Manual, Automatic, Semi-automatic, Manumatic Transmissions and Shift Paddles

What is a transmission?

Simply put

It's the system that converts the power from the engine into motion via multiple gears through the wheels (tyres' traction with the road).

Switching through these gears can be done in 2 major ways:

The Manual Transmission:
This was the first of the 2.
To select a gear, the driver FIRST has to disengage the engine from the transmission (by pressing the clutch pedal with the left foot and holding it down) to enable the desired gear's manual selection (with the use of a gear stick/shift lever) after which the engine is re-engaged (by getting the foot off the pedal)
* A learner here would need luck not to roll into the car sniffing his rear on the slightly steep slope at Unilag's back gate if suddenly made to halt just at the tip.

The Automatic Transmission:
This was developed after the manual transmission to enable seamless continuous gear selection without a clutch pedal or tasking the driver to manually select the right gears continuously to vary speed.

All you have to do after leaving the gear stick in the required gear (R, N, D ,S*) is release the brake (the middle pedal which you had pressed to release the gear from P) then press throttle (right pedal) as desired.

When either 1 or D1, 2 or D2, 3 or D3 etc written below the "D" in some automatic gearboxes is selected, the car instructs its "internal" gear selector not to venture into a gear higher than that selected gear.
*the gears e.g 2, D3 etc is the same gear in its manual counterpart.

You might be asking yourself "Why would I need to restrict my gear movement? Hang around, #T_A_P_ has the answers.

Comparisons
- On our more than often congested Nigerian Roads, you would experience less stress with the auto as you do not ask/require anything of your left leg.
- Want to save some Naira? Go for the manual option as its cheaper to buy and maintain. Bearing in mind that ...
- ... if you have not grabbed the "clutch/throttle-release/press" technique (skills which an increasing amount of new, sometimes lazy Nigerian drivers lack). Your clutch repair costs would be "obtaining" you regularly.

("obtaining" taking place)

* On the bright side, in a race, if gear shifting is done properly, manuals feed their auto counterparts DUST.

BONUS: More stunts are available in the "MANual Stunts Handbook" as less power (from the engine) is lost to the transmission system.

Apart from the regular gear stick which is normally located in the center console or on the steering column

We also have the rotary gear selector

and the push button gear selectors in some cars

A blend of both would be best for YOU?
Then you have nothing to fear, Semi-Automatics and Manumatics are here!!!

This is the harmonization of manual and automatic with the elimination of their major flaws.
Now, the clutch pedal as in the manual (a "seeming" flaw) has been eliminated and the auto which deprives the driver of the ability to manipulate gear change at will (especially in times of performance need) has been replaced by a "sequential" gearbox, sometimes accompanied by shift/flappy paddles mounted behind the steering wheel.

These "flappy paddles" allow the driver downshift (-) by tapping the left steering mounted paddle towards self and upshift (+) by doing same to the right one.

With the sequential gearbox, "gears" can't skipped, they must follow a sequence 1,2,3,4,3,2,3 etc.

To use, driver pushes the gear stick right at "D"  (or left depending on car) to gain access to the sequential gear selector and taps it up or down for upshifts and downshifts respectively. 

When the offspring has either more of the man or auto's DNA, it's called a "semi-automatic" or a "manumatic" respectively.

Semi-automatic transmissions can be found in high performance cars like the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG and the BMW M5

 while some of their less powerful siblings which belong to the mainstream line up such as the Mercedes-Benz E350, E500 etc and the BMW 530i, 535i etc are fitted with Manumatic transmissions.

*WARNING!!!
They might look similar but ONE is "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing".

(For the serious car lovers, would go deeper into TRANSMISSIONS later)

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