How good are you driving stick?

I’m more comfortable with a manual, I think because I’ve spent most of my life driving cars with manual transmissions.

My first car was a '68 VW Beetle. Lots of fun. And my current car is a 2002 VW Passat (old, but it’s only got 50,000 miles on it, and everything works just fine). Both manuals. And everything in between. At some point I had the only Jeep Cherokee I’ve ever seen with a manual.

I figured out once that I’ve put something like 350,000 miles on various motorcycles. All manual, of course.

And I’ve driven in the UK and Ireland quite a bit. Shifting with my left hand was no problem (what really took me a while to get used to was looking the right way when crossing the street on foot).

That said, I have nothing against automatic transmissions. I have no desire to own a sports car. I’m only interested in practical cars at this point in my life. If the most practical car for me (when it’s time for a new car) isn’t available with a manual, that’s fine with me.

Driving my daughter’s and my Focus killed my left knee. More fun was my 84 Dodge Colt. 1400, 4-speed. Utterly useless EXCEPT in town, battling the CTA.