My first car was a manual, and I found it to be a PITA going uphill or in heavy city traffic (which is most of my driving). Then I had leg surgery and had to get rid of it. (It’s hard to drive a manual with one leg in a cast!) I wish I were more confident with a manual these days, because sometimes it’s the only thing readily available (foreign rentals).
I did the same thing. While test driving a car for my mom. The poor car salesman was not amused.
I don’t really think there is a huge safety advantage for either transmission type. If I had to pick, I guess I’d say the manual was safer just because it makes you pay more attention to the act of driving.
I think that reaching that point is different for everyone and depends in large part on background.
I learned to drive in the family car, an automatic. At that time, passing the driver test using an automatic prohibited driving manuals. I had to take another test, using a driving-school car with a standard transmission to be legal when driving a standard.
It took about a week, an hour a day. But shifting gears became subconscious in a couple of days.
I was 17 or 18 and hot to drive anything (still am, actually), especially manuals, so youth and motivation played their parts. But also, I think, because the car with which I learned to drive was the first automatic my parents owned. I knew, at least academically, how to drive a manual since early childhood. Shifting down before turning a corner (for instance) was a natural, well-of-course sort of thing. This wasn’t unusual at the time and hadn’t been since three-speeds first outnumbered the pedal transmissions of the Model T.
Now, though, it’s different, at least in North America. Kids grow up with automatics and have for decades; almost always they’re all they have ever known. It’s much more likely to be a brand new experience when a young person or even a mature adult is introduced to a manual shift, so it wouldn’t be so readily grokked.
But I suspect my experience still holds true in the U.K.
I know some people who say that after having a car with a manual transmission they just can’t drive a automatic anymore.
Oh, I can. But sometimes I am trying to shift to a higher gear and discover I can’t. :smack:
Sorry guys, but you are both wrong.
All modern fuel injected cars stop injecting fuel when when throttle is closed. No fuel = no power.
Yes at idle there is fuel flowing and power is going to the transmission, but when you are driving and close the throttle, the fuel is cut off until a lower limit is reached and the fuel injection returns.
I chose I drive manual and think manuals are safer.
I think this is only true after you’ve learned how to drive manual by reflex/habit. Before then, I think it’s MUCH safer to drive automatic. Mostly I think this is due to manual forcing you to pay attention to the road more then automatics.
And to a smaller extent manual being better for inclement weather such as snow and in bad terrain like mud.
Thanks. I knew my information was probably dated. :smack:
For any non-manual folks following this thread, I think someone should also point out that there can be substantial differences between manual transmissions. I’ve only ever driven Hondas and they have a reputation for being incredibly smooth. But on some cars, shifting can be a real PITA. In those cases, and especially in traffic, it’s hard NOT to think about all of the extra work you have to do.
I’ve driven manual Hondas, Toyotas, Subarus, Trucks, Nissans, Mazdas and Infinitis.
The hardest to drive by far was the Infiniti, but was because it was a sports coupe with 350hp and a upgraded clutch.
I don’t think there is much difference in modern car brands in terms of driving difficulty. It depends on the KIND of car. Sports cars are harder to drive because they have much more power and heavier, grabbier clutches. But if you’re driving one of those, you would probably be choosing manual over automatic for reasons other then safety.
Safer. Unless there’s a fuckload of steep hills , like SF.
One other advantage, manual drivers almost never ride the brakes.
And then there’s all that waving your right hand and left leg around for no reason. 
My problem was always getting my left leg out the window.
I learned on an automatic and can’t drive a stick shift but my current car has paddle shifters if one wants more control, although I haven’t used them.
On an intellectual level, having to worry about an extra pedal and lever seems like it would *have *to make the process more complex–and thus, unsafer. Humans are notoriously poorer at multitasking than singletasking. But since I can’t drive a stick shift, it’s purely an intellectual exercise. An automatic is safer for me, because it’s my only option (if I had to drive a manual, I wouldn’t be driving). I suppose it’d be more scientificky to ask people who’ve driven both for a very long time.
Manual cars are very nearly relics of a forgotten age. Most people under 25 have no idea how to drive one, and will never have a reason to learn unless they’re classic car enthusiasts or truck drivers (in which case they can learn when they need a CDL and/or get paid to learn on the job). It’s not a *bad *skill to have, but (like horseback riding and cursive handwriting) it’s thoroughly unnecessary in this era. I spent 5 hours killing my uncle’s Jeep over and over in a parking lot when I was 16, and vowed on the spot to never touch a manual again… and I haven’t. I’m 27 and I’ve *never *needed to drive a manual.
