Boy, that’ll teach 'em. Nothing beats playing in the traffic for pure excitement, does it?
Do you get rear-ended often? Or do you rear-end the car ahead of you as you look into your rearview mirror to enjoy the results of your driving lesson? If the car behind you jams on its brakes and gets rear-ended by the car behind it, do you consider that they both got what they deserved?
Ayep. Guy I know who used to drive a truck for us snapped his clutch cable in North Carolina and drove all the way to the Florida keys without using his clutch. Impressed the hell out of me until he showed me how easy it was. Now I do it every once in a while myself, just because I can. (Although I’m still not quite sure how you start a car or truck without using the clutch.)
To harass someone for choosing an automatic transmission is pathetic.
At least where I live, I’ve heard the debates, but there is no tarring and feathering (not even among the high school kids).
Just to declare my allegiances now: I learned to drive stick, I have always owned stick shift cars, and I can’t see myself ever willingly buying an automatic. On the other hand, it’s like the Coke/Pepsi thing. Of course I’m right and the people who disagree with me are wrong, but it’s not important enough to bust up a friendship about. 
Furthermore, driving a sports car with an automatic is not pathetic. Mildly amusing, sure, but not pathetic. Pathetic is driving a honkin’ big SUV with automatic transmission. I think those cars should be required to carry bumper stickers: NOT AN OFF-ROAD VEHICLE, NO MATTER WHAT THE DRIVER SAYS :rolleyes:
Ok… as someone who has driven both automatics & manuals, I have to say one thing:
Manuals are a royal pain in the ASS during rush hour traffic. It just seems like an inordinate amount of effort to creep along in stop and go traffic. Automatics really shine here, IMHO.
Also, there are a lot of older/infirm people who can’t use manuals very well at all. To use a personal example, my Dad doesn’t drive manual anymore because it aggravates his back trouble.
However, I tend to think that putting an automatic on a sports car or “performance sedan” is pretty much in the same league as buying a 1500 dollar camera body, then using a cheap 100 dollar Best Buy lens on it. It’ll still take good pictures, but damn… you could have had so much more with a better lens(or gearbox).
On a slightly different topic, is there a decent way to find your redline if you have neither a shift light or a tach? My Ranger is manual, and I have neither one, so I’m more or less shifting by the Force. Of course, that’s nothing new- I learned manual on a '72 Chevy truck with an on-the-column 3 speed with no tach or shift light. Still, I’d like to know at which point I’m in danger of damaging something. Also, do most modern cars have rev limiters at least as far as acceleration goes?
do all y’all live in sunny weather???
to me, the best reason to drive a manual is Winter. That time of year when you can suddenly get to be driving on ice or driving in snow a foot deep or whatever.
I’ve tried driving an automatic in winter, would get stuck at least once a week, and need a push. Never have needed a push with a manual.
also, when I got stuck after on sheet ice, I was still able to slow down w/o using my brakes…
Why would I care whether the cab driver uses automatic or stick? 
Off to IMHO.
I learned on an automatic, but quickly learned to drive a stick. I generally prefer a manual (except for stop and go traffic) and we have had only manual cars for a while.
But lately I find myself drawn to the Dark Side. We recently bought a used Taurus with an automatic (and power everything). Now after I drive our 5-speed Saturn to and from work and I need to run to the store for bread and milk I find myself choosing the Taurus. I need help! Can someone loan me a manual sports car so I can get these thoughts out of my head? Something convertible. Oh yeah, and something that can do 0 to 60 in less than 6 seconds? I can only be saved with your help.
John
automatics are so sexy! You can put your arm around your girl when you are driving. That is so neat.
On the other hand, in a manual ,you can brush her inner thigh every time you reach for the stick shift.
definitely the most frustrating thing about an automatic. you pull out to pass and there’s this delay before your acceleration kicks in. and since whenever i drive an automatic it’s either a rental or someone else’s car, i can never get used to it or time it just right for an effective pass - especially on those hilly psycho passing sections where every fraction of a second counts.
I lived in South Dakota for a lot of years. I lived on a farm, on a dirt road, one and one-half miles from the nearest paved road. I owned several cars during that period, all of which were automatics. Never got stuck but once and that was due to carlessness on my part. Maybe I was lucky–I used to sometimes think about buying a four wheel drive vehicle but I never felt justified in spending the money for one.
