Everyone tells me to not get a manual transmission car here. Main reason cited is traffic jams will make your leg tired. The public transport is so good in northern Taiwan that if traffic jams was my main concern I’d just take the MRT. But I want a manual because I LIKE to drive, and I think driving manual is a more authentic driving experience. Anyone here drive manual who can give testimonials about driving in Taipei/Taiwan? Is the traffic really so bad that it takes all the fun out of driving a manual (or driving at all)?
I’ve never driven a manual in Taiwan. But I have plenty of experience driving manuals in Europe (mainly Spain). Anyway, I don’t think it will make a massive difference, because driving in cities sucks. With an auto, it just sucks a bit less. On the other hand, driving a full auto in the mountains also sucks (and it’s more dangerous too).
I would choose a car with sequential gearbox to have an auto for the city and the ability to choose my gear everywhere else. The best of both worlds.
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I’ve never driven in Taiwan but I’ve given up driving manuals in the UK due to the traffic, specifically on small streets and windy roads in villages. I have a lot of car-oriented friends who swear by rear-wheel-drive manuals and would be embarrassed by anything else, each to their own.
Taipei’s roads are actually a lot more substantial and better traffic-managed than much of Europe, for example the UK’s road layout is more-or-less designed by where the sheep went way back. So for multi-lane roads like Roosevelt Road in Taipei, I’d probably prefer a manual because an automatic is slow to react to lights changing and stuff like that. Certainly out in places like Taroko Gorge, a manual would be more useful and fun.
I just hate downshifting a manual, I never coast on the clutch because I find that annoying, but then i’m never in the right gear and the motion is jerky for my passengers. That being said, the BMW automatic I’m currently driving does a worse job than I would if it was manual.
So, I think it’s quite a complicated question to answer and it depends on your tolerance and experience level.
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Never had any leg problem with a manual, so no idea what your sources are talking about. Worst case I can think of, you grow some calves and after a month or two everything is fine.
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Right, no I think that that reason given by Taiwanese is from people who have never driven a manual before so they’re quoting something they saw online or a misconception passed around by word of mouth that using a clutch makes your legs sore.
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Sequential gearbox…I’ve been looking on 8891.com and I’m confused by 手自排 and 自手排…which one means sequential gearbox (or neither)?
I once re-snapped a recently-broken thumb with a poorly executed gearchange on the shift knob, that was annoying. Leg pain though, nah.
Driving during rush hour daily or constantly could become a pain just like anywhere. So depends on when and where driving. Taipei is not always everywhere heavy traffic.
Manual drivers sometimes tend to creep along with the clutch sometimes in traffic. Maybe slight more chance of bumping into the freagin’ scooters.
Lot’s of stoplights in Taipei.
Mountains around Taipei only a problem if not comfortable with clutch.
Maybe not easy share driving or loan out car to friends if they don’t know how to drive manual.
For my opinion I would choose automatic due to traffic density and also the amount of things to run into.
You want to have your eyes scanning constantly for red traffic lights, scooters, pedestrians, cyclists, road works, street vendors, blue trucks. This is just a few things.
Maybe if you have driven in some South East Asian countries before you will be fine.
But there are many things to not see, miss or to distract you on the roads in Taiwan. Automatic will just give you that extra millisecond to react.
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I would love to get a small manual car for fun. I am looking at the Mazda mx5, very nice little thing.
Grew up and learnt to drive on stick in Italy, both on cars and motorcycles.
I agree that in Taipei traffic automatic is the way, but when u want to unwind on a nice mountain road, the stick is fun
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The delivery drivers seem to manage ok. All the crazy blue trucks are manual, right?
And the bus drivers.
Yes it’s a bitch
Always drove a manual, but that was in Taitung. Most city driving was by scooter, and even driving a car in traffic in town was never very intense. Most drining was out in the countryside.
Could see a problem with a lot of stop-and-go traffic in the big city.
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Have you driven automatic before? I’m asking since I was always preaching manual religion and been driving manuals for all my life before moving to Taiwan… Then, since most of the cars here are still automatic I was “forced” to switch to automatic then… I realized I would NEVER EVER go back to manual for daily driving.
Last year had a moment of weakness, and I’ve started looking for a manual BRZ, but luckily haven’t found anything decent and finally ended with automatic S60, and I am so happy I haven’t got back to manual for daily.
If I can afford two cars here, then getting some nice rear wheel drive manual for weekend fun would be nice, but to endure the horrors of daily traffic in a manual…nope, not coming back there. I also successfully converted almost all my family to automatic 
This summer while back in Europe for the holidays I was forced to use manual as a daily again and it just re-assured me that I made a good decision to stick to automatic for daily
The bottom line is, no matter how much you love driving manuals, if you want to do it daily in dense Taiwan traffic then better buy two cars
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I mostly just drive trucks, so I am quite bias. but I prefer manual for both fuel savings but also able to get out of tricky spots easier. I hate auto personally. I dont find manual any more tiring than auto really. I am mostly driving in the countryside, but also drive trucks around the island often including around taipei. just got back last night from a 1300km delivery run through kaohsiung, taichung etc and feel it’s no issue. legs get tired from the brake pedal more than anything, which is the same with auto. the clutch uses the other leg and is generally easy unless it’s in need of repair.
that said, it depends on the vehicle. trucks are more comfortable usually than small cars. because I am tall, driving tiny cars and the smallest trucks here is indeed painful. so i would buy the car based on that more so than auto/manual. sometimes the position of the shifter, ignition etc are way wrong. I find cars like the small vertica or the newish Ford focus to be TERRIBLE design for people with long legs. nothing hurts my knees than a family members focus driving around the city. the entire layout of that car is a fail from a drivers perspective.
Personally for me small engine, under 2.0L manual, anything above Auto.
But arent large engine sizes more related to performance? Be it work related or ego? usually manual advantage is more user ability. be it speed, maneuverability etc. manual far outperforms auto on every scale it seems. if Iwere driving a race car, or just a needle dick street car, manual is faster. if driving a truck or a tractor, more ability to perform slow performance tasks. Again, I am bias, but the only reason for auto is simplicity and “city driving”. but that also doesnt seem ideal as it breeds complacency which is largely the issue with traffic safety. at least the needle duck cars and trucks are easily reduced to being assholes when they drive crazy, because one must intentionally pay more attention to the road and arrange ones machine accordingly.
I would love to see manual as the standard for testing to weed out the sleepy dummies, and have auto as a luxury after testing.
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I said before on Forumosa, best car for Taipei is small car, small engine 1000+cc gas/petrol manual turbo. They go like stink in small areas. Skoda fabia is particularly good.
Agree. I have both. I would not drive my manual in the big city. Just too much going on. I don’t want to be busy shifting gears.
My first two cars were a manual Ford Escort and Chevy S10. After that I got an automatic Camaro and decided I’d never drive stick again. Now the only manuals I drive are the old farm tractors.