[Burgess159]

Someone posed this question on one of the facebook groups: If they offered a Canyon/ Colorado Duramax with a 5-6 speed manual transmission, would you buy it?

I marked MAYBE as my answer (YES, NO, MAYBE)

I know how to drive a manual and I am one of the younger generation (born in 1989), but I was raised around agriculture, so I was kind of forced to learn how to drive them later in life for work with our big trucks and some of our work trucks with manuals. I did start off with a 1990 Honda Civic with a 5 speed and then later got a 2000 Honda CR-V with a 5 speed before finally staying with automatics as of late.

In cars, I liked the manual, but driving our work trucks with them (7.3 Powerstroke Diesels btw), I just don't care for them. Especially when you have to haul something. Racing around on back roads in a car, yes. Driving one in a big lumbering truck, not so much. I know our trucks are smaller, but I still don't think I would like it.

What about you?

 

[Rockcrawlerdude]

Yes.

 

[Pergrem]

Yup. Shame they didn't offer one.

 

[Bojax]

Hell no , love the auto

 

[Rockcrawlerdude]

Let me apologize in advanced for my babbling.

i do love my truck how it is and I agree The truck wouldn't feel as sporty with a manual as it does with a tune and an auto with a matching tune. The truck is super sporty and quick right now (engine and trans tuned) No way a manual would shift as smoothly and get up and go as smoothly or as quickly. Truck manuals tend to be more clunky because they have to be strong and first to second is usually an awkward ratio change

But, I didn't buy the truck to be sporty. I bought it to tow with.

Manual would allow me to select the proper gear for towing and eliminate the auto from shifting around on grades and let the turbo and the low end Torque do the work. The auto downshifts for more power but it must have not gotten the memo that all the torque is made down low.

Would also give me peace of mind since my auto runs at over 210° when I tow, I always am concerned for my trans. Shouldn't need to worry about it.

Also, the auto is the weak link, so I'm afraid to make any more power at the motor.

Also, manual would make the exhaust brake really work!

 

[RollyPollieBenito]

Let me apologize in advanced for my babbling.

i do love my truck how it is and I agree The truck wouldn't feel as sporty with a manual as it does with a tune and an auto with a matching tune. The truck is super sporty and quick right now (engine and trans tuned) No way a manual would shift as smoothly and get up and go as smoothly or as quickly. Truck manuals tend to be more clunky because they have to be strong and first to second is usually an awkward ratio change

But, I didn't buy the truck to be sporty. I bought it to tow with.

Manual would allow me to select the proper gear for towing and eliminate the auto from shifting around on grades and let the turbo and the low end Torque do the work. The auto downshifts for more power but it must have not gotten the memo that all the torque is made down low.

Would also give me peace of mind since my auto runs at over 210° when I tow, I always am concerned for my trans. Shouldn't need to worry about it.

Also, the auto is the weak link, so I'm afraid to make any more power at the motor.

Also, manual would make the exhaust brake really work!

I couldn't have say it better. Totally agreed with you on this one.

My truck sit for the bigger part of the week. I have a commuter that is a 6speed manual and I love it. I learn how to drive on a 5sp punk brown Ford Mustang ll.

 

[EKarlW]

Have to chime in and say 'No' on this one. I grew up on manual transmissions, totally hate them in stop and go traffic, can't drive them well if you gimp up a leg from gout or rabid wolverine bite, have to keep putting my beer down to shift, plus once I discovered women I found better things to do with my hand - like hold their hand (yeah hand, that's the ticket...).

Honestly the performance, functionality and reliability of an automatic has gotten to the point where manual's are difficult to even get in high performance exotic cars and racers, plus if your life depends on it anyone can drive an automatic. HOWEVER you have to turn in your 'man card' if you don't know how to drive a vehicle with a manual transmission, or motorcycle because if someone else's life depends on you having that knowledge you look pretty stupid.

