This seems like a good place for Bill Cosby’s thoughts on driving in San Francisco:
(Bill Cosby was funny, damn it! I used to worship him when I was a kid. I can’t stand that he’s also a sexual predator. I wish that weren’t so.)
Yes. Here in the UK if you pass the driving test in an automatic you get a restricted license.
Nope. Out here in the flatlands of the Prairie State and in the stop & go traffic of the Chicago area, it doesn’t offer much benefit. My wife moved here in Virginia with her manual transmission car, originally swearing by it and, by the time car shopping came around, had abandoned any thoughts of going manual with her next car.
Grew up driving farm equipment. Drove trucks and forklifts as young adult. Currently drive a manual Z3. So, yes.
I learned to drive on a manual transmission. I’ve only driven for a little more than half of my adult years, so I’ve only actually owned 4 cars in my life, but 3 of those were manual transmissions: 1963 Ford Falcon was on the tree, my '87(?) Honda CVCC was stick and my '78 Blazer is 3 speed with a granny gear (and old-school hub 4WD). I still have the Blazer but I haven’t driven it in years. Keep trying to sell it but can’t find a buyer. As long as I have it, it’s my bug-out vehicle.
Me too!!! 1974 I think :eek::eek:
the Honda Africa twin has a DCT, and the new Gold Wing just announced offers one as an option.
that said, motorcycle clutches are a bit different in that they play a big role in low-speed maneuvers. The vast majority are wet (oil-soaked) clutch packs, so they can tolerate a lot more slippage. And being able to slip the clutch helps low-speed stability; one of the things they try to teach you in the basic rider course is how to work the clutch, throttle, and rear brake so you can crawl along as slow as the instructor walking backwards.
Yep. My wife’s Camry is a stick.
Learned to drive with a stick and my first three cars were a stick. I hadn’t driven one for about 20 years but had occasion not long ago to drive one across town. It was like riding a bicycle and I had not forgotten how.
I’m 51, female, and learned to drive a stick. I barely remember a time when I wasn’t shifting for my dad, and I was driving stick down the back roads when I was 10, and in Seattle traffic at 14. I currently drive a manual Subaru Impreza.
I taught both my girls to drive stick, and have plans to teach the grandkids.
You know what rocks? Having your battery die*, not being able to jump it, then push starting your car in the parking lot and going on your way.
*Happened a couple of weeks ago. I just got the Subaru from my daughter and I’m not quite used to the ways it differs from the Camry I was driving until September.
I wouldn’t say master, but I do it often. The early 2000s WRXs have a syncro issue that makes it difficult to get 1st gear engaged unless the wheels aren’t rolling. There are times that I need first while crawling, so I learned to double-clutch, heel/toe it when downshifting to 1st. It goes; lift, clutch in, neutral, clutch out, blip gas, clutch, push into first just as Rs start to drop, all this combined with some modulation of the brake pedal. For downshifts at speed I don’t blip, but I match rpms to wheel speed… smoooooooth as buttah!
I learned to drive a tractor/combine at age 12 (which, of course, is manual) and the cars I had ages 16-40 were sticks. Yeah, I’m good! The only reason I don’t have a stick now is because they’re becoming difficult to find in BMWs (both my cars have a “manumission” option, which is a clutchless shift; but it’s definitely not the same experience as a pure manual).
Didn’t learn to drive a stick until I was 32 years old, but that was >30 years ago. Been driving almost nothing but sticks ever since. Currently driving a 2016 Honda Civic 6-speed manual, so I expect to be driving a stick for another 10-15 years.
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.
My Z has that synchro rev match technology: I’ve had the car for almost 4 years, and have never tried it. I’ve never noticed a problem with the way I shift, and I’m not the least bit curious about it. 
The driving school I went to only had automatics, and I have only owned automatics.
No.
Yes, all of my daily drivers (except for a 96 Ford Explorer for 6 months or so) have been manual transmission. It was second nature 20 years ago. If I drive a new manual transmission car it might take a couple tries to get used to the clutch feel and the shifter feel, that’s about it.
Most of my cars have been manual. Managed to get 69.4 mpg on a 84’ Honda CRX with 5-speed that wasn’t a hybrid. That’s when it had 237,000 miles. Best in town was just over 63. I personally like manuals, lighter transmission, less parts, can push start car if battery is dead. I’m 59 now, one vehicle I own is an automatic, and gosh, I admit it is nice. Cars these days have 6 and more gears. I think 5 is my limit of what I want to shift.
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
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.
Only ever owned manual transmission cars. I did briefly own an automatic Ford F-150 once, but for cars it’s been 100% manual.
I don’t fully trust an auto in snow and ice, and I like the ability to accelerate at full throttle without bouncing off the red line.
Learned to drive in a 1972 F-150 with 3-on-the-tree and have driven manual transmission vehicles the majority of my life. I have been is a few situations where a vehicle needed to be moved for one reason or another and the question was asked “Can anyone drive a stick?”. I was able to do what needed to be done.