manual, I like it that way.

:evilgrin:

[MsAnthropy]

7. It seems like just an awful lot of extra work to me

to drive a manual but I'm lazy :)

[JVS]

9. Because people who drive manuals are special and deserve to save...

money.

[MsAnthropy]

11. I bet it's that secret "guy-thing" discount!

everything is cheaper for men--haircuts, clothes, even transmissions! It's a conspiracy! :tinfoilhat:

:hide:


:rofl:

[politicat]

12. Not a secret guy thing, it's a secret cheap-skate thing.

I hate automatics. Despise them. They're only good for point and shoot drivers who have to be on their cells, sipping their half-caff half-soy extra foam no whip mochachinolatte, screaming at the kids in the back and failing to avoid hitting me. The one thing I notice with drivers who have standard shifts is that they pay more attention to the road. An automatic makes it far too easy to forget to drive, since it requires only one hand and sometimes a foot. (So now that I've flamed everyone from coffee drinkers to cell phone users....)

But chicks can get the super-secret standard trannie discount, too. By learning to drive a standard. They're not hard to learn; they just require attention.

[LostinVA]

13. I have a clutchless manual transmission on my car

LOVE IT.

[Ediacara]

14. Because 1870s technology still has a few die-hards willing to purchase

I wish that they would stop refering to "manual transmission" as "standard" though. There's nothing standard about it, unless it's 1910... The ~5% of cars manufactured with manual are hardly standard. It's like refering to Macs as the standard computer.....

[Gold Metal Flake]

15. 2006 or not, automatic transmissions cost more to make.

The castings are much more inticate and require more machining. There are many more precision parts. There are many more electronic controls. They need cooling circuits. Auto transmissions are a PITA.