FuglyStick

Nowadays, finding a vehicle with a manual transmission is rarer and rarer. My sister had to special order her Jeep with a manual transmission, as an automatic is now standard. So I'm wondering how many people know how to drive a manual transmission car at all anymore.

When I was learning to drive, my dad had a stick shift 74 Honda Civic he commuted to work with that was the "training car". There were automatics available to learn on, but he insisted that we (myself and my sister) learn on a manual, and I'm glad he did.

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djtestudo

Do you mean theoretically or in reality?

I've never done so, because in the time I've been a driver no one in my family has had a manual transmission. However, there's nothing that tells me I couldn't do it with a little trial-and-error.

Of course, there are a lot of people who do seem to have that problem, so I could easily be overestimating my abilities or underestimating the difficulty of driving a stick.

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PonyPotato

I can drive stick. And I really prefer it over an automatic.

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Baraka_Guru

I first learned on manual. I'm currently training on automatic and will likely do my final driving test on automatic.

For some reason, I think I'll end up driving mostly on manual.

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SSJTWIZTA

Nope.

the car i drive is manual, but its not really a stick. its an old 1958 ford that has a shifter on the left of the steering wheel...so i voted "i got yer stick right here."

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GreyWolf

Learn on an automatic. It takes about half an hour and a few hills to master driving a standard once you know how to drive. If you REALLY want to get good with a manual transmission, try getting a small trail bike (single clutch plate) going, facing uphill. If you can get started without stalling it, you can handle a stick.

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blahblah454

I can, but not really well. Competent enough to get around the city but not enough to do any serious racing or impressing anyone or anything.

My cousin's Pontiac SUV thingy is a manual and I take it to town sometimes just for a change, and my dad had an old cavalier that I would drive around sometimes. However, all the vehicles I have ever owned have been automatic. If I ever get my Subaru its going to be a stick shift.

My motorbike doesn't have an automatic transmission... does that count?

Xerxys

Damn that is a good way of learning. I should have thought of that.

I can drive a stick ... very well.

Glory's Sun

I prefer manual over automatic any day.

uncle phil

since i was 12...

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genuinegirly

I can and have, though my personal car has a CVT.

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stevie667

yes, not everyone around the world is as lazy as the yanks

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FuglyStick

See, this doesn't surprise me. People my age (40) or older almost always know how to operate a manual transmission; it's folks in their twenties that I think have never operated a manual transmission, generally speaking.

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BadNick

My first car was a manual ...4 speed '67 E-Type. But even before owning that I used to drive various manual vehicles around just for practice.

My last "fun" car was a 5 speed manual. My current "fun" car is a 6 speed manual...Supra that I take to many roadcourse track days, so yes I can drive it very well, including the more esoteric techniques that enhance aggressive road racing, like rev matching, heel & toe.

Actually my Supra makes for a very challenging test car for manual trans learing because it has an HKS triple disk clutch and lighweight flywheel, which is very challenging to slip and engage smoothly. But once you learn it, it works fantastic. But it has a notorious reputation and most people simply give up and can't drive it. I've been using it for about 8 years now so it's as natural to me as walking. Having said all that, I taught my daughter to handle it properly in a couple hours. If you can chew gum and walk at the same time you should be able to do this if you're persistent.

silent_jay

Yes, I prefer it over automatic, at least with a manual you have to pay attention, with an automatic you get lulled into zoning out because you don't have to do anything aside from steer, gas brake, which for some drivers is hard enough.

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Jetée

One of the options should really be "what kind of stick?", and I'd say, "the driving stick".

I don't know what's up with paddles, though; either you love them, or you hate them, there is no peron in-between the two that I have met. But, most people don' have to worry about that since they are (were?) only available in ridiculously-expensive sports/luxury autos.

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dlish

i learnt on auto because thats all my parents had, but then i got my beloved suzuki and the rest is history.

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Terrell

Learned how to drive a stick when i was 23, in the Air Force.

I do like a manual transmission, but I'd only order it for certain cars, like if I were buying a Camaro, or any other sports coupe.

Marlon's Mom

I learned how to drive a stick on the hills of San Francisco. I learned VERY quickly (it was that or die).

Reminds me of an old stand-up routine by Bill Cosby...


I dunno about that. I can drive a manual auto like a pro, but I'm a disaster on a bike. Seems I can't make my hand be my foot (accelerator).

yournamehere

Heh - I remember that; I had the album!
God (or was it St. Peter?): You go to hell!

Yup - I learned to drive on manual transmissions - from my Grandfather's Packard with a "3 on the tree" to my first car - a '65 Le Mans with a "4 on the floor."

Hell - even from 1997-2005 I drove a Ford Ranger that had a 5-speed manual transmission. Much better mileage if you've only got 4 cylinders.

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Vigilante

I used to drive a manual very well, but now all I own are autos.

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Push-Pull

Yup, my dad's old '64 chevy truck. When we first went out for my practice sessions, I had a bit of difficulty with the clutch at first. Then I pull one out of my butt and take off really super smooth from a dead stop. I'm all kinds of proud and I tell my dad "Well, how was that?" His reply? "Not bad for third gear." Aah good times!

My next new vehicle WILL be a stick....

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Willravel

Automatics don't feel right. I'll probably drive stick for the rest of my life.

