Manual vs Automatic Car: Which car is best for commuting to office? Understand with one year’s calculation

Manual vs Automatic Car: In a place like Delhi-NCR, it is common to get stuck in traffic jam for 2-3 hours every day while commuting to office. In such a situation, the biggest question that arises while buying a new car is – should one buy a car with manual gear or automatic? Modern automatic technology like AMT, CVT and DCT in the market has made driving on city roads absolutely easy.

However, it is important to consider the difference in price, mileage, maintenance and long-term costs. Is it really worth spending ₹1 lakh more to get an automatic? Or buying a car with the all-time favorite manual transmission will be a more profitable deal. In this article we will try to know this.

price difference

On an average, the automatic variant is costlier than the manual variant by ₹ 80,000 to ₹ 1,00,000. In such a situation, we consider automatic to be more expensive than manual by an average of Rs 1 lakh. At present the price of petrol in Delhi is ₹ 94.77 per liter.

Real-world mileage

In traffic like Delhi-NCR, petrol vehicles with 1 to 1.2 liter engines are capable of giving a mileage of up to 16 kmpl in manual and 14 kmpl in automatic. We are assuming that you go to office 250 days in a year and you drive 40 km daily. In such a situation the calculation will be something like this-

• Annual Distance: 40 km × 250 = 10,000 km.

1. Fuel for manual car: 10,000 ÷ 16 = 625 litres.
2. Total expenditure: 625 × 94.77 = Rs 59,231.

1. Fuel for automatic car: 10,000 ÷ 14 = 714 litres.
2. Total expenditure: 714 × 94.77 = Rs 67,693.

maintenance expenses

For a manual car, the clutch has to be changed every 40,000-50,000 km in Delhi traffic. It costs 10 to 15 thousand rupees. In this way, the cost of replacement 1-2 times in 5 years can be around Rs 20-30 thousand. There is no clutch cost in automatic transmission, but servicing is a bit expensive (₹3,000-5,000 more annually). In this way the maintenance cost is almost equal.

Where is the real benefit?

Pressing and releasing the clutch in manual mode on the congested roads of cities like Delhi increases the risk of leg pain, fatigue and accidents. In automatic you just have to pay attention to the accelerator and brakes. Women, senior drivers and people with long commutes prefer autos. The resale value of both is now almost equal because the demand for auto has increased.

Our advice: If you can increase your budget a little and drive 30-50 km in the city every day, then an automatic car can be the best choice. At the same time, if you travel a lot on the highway then consider manual. The decision is yours. Choose either automatic or manual depending on your need and budget.