Here Are The Cars You Prefer With An Automatic Transmission

I have a confession to make: I prefer automatics. I know. I'm supposed to like the pure experience of a manual. The thing is, I have bad knees (Osgood–Schlatter disease combined with football wear) and I'll take no pain and discomfort in my knees over a driving experience any day. With that being said, one car I prefer with a slushbox even though it was never offered with a manual (even though people always asked for it) is a Charger SRT. It's a muscle car sure, but it's also a boat. An auto keeps it a cruise missile.

We asked readers what cars they preferred with an automatic over a manual transmission. These were their answers.

Thunderbird super coupe.

I currently own a mark viii. I have owned a 5.0 cougar, a 4.6 tbird and a manual super coupe. I think the auto suits the cars better.

The Super Coupe was based on the 10th generation Thunderbird. And while the Super Coupe was a more "hot" version of the personal luxury coupe with a supercharged V6, it was still a big coupe. It could be had with a Mazda sourced five-speed manual.

Suggested by: Danny Smith (Facebook)

The Honda Accord 2.0T and Mazda6.

Yes, they were good with manuals, but honestly, the gearboxes felt sloppy. The automatics just did a way better job overall.

And, after switching to an regular car with an automatic, I can say, I prefer it much more than manual. Too much traffic in the Philly area; that and the roads are shit.

Honda attempted to inject some fun into the family sedan driving experience by not only offering a manual option but also making it available with the larger engine and the Sport model. The Zoom Zoom brand had other ideas. The Mazda6 could be had with a manual, but only on base Sport trims with the 2.5-liter I4. And it discontinued the manual in 2019 (and the car itself for 2022.)

Suggested by: ZephyZeph94

I loved my FoST but had to commute 50 miles a day and the traffic turned my left foot into a claw (Plantar fasciitis) after a few months of intense stop-n-go.

So, year, any daily commuter car in auto is cool by me.

The Focus ST had the distinction of being a proper hot hatch, only ever offered with a manual throughout its 2013 to 2018 run. The new current-gen and not-for-us Focus ST in Europe gets the option of a seven-speed auto.

Suggested by: @THEmikeMoonan (Twitter)

As someone who used to modify and track Subarus and always wants to have a manual car in the garage, I have come to realize that a 5,000 lbs luxury car or SUV does not need a manual transmission nor does it need a high-performance engine. All it needs is a smooth, efficient transmission that is barely noticeable during regular driving.

I learned this by enjoying my brand new A7e hybrid significantly more than my 2002 M5 as a highway cruiser. Don't get me wrong, the sound of the M5 and the way it shrinks and dances when you give it the beans is truly fantastic when driving on a winy country road to the grocery store but the drone, requirement for constant throttle application to maintain any speed, and 22 mpg highway fuel economy (downhill, with a tail wind) makes it less than ideal for road trips that are more than 100 miles round trip. That first or second perfectly executed double-clutch downshift from 6th to 3rd when accelerating quickly for a merge or overtake can be breathtakingly fun (and of course wonderful to the ears) but it gets old after the fourth asshole of the day cuts you off or merges onto the highway in front of you at parking lot speeds.

Compare that to the A7 or even my oldish X5 diesel, which quietly shoot down the highway, deactivating their engines (or decoupling their transmission in the case of the X5) when not needed, and can be controlled with barely a pinky on the wheel. And most importantly, no shifting required since their modern 7-speed DSG and 8-speed auto get the job done well and can easily perk up a bit in dynamic/sport mode.

Suggested by: oddesth

The current generation WRX (non-STI). The clutch on this thing makes it feel like you're always dropping first gear too quickly, no matter how good a manual driver you are. I used to sell them and customers would say the same thing. Strange that the cvt is the better option.

For those that agree with this, this is probably the only time that a CVT was preferable to a manual.

Suggested by: Andrew Dimayuga (Facebook)

The Chevy SS has a poorly designed clutch mechanism and is better suited for the auto.

Source: Have owned a 6-speed example for 5 years.

It's a fine car overall, and its novelty/collectibility is what keeps me hanging on to it, but I don't particularly enjoy driving it around town.

The Chevy SS used a Tremec TR-6060 six-speed manual transmission, which was almost exclusively used by performance vehicles. You'll find one in everything from the Cadillac ATS-V to the S197-gen of the Ford Mustang GT500.

The manual was a bit agricultural, while the automatic was the ubiquitous 8 speed ZF unit found in many significantly more expensive cars, and performed as well as ever.

The M140i/M240i was always better as a fast cruiser than an out and out hot hatch anyway, so the auto suited it.

Suggested by: Good evening occifer

When I bought a VW GTI in 2017, the DSG/automatic was my 1st choice, despite having a manual in all 9 cars I'd owned up to that point. Why?

1) DSG was reviewed favorably by everyone who drove it.

2) VW's manual shifter and clutch feel where not up to the standard I'd become accustomed to.

3)The GTI came with the same clutch as the regular Golf, which meant it could handle exactly as much power as the engine made in stock form. But since no one buys a 4-cylinder turbo without thinking about tuning it, I had to also factor in the cost of a clutch upgrade.

Suggested by: The Stig's Rustbelt Cousin

Bmw z8... service them regularly, the automatic equipped Alpina variant is much nicer to drive, despite my manual elitist mindset.

When the Z8's production run ended, production shifted to BMW's official/unofficial in-house tuner ALPINA. In their hands, it gave the roadster a five-speed BMW Steptronic transmission. Only 555 of these ALPINA V8's were ever made. Some 450 of those came to the U.S. and we drove one. Good car.

Suggested by: Miles Furlong (Facebook)