Marlon's Mom

I also had it. Probably still have it somewhere. Awesome humor. Highly recommended.

grumpyolddude

I learned at 15, before I had a license. The gas station I worked at had an old '61 or '62 Mercury they loaned to customers. I'd spend my free time herky-jerking around the lot, getting familiar with the feel of the clutch engaging and disengaging, matching revs to vehicle speed. As soon as I got my license, I got to drive the tow trucks.

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Daniel_

I'm English. I was driving for 15 years before I even drove an automatic.

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Comes willowing across the sand;
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LoganSnake

Never driven manual. Will probably stick to automatic. Too lazy to learn.

Closest I will probably ever come to a manual is sequential.

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freeload

I'm driving stick shift every day. Automatic isn't that common here up north

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Fotzlid

I seem to be in the middle on this one. Every other car I have owned has been a manual. The manual ones were much more fun but the autos are great for traffic.


My car has them. I hardly ever use them. Too easy to forget after being on straights for awhile as mine will down shift automatically. Drive away from the stop sign and wonder what the whining sound is.
They do make it a different car on the twisty parts though.

Cynthetiq

I own an automatic because it's easier in dense cities with lots of traffic.

but I can drive a manual and really enjoy it. All you automatic freaks, when you get to Europe you'll pay a premium for that... me, I just enjoy it since it's a treat.

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Orchrist

I'm in my 20s and I learned on an automatic and that's what I owned until I finally bought my first new car, at which point I decided that I damn well wanted to learn how to drive stick and I wanted it bad enough that I ordered a brand new manual transmission Jeep Wrangler without knowing how to drive it, then got someone to teach me. Now I love it, its much more active then driving an automatic. Side note I went through the the MSF motorcycle training course twice once before I knew how to drive stick and once after. The second time around it was disgustingly easier to find the friction zone on the training motorcycles, whereas the first time I felt like I was having constant trouble, the subsequent time I got it right off the bat.

noodle

I can hold my own with a stick.
I cannot, however, drive a manual transmission.

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flstf

I learned with a manual back in the day. For the last 30 years I have had only automatics except for my Harley. We recently bought a new Subaru and decided to get a manual to save money. I was surprised to find out that now some manuals have what they call hillside assist which keeps the car from rolling backwards when taking off on a hill. It's just like being on a flat surface. Taking off on a hill with my Harley can get quite tricky sometimes especially loaded down with a passanger on board.

Ratman

I learned on a stick back in '79. The only automatics I have ever owned were a '65 LeMans with a 2-speed power slush box, and a '67 Riviera with the 454ci and 3-speed auto. Here in Japan, the driving test is a bitch, and you have a choice- if you test on an auto, you can only drive auto. If you test on the manual, you can drive anything (they also test above or below 700cc for the engine). I took the test on the stick, above 700cc. That being said, it's hard to find a non-sports car with a manual, but I drive a '95 Nissan Sunny with a stick.

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levite

Automatic. Never saw a reason to learn manual. Still don't see a reason to do so. Far as I can tell, it really only makes a diff if you're driving a high-performance sports car on the autobahn, or some other speedway where one can cut loose killer cars at high velocities. Since I have driven crapmobiles all my life, and at this point am just hoping to upgrade from crapmobile to eco-pod, doesn't seem like much reason to master stick.

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Whose soul is sense, cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
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laconic1

My first job out of high school was working as a technician apprentice at a Pontiac dealer. At the time I had never had access to a stick shift vehicle so I didn't know how to drive one. I was too embarrassed and worried for my job that I didn't know how to drive a stick so I never told anyone. I learned on customers cars. The first stick I ever drove was a Trans Am that my boss wanted me to drive about 10 miles to warm it up and then run it over to the emissions station for its test. They probably figured out I didn't know what I was doing when I stalled it twice on the service drive, then revved it, dumped the clutch and left a couple of skid marks about a foot long on the epoxy painted service drive. They laid me off after a couple of months, but not before I became competent with a stick on all the other Firebirds, Trans Ams, and Sunbirds that came in.

seamaiden

Yes, but I'd rather not. I had to learn (at 48), how to drive a stick, in about two weeks. My son had switched the transmission from automatic to manual in our Accura 1.6 EL, (the plan was to give it to him when he graduated high school. He's a total moterhead and letting him work on the car was the equivalent to putting his drawings up on the fridge)...not to mention the other things he did to it to pimp it up.
That came around to bite me in the ass when he and his father went west to work and left me with a car I didn't know how to drive...I had to drive an hour into the city to get to work. Lots of hills! I went the flattest route I could find. Stalled a lot too.

little_tippler

that's all I ever drive. Manual is the predominant setup in Europe. I've driven automatic a few times but manual is far more intuitive.

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Whether we write or speak or do but look
We are ever unapparent. What we are
Cannot be transfused into word or book.
Our soul from us is infinitely far.
However much we give our thoughts the will
To be our soul and gesture it abroad,
Our hearts are incommunicable still.
In what we show ourselves we are ignored.
The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged
By any skill of thought or trick of seeming.
Unto our very selves we are abridged
When we would utter to our thought our being.
We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams,
And each to each other dreams of others' dreams.

Fernando Pessoa, 1918

highthief

I prefer a stick. Right now both cars are automatic, but that's an anomaly in my car buying history.

And yes, if you can't drive a stick, you're not a real man.

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Atmas

I learned on an automatic, got my license, and promptly had a fender-bender in our manual-transmission car. Spent years away at school, returned home and got fed up. Went to the library and read about how a manual works, clutch, throttle, etc.
Got in the car and drove it easily, and have preferred a manual for the last 25 years.