Do you drive a manual or automatic transmission car?

[Jack_Batty]

@Bootis

84 votes in, and it’s split 50-50- That’s pretty shocking considering automatics not only are uncommon in the US, they make up less than 10% of all cars sold here.

Hold the phone. That can’t be right.

Less 10% of US cars sold are automatic? I think you’ve got things backward or something.

[Hilary_Algar]

@Bootis

84 votes in, and it’s split 50-50- That’s pretty shocking considering automatics not only are uncommon in the US, they make up less than 10% of all cars sold here. I know polls here are far from Scientific, but this seems to indicate they’re possibly completely worthless!

Everyone who responds is not necessarily a US resident. Automatic transmissions are the exception in many non-US countries.

There is a self-selection element here that would render the results less than scientific but “worthless” seems kind of harsh.

[Bootis]

@Jack_Batty

Hold the phone. That can’t be right.

Less 10% of US cars sold are automatic? I think you’ve got things backward or something.

Backwards- more than 90% of cars sold in the US are automatic

[Hilary_Algar]

@suranyi

I drive an automatic because I never learned to drive a stick. I’ve heard stories in threads like this about how peoples’ fathers taught them to drive a manual, but my dad doesn’t know how to drive a stick either, so he couldn’t have taught me. In fact, nobody I know well knows how to drive one.

Also, very few (if any?) US high schools teach drivers’ ed on manually equipped vehicles anymore.

[tdn]

@Hilary_Algar

I could probably think of a few more–maybe later.

At least one more – when I drove stick, it felt like I was really driving. When I drove automatic, it felt like I was a passenger sitting in the driver’s seat.

I can see how someone that learned on an automatic could feel overwhelmed with a stick. There’s a lot more to do!

[Misnomer]

I have only ever owned stick shifts.

I currently drive a 2011 Honda Accord V6 coupe with heated leather seats, sunroof, etc., and a manual transmission. The sticker price was around $30K.

I was surprised at how hard it was to find a dealership with a manual in their inventory, but even more surprised to learn that there was one option available just for automatics: a navigation system (with a better display). So I have the top trimline for a stick, but not for an automatic. I guess the designers figured that people can’t shift and look at a screen at the same time. :dubious:

(What a lot of automatic drivers don’t realize is that shifting isn’t extra work: it truly becomes second nature, and 90% of the time you do it without thinking about it. Even in traffic. Which is why if you put a stick driver in an automatic they will sometimes put their left foot on an imaginary clutch and/or reach for the shifter.)

I expect non-sports-car manual transmissions to become harder and harder to find. Though they’re found more and more in sports cars now, too.

[Bootis]

@Hilary_Algar

Everyone who responds is not necessarily a US resident. Automatic transmissions are the exception in many non-US countries.

There is a self-selection element here that would render the results less than scientific but “worthless” seems kind of harsh.

Surely there are some international votes, but to swing the numbers that much there would have to be a hugely disproportionate foreign response compared to the board’s actual demographics (plus not everyone overseas drives manual).

This happens to be a poll where we have real statistics to measure the results against- in polls where that isn’t the case, who knows how self selecting they are? It seems possible that any poll could have a margin of error greater than 40%.

[Thudlow_Boink]

@sparky_1

Just curious if most people drive an auto. I’m actually surprised how close the numbers are.

Fair enough—although, as has been pointed out, this poll isn’t exactly scientific, what with the respondants being self-selecting.

I don’t normally even think about or care about who drives what, and now I’m curious as to whether this attitude (of just not caring) is more common among those who drive automatics.

And yes, Hilary et al, I know there are real advantages to driving a manual. In my case, it’s just that everyone in my family has always driven an automatic, so I’ve never had either the opportunity or the need to see what I was missing.

[Broomstick]

@sparky_1

I have looked at Subaru, Nissan and Ford.

Have you tried Toyota?

[sangfroid]

Currently drive an automatic, but I’ve had stick shifts before. Age would’ve been nice as a poll option, since manuals were far more common years ago (I’m in my late forties). The mileage factor is almost non-existent now due to advances in auto transmissions. My older auto Toyota gets 30 mpg. I like stick shift sometimes, but just droning back and forth to work, the automatic suits me fine. Seems like sports cars and low-end model cars are the last realm of the manual transmission anymore. As far as snow goes, I live in rural northern VT, and many modern vehicles (mine included) have traction control systems that work very well. Tires matter more than the tranny, IMO. Frankly, I don’t miss the work of manually shifting. That said, I’m glad I know how to drive a manual transmission and will likely teach my kids (now 9&10) how just so they know. Many other vehicles (farm, pleasure, cycles, etc.) use manuals and the concept/skill of the clutch is still useful, I believe.

[sparky_1]

@Broomstick

Have you tried Toyota?

I’ve never found Toyotas or Honda sporty enough.

[silenus]

@Misnomer

Which is why if you put a stick driver in an automatic they will sometimes put their left foot on an imaginary clutch and/or reach for the shifter.

