# 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:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/81 "2017-10-25T17:28:56Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > There’s really no point in doing so unless you’re driving like you’re on a racetrack or something. Who cares about rev matching? The only time I found it useful was when my clutch was intermittent (slave cylinder had started to fail) and I had to shift without the clutch, so had to rev match to pop it into gear using just the stick. But the question is, why bother if you’re not on a track or doing performance driving? Heel-toe even moreso. I only heel-toe to entertain myself, that’s all. I’m not saying you need them to drive to the grocery store (though coming out of curves smoothly and with power is, I’d argue, always useful). I’m saying just getting the car moving without stalling it doesn’t automatically make one a good manual-transmission driver. I’m tired of people who claim that and then drive my car and do all sorts of stupid shit like shifting from 4th to 3rd to 2nd when approaching a stoplight. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/82 "2017-10-25T17:29:50Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Some people grew up in a different world than I did, that’s all I can say. Even my parents have driven nothing but automatics all their lives. My dad is 85. My dad had a manual and tried to teach my mom; she hated it. So thereafter in my family there have only been automatics, and thus life was good and the butterflies fly and the birdies sing. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/83 "2017-10-25T17:29:53Z")
Who knew The Dope was a giant sausage-fest? ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/84 "2017-10-25T17:30:34Z")
> [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > If we’re going to be pedantic, you don’t brake with your toe either. Also, you’re probably wrong: [Heel-and-toe shifting: What it means, and why you should care - Autoblog](https://www.autoblog.com/2016/04/07/heel-and-toe-shift-tutorial-video/) I meant your heel, you don’t brake with your heel. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/85 "2017-10-25T17:35:33Z")
Learned to drive using my Dad’s Jetta (manual) and the military Iltis. Have owned two Wranglers, including my current vehicle, both manual Best quote to my Dad after I got my license “Hey Dad, you know if you rev the engine and shift, it sounds like a movie car race!” He peered at me with that “Dad face” and then went back to his newspaper. ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/86 "2017-10-25T17:37:17Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > Female, 46, have only owned manuals **(and tend to complain about automatics whenever I rent a car)**. I currently drive a 6-speed Nissan 370Z. (Bolding mine) ^^This too. I understand that rental companies don’t want unpopular cars in their fleet, but goddamn do I hate getting saddled with a econobox with an auto. Aside: I wish more auto manufacturers made mid-sized or larger manual cars. My wife’s next car is going to be a manual Mazda6. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/87 "2017-10-25T18:05:22Z")
> [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > shifting from 4th to 3rd to 2nd when approaching a stoplight. :eek: > [@Whiskey\_Dickens](#): > > I understand that rental companies don’t want unpopular cars in their fleet, but goddamn do I hate getting saddled with a econobox with an auto. The last car I rented was a Dodge Charger: I had it for a week, and drove it from D.C. to Cape Cod and back\*. It’s probably the least offensive automatic I’ve ever driven, but there were definitely still times when I yelled at it for shifting when \*it \*wanted to and not when \*I \*wanted it to. _I’d planned to take my own car, but the clutch died the day before I was supposed to leave (@#@% Nissan and their !@#$_ cheap slave/master cylinders). If all the rental place had was, like, a Ford Focus or something, I was going to cancel the trip. I was \*hugely \*lucky that the Charger had just been turned in. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/88 "2017-10-25T18:11:22Z")
Yes. My first vehicle was a Toyota pick-up that I drove for 10+ years, which was nearly indestructible, and was manual. Spent a few years driving automatics. I currently have a manual Mazda 3. Fun car. Since the poll seems to be along gender lines, I am responding for myself, but wanted to note my wife is very competent with the manual as well. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/89 "2017-10-25T18:12:32Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Who knew The Dope was a giant sausage-fest? It’s _old_. An old board, filled with old people ;). 18% of U.S. citizens knew how to drive a stick in 2016( per US News and World Report )and only 5% of cars are sold in this country with one. The fidelity to manuals that you get on this board is just one more example of our collective decrepitude :p. I can drive a manual and did so for the first ten years of my driving career. At first it is just what I got stuck with, vehicle-wise. Then when I bought my first new car, it was the cheaper, more fuel-efficient option. But I then moved to automatics as SF Bay Area traffic got steadily worse and I will never switch back unless I move - heavy stop-and-go traffic and a stick sucks. Sticks just aren’t a clearly better option anymore. They no longer are appreciably cheaper on a well-stocked vehicle( some are now pricier ), they no longer get better mileage relative to modern automatics. The main thing they got going for them is the arcade game “fun” factor and there just isn’t much fun to be had in commute traffic anyhow. So they’re dieing out. Open this thread in 2050 after a lot of us geezers have kicked the bucket and it will have rather different responses. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/90 "2017-10-25T18:15:38Z")
