macmanmike6100

Who drives a manual anymore?

<i>Real men.</i>

lol, but this does come from somebody nearly addicted to "Touch Shift"

todd

My car is a stick, and I love it. Our other car is a minivan which obviously is an automatic, and I hate driving that thing. Not just because of having to shift, but the whole feel of the thing.

I hate how you start moving as soon as you life your foot off the brake in an automatic. When I get into our van I always forget about that which ends up makes for an extremely jerky ride...especially when I try to use my left foot on the brake. I just hate the concept of not having to even press on the gas to back out of a parking spot or do slow maneuvers like that. I feel like I have so much more control in my car with the stick.

I learnt to drive a stick on my first car, which is the car I am still driving now. In the future I will definitly be buying sticks.

ncgti

To paraphrase the NRA, "You'll have to pry my stick shift from my cold dead hands"

j8ear

I have both sticks and auto's...each with advantages and disadvantages. Prius is an automatic, v70r is a stick (6 speed wagon with a clutch, AWD and 300 horsies ), I've got two automatic broncos and my 69 bronco is usually 4 speed stick. Both the Kubota and Ford tractors are sticks but they're usually set at a constant RPM.

I will tell those of you who have never driven a snow mobile or any other type of vehicle with a constant velocity transmission (CVT), that when these things are perfected for automobiles or you otherwise get a chance to experience one...it will blow you away.

Such perfectly efficient, infinate gearing with zero hesitation at any point in the acceleration or decelaration process, that will make you wonder WHY...why haven't I seen one of these before.

I still love the six speed smoothness and acceleration of my R...the low range granny gear rock crawling of the '69, but for beltway traffic, or boat towing, I prefer the automatic.

Anywho...that's my 2 cents.

-bear

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Martian

These stories of people smashing their faces against windshields are exactly why my foot stays firmly planted on the dead pedal when in an automatic. But then, I go back and forth fairly often (gf's car, mum's car, sister's car, best friends' dad's car etc) so I'm perfectly capable of driving both.

I prefer a stick shift myself, but I won't begrudge people who want to drive auto. It's a personal preference and what I've found is that it's the people who enjoy driving who drive standard while those who are apathetic or dislike it would rather have an auto. And some people are more dangerous in stick shifts than autos, because it's an extra thing to concentrate on and to put it bluntly there are those out there who just can't handle that much multi tasking.

I love standards, but I'll pass on the elitist attitude.

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keyshawn

I learned on an auto [had no choice, all the family cars were auto] , and have an auto right now, but I know the next car that I'll buy will be a stick !

Only person I know still with a stick is one of my friends who has a 2000 Saturn.


cya,
keyshawn

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DEI37

I learned how to drive on a 1972 VW Super Beetle 1600 with a four speed. I blame the laziness of the general motoring community for the vast abundance of automatics on the market. People "need" to multi-task while driving, so having to shift too...that is just too much. I tell 'em to hang up the phone, put the paper down, and shave and eat breakfast BEFORE you leave the house.

I wish there were more manual transmissioned cars being built. But, when the consumer buys an automatic...guess what's gonna get built.

However, even the most diehard is forced to admit...when it comes to heavy traffic, it's hard to beat a slushbox, really. I hate traffice, and I detest the cities. If I had to live and commute like that, I wouldn't even consider a do-it-yourself gearbox.

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vector_1979

Come to Europe. Manuals ARE popular here! We do have a good laugh at those who drive automatics, because the people that do drive them tend to be elderly people with joint problems!

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Xazy

My mom drives a stick, I used to drive one... It is just harder in the US to find one, but they are more fun to drive, and better on gas/mile.

irseg

I used to have a stickshift-equipped car, but I ended up selling it and buying a car with an automatic. Big mistake.

Fortunately I recovered from my fling with the dark side, and my current car is a manual. I had almost forgotten how much fun they add to driving! I got a really good deal on the car too, because nobody wants to shift for themselves anymore.

sapiens

When I learned how to drive, my only option was a manual transmission. I remember getting caught on a hill on the way to a homecoming dance with my date in the passenger seat and my friend and his date in the back. That wasn't fun, but now I love driving a manual transmission.

