I would, in no way, interpret the results of the poll in this thread as a representative sample. I suspect that the sample is terribly self-selected, to people who see the thread title, and say to themselves, “Oh! I can!”
Plus, the active membership of this board does skew older, and manual transmissions were substantially more common in inexpensive cars 30 and 40 years ago, when many of our members learned how to drive. “I can drive a stick” does not necessarily mean “I’ve driven a stick recently” (as several responses in this thread have indicated).
No. Not much reason out here in Chicago suburbia. No hills and you’re not going to play race car driver when you’re at a red light or in traffic every couple minutes. I don’t know the last time I was even in a car with a manual transmission. I guess it was my wife’s old car; she drove a stick in Virgina then, when it finally was time to retire it out here, she went automatic since she couldn’t justify the bother.
In my early 20’s I convinced a few people with manual transmissions to let me learn on their cars, so in a sense, yes, I can drive a stick, but then I got married to someone disabled for whom a manual was quite difficult so for the next 30 years all I drove was an automatic. Unfortunately, my spouse is deceased but the pickup and the sedan are both still chugging along. The result is that in an emergency I could probably remember how to drive a manual, but as it’s been over three decades even I wouldn’t loan myself a stick under normal circumstances.
So yes, I’m the one who answered “other”. Because in the event of trying outrun a zombie horde or some other apocalypse I’d be sufficiently motivated to remember the skill, but otherwise, no, I probably don’t remember.
Drove a manual transmission for years until I had a back injury that was made intolerable by working the clutch. Ended up replacing that car and my back started feeling better almost immediately. That was like 20 years ago and I still miss it.
First car was a 4-speed - 1970 Datsun 510. Remember driving the liquor store van w/ 3 on the tree. When I got married, my wife drove a 5-speed Datsun. Then I had a 4-speed in my 1962 Corvair. Now I drive a 6-speed VW GTI.
Absolutely. Poking around a report in 2016 indicated that only 18% of Americans could actually drive one then and I’m sure that skews much older. In 2018 apparently only 3.5% of cars were sold with manual transmissions.
They’re steadily going the way of the dodo, just like the membership of this board ;).
We have two cars in our household. We both drive both vehicles, though one is primarily mine. “My” car is a stick. I didn’t learn to drive stick until about 10 years into driving, but I hope to always have one in the garage.
When I took Driver’s Ed back in '71, one of the cars was a stick and we all got our chance to destroy the clutch. First new car I bought myself was a stick - in fact, over the years, I’ve owned more stick than automatic.
My current car is automatic, because I’m retired, dammit! That, and the larger, more comfy cars all seem to be automatic.
Yep, started driving a stick before I could legally drive. I would joke that I didn’t know how to drive an automatic, which was only somewhat a joke, as sometimes when I would drive an automatic, I would instinctively go to shift and slam on the breaks rather than the non-existent clutch. It only happened a couple of times.
I drive used cars, and driving a manual was always a nice way of getting a better, cheaper used car. Unfortunately, my last time out, I was not able to find a manual, as they have become rarer and out of favor, so I am driving an automatic now.
OTOH, it is easier in heavy traffic, and I think it probably is better on my back.
My father tried to teach me to drive a stick-shift car when I first learned how to drive at 16 (1980), but the car stalled at every stop sign and he got impatient. I’ve never had any desire to touch a stick shift again.
Hey now - it was a useful skill, if not necessarily an important one for teens a few decades ago :p. These days not so much IMHO. Now days I imagine the biggest utility for the average schmo not looking to get a job in trucking is that it could make it easier to rent a car when traveling overseas.
In the U.S. it’s getting to the point where it is only marginally more useful than learning cursive script( another dying skill from yesteryear). Even when I was first exploring the world of driving in the 1980’s private driving schools were already refusing to teach manual driving in hilly San Francisco.
It means you can answer ‘Yes!’ on message board polls, and feel a little smug
Well, or, if you live round here, it makes it a lot easier to buy or rent a car; I’ve only once driven an automatic, and that belonged to my Aussie cousins, in Australia. Checking the car sale listings where I used to live, which is a city- 2500 manual cars, 500 automatic, 100ish ‘other’.
I’ve been driving stick shifts since I taught myself to drive one at age 33. Some friends of mine were selling a great little pickup truck - perfect in every way, except it was a stick shift. So I taught myself to drive it. Good thing I was living in Newport News, which is very flat, at the time.
My current car is a 2016 Honda Civic stick which I bought new, and it was really hard to find one with a stick. But I figure by the time it wears out, I’ll be 80 or close to it, and by then I should switch to automatic for however long I continue to drive. (I hope that self-driving cars will be a reality by then, but who knows?)
Because the U.S. and Canada are probably the only countries on the planet where driving an automatic equipped car is the norm. The rest of the world shifts their own gears.
I learned to drive in Pakistan when automatics were virtually unheard of there. When I moved to the US, almost all cars here were automatic. Probably a good thing, because I had to adjust to driving on the other side of the road and a whole different set of traffic rules (and level of enforcement).
But after a few years, I bought a manual Acura and really enjoyed driving it. Helped that I lived in Kansas City where traffic was very light compared to Washington and New York (and for that matter Karachi).
When I moved to Atlanta and got married, the manual became impractical on two fronts. My wife couldn’t drive my car. And commuting in rush hour traffic was exhausting. So my next car was an automatic.
I can still drive a stick though. Very occasionally I will drive my sister’s or brother-in-law’s cars, which are both manuals, and have no trouble adjusting. They are driving enthusiasts. I am definitely not.
Not quite but the day is coming. I run a Subaru Outback and like a lot of relatives I stay in a stick for the snow and other bad conditions. The main advantage is being able to stay off the brakes; although I am experimenting with paddle-shifters now and then. They may have to be my next choice.
I drive a 2018 Subaru Forester with 6 speed stick. It was a good deal less expensive than the next version up, which included automatic and various other perks.
I bet this poll, though, has a huge selection bias. Most people who can’t drive a stick, I think, are unlikely to participate just to say so.
Several online references quote 18% as the fraction of Americans who can drive a stick, and only 2% of new cars are manual according to a Chicago Tribute article.
First new car I bought myself was a stick - in fact, over the years, I’ve owned more stick than automatic.
That, and the larger, more comfy cars all seem to be automatic.