I have heard one one who can’t, and it struck me as very very weird.
It’s the default here.
99%?
I have heard of one person who can’t, and it struck me as very very weird.
It’s the default here.
Hey, how did that get there? i swear I hit preview? Damn hamsters.
I drive a manual, plus most of friends can, in a pinch. 'Course, most of my friends are older and learned to drive on a stick. I do know a couple of people who can’t drive a manual, though.
IMHO, you’re not really driving an automatic transmission car as much as just AIMING it. Turn the key, put it in D, and just point it where you want to go. Where’s the fun in that?
As Shirley Ujest mentioned in her post, many of the city girls I know can’t drive manual. Some simply won’t. My boyfriend had to purchase an automatic for his autoshop courtesy car because the trophy wives in his area refuse to drive anything else. My mother is incapable of driving manual.
I, on the other hand, cannot drive automatic without incident. There aren’t enough pedals, and the thing on the side of the steering column dislikes being shifted to a new spot when it is time to change gears. Not to mention the funny sound the engine makes when I drop from D2 into park by accident.
In my experience, and that of my friends & family, automatic is the norm. I, therefore, am not normal.
Virtually everyone who drives here can and does drive a manual. I know a lot of people who can’t drive, though.
And I’ve only shot a gun once. [sub]It was a shotgun - does that even count, whistlepig?[/sub]
I would imagine it would be 99.5%. Until not long ago it wasn’t possible to become a legal driver in anything but a manual.
I drove my first automatic last year. I nearly put myself through the windscreen trying to ‘brake and clutch’ with no clutch.
I used to be able to drive a stick shift, but I haven’t had to do so in 12 years. So I suspect that I would barely be able to do so nowadays.
Of the people who have a driver’s license in Sweden I would guess 99+% can drive a manual. In fact you have to take the driving test in a manual/stick shift car, otherwise your license will be restricted to cars with automatic.
I believe (without having any cites at all) that the percentage in the US is a lot lower.
I only know one person born in America who can’t drive a manual transmission and he’s a young driver. I work with a very cultural diverse group of people from all over the world. All but three of them are able to drive a manual transmission. Two of the three that can’t are from China while the third is from Turkey. None of these three had ever driven before coming here, so it’s more a matter of not having had the opportunity to learn how than being unable to get the hang of it.
Israel: In my age group (40-ish), very nearly 100% can drive manual. May be less for the younger generation (Automatic has gotten in big time only in the last 5 years or so). Ask me about them again in about 7 years when my eldest gets her license…
Just about everyone can shoot a gun, too (well, of the mainstream - non-Arab, non-Orthodox - population) - but you already knew that, didn’t you? 
I’ve never shot a real gun, I don’t think I’ve ever in person seen a real gun (except holstered(that the right word?) on a policeman’s belt).
I can drive a shift (I prefer driving a shift), my dad can drive shift (badly) my mom cannot. My brother was taught by my dad, so he is just as bad as him, my sister cannot.
Danalan, I struggle with that when I first make the switch from a manual to an automatic. I have to go slow and remember that the first time I feel like I need to shift, I’m going to hit the brake.
But I’d say a fairly low percentage of adults in my acqaintance know how to drive a stick - the maximum is probably 30%. Possibly because a lot of my friends are my age (30) or younger and learned to drive on automatics and don’t see the reason to learn a stick.
Like many of you, I have difficulty driving a manual. I had to drive my mother’s van once, and nearly gave her serious whiplash while reaching for the clutch. I’ve gotten a little more adept at automatic recently because our old farm runabout is an automatic, and I have to drive it occasionally.
I’m enjoying the strikingly different percentages I’m hearing. It sounds like it breaks down demographically quite a bit, according to gender, rural vs. urban, and age. As I thought, most locations except the U.S. report a pretty high percentage of manual-capable drivers.
Incidentally, I myself have never shot a gun, although it’s a part of my education that my husband will not neglect much longer – once harvest is in, I’m learning to shoot the .22, whether I like it or not. Guns frankly scare me a little, but I do agree that if they’re going to be in my house, I should know how they work, so I’ll be doing my best.
Being from the UK, I can drive a stick, as can everyone I know in the UK. If you take your driving test in an automatic, you are only allowed to drive automatics, whereas if you pass in a manual, you can drive either. (Well, this is how it was when I took the test many years ago).
Here in the US, our company has a stick pool car. I would say that 30% or so of candidates to use it did not know how. It is always the under 30s.
And I’ve never shot a gun.
I’m going to guess that there is a significant difference in stick-driving ability (in the US, at least) based on age. When I was learning how to drive, back in the late 70s, most cars were stick, but nowadays sticks are very hard to find (my husband and I just bought a new car and had a devil of a time finding the model we wanted with a stick). I worked a summer job a few years ago that required driving stick-shift golf carts as part of the job, and I was the only one of half a dozen new hires who didn’t have to learn how to drive a stick, and also the only one who was older than college age.
95% The only person I can think of that can’t is my sister.
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I refuse to purchase an automatic
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When I see automatic sports cars, e.g. a Corvette, I am immediately disappointed.
I can and prefer to drive sticks. So can my mother, two of my friends, and several of my neighbors.
My boyfriend sort of knows how to, but I wouldn’t trust my car to him unless my life absolutely depended on it. One of my best friends doesn’t know and refuses to learn. Several old roommates didn’t know how to drive stick either.
I’ve found that it’s about 50-50 as to whether some one can drive a manual.
I’m 40 and I find that of those I know older than me, most can drive stick. The opposite is true of those younger than me. I prefer manual shift, mainly because I think it helps with my concentration. Sometimes I feel like napping driving an automatic.
Last year I went to England and the rental car place only had cars with manual shift available. I wanted an automatic. I thought dealing with driving on the “wrong” side would be enough trouble. It turned out alright, but it’s odd because you clutch with your left foot but you shift with your left hand. In the first half-hour I must have whacked the door with my right hand ten times.
My husband and I can drive a car with a manual transmission. I haven’t had to do so in about 5 years, though. I prefer an automatic.
I’m the only one in my immediate family (aunts, cousins, grandmother, etc.) who can drive a manual, though.
Like Mrs. danalan and Lsura, I have some difficulty driving automatics. I have to go through several accidental slammings on the brakes, and it feels creepy that the car wants to move forward when I take my foot off the brake. Though I’ve always driven sticks, most people I know drive automatics – I’d estimate that about 70% of my male friends and 40% of my female friends can drive sticks.
Kind of agreeing with Geobabe: I think that people in my demographic came of car-buying age when Japanese imports were on a major upswing (late 70s, early 80s), and cars with manual transmissions were notably less expensive than those with automatics. Before then, American cars were very popular, and they mostly came with automatics, after then, the price differential between manuals and automatics was less (compared to the overall price of the cars). Does that make sense? I’m kinda projecting national buying decisions based on the limited experiences of mine and my friends. (I’m sure that never happens on the SDMB. ;))
(Hope this isn’t a multiple post – the hamsters are acting all uppity today)