I am wondering what a stick shift is, as mentioned in American books, movies and TV shows. It relates to driving cars and appears to be a manual gearshift between the front seats. Why can’t anyone seem to drive cars with them?
Um, I’m not sure what you mean by that. Do you mean that people are depicted in books, movies, etc. as being unable to drive a stick shift, or do you mean that you just never see them in real life? A stick shift is also known as a manual transmission. You shift the gears manually using a clutch pedal and gearshift lever. Someone else might be able to explain the mechanics of this better than I can. I own a car with a stick shift; I much prefer them to automatics, although they are not very common anymore.
TV Reporter: Can you destroy the earth?
The Tick: I hope not. That’s where I keep all my stuff!
Not very common?
All the cars I’ve ever owned were stick shifts. Maybe they’re not the majority of cars anymore, but they’re common enough.
You must unlearn what you have learned. – Yoda
As to the OP:
Stick shifts take more coordination than automatics. So it’s easier to teach a teenager using an automatic. (All but one of the cars my school district used at its driving range were automatics.)
Sticks are cheaper, though, and require less maintenance. Plus there’s something cool about stick-shifting. 
You must unlearn what you have learned. – Yoda
As modern kid said to his wise Dad: Wow! B&W movies!!! What will they think of next?
“They’re coming to take me away ha-ha, ho-ho, hee-hee, to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time… :)” - Napoleon IV
A stick shift is any manual transmission. Back in the olden days we differentiated between “three on the tree” (3-speed where the shift lever was mounted on the steering column) and “four on the floor.”
The widespread prevalence of 5-speed transmissions makes the old “four on the floor” sound a bit quaint.
With the prevalence of automatic transmissions, many people in the States never learn to drive a manual. No big deal. The difference in gas mileage between auto and manual is negligible these days. Automatic transmissions have improved over the last 30 years to the point where they are more reliable and require less maintenance than manual transmissions. (Fixing an automatic is still more costly, but I have never gotten 190,000 miles out of a car without replacing a clutch, while I know any number of people who have put 150,000 to 200,000 miles on an automatic without ever doing more than a single drain and refill on the fluid.)
The roads in the States tend to be wide enough and straight enough that there is little advantage in having a manual transmission in most locations simply for control purposes.
Automatics are easier to drive in stop-and-go traffic (which occurs in many locations).
I am currently driving my first automatic after driving manuals for 33 years. I bought it because I like the Caravan/Voyager and Chrysler dropped the manual in that model several years ago, so I could not get a replacement. (They dropped that transmission, apparently, because I was one of four people who actually bought a stick Caravan.)
Tom~
Two things which are different in America:
-
An overwhelming majority of cars in America have automatic transmissions, because of the cheap fuel prices and the love for automation. Only big trucks and a small fraction of foreign sports cars have stickshift (manual transmission). So there is very little incentive to learn to drive stickshift.
-
In the U.S., one can take a driving test on an automatic car and get a driver’s licence which allows you to drive a stickshift. So someone who has never driven a stickshift can still drive one on the streets - or try to.
scr4, this is just plain wrong. While the majority of US cars are automatics, manual transmissions are not limited to big trucks and a few foreign sports cars. Most makes of car in the US can be bought as either a stick or auto, although a given dealer may not have a stick on hand. Plenty of people like me prefer a manual over an automatic, so car companies usually make both versions available (it’s nice when your preference saves $500 or so).
Kevin Allegood,
“At least one could get something through Trotsky’s skull.”
- Joseph Michael Bay
What an odd question. Hey, look at 007, he drives them all the time.
It might seem like an odd question and 007 might drive them all the time but since I didn’t know what a stick shift was, I wouldn’t know that would I? Obviously they are only mentioned when a person says they can’t drive them. And considering automatic transmissions are also operated by a ‘stick’ and the only things I call gear sticks (to differentiate them) are: manual, automatic, column shift manual (not made anymore) and column shift auto, you can probably see why I was a little confused.
And I learnt how to drive a manual as a teenager, and never had any co-ordination problems.
Wait a minute. You learned how to drive in a car with a manual transmission and you’ve never heard of a “stick shift”? From what country do you hail?
I come from Australia, and like I said, we don’t call them stick shifts here.
And I never said I haven’t heard of them, I just said I didn’t know what one was.
Just like you probably don’t know what a ute is.
scr4: [In America,] Only big trucks and a small fraction of foreign sports cars have stickshift (manual transmission). So there is very little incentive to learn to drive stickshift.
The cars I have owned, all manual: Datsun pickup, Toyota Celica, Volkswagen Rabbit, Nissan B-210, Plymouth Horizon, Dodge Colt, Nissan Maxima, Ford Escort, and Mazda Protege. Only the Celica would I even consider being close to being a sports car.
You must unlearn what you have learned. – Yoda
Mousseduck:
Yeah, but y’all Aussies created the ute, while we just came up with the name for the stick shift.
Ute- A coupe/utility. A car with two doors and a truck bed, where the side walls of the bed are made from the same piece of steel as the sides of the passenger compartment (think Ford Ranchero or Chevy El Camino.) I think that they were created by Holden.
The story that I heard was that they were created so farmers could have both a light truck for farm use and a nice car for Sundays.
AWB wrote:
True.
Not true. Automatics require less maintenance.
tomndebb wrote:
Interesting, I’ve never heard anyone call a manual transmission on-the-column a “stick shift”.
When Tom~ says “olden days”, he means the REAL olden days, back when you sometimes had to tow the malfunctioning Tin Lizzie home with a horse.
“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen
-
-
- Should we ask Tom what kinda stick shift his motorcycle had? - MC
-
-
-
- Of course, if you have mastered true Zen nature, you only use the clutch to get into first gear. If the vehicle and the engine are turning at exactly the right speed, you can switch gears without pressing the clutch, and without any grinding. Something to try next time you’re bored, on an uncrowded road, and driving a rented car. -(Note: upshifting is easier than downshifting)-
- MC
- Of course, if you have mastered true Zen nature, you only use the clutch to get into first gear. If the vehicle and the engine are turning at exactly the right speed, you can switch gears without pressing the clutch, and without any grinding. Something to try next time you’re bored, on an uncrowded road, and driving a rented car. -(Note: upshifting is easier than downshifting)-
-
I learned to drive stick at age 29. I can drive it just fine, but for the lige of me I can’t see that attraction. They are just more work and they are a pain in stop and go traffic. I imagine that they are a little more fun if you live in a rural or mountainous area.
Still, why add more tasks to driving?
Those of old might remember in the 70s VW made this ‘semi autos’, a marriage of the stick & the auto.