Occasionally, a passenger in my car will ask me how I know when to change gears without a tachometer. You listen to the engine, of course. They always seem surprised by that. My parents' car has an automatic transmission and a tachometer. Why?

splck

manual = fun
automatic = boring

if your left leg gets tired while in traffic, learn to power shift

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catback

Yea gotta love all the questions and the soon after reply of "That's too much work..." -- Can't forget the idiot "upshift" light when you don't have a tachometer, personally I don't pay much attention to it because I always beat it to the shift. You think being caught on a hill is bad, my buddy purchased a manual trans geo storm without knowing how to drive a stick--the sales man showed him how to operate his car but when I got to take a ride with him it was a horrid sight I'm talking unintentional peel offs, redline shifting with whiplash, and the dreded can't climb this hill syndrome. He didn't know what he was doing or doing wrong until he saw me drive my car. Glad to say now he drives like a pro.

The tach with the auto trans is so you can see if the trans is slipping, apparently there is a big need to be able to tell

stingc

It's also so you can shift it if you want - just like a manual. And you do need a tach to shift any car if you're really beating on it.

username

Yeah, one day I will. I've always wanted to drive a TVR since it has everything I want: big engine, light car, manual, very little in the way of electronic nannies and you can't get em in the states. Of course, the new BMW M5 is there as well, and anything BMW M* is good in my book.

Supple Cow

What I wonder about is the logic behind licensing. I think if I can take a test in an automatic, and then earn the right to drive stick even though I don't know how, something is wrong with the system. If it were up to me, I'd make two separate licenses/certifications for those skill sets: one for basically knowing how to steer a motor vehicle and obey traffic laws, and the other for doing the same in a vehicle with manual transmission, where you could get certified for one or both during the same exam.

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Gilda

My dad tried to teach me how to drive a stick when I was 15 and got my learner's permit. It was . . . difficult.

The basic method of instruction went like this:


1. Taking off:

I try to take off and kill the car by letting out too slowly or too quickly or giving it too much or too little gas, and kill it. Dad complains that I'm going to ruin his clutch/transmission. Dad repeats instructions for how to take off in great detail. I try to take off and kill the car. Dad complains, repeats instuctions. Repeat six or eight times. By this time he's yelling at me, telling me over and over I'm not listening, and I'm yelling back at him that I do understand, I am listening, I just can't do it right.

Repeat step one six to eight times before the car finally gets rolling.

2. Shifting gears:

I look down at the tach to check whether it's time to shift, and the car starts to drift. Dad grabs the wheel to put us back on track, and yells at me. I panic and kill the engine. Return to step one.

Dad tells me to listen to the engine and ignore the tachometer. I try to shift too soon and kill the engine. Return to step one.

I try to shift too late, Dad yells at me that I'm going to blow the engine, I panic and kill the engine. Return to step one.

Dad gets frustrated enough to just tell me when to shift. After he tells me, I wait a few seconds while I'm thinking about what I'm supposed to do next, over rev the engine, he yells at me, I panic and kill the engine. Return to step one.

Dad tells me ahead of time to to get ready to shift. I look down to try to find the gear shift, the car starts to drift, Dad grabs the wheel, yells, I panic, kill the engine, return to step one.

Dad tells me no looking, find the shifter by touch. While groping for the shifting knob, I over rev the engine, Dad yells, I panic, kill the engine. Step one.

Dad guides my hand to the shifting knob. I grind the gears by not getting the clutch all the way down before trying to take it out of ger. Yelling, panic, step one.

I get the car out of gear and look down to find second gear. Yelling, panic, step one.

I shift into fourth gear instead of second. Kill the car without the yelling and panic. Those come after.

Step 3: Operating in traffic.

We never got to step three.

Meanwhile, my Mom was teaching my sister how to drive in her automatic.

Step one: Put car in drive. Step on gas pedal. Move on to step three.

While I've spent half an hour driving down the driveway and maybe a block, Katie's driven around most of the neighborhood, actually practicing driving skills and parking and navigating stop signs and lights without having to worry about the extra what, four, five, ten things that shifting a stick requires?

It isn't about being lazy or not enjoying driving. I love driving my car--a Mini Cooper S--I'm just not anywhere near physically coordinated enough to do the six hundred other things that shifting manually requires while still maintaining control of the vehicle.

Grace has tried to convince me to let her teach me to drive a stick, and actually says it isn't difficult. I know better. Keeping 25 teenagers in order is easy. Reading Shakespeare is easy. Understand the mechanics of time travel is easy. Driving a stick is hard.

She really just wanted to get a stick in the Mini when we were ordering it. She insisted over and over that we should get a stick and she could teach me to drive it in no time. Even if this were true--and it most assuredly is not--I don't see how giving me more things to do as a driver wouldn't cause a decline in my driving skills. It was a silly argument anyway as the Mini has a manual mode, which makes it perfect for both of us. Automatic for me, manual for her.

