All but two of my cars have been manuals, my current car is a 6-speed Subaru WRX. Driving stick is way more fun. Even though technology has caught up and a lot of automatics can shift very slightly faster I feel like a manual just gives you a versatility and control over your vehicle that automatic doesn’t offer, I also feel like driving a manual makes you pay more attention to the flow of traffic in a sense because you always have to be ready to shift gears or put it in neutral, makes you more engaged in driving.
Yes. I’m not a fan of manual transmission, but I can drive one.
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Everyone who drives stick claims to be really good at it, but few actually are. Do you blip the throttle on downshifts? Can you heel-toe shift? I admit even I haven’t mastered the latter.
There might be more to this than meets the eye. If “competently” means “functionally”, then I can drive a stick. However, if it means “correctly”, then I’m not so sure. I’m led to believe there is a difference between functionally getting the car moving and doing it correctly. The Car Talk guys say that if, in getting the car moving from a dead stop, you’re not stalling the engine about 1 of every 10 times, you’re not doing it right - probably slipping the clutch and causing excessive wear.
I learned on a stick shift Chevy Chevette in very hilly territory. I stalled that thing out more time than I could count on the way home from high school but my brother would not let me give up. He even made me stick to the back roads, including going down suicide hill, by telling me that way we wouldn’t cause traffic problems when I inevitably stalled out on the main road.
And though I only rarely drove a manual transmission vehicle for years afterward I did end up working as a truck driver for many years driving a local route in a 40ft box truck. Jumped right in on day one and drove it like I had been driving a manual all along. It really does come back to you.
Owned several manual transmission cars in my life. Have driven manual transmission tractors too.
There are quite a few, depending on your definition of a motorcycle.
All the ‘executive’ scooters are automatics.
Barring that, Honda’s newest 700cc platform has several models (look for the DCT name), and a couple 1200 too. Aprilia makes an automatic, and most electric motorcycles are automatic.
Yes. I learned to drive on a 3-on-the-tree 1961 Mercury Comet. I’ve owned 3 standards since then, but haven’t had a manual shifter since we lived in Seattle and I was introduced to stop-and-go freeway traffic. At that time I was driving a 1963 Chevy fleetside truck with power nothing and my god was that a trial to drive in heavy traffic. Two of my 2-stoke scooters are manual transmission, and they are a hoot to ride. Nothing like a manual transmission to stay right in the peak of the power curve.
My Vespa 250 GTS Super is an automatic.
I had only manuals for many years. I even had a huge F-350 4WD with a 6-speed manual transmission (loads of fun to drive in San Francisco…).
I really miss those cars, but my wife can’t drive stick, so we now have two automatics.
Yep, drive a 6 speed everyday, even in Atlanta traffic. I have two cars I alternate, based on my mood, for daily driver service. A 2008 Mini Cooper, and a 2008 Mazda Miata, with have the previously mentioned 6 speed transmissions.
I learned to drive a stick on a 1972 VW Super Beetle.
I’ve never driven a manual in my life. At 55 years old, I doubt I ever will.
There are relatively few, if you look at all motorcycles.
Electric vehicles depending on how they work, do not need transmissions
Just need the proper sized/type motor
Same as many of the other "no"s: I’ve lived a lot of decades already without the need ever coming up (not even in an “it would be convenient” sense), so never learned.
My understanding is that it’s a skill that a competent driver can pick up in fifteen minutes or so (rental companies used to offer to teach you if that’s the only car they had), so I’m not too worried about it if some need should arise.
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.
It is heel-and-toe braking; the left foot operates the clutch independent of the accelerator and brake.
This is complete nonsense. The clutch is supposed to slip slightly, and yes, it will wear and need to be replaced. That is by design; without the fluid coupling of a torque converter, feathering the clutch protects the transmission and engine from being overstressed by sudden, jerky application of force. If you stall the engine one time in ten, you are undoubtedly stressing the transmission, as well as posing a traffic hazard and annoyance. I’ve driven a manual transmission car going for months without stalling the engine, and could get 150k+ miles out of a clutch before it started to display signs of slippage.
Virtually all modern transmissions are synchronized so they will match revs with the engine. Heel-and-toe braking is only useful in the context of performing forceful downshifts coming into a curve or radical movement change (drifting or slide recovery) maneuvers. Most drivers have no need for the skill, especially with synchronized or sequential/assisted manual transmissions
Stranger
The car I learned to drive in, and was given by my parents was a manual. Drove it for many years before I ever drove an automatic. Took time to get used to an auto having only done manual.
First car was a 4-speed 1970 Datsun 510. Current daily driver is a 6-speed 17 Golf GTI. I’m no pro, but I have fun!
I hope I can, since all my cars have been manuals. There have been two retired due to old age, but one was actually in good shape for its age and model (inherited from Dad and traded in for the smaller Little Green Car) and the one which had something broken… it was the a/c and it had been a guest driver. The Little Green Car is still going strong at age 16 (my brother now drives it) and the 5yo Little Red Car is sitting below my window right now, waiting to go to work in a few hours.
I haven’t driven a manual in over 20 years, but I probably still could if necessary. When I did drive manuals, I was comfortable doing so.