Why would anyone want to drive a stick shift in their car? I know my cousin has it, and it seems like alot of extra work. Plus whenever he presses the clutch, the car seems to slow down. Why would anyone choose to drive such a thing? Why not just stick with an automatic?
Thank you in advance to all who reply 
Because it’s much more fun - especially on twisty mountain roads. If you have to ask, you don’t need one.
I hate driving an automatic. I got it kinda by accident, so I’m not complaining about the choice of car. But I still hate it.
Note that I’m in the UK, where manuals are the norm, and everyone learns in one (take your test in an automatic, and your licence doesn’t let you drive a manual).
What I feel I’m missing is the sense of being in direct control of the mechanics. I like to plan ahead for dropping down to third as I go round a tight corner on an open road. I like crawling on the clutch when parking. I don’t like having the transmission make decisions on my behalf. At best, it’s just boring.
And if he’s losing speed with the clutch down, he’s changing gears sloooooowly! (Slow enough to fail a test here, I suspect…)
(Disclaimer: When I’m eating lunch while driving through heavy traffic, none of the above applies 
)
A stick shift has some advantages, although these are becoming less important as car technology improves. You can get better gas mileage than with an automatic – though not very much compared to the newer, more efficient automatic transmissions. Also better performance – but again, that gap is being closed by the newer transmissions.
I used to favor a stick because you had the option of pop-starting the car. However, I haven’t had to do this since about 1988. If you’re stalled on the railroad tracks and can’t get the engine to start, you can put the car in first, let out the clutch while cranking it, and let the starter motor pull you off the tracks just before the train would have plowed into you. Not a very likely scenario, but it could happen.
Personally, I’m ready for an automatic. Being stuck in stop-and-go traffic with a stick shift is a pain.
It’s more fun. Some people enjoy driving as an end in itself, not just as a way to get from place to place, and enjoy the challenge of driving a stick shift.
Also, traditionally, stick shifts have been both faster and more fuel-efficient than conventional automatics, because automatics weigh more and do not involve a direct connection between the wheels and the engine.
Nowadays, automatic transmission technology has advanced to the point where that’s no longer true. But manual transmissions are still more fun to drive.
For the sake of argument, I won’t consider gas mileage.
I like driving stick because you can “feel” the road much better. I don’t know if that makes any sense, but by being in direct control of the car’s gears there is no lag between giving the engine gas and feeling that power transferred to the wheels.
Also, I live in a climate that gets snow in the winter, and I like being able to downshift if it gets slippery. Even just pressing the clutch allows the car to slowdown in snow without having to press the brakes; less chance of having them lock up.
Plus, its a lot of fun. After my lease expires on my pick’em up truck, I’m getting another stick. I miss it.
If I were ever to move back to the midwest (or anywhere else that gets snow or ice on the roads), a manual transmission is the only kind of vehicle I would own. You have much more control in slowing/stopping/braking with a manual transmission than an automatic one.
Not to mention that they are way more fuel efficient! My 1986 Pontiac Sunbird got 30mpg city driving, and 38mpg freeway, and maintained that level of efficiency for 13 of its 15 year life, when city driving mileage fell to around 25mpg. And that’s the best I’ve ever gotten under any circumstance on my automatic transmission '99 Nissan Sentra.
Besides, they’re just much more fun to drive!
And if your cousin’s car is slowing down when he shifts gears, he’s not driving it correctly.
It is much more fun - once you’re used to it. I like having control over when I shift gears… especially when I had the Rx-7. (Damn I miss it).
The only time I think about having an auto is during 5 o’clock traffic on the street we call Hell.
Having driven an old work truck with a hard to operate manual shift through NYC rush hour traffic, I vowed never to get a stick shift. I spend too much time in traffic for it to be enjoyable. However, I’m not one who drives for enjoyment. I drive for utility - I find the constant attention needed on city streets and highways not to be relaxing.
You feel like you have much more control over the car - you really feel like you’re driving, as opposed to an automatic where it kind of feels like you’re steering, if ya know what I mean.
Also, on snow and ice a stick is WAY better, as others have said.
I would never buy an automatic.
Shouldn’t that be, “if you have to ask, you’ll never understand.”
All my vehicles (save one) are sticks. The one that isn’t is driven by my wife.
One this is for sure – if you drive a stick the chances of it getting stolen are way down because (WAG) too many just can’t do it.
This is a poll.
I am going to move it manually stick it in IMHO.
[ /Moderator Mode ]
(Current reluctant owner of a squishomatic Caravan since Dodge stopped building the manual models a few years ago.)
I drive a stick because I am a control freak.
Plus, in addition to the aforementioned scenario on the railroad tracks, if you have an iffy battery all you have to do is park on a hill and no worries about getting the car started. Just let it roll, pop the clutch, and off you go.
What they said. I refuse to drive an automatic, even though it’s getting much more difficult to find sticks here.
Ehh. I’m kinda in the middle of the road on this. I drive twisty mountain roads every day. My last vehicle was a stick. It was fine. My new one is an auto. I like it too.
I guess when you drive twisty mountain roads as a routine, it becomes just that.
The one thing I thing I’m gonna hate is when it shifts on icy roads and I might not be prepared for it. Good way to slide out. Well see how it does, haven’t had the new car through the winter yet, though my Wife now has an auto and her last car was a stick and she has no complaints.
Other wise, I’m quite impressed with how ‘smart’ the transmission is.
I used to have a stick shift on my Miata, because you can juice a bit more power out of a sports car with a manual transmission. I now have a stick shift on my Rav4 beause it’s a pretty wussy engine to start with. Plus I tow a boat with it. It’s mighty comforting to have first gear when I’m pulling the boat up the ramp.
The other reason I buy manual transmissions is that they’re cheaper. They’re cheaper to buy originally, cheaper to maintain, and cheaper to repair (and less likely to need it, too).
I can’t explain it, I just enjoy it. I have always had one and I can’t imagine driving a car without one.
I’d never have anything other than a stick in my trucks. A car I drive in traffic every day - automatic. Anything else - stick.
Until 1993 I had never driven a stick shift - when we bought my first Wrangler, Mr. SCL had to test-drive it because I didn’t know how! In 2001 when I got my second Wrangler, I fell in love with one painted a color called “Amber Flame” or something like that - a beautiful red-gold almost the color of my hair. I wanted that Jeep - until I noticed it was an automatic.
WTF? An automatic? In a Jeep?
It probably took a year before I was really comfortable driving a stick, but now I don’t like to drive anything else. Mr. SCL got a Prius - it’s a nice car and gets great milage but damn it’s boring to drive.
I’m cheap. When I was picking out options for my MINI, the automatic transmission was a $1300 option. Since i know how to drive a stick, saving the money was a no-brainer. I also chose to save the $1700 they wanted for the navigation system - for that kinda dough, I can read a map mysef.
I don’t drive a stick because it is funner, or I need to be in control or to prove anything. if the automatic would have been the same price, I may have well chosen that insead.