# Can you competently drive a manual transmission car? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 24, 2017, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774 "2017-10-24T23:45:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2017, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/181 "2017-10-29T06:57:00Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Sure, if you post,\* maybe \*there’s a _tiny_ brag. But wheres the brag in just clicking? I’m not sure it’s bragging so much as simple self-selection bias. If you start a poll called “Can you competently make butter in a churn?”, people who are interested in homemade butter are going to participate at a higher level than people who have only ever bought butter at the store. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2017, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/182 "2017-10-29T07:04:06Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > First car was a “three on the tree,” Plymouth Valiant. Really? What year? My first three on the tree was a ‘67 Dart (I later had a ‘66 Valiant with an automatic). My first car was a three on the floor ‘59 Renault Dauphine. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2017, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/183 "2017-10-29T14:08:10Z")
I learned to drive stick when I rented a U-Haul for an Austin-to-Dallas move, and they told me that was all they had. One lesson from a friend later I rode that clutch all the way up I-35, and undoubtedly burned it out. But I liked it so much my next two cars were manual. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2017, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/184 "2017-10-29T18:36:10Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I learned to drive stick when I rented a U-Haul for an Austin-to-Dallas move, and they told me that was all they had. One lesson from a friend later I rode that clutch all the way up I-35, and undoubtedly burned it out. But I liked it so much my next two cars were manual. Wow. I had no idea they had sticks. I guess I’ve never tried with U-Haul, but the few times I tried renting a stick from a car rental place here in the US, I was told that they don’t carry them. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2017, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/185 "2017-10-29T18:46:17Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Wow. I had no idea they had sticks. I guess I’ve never tried with U-Haul, but the few times I tried renting a stick from a car rental place here in the US, I was told that they don’t carry them. In 2005 I rented a U-Haul truck that had a 7 or 8-speed manual, but it was synchronized (I guess; I didn’t have to double-clutch it). It was the last one on the lot, and they said that no one ever wanted it because it was manual. It literally was no different than driving a large, slow car. ---
**Author:** ![zuer-coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ba9def/32.png) [@zuer-coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuer-coli)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/186 "2017-10-30T05:10:42Z")
I too went through the Farm Tractor, Old Pick-up Truck old stick shift car route, I’ve never owned a new car, just too much money down the drain right off the car dealers lot. it’s become much harder to find a used work van with a manual transmission. I think this happened over a number of years, but finding a new-ish\* work van would be pretty amazing. \*new-ish = less than 10 years old for me. Zuer-coli ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/187 "2017-10-30T21:46:50Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > I’m shocked that 54/66 women report they can drive a manual. Among my (cisgender) female friends, exactly 0% (of perhaps 50) can drive a manual transmission. Like I said, a woman (my fiancée at the time) taught me to drive stickshift, and I got a hand-me-down Subaru from my sister. So yeah, I kind of expect women will learn the skill no less than men. No reason they shouldn’t. However, when my other ex wanted to get her first driver’s license at the age of 30-something, I tried to teach her with that Subaru manual, she found it too difficult to tackle that on top of learning to drive for the first time, so she quickly gave up and found someone with an automatic transmission to teach her. ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/188 "2017-10-30T23:41:54Z")
I lived in England for 4.5 years and in the USA the rest. I can shift with either left or right hand. One of my bicycles has 30 speeds, but, of course, no clutch. Still it’s a lot of shifting! ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/189 "2017-10-31T00:46:26Z")
Hey, just exactly what is double clutching? I once had to drive a Mazda truck that I needed to double clutch, but only in reverse, I think. I got through it OK, but still don’t understand the concept. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/190 "2017-10-31T00:54:49Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Hey, just exactly what is double clutching? > > I once had to drive a Mazda truck that I needed to double clutch, but only in reverse, I think. > > I got through it OK, but still don’t understand the concept. It’s for manual transmissions without synchromesh. So, the idea is you rev (or let the engine come down in RPMs, depending on which way you’re shifting) the engine in neutral to match the engine speed to the gear and make a smooth shift. So, instead of depressing the clutch, shifting the stick to the desired gear, and then releasing the clutch (in which the synchromesh engages and smoothly matches the speed of the engine to the gear), you depress clutch, shift to neutral, bring clutch back up, match engine speed, depress clutch again, and shift into the desired gear. So there’s two up-down motions of the clutch instead of one. If you go to Youtube and search for “double (de)clutching,” you can find some videos that explain it thoroughly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774.md?page=9)