I've tried to convince her to let me teach her how to identify the meter in a poem, yet she refuses, not seeing that as a skill that would be useful to her. Knowing how to drive a stick would be about as useful to me.

I've tried using the manual mode on my car, and even without a clutch or stick shift (it uses paddles on the steering wheel) involved, shifting manually doesn't seem to offer me any advantage I can see.

For those of you who can drive a stick and enjoy it, I think that's wonderful for you. I'm not talking on my cell or putting on makeup, I'm not lazy, I'm just incapable of learning to drive a stick, and it's a skill that would be a waste of my time and energy to learn, as it is of little to no utility to me.

For me, well, I can't put it better than Ben Franklin: Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

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irseg

The best thing that helped me start driving stick was to learn how a manual transmission and clutch (especially the clutch!) work. It gets a lot easier when you're able to understand why you're messing with that extra pedal. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/clutch.htm does a great job of explaining clutches.

Additionally, it becomes a lot easier to take off from a standstill if you learn where the friction point (where the clutch begins engaging) is. Best way to do this is to have the car on level ground, and move it by slowly letting the clutch out *without touching the gas*. In fact I still do this when I get in an unfamiliar stickshift cars with a tricky clutch.

dirtyrascal7

I love driving manuals. I feel much more in control and focused... it has definitely made me a better driver.

After using one for the past 5 years straight, I don't even mind using it in heavy traffic... besides, heavy traffic sucks whether no matter what you're driving.

desal75

I only buy manuals and tend to not even be interested in cars that don't offer them.

But that is just my opinion.

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catback

Manually shifting a factory spec automatic is usually a waste in my opinion. It'll make you feel fast but you won't be that much faster. If you need a tach to shift you don't know your car, tach shifting is only useful if you have a dyno sheet to go by otherwise you don't really know the best rpm to shift at. Most drivers shift by feel/sound.

Grasshopper Green

I've only driven a stick, and I'm used to it. I did have to rent a car with an automatic for a little while, and I enjoyed the change. I'm not particular, but I think hubby wants an automatic when we get our next car.

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stingc

In a drag race, manually shifting an auto won't make you faster, but it certainly will in every other situation. Most autos upshift far too easily, which always puts you in the wrong gear for a turn, and removes any throttle response the car might have. Also, you don't want the transmission to downshift in the middle of a hard turn. I can't stand driving any autos (except for a few new ones from MB) in "D." But I don't mind them at all otherwise. A lot of people seem to criticize automatics incessantly without ever learning how to use them.

Also, shifting at redline is optimal in most cases. You'd shift by feel or sound during normal (or somewhat fast) driving, but I don't believe anyone can reliably shift near redline just from sound (unless you enjoy bouncing off your rev limiter on a regular basis).

rideough

I love manuals...silent jay on the other hand love autoboxes.

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irseg

Yep. My last car (Lincoln Mark VIII) felt quicker when I manually upshifted it, because the shifts were faster than normal and it'd squawk the tires on the 1-2 shift. But others with the same car who have run them at the track universally report getting better times by just leaving it in Drive and letting the tranny do its thing.

I suspect the same would hold true for any modern electronically-controlled automatic--the computer should have a pretty good idea of when to prepare for and command an upshift to best match the engine's power curve.

low_n_loud1

Put them in a Mini Cooper S, and point them at a twisty road!

I kept up with a BMW M5 in my Cooper last year on a tiny twisty Scottish Highland road.. he was locking up the fronts, and all over the place trying to lose me.... although he reamed me onthe straight bits!!


Manuals keep you focused, you're more in control, and you can feel what's going on..

Leave the Autos for the lazy heathens (Or Sheeple asI like to call 'em)!!

pan6467

[QUOTE=dirtyrascal7]I love driving manuals. I feel much more in control and focused... it has definitely made me a better driver.
[QUOTE]

Absolutely, a manual keeps you far more involved in driving and I believe makes you a better driver because you have to pay attention moreso than with an automatic.

And once you drive a stick you never want to go back, it becomes second nature.

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chance

Honestly I don't like manuals. I have had two cars with manuals and they will be my last. Sitting in traffic most of the time gets really old after a while. I had a Passat with the Triptronic (i think that's what it was called) shifter. Now that was nice. You have the choice of manual or automatic. It's not a true manual, but it is much nicer in my opinion.

viper11885

I like manuals because it keeps you focused on driving. When I'm driving an auto, sometimes I tend to not focus as much on the road and look around at everything else.

