I bet you'd trust Jack's dad to drive your Jeep, LOL.

Note to everyone: That's an inside joke. I made the mistake of questioning the credentials of Jack's dad to drive my own Jeep because it's a manual while in Anza Borrego a few years ago. Later I'd find out, with Machoo present, that Jack's dad is a two time winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona.

 

Ok ok. For sure Nick would be ok taking over the wheel. For a short time at least! Haha!!

 

It's funny how times and trends change, or perhaps I'm just getting older... 17 years ago I was poking fun at my buddy when he bought an auto TJ, now it seems like autos are every where on the trail.

I've always preferred manual transmissions, on road and off road. But now days, my legs tell me that an auto would be great... Maybe it goes back to that getting older thing I mentioned...

 

I drove YJ & TJ sticks from high school to college. Then I bought JKs one for me and another for my wife.
Getting a bit older now and my legs are weaker now and so I traded my two JK wranglers, both into auto trans. Legs are happier

 

From all I have read, the JLUR or any JLU with the 8 spd auto has been outstanding. You can still shift it -- it still has a shift lever.. Your an experienced CJ5'er so I understand the question. It's your $.. get what you guys want.. and for all that stated aged legs.. I dread (fear that day) when I can't push the clutch (now in my mid 60s) and grab a gear.. My teenage son said it best after having to drive Mom's automatic.. how an people drive this it is NO Fun.

 

I must be getting older too... until this JK... always had manual tranny.... I'm used to this auto now, and my feet and legs do like the auto in most driving situations. I have learned to drive the auto, take advantage of the benefits on the trail... use a brake wisely in conjunction with the gas... and now I would probably buy an auto without hesitation for offroad use.

 

As a manual wheeler who is always with groups of people that are all autos, my take on the two is this:

Auto is objectively better, from a safety/control/ease of use standpoint.
Manual is objectively more fun and challenging.

3.6L manual Rubicon crawls just fine though, generally just put it in low gear for the technical stuff and go. It's slow enough that it's not really a problem, and tough to stall even with the stock 4.10 gearing on 35's. Not impossible... but it does take a little doing.

 

Manual all the way. I have yet to meet an automatic that doesn’t occasionally hunt for gears when I do something other then a little throttle or full throttle. It’s hard to engine brake with an auto. And let’s face it, the auto takes all the fun out of driving.

you can crawl just fine in 4 low. At least in first gear, the computer won’t let the engine stall. Just take your foot off the clutch and go. If you went with bigger tires without changing gears it sometimes doesn’t work. In 4 low you can start the engine in gear. No clutch. The jk also has a hill holder feature so you don’t roll back.

Its a realatively easy clutch in traffic. The shifter has a longer throw and is notchier than I would like, but hey, it’s a truck, not a performance car.

i also understand the manual deals with tire and gear changes better than the auto. I’m on 40s and 5:38s. I have to rev it out to get decent acceleration, but the auto would totally suck.

 

I'm a die hard manual guy from the beginning. My first 3 cars were a 61 Rambler 3 speed on the tree, a 69 MGB 4 on the floor and a 69 Ford van 3 on the tree. For offroading, however, I'll only do an auto. Watch even the pros on some of the offroading youtube videos. You know the guys with manuals because as they try to go over something, sometimes, you hear the pinging as the revs drop and they stall and restart. I see people in my offroad club doing this as well, including expert offroaders with 20 years of going out literally every weekend. So I'm running an auto and if I were to get a manual, it would be relegated to street duty only.

 

Interesting older thread. I'm still a manual driver. I'm 69. Wondering how old all of you guys driving autos because you're too old are. Anyway, it was a pleasure on a recent trip to have only manual vehicles, LOL. Funny thing is, the conversation above with Machoo--well, Machoo was on this trip. And so was Jack. And so was Jack's dad--that two-time winner of the Indy 500 who's credentials I once questioned. 1:14 if not forwarded.