Heh, I love that quote … it’s SO true.
I would say in my experience, it’s about 60-70% of the people I know can drive manual. That’s “can”, not necessarily “do”. I have a few friends who don’t know how, and will never learn. 'Course, some of those same friends don’t know how to pump their own gas, and never will. :rolleyes:
100% (of everyone I know who can drive - quite a high proportion of adults I know in Ireland can’t).
But then I don’t live in the United States of Automatics. 
Actually, I probably do know people in the States who can’t drive manuals, but I’ve never asked them.
These days about 90% of new cars sold in North America are automatics.
I’d guess that about half the people I know have learned how to drive a stick. Only two actually do, though.
In theory I know how to drive a stick, but I haven’t done so since I learned how to drive a car as a teen. I’d probably be the ruin of any manual I attempted to drive.
I’m really surprised to hear all of you say “well, of course everybody knows how to drive stick”. I’m 23, and none of my female friends can. Some of my male friends can, but (interestingly), only the ones with guns. You have to get considerably older than me, perhaps 40? to find a group where the females tend to know how to drive a manual.
I can’t even learn how, since you can’t rent them these days and nobody I know has one to practice on. Or, rather, I begged and pleaded my father to teach me, and it took me a year to weasel out about an hour of practice out of him last Easter. You’d think he’d want me to learn, but no - “You wanna learn to churn butter, too? You know how long we’ve been trying to invent a good automatic?!” Grr.
My friend has been married for almost eight years and his wife has not learned to frive his car which has a manual transmission. I think that’s beyond silly, bordering on seriously irritating. She’s the only person I can think among my family and friends who can’t drive a manual. Most everyone I know owns or owned such a car.
andi"ve never shot a gun, unless you want to count a BB gun (which I will assume you won’t do).
This question has been interesting to me, because I’m from suburbia, and I’d put the % of people I know who can drive a stick at 50%. But the people who will not learn to drive a stick are intriguing
I feel that everyone should at least know the basics, and have offered to teach other people. Those that are dyslexic are terrified to learn how. (For some reason, dyslexic people congregate around me).
Not sure if this is just a correlation or a causal effect…
My family can (though my Mom isn’t too good at it). Dad made us all learn as kids. My sister & wife both prefer to drive a manual, while I don’t really have a preference one way or another.
On guns, I’ve fired handguns, rifles & shotguns. I’m trying to find someone with a Thompson sub-machine gun…
Or a tank… 
Eli
I’d guess that less than 50% of the adults I know can drive a stick. As has been said before there seems to be a correlation with age. Of the younger drivers I know, almost none can drive a stick shift car.
I learned to drive on a stick, a 4-speed Volkswagen Beetle.
It was sonething my father insisted on; that we know how to drive a manual transmission.
My sisters can drive sticks, and so could my mother, in a pinch.
My dad’s cars were always manuals. He still has a manual, and he’s in his 70s.
I know most of my friends can drive them.
I’ve almost always had sticks. The car I’ve have for the last 7 years is the first automatic I’ve ever owned.
My SIL doesn’t know how to drive one, however, and refuses to learn. She says there’s no reason to learn.
I think everyone should know how to drive a stick.
I can shoot a gun, too.
Same for Alaska. Anyone who can’t drive a stick is usually newly arrived or wealthy.
Same for the gun thing. I couldn’t believe that there were people in boot camp who couldn’t hit the target, let alone put most rounds in the black. And when I met a guy from Brooklyn who had never driven a car, I was shocked speechless.
I’m 26. I can drive a stick, and I know lots of people my age who can. Not a rural area, either. I would guess the biggest reason in my group was that it’s cheaper to buy a manual, and in college quite a few people had manual cars, and older cars because that’s what we could afford.
More guys than women know how, though. I am glad I can drive a manual, and I actually enjoy it ( I considered getting one last time I bought a car, but it didn’t work out.) I would put the percentage around 65-70% total, but that is counting people who technically know how to drive one, but aren’t really good at it.