In today's cars, the manuals are so easy to drive. Clutch and shifting are a breeze to operate. Unlike the older cars which had a harder clutch and longer shift throws. I learned on an older bmw 5 series and every other car that I have driven has been relatively easy. Just takes a bit to get use to the setup.

Long live manuals!

apeman

I miss manual gears ... auto is great for cruising somewhere without having to think much but it gets a bit dull. The roads around here wind around a lot as they go up and down they hills, and they're crying out for a nice chunky 5 speed ...

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abaya

Agreed. I have much greater situational awareness with a manual. Might it be a personality thing? If you want to drive a manual, you're going to be the type who likes a more complicated environment by nature... maybe (talking out of my ass). Personally, I will never buy an automatic, simply because I hate driving them.

In Europe and in most other countries in the world, sticks are what EVERYONE drives, and Americans are notorious for not being able to drive a stick. I have had so many Europeans express surprise that I prefer driving a stick over an automatic. And every time I travel and someone lends me a car to drive, I'm that much more glad that I know how to drive a stick. It's a universal, except for in America. :P

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SpikeQX99

6 speed manual here on my 350Z.. Currently now that I'm on a business trip to San Diego, I got stuck with a rental with.. you guessed it.. an automatic. I don't know how many times now I've used the left foot to try to push a clutch but find nothing but a brake pedal.. WHIPLASH! People look and laugh..

But it does have the kinda manual thing going on, so I won't be surprised if all my stick shift maniac driving will cost Hertz a 2005 Hyundai Sonata transmission...
Nothing better than being stuck in traffic in the Z.. How stiff the clutch foot gets..

Ah.. I wouldn't trade it for anything. That's the one thing that I actually look for. It just reminds me that I'm actually "driving" the car, not just pointing it in a direction, and steering...that's the feeling I get from an automatic.

I miss my Z... Soon it will be back to 3rd gear burnouts and all that general mayhem...
I learned to drive on a stick, and can't possibly imagine why I would ever need an automatic.. Even if I lost body parts, I'd get a car with paddle shifters or something like that..

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tec-9-7

The last 4 cars I've bought, dating back to about 1995 have all been manual transmission - the next car I buy (probably a Mitsu Evo IX, but possibly a Subby STI) will also be a manual transmission.

Shizukana

I couldn't imagine having a Mustang GT with an automatic... So I got a stick.

I had a Nissan 240SX that was an automatic, and I got to the point where I was shifting it at times like a manual... I'd kick the overdrive off if I was having to pass someone or get up to speed on the interstate. I like having that control over a vehicle, so I decided to simply get a manual in my next car.

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Gideon_84

almost all the cars in holland al manual, automatics are for old people or people who are too lazy to touch the stick. However the automatic gearbox is nice for instance the tiptronic from Porsche. That is a damn good gearbox

Gideon_84

but i prefer the manual because you have much more feeling while cornering the car. my car is 785 kg, 160hp, no power steering, koni adjustables, custom camshaft, Custom made exhaust(sounds like Yamaha R1), Lightned Flywheel, Short Shift Gearbox enz. enz.

EULA

When I was a cart pusher at wal-mart this summer, I walked by one of those new mustang GTs, and I saw an automatic transmission. I laughed.

I was trained on a stick (95 saturn), and now I drive a 93 saturn sl2, and HATE THE AUTOMATIC. The car has plenty of power; it just doesn't like to taste of 4 on the tacometer. It's consuming oil now, so I guess I have an excuse for changing out the tranny.

boom29

I learned to drive on my Mom's automatic, but I always knew I wanted a manual once I got my own car. I don't dislike automatics, but driving a manual transmission is just awesome. Not to mention the "coolness" factor. Also, there's the added benefit of not having to loan your car to other people, chances are they can't drive a stick. As others have mentioned before, I sometimes feel weird driving an automatic. At times I make the motions as if I'm going to press the clutch or shift, but then I realize its an automatic. Not to mention that having to keep your foot on the brake when stopped seems like such a tedious thing to do.

Yakk

With an Automatic, driving is like a video game. Point! Click! Go!

With a Manual, you realize that driving is like a rocket.

Because a car is a rocket than a video game. There are impulses and forces, and those forces and impules make your car go places. And when things are not going well, knowing how to move your rocket matters.

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Last edited by JHVH : 10-29-4004 BC at 09:00 PM. Reason: Time for a rest.

Leo

I agree - I find that driving a manual forces me to concentrate more on what's going on around me. Whenever I've driven someone's auto (I've never owned an auto myself) I find I slacken off a bit and don't have the same degree of awareness.