why is it that almost no one that lives in europe drives an automatic, and here it's the reverse?

Answer 1

Automatics get just a little worse gas mileage.

In the US gas is cheap, and people pay the extra cost to get the convenience.

In Europe gas is expensive, and people often have less money. So the economy of the manual wins.

Some of the difference in transmissions now is due to history. The differences in income and gas prices now are not big enough to explain all the difference in transmissions, but they were very big in the past. In the 50s and the 60s many Europeans could barely afford a car at all. So Europeans got used to driving manual, and continue to do so. In the 50s and the 60s our gas was even cheaper and our income even more (relative to Europeans) so we got used to automatics.

Answer 2

My understanding of this is twofold:

1) Manual transmissions tend to get better gas mileage (this is less so the case these days)

2) Manual transmissions accelerate considerably faster (though in the UK this is a useless feature as we all sit in traffic).

Automatics are becoming more popular in France and the UK but with the growth of diesel engine cars manuals are here to stay for a long time.

Answer 3

Europeans tend to enjoy the driving experience more than Americans and Americans tend to be more busy with makeup, drinking coffee, eating and talking on cellphones. So trying to manualy shift cars is a pain in the asss.

Answer 4

yea i agree but i live in US and i wish they would pick up the european style and most people should drive a manual because it makes you more focused on driving unless u want to blow ur engine

Answer 5

It is all a big scam to charge the average American more than they have to.

Dis this help any?

Answer 6

we are better drivers and americans are lazy

Answer 7

because we're right