 

[RollyPollieBenito]

Have to chime in and say 'No' on this one. I grew up on manual transmissions, totally hate them in stop and go traffic, can't drive them well if you gimp up a leg from gout or rabid wolverine bite, have to keep putting my beer down to shift, plus once I discovered women I found better things to do with my hand - like hold their hand (yeah hand, that's the ticket...).

Honestly the performance, functionality and reliability of an automatic has gotten to the point where manual's are difficult to even get in high performance exotic cars and racers, plus if your life depends on it anyone can drive an automatic. HOWEVER you have to turn in your 'man card' if you don't know how to drive a vehicle with a manual transmission, or motorcycle because if someone else's life depends on you having that knowledge you look pretty stupid.

Like you, I too discover girls. But what I did was gentle taking the girls hand and place them on my shifter.

 

[bigoilbob]

Yup, a 6 speed, even though I fully appreciate the advances in the 6 speed auto now offered. You shift when you want, and end up using it to improve your driving. Thousands cheaper, and if you have a trans problem, it's gonna be less expensive to fix with the stick. More theft resistance too. But mostly, I like the fact that it makes the driver just enough more involved to make them safer, more alert, and of course its harder to cheat with a phone ("I'm a good driver, I can just steal a glance at my sister's text")....

 

[Rockcrawlerdude]

How you can argue that a transmission that requires user input and manipulation from two of the largest major muscle groups in the body makes you more alert or safe is beyond me.

Yes, to us who daily a vehicle with a manual trans (mine is an 05 tundra 4.0v6 6MT long bed work truck, Atlanta traffic, 20 stops a day 90-120 miles) we know that shifting is second nature and requires little thought. But, Anything that requires attention pulls your attention away from something else. Multi-tasking should really be called switch-tasking. You can only pay attention to so much at once.

If you've daily driven a manual trans then at some point, you've been on the phone or been fatigued or even had adrenaline going and made a mistake. Whether putting it in third instead of first, slipping off the clutch, stalling it, missing a gear completely, etc. It happens.

But yes, I wish the tuck had a manual trans, it would be better at doing work

On the flip side, I do appreciate the auto after a weekend of rock crawling where my toyota has 16 forward gears and four reverse gears and a stiff clutch and I'm worn the heck out and loaded up to tow everything back home. Lumbar heater and automatic trans lol

 

[bigoilbob]

"How you can argue that a transmission that requires user input and manipulation from two of the largest major muscle groups in the body makes you more alert or safe is beyond me."

Because using those muscle groups, with the concomitant attention required, IMPROVES driver attention. Muscle flexing in itself is not associated with accidents, to my knowledge. But the thought you need to pay to speed, load, and engine speed, to shift manually, is exactly the same foci that I want you to have on the road, all of the time. As a motorcycle/bicycle rider, I SEE drivers in an auto trans trance, and it scares the **** of me.

And yes, as a U.S Navy Seabees heavy equipment operator/truck driver as a kid, and as an adult who has owned mostly man shifts, I've blown quite a few. Embarrassing, but NEVER had a safety problem.

This might just be an area where we disagree.....

 

[Rockcrawlerdude]

Agree to disagree on this although we both agree on manuals should be an option.

 

[MadMac]

My first manual was a Ford Ranger ext cab 4x4 (1988) bought brand new in that year, and then my last was a 1979 Chev. Luv 4x4 bought in 1981. I grew up on the farm working tractors, flat bed and hopper trucks which were all manuals. Then drove truck w/wife as OTR drivers hauling tankers, which were manuals. Sometimes I do miss them because it seemed you could squeeze the power out of them when you needed to, plus engine braking was great also. On the truck I have now when using tow/haul mode you can barely feel the "jake brake" as I still call them so I feel a manual would allow it to work better or be more effective. I think a manual would be a good option for a few of us. This world we live in now is all about making it as easy and effortless as possible as we can, if you have to use a muscle and/or think about it, it's not effective. Just my dumba** opinion.

