Manual vs automatic

[wreck99]

Okay tell the truth. How many times have you stalled it?

More on the road then the obstacles haha but a few times for sure. Usually catches me now and then when my doors and roof are off and I cant hear the engine. Over the past 2 years probably a dozen times I would say.

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[wibornz]

There is only one reason that Jeep has a manual transmission. So they can up charge you for the auto. 90% of the Jeeps are sold with an Auto. There are so many unwilling to drive a JL with the manual that they willing spend $2500 to not have to drive the manual. Therefore making the manual the stock offering causes others to upgrade away from the manual. This is what marketing looks like for Jeep.

Jeep has sold 1,447,690 Jl wranglers. 10% are typically a manual and the other 90% are autos.

The cost to upgrade to an auto transmission is $2500. There was approximately 1,302921 Jeeps upgraded to the auto transmission.

So some simple math to give you an example of the extra money Jeep has made by making the JL come with a manual transmission stock or pay to upgrade to a auto...

1,302,921 JLs upgrade to an auto at a cost of $2500 = $3,257,302,500 in up charges for the auto. Well played Jeep.... Well played.

 

[wibornz]

More on the road then the obstacles haha but a few times for sure. Usually catches me now and then when my doors and roof are off and I cant hear the engine. Over the past 2 years probably a dozen times I would say.

And you are an experienced manual transmission driver. Let that sink in. Now if you were wheeling very difficult terrain, it could become potentially dangerous if you were to stall also. Now don't get me wrong, I love a manual transmission, in some vehicles. Liter sport bikes, motorcycles just in general, farm tractors, and sporty cars. Unfortunately the sporty cars with manuals are going away though do the the autos being faster and perform better than the manuals. humans just can't shift as fast as an auto can and we can not keep it in the power band like a manual can. Heck it was hard to keep our Camaro SS off the rev limiter using the paddle shifters. LOL.

I say manuals are fun to drive, and in days gone past, were better than the autos. Those days are gone for the Jeep JL. I can tell you that I tune the throttle input down, put the Jeep in manual mode with the auto and give the Jeep some gas and regulate the speed and movement with the brake. I use the brake to control the movement, and wheel speed on difficult obstacles. The Jeep is always easy to control and conquer hard obstacles with out lurching, or having excessive wheel spin.

The 8 speed autos in our Jeeps are a thing of beauty.

 

[Jeep Wick]

First time posting. I plan on getting a 2026 2door Willy’s next year. I’m having a hard time deciding between manual or automatic transmission. Here’s my deal. The jeep will be my daily driver but I only live like 5 minute drive to work. I live in a northern Michigan city in an area which is very hilly. I also plan to “joy ride” with it on summer days. I don’t plan on doing much off reading if any. I have NEVER driven stick shift before but in theory I know how. I like the idea of stick shift but also worry that with such a short commute to work it will take a long time to get use to and perhaps I wont enjoy it. If I don’t get manual then I will get a 2 door Willy’s with Xtreme 35inch package. Please tell me your thoughts!

I LOVED my manual Rubicon, but it was before the software update. Get yourself the 2 door Xtreme package, then do a paddle shifter kit for the automatic and you'll be very happy.

 

[SadRobot]

I had the luxury of having both in my garage for the last 3 years, but I just traded my manual Willys. Initially it was the worst manual I have driven. The clutch is too light and has almost zero feel. I changed to an ACT at around 15k miles and it made a huge difference. Clutch felt great. It made all the difference, however, there are issues with aftermarket clutches for every brand. After about 10-15k miles it will likely start making a croaking sound and then you'll experience issues shifting into first at stop signs/lights. Then it escalates to other gears later. Only fix seems to be to pull the trans and clean and relube the input shaft. On top of that you might experience issues with hydraulics that are notoriously hard to bleed.


I normally would never tell someone to get an auto over a manual, but I can't in this case. The manual is either terrible or a hassle, and the auto is possibly one of the best automatics I have ever driven.

If it were a year or two ago I don't think there would have been any greater champions of the manual than the two of us and now you've traded yours in for an auto and mine is sitting in the driveway mostly gathering dust.

I bought a Wrangler specifically because they were still making the manual transmission. If I were to buy another Wrangler today with all the knowledge I've gained over the past 6 years I'd buy an auto Rubicon.

