# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/121 "2017-10-26T11:00:55Z")
I’ve never driven one (unless you count one session in the driving simulator in high school), but it would probably just take a little practice to get used to. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/122 "2017-10-26T11:48:10Z")
> [@BobBitchin](#): > > Off topic/on topic how hard is it to switch from left drive to right drive in a manual? Trivial. The pedals are in the same order; it’s just the gear stick that’s on the wrong side. The real difficulty is in switching back when you return from your holiday. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/123 "2017-10-26T12:51:26Z")
> [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > …do all sorts of stupid shit like shifting from 4th to 3rd to 2nd when approaching a stoplight. Are you saying A) downshifting in general is bad, or that B) these folks are doing it wrong? If A, I’d have to disagree. If B, well, wrongliness is in full supply these days. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/124 "2017-10-26T15:08:17Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > The pedal arrangement is the same. I’ve driven a handful of RHD cars with manuals, and didn’t have much trouble. In fact, the hardest thing was remembering where to look for the rear view mirror. I can shift with both hands too. One of the rental cars I had in New Zealand was a stick. My biggest issue wasn’t the mirrors, it was the turn signal and wiper control levers. All 3 cars had the turn signal lever on the right and wiper control on the left. The turn signal lever is always on the left in the US, not the right like New Zealand. . I signaled many a turn and lane change with the windshield wipers, not the turn signals. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/125 "2017-10-26T15:15:41Z")
Anyone ever get to drive a [push-button automatic?](https://www.google.ca/search?q=push+button+automatic&sa=X&dcr=0&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ved=0ahUKEwizoePYyY7XAhVCllQKHYA0BtoQ7AkIMQ&biw=1680&bih=980) ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/126 "2017-10-26T15:44:58Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Anyone ever get to drive a [push-button automatic?](https://www.google.ca/search?q=push+button+automatic&sa=X&dcr=0&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ved=0ahUKEwizoePYyY7XAhVCllQKHYA0BtoQ7AkIMQ&biw=1680&bih=980) Yep, on a ['64 Dodge Dart](https://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fs-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2F2e%2F19%2F99%2F2e1999f50a4dc32343ec7fe255c29983.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F464996730254499546%2F&docid=zS2GrbtMCTL4_M&tbnid=Z0nEgIehD0MqKM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwi2sN6w0I7XAhVV12MKHSbFBoQQMwhLKAcwBw..i&w=975&h=1805&bih=907&biw=1920&q=push%20button%20automatic&ved=0ahUKEwi2sN6w0I7XAhVV12MKHSbFBoQQMwhLKAcwBw&iact=mrc&uact=8). I’ve read that some street racers developed a fondness for the Chrysler compacts (especially after they dropped a V8 in the model line) because they could “walk up” the gears faster than they could shift a manual. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/127 "2017-10-26T15:51:05Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Are you saying A) downshifting in general is bad, or that B) these folks are doing it wrong? > > If A, I’d have to disagree. If B, well, wrongliness is in full supply these days. I’d just put it in neutral and coast up there. Saying that, I’m always ready to take a gear (the \*proper \*gear) if I need power. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/128 "2017-10-26T15:57:05Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Anyone ever get to drive a [push-button automatic?](https://www.google.ca/search?q=push+button+automatic&sa=X&dcr=0&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ved=0ahUKEwizoePYyY7XAhVCllQKHYA0BtoQ7AkIMQ&biw=1680&bih=980) [Yes,](http://st.motortrend.com/uploads/sites/5/2016/11/2017-Lincoln-MKZ-30T-AWD-center-stack-02.jpg) [a](https://acarisnotarefrigerator.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/2015-lincoln-mkc-center-dash.jpg) [few](https://acarisnotarefrigerator.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/2013-lincoln-mkz-int-infotainment-controls.jpg) of [them.](https://www.web2carz.com/images/mmy/201703/2017-lincoln-continental-reserve_center_stack_1490974273_700x467.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/129 "2017-10-26T16:01:42Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Car, motorcycle, trucks; basically its all I’ve ever driven. From 3 on the tree to 10 on the floor. I’ve owned a couple automatics (antiques mostly) but always hated driving them. I had a bad scene once back in my teens when I was driving a friends ParkLane and went for the clutch ------ and jamming on the brake as a result -------- and him hitting me in the trunk with his other car he was following me in. :smack: Scarred me for life. Now when I MUST drive an automatic I fold my left leg under me. I still have trouble sometimes, with my automatic. I have had it for over a year, but that’s on top of more than 25 years of exclusively driving manuals. I have put my left foot on nothing, while shifting it into park a couple of times rolling out from a stop sign. Has anyone else ever driven a vehicle with a transfer case? In the National Guard, I drove our big transport vehicles that had transfer cases. It essentially gave them six gears. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/130 "2017-10-26T16:04:27Z")
> [@somepumpkin](#): > > I’d just put it in neutral and coast up there. Saying that, I’m always ready to take a gear (the \*proper \*gear) if I need power. Well yeah, but you can do that with your left foot while your right hand is putting you into the right gear for your present speed if the light should change. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/131 "2017-10-26T16:08:53Z")
> [@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 😃 No link, but I remember reading somewhere that stick shifts get stolen a lot less because your typical teen or twentysomething car thief can’t drive them. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/132 "2017-10-26T16:10:04Z")
Jackie Stewart: “[Don’t use your gears a brakes. Brake pads are much cheaper than transmissions.](https://youtu.be/IZw7ZnxWKjs?t=26m55s)” ---