It seems to run in families and groups, if one person learns they tend to teach others who may need to drive the car, so one person’s percentage could be very different than their neighbor’s, if they have never known someone with a manual or had someone in their family drive one. It’s getting harder to find people that drive manuals, so if someone doesn’t have a friend or family member with one they might never have the chance to learn or a reason to.
Grrr. My husband pointed out to me that I said I had difficulty driving a manual. What I meant was I had difficulty driving an automatic, once I was used to a manual.
Stupid brain.
I’m 25 and male. I kinda know how to drive a stick. I’ve done it before and could probably pick it up again with some practice. Of all my friends that are around my age, 2* can drive a manual. Older family and friend generally know how, but again, are out of practice. No one is taught to drive stick anymore. You have to seek out instruction on it, drivers ed won’t even mention it.
just thought I’d mention that one of the two is female and for some reason girls that can drive a stick are sexy:)
I’m 23 and female. I am in a large city, and I’m going to university.
I know how to drive a stick - so does my sister, since we both learned on our dad’s old car (1986 Honda Accord - my sister still drives it, it’s in great condition). But out of my circle of acquaintances, I’d say less than 10% know how to drive a manual. Possibly less than 5%.
The few who do know how to drive a manual have older cars, or grew up on a farm. Most people I know who have used cars drive automatics - I think that they’re in the age group where automatics became popular in the last ten years or so, and that’s the age of used cars they’re buying now.
In drivers ed. they never taught me anything about stick-shifts - I learned it all on my own later. I thought that it would be a good idea so that if I have to I could learn to drive anything. But I haven’t driven a stick more than 20 times since I learned how - I don’t have a car right now.
And as a side note, my friends who do drive a stick are mostly guys. And they mostly shift really badly. They couldn’t shift smoothly to save their life. I remember driving a friend’s car home for him after a party (I was the designated driver), and most of the people in the car were shocked when they realized that the car was a manual. Apparently, they’d never ridden in a manual where someone shifted so “smoothly” that they couldn’t tell it wasn’t an automatic without looking for the stick.
Nearly 27, prefer driving a stick. All my family drives stick (6 total, including me). Hubbie, while he knows how to drive a manual, prefers an automatic. He also learned how to drive a manual a couple of years after he got his license. His family (total: 4, including him), all know how to drive a manual, but prefer automatics.
Do I feel superior? Ya, you betcha!
Snicks
I cannot drive a manual transmission. The thought of it scares me.
There. I said it. Now leave me alone.
I learned recently how to drive a manual (first 2 cars were autos) when I bought a brand new 6 speed manual and learned the hard way.
Only 2 other friend’s know how to drive a stick. The rest are auto-only. So, I figure less than 10%. In fact, I have only been in a manual car (not mine or my best friend with his new WRX) perhaps 2 times.
Oh yeah, there are 2 people at work (and male and female) who both drive sticks so my revised guess is maybe 15%.
I’m surprised to see so many dopers projecting such high percentages of people who can drive stick. Among people I know, maybe 1 in 10 know how to drive stick, and that’s a very generous estimate. Among those who can drive stick, probably less than half actually do so on a regular basis.
Personally, I think automatics are for old people and soccer moms.
30% of the people I know for sure. Three out of ten. I suppose it’d be interesting to learn how to drive a stick, but I’ve never really had a chance to learn. And there’s plenty other skills I’d rather have.
I learned to drive on a manual and have never had an automatic. I’ve probably only driven an automatic twenty times in my life, and each time it was fraught with peril.
“Aiieee!” as we slam into the windshield because I mistook the brake for the clutch.
“It’s moving! It’s moving!” as I take my foot off the brake.
“Grrrrowwwwwwl” as I attempt to shift into third.
“Holy crap!” as (during my driver’s lesson) I kicked the floor and grabbed my instructor’s knee.
It’s a minor skill, driving a manual, but at least I can save money on a car. Woo!
Julie
I’ve never driven an automatic (tho’ a few times in London traffic I’ve wondered why they’re not more popular - save a lot of strain on the left leg - but so dull away from stop-start driving)
But I have shot one, once, a battered AK47 clone - few single-shots - then the rest in a couple of badly directed full-on sprays - Yeah! Woo! - I’m so Manly!