Are We Ready To Drive Automatic Cars On Indian Roads

Over the years there has been quite a significant change in the type of cars that run on the Indian roads. Nearly all car manufacturer offers automatic transmission. It is however limited to their high end products only. Today there are many Indians who opt for automatic transmission.

There is however still a lot of doubts regarding the reliability of automatic cars on Indian roads. We will discuss the pros and cons of automatic cars compared to manual cars.

Comfort Of The Drive

Automatic cars relive you from the hectic ordeal of pushing the clutch pedal again and again while shifting the gears in choking traffic. It becomes very frustrating if you have to continually do that when all you want is to cut through the traffic as fast as possible and also have a smooth ride.

Moreover, there has been a rise in the number of women drivers who prefer the automatic cars as they are less hectic.

Cost

The cost of the automatic cars is much higher compared to the manual ones. Previously this difference was more than a lakh of rupees. The difference of cost has now reduced considerably. This is because the automatic gear boxes are more costly as they are not made in India and have to be imported unlike the manual ones which are produced in India.

Mileage And Fuel Consumption

One of the main reasons why the automatic cars were not easily accepted in India was because of its low mileage compared to manual cars. However, the new cars that are being launched in the market don’t have this problem like before.

Initially, the fuel consumption of the automatic cars was much more compared to the manual cars. As a result of this buyers did not opt for them. Presently the new generation automatic cars are as fuel efficient as the manually driven ones, if not more.

Maintenance

The maintenance of the automatic cars is much lower compared to the manually driven cars by a large margin. This is because the gears change automatically with changes in engine RPM and speed, which makes the driving a smooth one. This allows a longer life to the drive train parts of the car which also includes the tyres. Another important factor is that automatic cars do not require clutch plate replacement.

If you have an automatic car then you need to invest in a pair of Jumper Cables. In case you face a situation where the car battery is dead and the self-starter is not working, then you need this cable as you cannot push an automated car like you could a manual car. It is best if you ensure that your battery is in top condition especially in winter.

We thus see that most Indian drivers are more than ready to accept automatic cars, especially for the comfort of driving in congested Indian roads. Today there are a variety of gear boxes that are available like the AMT (Automated Manual Transmission), Dual Clutch Transmission or DCT Automatic and the CVT automatic gear (Continuously Variable Transmission).