New 2025 Ram 1500 with hurricane engine.

[paulsharvey]

Two things on transmissions; 1) the number of gear is 100% correct; my 2005 Chevy 2500hd, 6.0 Auto, 4 speed, really needed an extra gear, at 75mph I think I was turning 2400 rpm cruising. If it was a 5 or 6 speed, it probably would have really increased fuel economy.
2) OTR trucks, I think the owner operators vs the mid-large trucking companies you see a big difference; owner operators seem to care more about power, speed, and do seem to prefer manuals; but companies realize that getting there 2% slower, but saving 5% on fuel is a huge win. The drivers dont always like things like autos, super singles, governors, but in the end, even if it's a 1% savings on fuel, over a couple hundred (or even a couple dozen) trucks, that's Huge. Let's say you have a fleet burning 10,000 gal per day. 1% fuel savings is $350/day. We upscale that to say, 25,000 gal per day, we have an additional $850/day. Industry seems to report around 3-4% more efficient with manuals; add about 0.5-1% for super singles; probably 5% by governoring at 65;

It's not about your grumpy 40 year experience driver that might be able to beat the economy of a auto in his manual; it's about the 80-90% of the other drivers, that the automatic does beat the manuals for.

 

[dodge man]

I pretty much agree with Hay Dude. Automatics didn’t used to be better but now they are. I have a 2010 Challenger with an automatic and 51% of the time I’m glad it’s an automatic. The other 49% of the time I wish it was a stick. Not because it’s better but because it’s more fun.

 

[Hay Dude]

I agree with everything you say here, Hay Dude... except that lest statement. I want to go back.

Yeah, I know some (not most) auto's are far better than manual, in almost every way. We can disagree on the bad weather thing, that probably comes down to driver personality as much as anything, but on all other points today's best auto's will always win. Even under nearly all racing conditions, the autos win.

But I still prefer manual. I also live in a 300 year old house, probably one of the top ten most impractical domiciles in southeastern Pennsylvania, with a maintenance and heating budget that would make most heads spin. But beauty is sometimes in the eye of the beholder, and pure practicality isn't always one's preference.

Agree 100%.
Its all in the way it makes you feel.

One big difference I just realized is I am typically working while driving whereas you may be just able to focus on driving.

 

[Hay Dude]

Two things on transmissions; 1) the number of gear is 100% correct; my 2005 Chevy 2500hd, 6.0 Auto, 4 speed, really needed an extra gear, at 75mph I think I was turning 2400 rpm cruising. If it was a 5 or 6 speed, it probably would have really increased fuel economy.
2) OTR trucks, I think the owner operators vs the mid-large trucking companies you see a big difference; owner operators seem to care more about power, speed, and do seem to prefer manuals; but companies realize that getting there 2% slower, but saving 5% on fuel is a huge win. The drivers dont always like things like autos, super singles, governors, but in the end, even if it's a 1% savings on fuel, over a couple hundred (or even a couple dozen) trucks, that's Huge. Let's say you have a fleet burning 10,000 gal per day. 1% fuel savings is $350/day. We upscale that to say, 25,000 gal per day, we have an additional $850/day. Industry seems to report around 3-4% more efficient with manuals; add about 0.5-1% for super singles; probably 5% by governoring at 65;

It's not about your grumpy 40 year experience driver that might be able to beat the economy of a auto in his manual; it's about the 80-90% of the other drivers, that the automatic does beat the manuals for.

Fleet drivers are much less plentiful for manual transmissions.
Let’s face it, truck driving as an art, has in many ways died.
Now it’s just put a jockey in the jockey box and try to make money of him/her.

 

[ning]

Every automatic truck transmission made in the last 10 years or so, utilize lockup converters. Once your transmission is warmed up, the torque converter is put in lockup mode when you’re driving along. It’s incorrect to state an automatic transmission doesn’t give an engine sound and engine rpm tied to wheel speed on snowy roads.

I was going to say this - even my '97 with the crappy E4OD locks up. I know the instant the rear breaks, though honestly it's most often because I can detect the slight rotation of the truck. The revs will jump a bit and that's pretty damn obvious in the noisy-ish truck too.

I love manuals, but I wouldn't want one in a truck as long as you're able to specify which gear you want to be in (to some extent; with the E4OD I can specify 1 or 2, and that's sufficient for difficult low-speed work; locking out 4th (OD) if needed is sufficient for other purposes -- but if it was an 8 or 10 speed I'd want the "sport" up/down select too).

With modern transmissions and TCUs I doubt you could drive a manual with the same number of gears and get equal or better mileage. Can you imagine driving your F[12345]50 with an 8 or 10 speed manual? You'd probably only be in the best gear for any appreciable amount of time when at cruising speed; most other times you'd choose a gear and that would be "good enough for now" and skip a gear here or there. Kinda like how I ride my 1200cc 6-speed motorcycle when not feeling "sporty"... take off in 1st, jump 2nd and go to 3rd, jump 4th go to 5th or possibly straight to 6th, all at a casual pace (sport mode: 1st 2nd 3rd oh **** 100mph back off 80 good now 6th).
And if you're pitting a 5- or 6-speed manual against a modern 10-speed automatic, you're not getting close to that mileage.

The glory days of the manual transmission are over for pure functionality, it's now an aesthetic choice.

 

[not2old]

My first cars were manual transmission because I thought it would be cheaper for me to fix myself. Wouldn't want one now. My three newest vehicles all have a manual mode built in and I find myself using them to slow for curves or a downhill.

 

[Dftodd]

I haven't had experience with that setup. But I have with the ecoboost.

You will notice an issue with towing since the V6 doesn't have the low end torque that your used too.

You have to spool the turbos up to get the pulling power.

On a side note, one issue I noticed with the fords.

The latest model pickup doesn't have a manual button to kick it into tow haul mode. At least one i can find in the 1/2 hour i drove it after our salesman alsmost smoked the tranny pull8mg a 5,000lb trailer. I sure hope the other manufacturers follow suit.

The Ford has an automatic tow haul mode if it senses trailer lights and brakes.

This poses an issue when pulling something and the lights fail.

 

[paulsharvey]

"The Ford has an automatic tow haul mode if it senses trailer lights and brakes."

My new trailer does have lights, and brakes as well, but I don't have a brake controller (Dodge should have included that in the tow package imo), but we have all towed plenty without lights, brakes, tags, or air in the trailer tires. Ford might not want to out think the redneck in us

 

[mrmikey]

(Dodge should have included that in the tow package imo)

Serious? They don't include a brake controller, glad my '19's got one then.

 

[dodge man]

My 2017 F150 came with a tow package but no brake controller, I paid to add a factory one.