Sometimes, hell. Most of the time if I’m distracted a bit. The automatic is the wife’s car. I don’t drive it every day like the truck. She has gotten used to me stomping on the floorboards and reaching for to “shift” the selector.

[Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge]

I’ve only had automatics. No desire to drive a stick. I barely know how.

[gooftroopag]

@Rigamarole

I’m really surprised by how many people have voted manual (it’s actually ahead of automatic!). I’ve never understood this obsession some have with making driving much more complex and labor-intensive for themselves so they can feel like a race car driver, or whatever. Do you all have deep-seated psychological complexes where you don’t feel “in control” of your own lives, so you need to feel more “in control” of your car?

This is a machine we’re talking about, the driver should be in control of it.

We are a manual only family. We’ve owned one automatic but got rid of it quickly. The thing practically drove us! I hate feeling as though the car is trying to pull me forward when I’m stopped at a light. They’re just unsafe, in my opinion.

Plus, if my battery dies all I need is a downhill slope or a couple friends to push me until I can pop the clutch and off I go. I still carry around jumper cables, but I’ve never had to use them for my car.

[Candyman74]

@Bootis

Surely there are some international votes, but to swing the numbers that much there would have to be a hugely disproportionate foreign response compared to the board’s actual demographics

What are the board’s actual demographics?

(plus not everyone overseas drives manual).

It’s probably about the reverse of what it is in your country. I don’t know anyone who drives an automatic. Honestly; to my knowledge, not a single person. If I was in someone’s car and saw it was an automatic, I’d find that very unusual.

As for the accusations above of “shoving it down peoples’ throats” - we were asked a question, we answered. It’s not like we all started threads saying “Hey, I drive a manual! Why don’t you?” To those who made that suggestion - should we not answer these polls?

[Broomstick]

@SmellMyWort

Well, your hostile attitude is a little uncalled for since no one has yet to bash automatic drivers. And the issue is finding a manual with leather. I’ve noticed the exact same problem as sparky! when it comes to that.

Ah, skipped over the “leather” bit the first time through. Well, yes, you’re going to pay a premium for leather.

Also, to address your first point - a remarkable number of people seem to use what sort of car you drive as a way of evaluating your entire character. Personally, I don’t care what others drive or don’t drive so long as they are competent on the road - alas, such competent drivers do seem a minority at times regardless of transmission type.

@silenus

First, this is very insulting and ignorant. Second, see above comments about control on snow and in sand. Some of us are actually safe, competent drivers who care about such things,** as opposed to slobs who are too lazy to shift**.

^ I rest my case.

You know, I did go through the trouble of learning to drive a manual in my youth. It seemed, as others have stated, a potentially useful skill. It’s not that I can’t, it’s that it doesn’t matter to me except, as stated, I am married to someone who can’t drive a manual transmission.

@Cat_Whisperer

Driving a manual transmission is a skill, and I don’t see anything wrong with being proud of having developed a skill that not everyone has.

Yep, it’s a skill. It’s not a badge of honor as some think it is.

I learned to fly airplanes, but I don’t look down on people who never bothered to learn the skill. I know several people who either never learned to drive at all, or didn’t learn until they were past 30. I don’t think less of them for NOT mastering that near-ubiquitous in the US skill.

@kenetic

Since most americans seem to be only vaguely aware that such things as non-automatic transmissions even exist, I find it hard to believe it gets shoved down your throat with any frequency. Unless you hang out with serious car fanatics I can’t see anyone making a big deal about it.

The problem is twofold:

1. There are actually more Americans who either regularly drive a stick or are capable of driving a stick than most non-Americans assume.

2. Those Americans that do make a fetish out of driving manual transmissions are all too frequently loud, obnoxious, and won’t STFU.

[Bootis]

I’ve driven manuals my last 2 cars, (10 years or so) for all the advantages Hilary Algar mentioned. However there are definitely advantages to having an automatic as well.

Many times I have been majorly inconvenienced by being the only person around who could drive my car. For some people that wouldn’t be an issue, but I’ve taken a few cross country trips and had to do ALL the driving, and have had numerous totally annoying pain in the ass situations that would have been nonexistent if I had an automatic.

[Shodan]

I’m American, and I drive a stick. I prefer it because I feel more in control of the car. And because car thieves are young, and don’t know how to drive a stick.

Regards,
Shodan

[Barkis_is_Willin]

I would have been mildly surprised if there were half as many MTs as ATs. That there are *more *in this poll, after 100 responses, is incredible.

To the OP, the Toyota Corolla XRS meets your criteria. Low-mid $20s, MT option, leather option. (Not sure if they still make the XRS with the 2.4L Camry engine, but as of 2010 they did).

[Sunshine_and_Smiles]

99 civic ex, manual transmission.

Got it for cheap because it was used and a manual, and while I’d only driven automatic before then, I thought it’d be pretty cool to learn. I prefer it for many for the reasons said - it will not simply drive on its own like an automatic, driving in hazardous conditions is better (and so too general maneuverability), girls think I’m more manly, archaic things are generally cooler, and most of my friends can’t drive it.