In a message dated 11/11/99 8:48:23 PM Eastern Standard Time,
lindgre@ONLINE.NO writes:

<< Why shift manually? Heck, that's easy! Because its BORING to drive an
 automatic!!! The Autotranny was invented for people too lazy to shift for
 themselves, or those that cant shift for themselves, but that's a
whole'nother
 matter.
  >>
I used to say the exact same thing until I got my automatic Carat Vanagon
after driving my '85 manual Vanagon.  My opinion is that the manual Vanagon
is no fun to shift but actually a chore that can be very annoying and even
exhausting in heavy traffic (just sit in Philly traffic for two hours with a
manual anything and you will be praying for an automatic).
I have a manual '81 Jetta that I actually enjoy driving (and shifting).  The
three advantages of the manual transmission: long life, more fuel mileage,
and quicker acceleration don't apply to the Vanagon as far as I'm concerned.
Automatic trannys last longer than manuals (on the average), I get the same
fuel mileage with my autobox as I did with the manual (19 town/22 highway),
and how can you really take off any faster with the first gear on the manual
transmission being so low?
Sorry for the rambling.  This is only my opinion after all.

Thanks,
Ken Wilford
http://www.vanagain.com
John 3:16
Office (856)-765-1583
Shop (856)-327-0027
Fax   (856)-327-2242