Need advice, 2008 2.5 sport; manual vs automatic

[deak]

I need to help my kids buy a car for their use. They have saved up enough money for an Impreza (with a little help from dad). They're 17 yo daughter and 19 yo son. My daughter has only a little experience with manual trans but my son is a good manual driver. They are snowboard instructors and have to drive in very poor winter conditions and both of them like the Subaru best of all the small cars available (smart kids). When I drove both cars I liked the manual better and thought the automatic was slow to downshift getting on the highway. Also think the manual will be better on gas. What do you folks think.

[rikimaru]

Hi mate!

My advice would be go for the manual without hesitation. I had an auto WRX for a while and the mileage was appalling; I was getting on average 250-300 kilometres to a tank driven sensibly. My STi does almost double that (I am serious, i got 500 out of the first tank) with almost 70 more Bhp. Another thing is that i'd imagine that a manual will offer far more throttle control in bad weather than an auto, which would I'm sure make it considerably safer in snow. Never driven an auto in snow, but I've never been a fan of the unpredictable kick down on auto's, which could be nasty in snow.

Whichever you decide on good luck with your purchase!