auto or man

mcgovski

Adventurer
I have been studying this thread closely as I want to build an overland vehicle.

I am currently doing all my travel in an '06 3500 dodge diesel, 6spd man tran, crew cab and long bed with an 8.5' truck camper with 19.5" steel wheels w G rated tires...so this new vehicle will be a different animal for me. I love my dodge and it has taken me places i cant believe, but it is a monster!

anyway, I am thinking an '02 -'04 double cab. It looks like the best platform for my needs, but I want to know which transmission? My gut would say manual, but I notice a lot of you guys have auto...give me the low down!

thanks
 
It's personal prefrence. I am a manual kind of guy and always will be. Others are not. It is all up to you and your comfort level.
 

AndrewP

Explorer
Me too. Having wheeled my FJ40, 60 and 80 I much prefer the controllability of the manual transmission. If you are talking "overland" whatever that means here in the USA, a manual will be less troublesome over the life of the vehicle. You will have to replace a clutch at some point, but Toyota clutches go about 200K so it's a long service interval.
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Did anyone else read the title to this thread and think Man or Astro-man? Yeah, probably just me. I was a little let down that it was about car transmissions and not 'Transmissions from Uranus'.

Anyway, manual is my vote, but I guess a lot of people like automatics. Personally I'm no fan, but off road autos seem to be the bee's knees. I just hate the way they never seem to be in the gear I want. It's like they can't read my mind or something.
 
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tacollie

Glamper
Its a personal preference. I have always had a stick and always will. Last time I tried to wheel with an auto it was flat out humiliating. Did the same trail a week later in less capable manual and had no trouble.
 

Dave Bennett

Adventurist
Every truck I've ever owned has been a manual... until I bought the '05.

I love the 5 speed slushbox in my truck and have zero regrets.

Off road it allows me more freedom to sight see when in 4WD instead of paying attention to shifting.

In town, commuting to work, it is the way to go IMO. Stress free even in gridlock :)
 

musicmaan

Observer
Can you get '02-'04 double cabs in Manual Tranny?? Never seen one, maybe it's just up here in Canada we can't get em'... Anyways, I think it would depend on the type of driving you would do. Most of the hard core wheeling guys I've talked to preffer Auto. But I'm a Manual fan all the way... and for long distance driving, manual will give you better fuel mileage.
 

wagner_joe

Adventurer
Quote: Scenic WonderRunner We really need to save all the links of all the theads......from everytime this question/argument comes up! Then we could just post up all the links to the question.

Like this one??

http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10675&highlight=auto

Anyway... It's a choice thing.. Go drive both.. get the feel and decide from there. Mine's manual.. but I know on this portal.. I'm outnumbered... a few like mined individuals.. nonetheless.. a dying breed...
 

Martinjmpr

Wiffleball Batter
musicmaan said:
Can you get '02-'04 double cabs in Manual Tranny?? Never seen one, maybe it's just up here in Canada we can't get em'... Anyways, I think it would depend on the type of driving you would do. Most of the hard core wheeling guys I've talked to preffer Auto. But I'm a Manual fan all the way... and for long distance driving, manual will give you better fuel mileage.

No. Auto only. Manual was not available until the '05 model year (new body style.)

As for most "hard core" off roaders preferring autos, I think that depends on what you mean by "hard core." Certainly rock crawlers like auto trannys because it allows them to put power out more gently with no clutch slipping or grabbing, plus it keeps them from having to worry how to control three pedals with two legs when going over very rough rock obstacles. But I've always preferred manual transmissions for controllability. It's really a matter of personal preference, though.
 

Arivalsend

Adventurer
Manual all the way

Yeah like so many have said before me it is all personal preference. I have always owned sticks in my personal vehicles. Up until two summers ago when I bought a 99 4Runner with a auto. In the midwest it drove smoothly and was fine. Albeit I did not enjoy driving it as much. But in the mountains it was always struggling and popping up into overdrive all....the time. It was never in the right gear was either lugging when I was offroad and really struggling or it was reving the engine up into a frothy furry. I work for a jeep outfitter in the summer and we take folks out into the mountains via jeeps. We have all 5spds and one auto and I never grab that auto. It is always the one to overheat and I can never seem to get it to climb loose stone like a stick will. Just my 2 cents:26_7_2:
 

mcgovski

Adventurer
thanks

Thanks for all the opinions. I do like the manual over the auto...now I just need to pull the trigger and buy my rig.
 

snakeii

Observer
I think its more of a personal preference then anything. The advantages I see a auto has is that you dont have to worry about slippage trying to get over a obstacle, or gear selection. But at the same time its hard to keep a auto down in a gear, and sometimes they gobble up way too much engine power.

Other then a couple old Mustangs and a '04 ext cab v6 Tacoma all I've had were sticks. The 04 Taco was a great truck, but it seemed to be a dog occasionally for no reason when I floored it, like it lacked any throttle response. At least with a stick when I want to get moving fast I put it down a few gears, knowing its going to move. I suppose you could probably buy a kit to fix the auto's issues (gear hunting is one of them).
 

TD64

Adventurer
If your rig is your daily driver, you may want to consider an automatic if your other hobbies could sideline ya!

I switched to an automatic after a few mountain bike crashes and baseball injuries left me unable to drive a manual for months at a time. (Fractured both wrists, bone trauma to the knee and thigh, third degree shoulder separation, broken hands and some injuries from sailing over a cliff... I guess I have a couple of good camp stories.)
:camping:
 

BruceTS

Observer
I have nothing against auto's, but I've been a manual man all my life.....

There's something sexy about having 3 shifters in the cab and a huge selections of gear combinations to choose from.

Out in the boonies, if your starter dies, you can at least bump start a manual.

The reason you see more autos in rockcrawling buggies has more to do with ease of shifting. Remove the shifter lock out and you can go from foward to reverse much faster. Many even had their trannies modified where you only have 1 gear foward and reverse, that's all they need for competition, not really practical for a trail rig.
 

007

Explorer
I would never buy a slush box. But don't let us manual shifting fanatics talk you out of an Auto.

The Auto in the new Tacoma is awesome compared to most automatics and the manual is only average.

It isn't like most automatics that rob power, clunk, search, and argue. Its crisp, tight and intelligent.

If you need to have a clutch pedal I understand. But know that this clutch pedal lacks feel, the shift gate is only O.k. and the tranny mounts are a little soft for the this motor and gearing in low range. The foot well isn't the most user friendly either.
 

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