In a doomsday apocalyptic technology-reduction situation (aka, the only time I can imagine this being a necessary skill), I’m betting on dying in the first wave of casualties. If I ever live to see such a day, I’ll eat my hat. And then die of hat poisoning and dehydration, all because I couldn’t drive a stick. 
You hit a crucial point. The part I bolded above is something completely alien to me, being raised in a family without a car and never living in a household with a car until age 35. Nothing regarding a manual transmission is natural to me. It seems extremely contrived to me, when nearing a corner in a speeding car, to need to clutch in and downshift in addition to letting go of the gas, steering the car steadily and keeping my eyes peeled for other road users. Manual transmission feels the way it is, clunky, century-old technology.
You don’t HAVE to downshift going into a curve as long as you’re not going too fast and don’t have to slow down too much to take it - like on a highway for example.
The reason you downshift on tighter curves is a) to slow the car down without braking and b) so that you can accelerate through the curve. Don’t ask me the physics of b because I can’t explain that, I just know that it works. I know that pulling the car through the curve gives you more control, but I can’t explain how.
It’s about anticipation. In just the same way that you decide what speed to take the corner before you reach it, you decide what gear to take it in. I find it really trivial, both in terms of mental workload and co-ordination. For me, the major disadvantages to having a manual are fatigue and irritation when driving in queues of traffic, and the fine clutch control required when pulling away or parking on steep slopes. I don’t find the latter a big problem in my own car, but it can be horrible in one I’m unfamiliar with, as I can’t quickly or reliably find the biting point. Also, some manuals are much easier to drive than others.
That’s not a fair description, as there are some tangible benefits to owning a manual. To take my car as an example, the manual is a few hundred pounds less expensive, offers better fuel economy and marginally better performance. It’s also a bit quieter at motorway speeds, as the gearing is longer. If I did more city driving I’d buy the auto, but the manual is the better choice for me as things stand.
It trims the car differently. As you decelerate, the cars weight is thrown more onto the front wheels. This makes the back go light, reducing the traction between the rear wheels and the road.
Manual driver, but I think automatics might be a shade safer.
The main reason is that there’s a bad habit which even some experienced manual drivers do: clutching down while breaking. It’s the lazy but unsafe option because you aren’t getting engine breaking.
But really, I can’t see it making much statistical difference. I think most people when faced with the possibility of an actual collision will react very quickly and hit (just) the brake. The main factors in whether a collision takes place being how long before they saw this possibility and how fast they were travelling.
I drive both and don’t think either is more-or-less safe, due to the fact that many other influences are at play. That said, a clutch-driven manual gearbox naturally leaves more room for user-error, but again, I highly doubt it’s a direct cause-effect relationship (in the context of sudden-acceleration), overall.
The problem is, this isn’t the fault of the gearbox-- misapplication of the pedal has little to do with how the car changes gears. You can just as well unintentionally hit the throttle in a manual car, while still in gear, and accelerate to the top of the rev-range in a moment of panic. Obviously, you’ll bounce off the rev limiter, but a crash can occur at any rate of speed in a short fraction of time, just the same. In fact, enough accidents happen at low speeds, that I’m confident it can happen in either.
The major difference is in the driver. In general, many people who opt for a manual these days, enjoy driving as an activity, and actively try to become “better” drivers (doesn’t mean they do, though). Casual motorist are more indifferent towards driving, and are content with most of their habits which get them from point A-B. They typically react to a situation and adjust driving habits *after *something has happened, but aren’t very critical of their driving prior to this.
But again, I feel neither is safer. Sudden-acceleration is a phenomena which coincides with how auto gearboxes work, but manuals present other problems in themselves. The driver should always face the most scrutiny in any crash situation.
Well, at first anyway - but that’s just when you’re learning to drive manual. As other posters have said, once you’ve had a little practice, the whole process becomes very much an “automatic” thing. I barely have to think about shifting when I drive my husband’s car.
That said: Manuals might lead to mistakes due to fatigue when driving in heavy, stop-and-go traffic (the main reason my husband will probably go for an automatic the next time around). And when stopped on an uphill slope at a traffic light, it’s very tricky to get the car going again without it drifting backward and hitting the car behind you.