 

[TERNARYTEACHER]

hate to pick sides, but statistically, manual trans vehicles are involved in less accidents proportional to the amount on the road. it could be argued that many younger, less skilled drivers don't know how to drive a manual trans, but that doesn't change the fact.

 

[Burgess159]

I do wish the exhaust brake worked a little better. Maybe it does and I just don't notice it. I believe if you put a straight pipe on the truck, it does work better. Or that you can hear it working.

I do agree that a manual would let you select your gears better, like when you don't want it to shift (snowy, icy roads or you want the truck to lug down while towing). The manual or sport mode on the truck isn't true manual, as it's like my Kia optima and shifts when you lose too much power I believe and I don't like that. Wish there was a work around or way to get the transmission to do that while in manual mode.

 

[DeeK]

after driving manuals most of my 62 year life (well, the driving part anyway), I love them but it has been pretty dang easy to love this auto even more. the place i think they totally outstrip manuals is on very steep rock crawling (rockcrawlerdude may feel otherwise...). when i'd crawl in my stock toyo taco 97, which was an incredibly capable back country vehicle but without an adequately low gear range, i'd get bad chugging effects from some sort of fuel system feedback cycling cycling when i'd try to go too slow on the very steeps. i love that with the auto i can basically go as slow as i want to and not have that effect even though the clearance and other aspects of the colorado make it inferior to the taco for the gnar.
i also try to maximize fuel mileage and always felt that autos were inferior. i messed around quite a bit using the manual mode on mine and going back and forth between gears to see if i could do any better and from my unscientific experiments, i could not discern that my choices were any better than the auto did on its own, and maybe even a little worse. i don't do much city driving but that is another place where i don't think there is any comparison and the auto is a clear winner. i will say that when i jump back into my 97 taco, i sure love running through the gears...

 

[Rockcrawlerdude]

after driving manuals most of my 62 year life (well, the driving part anyway), I love them but it has been pretty dang easy to love this auto even more. the place i think they totally outstrip manuals is on very steep rock crawling (rockcrawlerdude may feel otherwise...). when i'd crawl in my stock toyo taco 97, which was an incredibly capable back country vehicle but without an adequately low gear range, i'd get bad chugging effects from some sort of fuel system feedback cycling cycling when i'd try to go too slow on the very steeps. i love that with the auto i can basically go as slow as i want to and not have that effect even though the clearance and other aspects of the colorado make it inferior to the taco for the gnar.
i also try to maximize fuel mileage and always felt that autos were inferior. i messed around quite a bit using the manual mode on mine and going back and forth between gears to see if i could do any better and from my unscientific experiments, i could not discern that my choices were any better than the auto did on its own, and maybe even a little worse. i don't do much city driving but that is another place where i don't think there is any comparison and the auto is a clear winner. i will say that when i jump back into my 97 taco, i sure love running through the gears...

Well, my Toyota with dual transfer cases and 5.29 axles has a lowest ratio of 230:1 so it has an adequate low range. Lol.

 

[DeeK]

that sounds about perfect but i was always too lazy and not knowledgeable enough to do that sort of thing. plus, my truck still had to double as an actual on the road and commute to work, etc truck so i wanted to keep it more or less stock.

 

[RollyPollieBenito]

Well, my Toyota with dual transfer cases and 5.29 axles has a lowest ratio of 230:1 so it has an adequate low range. Lol.

I've never offroad a truck before. My offroad vehicle of choice is still a Jeep. I had an old YJ with custom Currie 9" rear with ARB airlocker. A built (one of my dumb decision) Dana 30 with Detroit trutrac and oversized shaft. I have beaten that jeep up and that 5 speed never quit. Had to sell her after my back injury. Still miss her dearly. I hoping (if my bad is up for it) to hit some trails and mild off-roading with my Canyon. No more rockcrawling for me even if I miss it.

 

[Rockcrawlerdude]

Mmm levers. I'm a man who likes options.