“Sure, laugh at me at the stop light because you can beat me off the line in your (theoretically equivalent) manual Corvette. Then I’ll watch you suffer through carpel-tunnel syndrome driving through the hell that is Southern California traffic, because you have to shift so damn much. Maybe I’ll never experience the thrill of this ‘mountain driving’ that was mentioned, but considering that will be less than 1% of the driving I’ll be doing in this car, I’d rather have my hand free to pick my nose, drink my soda, screw with the radio, etc.”
Right on point! How many people actually get to drive on a regular basis at the speeds and on the roads where a stick comes into its own?? Most driving everyday is done on decent roads (no winding hairpin turns around a mountain like a James Bond movie) in more or less bad traffic (no getting up to 50, much less real sports car speeds).
This is like all those television commercials where they show a bad traffic jam – all those common people in common cars – and then they show someone pulling out past the crowd in the brand new Gashog 3000 BIGDIX roadster and zooming along on deserted roads (or city streets!) at full speed. Yeah, right. You’ve got to go to work every day, buy groceries, pick up laundry, etc. all the same, on the same city streets or suburban highways. You’re going to be stuck in the same traffic with the Gashog 3000 as you were in your old Blandcar sedan.
I own a car. I’m proud to say it’s a black Ford Escort sedan with an automatic transmission. My car is a machine for TRANSPORTATION. When I’m going somewhere that the train is faster or cheaper (read: downtown Chicago) I use the car to get to and from the train station. My car is not an extension of my personality, a symbol of my manhood, or any other such nonsense. If I wanted something to enhance my masculine image, I would buy a codpiece, not a Porsche. 
You just start it in first gear, Just turn the key and you are off. The starter should be strong enough to turn the engine over and pull the car forward in first. I had a friend who drove a chevette like this for several months.
Anyone who buys a sports car and suffers through
[list=1]
[li]Uncomfortable seating[/li][li]Difficult entry and exit[/li][li]Poor gas mileage[/li][li]Higher maintenance costs[/li][li]Higher initial cost[/li][li]Useless in snow[/li][li]Useless to haul anything[/li][li]Can only carry two people[/li][li]More likely to get traffic tickets[/li][/list=1]
Then gets an AUTOMATIC because a standard is to much trouble to drive should be beaten. These are the same people who are driving their Corvette at 50 MPH on the highway or crawling around an off ramp.
Jim’s right. Most cars these days have a strong enough starter to jump the car to start it. It’ll wear out alot quicker, but it’ll work. That’s a huge reason why they don’t put remote start in a manual. What if you leave it in gear and start it? It jumps into the car in front or behind it.
$$$$$$
–Tim
I can drive a stick without much problem, but have never seen the point. If I bought a performance showy car, I would want a manual (actually, I’d want an assisted shifter with the little paddles on the wheel) but the fact is, I don’t drive a performance car, I drive something to get me to work. I don’t want to connect with the car, I want to get where I’m going. Technology is supposed to make life easier, not make us stall or roll into the person in back of us becuase we got distracted at the last second.
Oh, and manual drivers… I’d love to hear the story about the first time you parallel parked on a hill.
I really don’t understand the appeal of manual transmissions, but I’ve never actually driven one. My family upgraded to automatic transmissions before I started driving in the same way that they upgraded to indoor plumbing decades before, just the march of progress.
My wife and mother-in-law are big manual transmission snobs. I can’t understand why. It seems like a much rougher ride. I guess some people like having more control. If that’s the issue, why not just knock the floor out of the car and move it along with your feet, Fred Flintstone style? That would be a manual engine, and wouldn’t that sense of control be wonderful? I don’t want any control at all when I drive. My ideal car would be one where I would just say, “Car, drive me home and wake me up when you get there!”.
But since I really don’t like driving at all, maybe I’m not qualified to actually comment.
Every rental car I got was automatic.
It seems like a lot of the 80s/early 90s pony cars were automatic (im assuming since its a 5.0 its several years old). Maybe the shifters were bad then? I dunno. I like my vw shifter better than the mustang sticks i’ve tried.
I learned on an automatic. Then when I got married and went to grad school, my hubby talked me into letting us buy a manual. “Oh you’ll pick it up in no time.”
So we got a manual. Chevette. In San Francisco.
Never again. Not until I get my Jag, anyway.