None of the answer choices really fits me. I know how to drive a stick; I’m just completely incompetent at the execution.
Or at least, I was as a teenager, when I was first trying to learn to drive. It might be that nowadays, with decades of experience at shifting on a bike, and not being an awkward teenager in general, that I’d be able to pick it up. But stick-shift cars are so rare any more anyway that there’s not really much point in trying.
Drove a stick for 40+ years, but Wife’s bum knees dictate that we own automatics now. I find that I don’t really care either way any more.
Are the pedals in the same locations for a right hand drive or are they reversed?
I’ve owned manual transmission cares my entire life, except for one automatic that I despised.
I’ve got it down. I even double-clutch and throttle-blip (heel/toe) most of my downshifts in the Subaru.
My friend recently traded his stick for an automatic b/c he was tired of working it in stop-and-go traffic. Sure, there’s some inconvenience there, but I barely notice it.
It’s not just about the # of gears, but also the top gear ratio and the choice of which gear to use.
Manuals these days commonly have a relatively low top gear so that it’s not usually necessary to downshift in order to execute a pass at highway speeds. This puts the engine at a high-RPM/light-load condition, relatively inefficient. I had a G37 with a manual transmission for a few years, and at highway speed, the engine was spinning around 3000 RPM; I now have a Q50, exact same engine but with an automatic, and it spins about 2000 RPM at highway speed. The MPG is better in the Q50.
Along the same line of thinking, automatics these days also select the highest gear that the engine can stand at any given time, so as to keep RPMs low and load high. In the G37 w/manual, I’d pick a gear for city driving that had the engine around 2000 RPM to assure peppy response - but the Q50 w/automatic often tries to get the RPMs closer to 1000 unless I’m briskly accelerating.
The Q50, like most automatics, makes for a harsh, lurching downshift when you get on the gas hard. I have a long-standing habit of gradually rolling on the throttle during acceleration; this is fine in the manual, but it results in premature upshifting in the automatic.
Bottom line, I miss being able to dictate shift points, even if the penalty was reduced MPG. I can kind of do that with the upclick/downclick shifting feature on the Q50, but I also miss managing the clutch. If I were offered a choice between a car with a DCT + paddle shifters on the wheel, or the same car with an old-fashioned manual gearbox, I’d pick the latter, even knowing that I’d have sub-par 0-60 times and reduced MPG.
Glad I still have my motorcycle…
Some years ago I was returning Home Depot’s rental truck, and went to park it right in front of the store. Out of long muscle habit my left foot went to depress the nonexistent clutch; instead it found the brake pedal, and the truck went from 10 to 0 in a noisy, rattly attention-getting instant, drawing the eyes of every pedestrian within 100 feet.
I’ve driven stick-equipped trucks for the last 40 years. The Rogue we bought last year was the first non-stick vehicle I’ve owned since college.
Excellent. I drove from 1955 to 1993 without ever owning an automatic. I had to learn to double clutch when I learned to drive in a '47 Studebaker without synchromesh.
same locations. I’ve driven RHD cars with stick shifts (best was a Mustang GT convertible, people lost their minds when they saw it) and it’s not that hard to get used to. even for someone very right handed like me. honestly the hardest thing to get used to was where to look for the rear view mirror.
One of my all-time favorite cars (a Mazda Miata) had manual transmission.
I’m tempted to give a stick shift another shot next time a car purchase comes around. It depends on how lazy I feel at the time.
That’s me, only I migrated to the dark side some time ago. My first couple of cars were manuals and I imagine I could still drive one ( probably haltingly at first, smoothly with a day or two to adjust ) just fine. But the Bay Area traffic scene is a pile of hot, stinking garbage. I just hated the constant every-few-seconds shifting involved in a hour plus of stop-and-go. I probably will never go back.
Never learned. Out in the flatlands of Illinois and in Chicago traffic, there’s no real reason for it. When my wife moved here from Virginia, she drove stick and lauded its benefits but, as soon as it was time for a new car after a year or so of local driving, she jumped on an automatic transmission.
This results are really surprising to me. I expected a much higher results for no idea how to do it and could do it if forced. While last century I alternated between sticks and automatics, this century I have driven automatics exclusively. My theory is that driving stick is like riding a bicycle: once you learn how you don’t forget. So I selected competent.
All my cars until my current Suby have been manual transmissions, but I just spend way too much time in stop-n-go traffic these days that I finally got an auto. With the CVT it actually gets better mileage than the stick version of the car, so it’s kind of a win-win.
I thought I’d miss driving a stick, but I really don’t.
not in my experience, at least not with 6-speed boxes. the top overdrive ratio is usually not that different between manual and automatic. autos with more gears generally have a wider ratio spread and more ratios in between lowest and highest.
I’d require an hour or so driving around uncrowded slow streets to get my feel back in a manual, just like I did last time I drove (and taught my son to drive) a manual (truck) we borrowed from a relative around 15 yrs ago. I haven’t had my own manual in almost 30 yrs, though first dozen or so years driving I only drove manuals.
I have no desire for one now. I live in a crowded area and no desire for my knee to hurt holding the clutch. I also like cruise control on the highway. And today’s better automatics/automated manuals are smarter than drivers in achieving acceleration. Also my wife never mastered manual. I don’t miss them.
I learned on a manual. Most of my cars have been manuals. I actually really enjoy driving, so for me having a manual makes it more enjoyable.
Results would seem to be a far outlier from the general driving population, in the US at least. The % of automatics among new cars sold in the US was only around 25% even 25 yrs ago and single digit % now and the median car is only around 12 yrs old. It doesn’t compute how 80%+ of drivers could have spent time driving that small % of cars. Non-North American responses might pull it up somewhat, but a lot of answers reference driving experiences of those far over median age.
Planning on shortly buying a Golf GTI w/ manual as my sole car. (Wife drives an automatic.) Just because it is fun. Even tho folk rave over the GTI w/ auto/paddles, I just don’t see the point.
I’ve driven a manual transmission car for over 30 years. I’ve driven automatic on occasion but vastly prefer the manual, especially here in Scotland with the narrow twisty roads.