Total car noob here so excuse my ignorance

Total car noob here so excuse my ignorance.
So my parents, after 25 years of exclusively driving manual only, are considering buying a car with automatic transmission.
Since we live in Europe everyone is advising against it quoting a whole range of issues such as higher transmission failure rate, higher fuel usage, worse car performance, and so on. How true is it?
Are modern (last 5 years) automatic transmissions still suffering from such issues? I have literally never seen a car with automatic transmission so I know nothing about it.

Only do it if the car has mentionworthy engine power. On small engines with narrow torque bands an automatic transmission will feel sluggish and slow.

>parents are always concerned with safety
>Fact: You are more likely to have a crash in an auto car than a man

The newer auto transmissions are usually on par with or better than manual transmissions when it comes to fuel compsumption. But the failure of an auto transmission is still more common and costly to repair than the failure of a manual transmission

>higher transmission failure rate
Manuals wear parts way faster, but automatic transmissions have a slightly higher failure rate. Think like... 3 in 1000 vehicles over 100k miles vs 1 in 1000 for manuals. No big deal.

>lower MPG
Not even true, used to be when you had 6 speed manuals and 4 speed autos, but 96% of cars get 1-3mpg higher with the auto now.

>Worse performance
Again bs, anyone who says that is the type of person who learned things from their dad 20 years ago and still hang onto it like it's relevant info. The cheaper autos are maybe .1 second slower to 60 than the manual in the same car, but again 90% of them are faster.

Stick with well known brands like Audi/BMW/Toyota/etc, none of that cheapo euroshit like renault.

not true at all
I have a 15 year old car and the automatic transmission is perfectly fine, but I have seen manual transmissions break after 100k miles

I'm not saying manuals are bad and automatics are better, I don't have a problem with either.

it's all about how biased you are on the subject on manual vs automatic. stay away from ford automatic transmissions, they have problems. and stay away from manual transmissions from Hyundai, their automatic transmissions are far superior

Not true. Inattentive morons just happen to also buy autos, that doesn't make OP an inattentive moron.

that doesn't matter, since when either transmission fails, it will cost more than the car is worth

insurance will total it

I'm not biased at all.
I passed my own driving licence on manual but I'm yet to buy my first car.
How about Vauxhall/Opel and Honda's automatics. Are they any good?

That's not how insurance works. Your car can't be totaled under any insurance plan on this planet for mechanical issues. Idiot.

I would say just get an automatic, but if its a honda just get a manual

I had a torque converter blow up, but it was also -40°F that day. Automatic transmissions are fine, yes they can fail in more ways than a manual, but they both still break. Manual just has the option of breaking it yourself.

Fuel consumption has more to do with how you drive the car than what kind of transmission it is. Yes, the automatic wastes more power, but they're going to be roughly on par in thier cruising gears. If you really care about fuel consumption, drive slow.

Performance is subjective. Some automatics are going to let you upshift much quicker than manual, giving you better acceleration. A downside is that transmissions don't know what's going on in the road ahead, so you're probably going to be going slow in gear 3 around a corner instead of going fast in gear 2, and you can forget about engine braking. Something about automatics makes them want to glide in a high gear as you approach a stop, so you can ride the brake pedal the whole way.

Insurance don't cover mechanical troubles.. your bus pass does tho

Autos are ok, but watch out for CVT's. Those are what a lot of manufacturers are starting to focus on, and they're horrible.

euro here moving to manual after a hand me down auto form parents.
If you want to go from point A to point B it makes no fucking difference.

They're not, really. They're very uncomplicated compared to a geared auto, most of the failure points have been worked out, the only problem with them is car bros circlejerk hardcore about how slow they are. Which they are, but 98% of drivers don't care.

In general, a torque converter transmission will last about 2x as long as a clutch, and can if maintained properly last just as long as a manual tranny.
A DCT lasts as long as a manual, but the clutches burn out quicker (unless you're a shitty MT driver).
A CVT lasts about as long as 1 clutch should (120,000-160,000 miles).

95% of failures can be eliminated by changing your ATF on time

Good luck doing that with the sealed units most cars have now.

>and can if maintained properly last just as long as a manual tranny.
I already pointed that out. A CVT can (theoretically) too, but the CVT's belt/chain should be done as often as the engine's timing for maximum life. CVTs are generally sealed units so this is almost impossible.

But you can engine brake using an automatic transmission too.

Just downshift into a lower gear using the selector.

Only in DCTs. Regular automatics have torque converters. Even then the engine braking is pathetic compared to actual manuals.

Is this bait?

>what is a lockup torque converter
>what is literally every automatic with a D-3-2-L gear selector

This only applies to the US because you fat fucks keep using facebook while driving

traditional hydraulic automatics are proved and reliable technology, problems arise with modern technologies like CVT that are more failure prone. Whithout abuse of kickdown and paying attention to ATF, automatic transmissions usually last longer than engines before needing a rebuild

CVT belts last less than a clutch (about 30.000km) while a traditional auto can last more than 200.000km if you don't overheat it (simple as avoiding kickdowns and putting neutral on stops)

What is kickdowns and what is neutral on stops gonna do

>putting neutral on stops
This wears out the clutch plates, don't do this.

fuck CVTs though

Depends on the car. A modern double clutch transmission, like VW and Audi uses it, is miles better than a manual and are also fun to drive.
The low cost torque converter transmissions are all slow but the car will still go from a to b. Recently driven the C63 of a friend with an older auto from 2010. The shifting and acceleration feels a bit like rubber with it.

I only only manuals, ever. But having said that, it has had nothing to do with fuel consumption, reliability.

Fuel consumption differences are so low you won't notice. Modern AT cars are just as reliable as MT; both have maintenance and parts that need fixing.

As to performance - depends on what you buy. A Porsche PDK can shift faster, and more optimally, than you can.

But some people prefer the MT experience regardless. Choose which ever one your prefer, but don't make your choice based on myths.

Opposite problem here. Live in smalltown deep south, USA. Almost everyone drives automatic, including myself. My dad used to drive manual when he drag raced and shit, and I'm wondering if I should buy something manual and learn over the summer while I'm out of uni. Thoughts?

Totally do it. If nothing else, manuel cars in the states are usually far cheaper than the autos since none of the normies here can/want to drive stick.

When you floor it an auto transmission sometimes there's a switch behind the gas pedal that forces the transmission to immediately shift down into like 2nd gear

Well yeah hard to concentrate on a road if you have your dick in a man

Oh shit I unconsciously do this when I want to be in a lower gear in an auto

> none of the normies here can
How do they pass the driving test then?

>How do they pass the driving test then?

Driving a manual isn't a required skill in America.

when I took my driving test in 'merica I didn't need to know how to drive stick

That's like driving a gokart lol