Paid CDL - Automatic Or Manual Transmissions.

OD is not switching to automatics anytime soon, they say they get better MPG with the manuals and the manuals are more reliable than the autos.

Personally I'd say go for the manual, you never know what the future might hold. You may want that sweet local gig in the future that runs manuals and you would to retake your road test to get the restriction removed.

Food grade tanks are also manual. While that's not for beginners if it's on your bucket list, you'll need the restriction lifted.

Paul T.,

I agree with the majority of people who have responded here to go with the manual so you have no restrictions to deal with. It is true that most mega's have auto. trans but the possibility will always be there to lose days of work if a temporary truck has a manual and you have the restriction.

I have said my opinion about this topic before on this site and been put down but it is still my opinion and the same as the other posters. The choice is still yours so good luck to you.

Learn to shift on a manual, it will teach you about your engine.

Our school trained us on 10-speeds ... I'd driven manual shift cars all my life, but boy, was it a shock. Big rig manual transmissions are a different animal. I never knew there was such a thing as "synchronized" manual transmission vs. "unsynchronized" manual transmission. It was a rude awakening. Unlike private cars, the manual shifting of big rigs requires that you have to do the synchronization yourself, the transmission won't do it for you. In practical terms it means that in order to up-shift, say, from 4th to 5th, or for that matter, to down-shift, say, from 6th to 5th, etc, you have to match the speed and RMP which is appropriate to each gear combination. It took me the first three weeks to get it down. At test time they gave us the option to test on manual or auto. I opted for manual because I thought I had it down pat. Unfortunately, riding with the DOT examiner I had one or two gear grinds too many (which I had not had for almost the whole previous week in training) and I failed the road test. A second chance test was school policy, but I was too nervous to repeat test on manual, so I ended up with an automatic restriction. I went and got a new learner permit (in addition to my CDL with auto restriction) so that I can get more practice and take another road test on a manual to get the restriction removed. I really don't want to have the auto-restriction. In the mean time, the job I'm starting in ten days has an all automatic fleet. So for now the point has become moot for me, but I intend to get the restriction removed.

Paul T. there isn’t a correct answer. I know ppl who’ve been driving manuals for years. Now they’ve been forced into automatics. I trained and tested in manual. Swift placed me in an automatic. I love my auto btw. There are so many opportunities that I don’t think having an auto restriction will have an effect on your life