Q: I'm considering buying another car and it's going to be an automatic. Is it worth it? I've never had one.

It depends. I personally like to drive the standard because you have more control, you get a tiny bit better gas mileage, and you can drive faster. It’s a better driving experience. You’ve got to think about how far people are when you shift gears. You keep more active.

When you are on an automatic, you could be on a sofa and playing around like you play a game on a Nintendo. So, it’s more fun experience as far as I’m concerned. But, a lot of people get automatic because they get tired of shifting while driving in traffic all the time. They don’t want to mess around with it.

If you are going to get an automatic, do a little research. Make sure you buy a car from a company that makes good automatic transmission that doesn’t have problems. Like Toyotas, they rarely have automatic transmission problems. Take a company like Subaru, they have nothing but automatic transmission problems for the last 15-20 years. So, if you are buying a Subaru, I would definitely get a standard transmission and not an automatic. To be sure that you get a car in great condition, I recommend that you also do a pre-purchase inspection on your car so that you can feel better about your purchase.