> [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > If we’re going to be pedantic, you don’t brake with your toe either. Also, you’re probably wrong: [Heel-and-toe shifting: What it means, and why you should care - Autoblog](https://www.autoblog.com/2016/04/07/heel-and-toe-shift-tutorial-video/) > > Even with a synchromesh gear you don’t think there’s any value to minimizing the lurching when you downshift? Whether or not drivers have a need for it is irrelevant; I’m saying if you say you’re good at driving stick, you should know those techniques. I’m not wrong; the technique is referred to as “heel-and-toe braking” or “heel-and-toe shifting” depending on what country you are in, and no, most drivers who are not driving performance courses do not need to use the technique to prevent “lurching” of a vehicle with a modern synchromesh transmission; they just need to allow for the fraction of a second for the countershaft to match the rotational speed of the input shaft, and the. give the proper throttle to match engine speed to vehicle speed for that gear. Seriously, while I’ve known how to perform the heel-and-toe technique since before I was licensed to drive, I’ve probably used it on public roads less than a dozen times in nearly three decades of driving, and I can think of only one instance where it actually may have been necessary to avoid an accident (multiple car crash where I had to skirt in between vehicles but accelerate from the vehicle behind me). I’ve used it in performance and tactical driving courses but frankly most cars aren’t even set up for heel-and-toe braking, and the technique takes considerable effort to master, with failure leading to stalling or overbraking. For the vast majority of drivers, it is neither a necessary or especially useful technique. > [@Tamerlane](#): > > Sticks just aren’t a clearly better option anymore. They no longer are appreciably cheaper on a well-stocked vehicle( some are now pricier ), they no longer get better mileage relative to modern automatics. The main thing they got going for them is the arcade game “fun” factor and there just isn’t much fun to be had in commute traffic anyhow. So they’re dieing out. Open this thread in 2050 after a lot of us geezers have kicked the bucket and it will have rather different responses. When I went to buy my Tacoma, the manual transmission was nearly impossible to find in my desired configuration (TRD Off-Road), had poorer EPA mileage, was considered a poor choice for towing, and was recommended by offroading experts only for desert running. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/91 "2017-10-25T18:21:38Z")
I drive a manual Fiat 500, before that I had a manual Dodge Dakota pickup. I’m going on 20 years of stick shifts, but I’ll never understand people who complain about an automatic like it’s a burden. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/92 "2017-10-25T18:25:23Z")
Adding that my gf drives a stick shift every day and how no intention of ever owning an automatic transmission car. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/93 "2017-10-25T18:31:48Z")
I recently saw a funny window sticker on a BMW: “WARNING! SECURITY SYSTEM!” and underneath it was a picture of a stick shift schematic 😃 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/94 "2017-10-25T18:34:04Z")
I bought my first automatic about a year and half ago. Drove manual transmission vehicles for \> 40 years. Pros and cons, but these days I’m liking the automatic! ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/95 "2017-10-25T18:54:42Z")
I also find it handy when the roads are icy, or heavily snowed. I can downshift to slow down if I am not confident the brakes will do it alone ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/96 "2017-10-25T19:01:52Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > I recently saw a funny window sticker on a BMW: “WARNING! SECURITY SYSTEM!” and underneath it was a picture of a stick shift schematic 😃 In my 20s I had a homemade bumper sticker on my car that said “Real Women Know How To Handle A Stick.” My lesbian best friend – who could only drive an automatic – assured me that she did not find it offensive. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/97 "2017-10-25T19:03:04Z")
You will likely find that most Euros and almost all Brits are manuals, and there is a goodly chance they have never driven an auto, male or female ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/98 "2017-10-25T19:04:59Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > It’s _old_. An old board, filled with old people ;). I meant the disproportionate number of swingin’ dicks. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/99 "2017-10-25T19:14:43Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Seriously, while I’ve known how to perform the heel-and-toe technique since before I was licensed to drive, I’ve probably used it on public roads less than a dozen times in nearly three decades of driving, and I can think of only one instance where it actually may have been necessary to avoid an accident (multiple car crash where I had to skirt in between vehicles but accelerate from the vehicle behind me). I’ve used it in performance and tactical driving courses but frankly most cars aren’t even set up for heel-and-toe braking, and the technique takes considerable effort to master, with failure leading to stalling or overbraking. For the vast majority of drivers, it is neither a necessary or especially useful technique. I know you do love beating on this strawman but I never said it’s necessary for most drivers. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/100 "2017-10-25T19:21:32Z")
Yep, learned to drive on a manual (all my parents had) and currently drive a manual. I’m so used to it that on the rare occasion I have to borrow my son’s car, like I did this morning, I can’t figure out what to do with my left foot. I kept trying to find the clutch pedal, which obviously wasn’t there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774.md?page=6)