 

[entropy]

If it were a year or two ago I don't think there would have been any greater champions of the manual than the two of us and now you've traded yours in for an auto and mine is sitting in the driveway mostly gathering dust.

I bought a Wrangler specifically because they were still making the manual transmission. If I were to buy another Wrangler today with all the knowledge I've gained over the past 6 years I'd buy an auto Rubicon.

And you know whats next on the list to go? Short wheelbase. :'(.

 

[SadRobot]

And you know whats next on the list? Short wheelbase. :'(.

Ha well that I won't give up. I have no need for a 4 door.

 

[entropy]

Ha well that I won't give up. I have no need for a 4 door.

I took my JLU for a quick maiden offroad trip to see how it felt. I can say the 2 door was at least 10 times more fun. But.... I have a really hard time saying this myself.... but the long wheelbase does offroad better. Not enough to give it up though. I was just mostly joking. or was I.

 

[SadRobot]

I took my JLU for a quick maiden offroad trip to see how it felt. I can say the 2 door was at least 10 times more fun. But.... I have a really hard time saying this myself.... but the long wheelbase does offroad better. Not enough to give it up though. I was just mostly joking. or was I.

We have the advantage of being able to make tight turns on switchbacks but get into trouble on steep vertical climbs where you need the long wheelbase so you don't have all 4 tires trying to climb at the same time.

 

[gek]

If it were a year or two ago I don't think there would have been any greater champions of the manual than the two of us and now you've traded yours in for an auto and mine is sitting in the driveway mostly gathering dust.

I bought a Wrangler specifically because they were still making the manual transmission. If I were to buy another Wrangler today with all the knowledge I've gained over the past 6 years I'd buy an auto Rubicon.

Manual and green where my stipulations when I bought it. I absolutely loved it, but at some point you just get tired of the constant worry. "When is mine going to act up", or in your case "how long is it going to continue working" wears on you. Once mine started exhibiting signs of issues like yours I decided it was time to move on.
On the other side, I am enjoying my new one. One of these days I might actually stop trying to push the non-existent clutch in before I start it.

 

[jhalla920]

In stop and go traffic, the manual loses its appeal. In situations requiring frequent gear changes, same.

Stick shift is fun until it isn’t.

I’d go with the automatic and manually shift it if changing gears is your thing….

I get why people feel this way but I respectfully disagree. I am probably in the minority but I very much enjoy the act of working the clutch and shifting gears, even in stop and go traffic. As far as the JL M/T goes, I have a 2 door 25 Sport original gearing on 33s. 6th is indeed useless, the rest is ok. Clutch feels fine after break in. That being said I will probably upgrade clutch and regear if I get lucky and avoid early issues on this rolling computer.

 

[gek]

I took my JLU for a quick maiden offroad trip to see how it felt. I can say the 2 door was at least 10 times more fun. But.... I have a really hard time saying this myself.... but the long wheelbase does offroad better. Not enough to give it up though. I was just mostly joking. or was I.

I don't think I can ever go back to a 2dr. There is so much room. I guess other than welding the rear doors and making a CODE 1 clone, but I don't think the 2dr people will count it.

 

[AK66]

Or a Miata. The six speed in second+ generation Miatas is pretty damn good and they're a hell of a lot of fun to drive.

The 40+ y.o. four speed Muncie in my '84 Fiero grabs and shifts better than my JLR six speed, and it's also a fun little thing to drive! Agree about Miata too

 

[Mr. Nimbus]

As a 2nd car, manual can be fun, but you can get a little sick of it on a daily driver. I’ve driven multiple manual vehicles in the past, but more autos of course. Once, I broke my leg pretty bad. Took 6 surgeries and many months to get it back to a useable condition. I drove an automatic around for months with my left foot with no problems. Not sure what I would have done if I had a manual vehicle at that time. With that, my days of choosing manual transmissions in the future officially ended.

On the other side, I am enjoying my new one. One of these days I might actually stop trying to push the non-existent clutch in before I start it.

i’ve been there too……. “Thump!” as you stomp to nowhere for a while while you adjust.

 

[SadRobot]

I don't think I can ever go back to a 2dr. There is so much room. I guess other than welding the rear doors and making a CODE 1 clone, but I don't think the 2dr people will count it.

One of these days I'm going to have to buy myself this decal:

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