Hey, got into a hilarious story recently.

So, I've got into some big movie shooting (that is a big story worth separate post=), and according to my supporting role I had to drive a car. Surely, I said I can drive! But you should have seen my face when I realized that it was a car older than me with Manual Transmission!

Last time I drove those was 6 years ago, when I was studying how to drive. Fortunately, I somehow managed to recall my driving skills in about an hour (luckily, action was in "desert", not a city scene). But that made me think - probably MT is not only for racers even now?..

According to your location you live in the UK, and you are surprised that manuals are popular?

There is nothing wrong with manual transmissions and in fact they are probably the best all-round, however if I had a choice I would have one of each as our previous car (1999 Volvo V40 auto) was great to drive and so smooth.

Manual transmission is good as you can hold it in whatever gear you want and you have clutch control. Older automatic transmissions were pretty rubbish, however the newer automatic transmissions are now pretty good. I know that I can convert my Mercedes 722.6 autobox to have fully manual controls (eg paddle shifters etc) which would give the same feel as a manual.

The benefit for automatics is the fact that you don't loose any boost between shifts, the downside is that due to the viscous coupling the automatic transmission has its not quite as direct as a manual. I have only had 1 autobox car (Mercedes E300) but I found it quite easy to drive, good for commuting and in stop start traffic.

Autoboxes have got much better now, but I would still go with a manual - like most UK cars.