**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 26, 2017, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/133 "2017-10-26T16:16:55Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Jackie Stewart: “[Don’t use your gears a brakes. Brake pads are much cheaper than transmissions.](https://youtu.be/IZw7ZnxWKjs?t=26m55s)” Gotta love Jackie! ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/134 "2017-10-26T16:18:04Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > That’s true but, in my case, it hasn’t come up in 30+ years of driving. I have never been in a situation where my only car option was a manual. In fact, I can’t remember a situation where I was borrowing/renting a car and said “Oh, I’ll take Car A because Car B is manual and I can’t drive it”. I assume that the older I get, the rarer manual transmissions will be and the chances of me ever getting screwed because I can’t drive a manual will grow ever slimmer. > > In my particular experience, it’s sort of like saying “If you can ride a unicycle, you can ride both a bike and a unicycle but bike riders can only ride a bike”. While technically accurate, it implies more of a handicap than it actually is. I have, several times in my life, needed to drive a stick. Once, I was at the Y at a class, and I had biked there. A guy in class needed to go to the emergency room, and someone needed to drive him there in his car, which was a manual. I was the only person in the class who could drive manual. His car had a hatch, so with the quick-release front wheel off my bike, it fit in the hatch, and I lived really close to the hospital-- walking distance, in fact, but I couldn’t leave my bike behind. Second time, a client had eloped, and I got into another supervisor’s car with her to go search (client had eloped before, and wasn’t really clever about it). The supervisor I was driving with was the one the client was actually assigned to. After we’d driven about a half mile, she asked if I’d drive, so she could concentrate on looking, and so we switched. She had a manual. If we’d had to go back for my car, we would have lost searching time. There was another time I was driving with this same client, and she was getting agitated about something, and I distracted her be letting her operate the gear shift for me when I clutched. She was 20, but MMR, and ADHD, and not mature enough for a driver’s license (or to go alone anywhere), she really wanted to be able to drive, and shifting for me gave her a lot of satisfaction. Also, when I was in Greece two years ago, my mother and uncle and I rented a car. I signed on to drive it. Driving in Greece is scary because of the narrow streets and crazy drivers, and buses, but at any rate, you have to be able to drive stick. My uncle actually did most of the driving, because he’s as crazy as the other drivers. However, he wasn’t as good at driving stick as I was, and he couldn’t parallel park the car on a hill, so I had to park it, every time. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/135 "2017-10-26T16:38:10Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Jackie Stewart: “[Don’t use your gears a brakes. Brake pads are much cheaper than transmissions.](https://youtu.be/IZw7ZnxWKjs?t=26m55s)” if downshifting ruins your transmission, you’re doing something seriously wrong. it might (might!) make the synchros wear out faster, but we’re likely talking 175,000 miles instead of 200,000 miles. ---
**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 26, 2017, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/136 "2017-10-26T16:56:53Z")
> [@BobBitchin](#): > > I can heal/toe, but with my big feet it’s more like toe/toe in some cars I don’t have big feet, and in all the cars I’ve been in, it’s been toe-side-of-foot rather than heel-toe for me. ---
**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 26, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/137 "2017-10-26T17:01:57Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > The pedal arrangement is the same. I’ve driven a handful of RHD cars with manuals, and didn’t have much trouble. In fact, the hardest thing was remembering where to look for the rear view mirror. Yeah, for me, it was seamless driving UK stick. The whole left-hand shifting thing didn’t confuse me, and the pedal arrangement was the same. For me, though, the difficult thing was getting the proper spatial awareness of where I was in the car and where the car was in the lane. I had a tendency, at first, to be farther to the left than I thought I was. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/138 "2017-10-26T17:09:14Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I don’t have big feet, and in all the cars I’ve been in, it’s been toe-side-of-foot rather than heel-toe for me. Yep. I almost phrased it like that in my earlier reply. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/139 "2017-10-26T17:12:51Z")
I can’t blip in my 2007 Jeep JK. The throttle pedal is deeply recessed compared to the brake and clutch pedals. I’m 5’6", so just to reach the throttle I have to move the seat such that I am sitting closer to the steering wheel than I would prefer, and I have to retract my left leg more than I would prefer when I move it over from resting position to use the clutch or brake. The only reason that I didn’t get a throttle pedal extension was because in the winder I frequently drive while wearing Vibram soled telemark ski boots, which are rather bulky, so on those days I appreciate the extra space afforded by an otherwise very poorly positioned throttle pedal. The arrangement of the pedals in the 2007+ Jeep JKs would be ideal for a short skinny wife and a tall skinny husband to snuggle up together in the driver’s seat and divide the pedals tasks between them. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774/140 "2017-10-26T17:18:01Z")
“blipping” is even harder on modern vehicles since (for emissions reasons) throttle opening and closing is slowed down. All cars are throttle-by-wire now; the loud pedal is connected to a set of sensors which tell the PCM how much the driver is stepping into it, and the PCM uses that to control the electric motor which opens and closes the throttle. it’s especially noticeable when you let off the gas abruptly, the engine fairly gradually returns to idle. Enthusiasts call it “rev hang” and complain about it a lot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-competently-drive-a-manual-transmission-car/799774.md?page=8)