When purchasing a new car, say a spanking new sports car or a family car like a Toyota Wigo in the Philippines, you must also consider the transmission. Many cars come in both manual and automatic transmission – choosing the most suitable one for you will greatly affect your overall experience.
What is a transmission?
A transmission is what takes the power generated by the car’s engine and lets you apply that power to be able to drive your car. It controls how much power is given to the wheels so that you can drive your car at different speeds. There are two components of a transmission:
- The shaft takes the energy, power, or torque from the engine and shifts it over to the axles of the car. This is what makes the car move.
- The gears allow your car to go at different speeds. The gears change as the car is commanded to go faster or slower so that it can use the right amount of power to move.
There are differences between a manual and automatic transmission car. Deciding which one to get all boils down to preference. Technically speaking, the difference between the two types are as follows:
Shift
A manual transmission car has a stick shift that allows the driver to manually shift the gear from one to another as they drive faster or slower. The automatic transmission is self-shifting. The standard controls for automatic are as follows: Park (P) to restrict the car from moving in any direction, Reverse (R) to drive backwards, Neutral or No Gear (N) to allow the car to coast freely, and Drive (D) to enable access to the full range of available forward gear ratios.
Clutch
Manual cars have an extra pedal called the clutch, which allows the driver to shift from one gear to another. The automatic transmission car does not have nor require this extra pedal.
Price
Manual cars tend to be cheaper because they’re cheaper to build and maintain as long as you regularly check if the clutch is in good condition. Repairs and replacement of parts are less costly. Automatic cars, on the other hand, have more components because they are built to do most of the work for you.
In general, it takes more time to learn how to properly drive a manual due to the complexity the changing of gears presents. Once you get the hang of using a clutch, you can have more control compared to automatic. Both types of transmission have their pros and cons, and it’s only up to you to decide which suits you best.
