Just because you think it’s a hassle and keep saying it’s a hassle doesn’t mean it’s a hassle. It seems a lot of folks in this thread disagree with you.
I’ve never driven, and I’ve only seen once in person: a three on the tree. Anybody? Check out this guy’s old Plymouth.
Another issue: if you switch from a left hand drive car to right hand drive, the stick will be in your other hand. Anybody tried it?
Because driving a stick is more fun and it makes me feel like race car driver. Vroom vroom!
A stick shift for on-road driving is the automotive equivalent of a penis – wonderfully fun to play with but a bit of an embuggerance because it is always demanding attention.
I find driving a manual to be more engaging and driving an automatic to be more relaxing.
I live in northern Ontario and use my vehicle to get into the back end of beyond on skidder trails and abandoned forest roads so that I can paddle, ski and hike.
My present ride is a manual Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. My previous ride was an automatic Jeep Wrangler Unlimited with a transmission cooler. There are advantages and disadvantages to each.
Here’s a vid by Ronnie Dhal that gets into the pros and cons of manuals and automatics in an off-road / overlanding context. Manual vs Automatic Off-road - YouTube Ronnie pretty much nails it.
I expect that as technology improves an automatic with over-rides will be the way to go.
Yes to both. Years ago when I was a jr. wrench, a customer brought in their work van, which had a 3-on-the-tree. It was basically the same H-pattern of a floor shift, just turned sideways. Problem was the shift linkages were never very precise, and with age would get so much slop in them pigs were lining up to eat. Finding the gear was a pain.
For the second question, over the past several years I’ve had the chance to drive right-hand drive Suzuki Ertiga, Honda Amaze, Ford Ecosport, Everest, and Mustang. It’s not that hard to get used to shifting with the other hand, and the pedals are in the same order as LHD. The biggest issue i had was lame position and remembering where the rear view mirror was.
My daily driver is a BMW Z4 with 6 speed manual.
As others have mentioned, it’s just fun. And it forces me to focus on driving, which is a good thing from a safety perspective. An auto is too easy to drive, and I find myself thinking about things other than driving.
I drove sticks for most of my adult life, my current car has a CVT. Frankly, I don’t miss it. I loved driving a stick, and it gave better gas mileage, more control in snow, and it was fun.
However, I drive in more stop and go traffic now, so it’s much less fun. Gas mileage is better with the CVT than with the manual option. I have AWD and can use the manual override to downshift when needed in snow. All the reasons I had for a stick are now pretty much gone, and I think that’s progress.
My favorite stick vehicle to operate was my old Boeing Stearman N2S3. Much more fun than control yoke vehicles. It keeps your head in the moment, too. You can feel how your beast is doing through that stick. Though I suppose I should start a separate thread for the debate about joysticks versus yokes.
As for cars, I agree that for technical driving/rugged conditions, manual transmissions are better.
It also feels waaaaay cooler to drive a stick vehicle than a similar automatic. And that’s a fine reason all on its own.
My “hobby car” is a 74 Z28 with a 4sp. Fun car to drive. However, no way in hell I’d have a manual trans for a daily driver.
Years ago when I was stationed with the USAF in Australia. Had to drive shifters on the floor and on the column. AND I also drove my Honda CRX as I had it shipped over when I got my assignment. I was basically driving all kinds of stuff.
My Subaru has a CVT but it also has…paddle shifters?! Yes, they got rid of discrete gears, then simulated some. I had to think about that but I figured it may be useful for towing, mountains, maybe some offroading. OK.
My mom (RIP) told me she learned to drive in a “three on the tree” car. She probably had no power steering or power brakes, maybe no mirror on the passenger side. Hell, if you set the choke wrong it might not start.
Then there’s this guy.
I’ve done it when I moved to Australia. I was surprised to realize that the gear box was exactly the same rather than the mirror-reverse which I was expecting. I thought that first gear would still be closest to me and R would be further, but that’s not the case - the gear box is the same, just the steering wheel has moved! It’s not too hard, but it’s weird. I got into my car on the wrong side more than once! I had a wonderfully clean windscreen because I often turned on my wipers when I wanted to use the turn signal.
When I was in my 20s, living in San Francisco, and could only afford a cheap little car, a stick shift was the only way to get up those hills!
I spent a day in SF not long ago, but I was on a tourist bus type of thing so I didn’t actually drive. Don’t automatics “slip,” wanting to slide backward at stop signs on the steep hills? Or have they engineered that problem away?
Right hand drive, three on the tree, steep hill stop sign…if I’m behind the wheel, hilarity ensues.
That looks very much like my (step)grandfather’s '48 Plymouth, which I drove for a while in high school. I especially remember the key in the middle of the dash and the starter button on the left. It also had a feature I’ve never seen since: the speedometer illumination would be green from zero to 30 mph, yellow from 30 to 60, then red.
In addition to a 3-on-the-tree, his car had “fluid drive” — essentially a torque converter married to a manual transmission. In theory this meant that you could leave the car in third gear all the time, provided you didn’t mind having snails pass you when you “accelerated” from a stop.
In southern Indiana, where it’s not mountainous, like the coasts, but is very, very hilly, compact, sub-compact and smaller cars are underpowered on hills, and if they are automatic, need to be manually put into second to go up hills-- they also need to be manually put into second or first to go downhill, unless you like getting your brakes replaced a lot.
A lot of people forget-- or, never were even told-- that you can always put automatics into lower gears.
But year, driving through s. Indiana in a manual is much easier than doing in in an automatic, because shifting an automatic is choppy and somehow “inelegant,” or something. Not to mention, you are hauling around that heavy torque converter.
I’ve never had one slip on hills that didn’t have a problem with the differential, though.
A lot of people who aren’t experienced at driving manuals slip back in them when they stop on hills, but I don’t have that problem. I can come from a dead stop on a hill without going backwards.
And I find manuals a lot easier to parallel park that automatics.
Not passionate here. I’ve mostly had manual cars and drive a 2017 Forester with manual right now. I’m roughly equally happy either way, as far as the driving itself goes. I think automatics add about $1000 to the price (though it’s hard to say accurately), and they’re very expensive to fix, so that makes manual the better choice overall in my opinion.
While doing my mostly rural or highway driving, either is fine. Manual does require doing a little more work, but I can’t be doing anything other than driving so that doesn’t matter. It’s much easier to control slipping in ice and snow with a manual. But it’s also much easier to drive an automatic in stop-and-go traffic, when one’s attention would be better spent on noticing clues about what other drivers are going to do.
I like my Forester and think I’ll replace it with another one in a few years. They don’t come manual any more though, I hear. The CVT sounds like it would be fine.
The classic Bill Cosby* routine:
*yeah, I know.
True. I suspected that manual transmissions continued to be offered for a variety of reasons. In no particular order…
Cheap, bare bones option allows dealers to advertise lowest price (“Starting at…”).
Hilly places require more shifting
Towing—IIRC manuals can handle more
Makes car seem sportier
Special applications (off roading etc.)
Better gas mileage
I thought they would always be available.
Manual transmission is the default standard here. If you want automatic you would have to specify it. It used to be only available on the high-end models.
Utility companies always buy the stick-shift model so, if you work for one of them, like I do, you have to be able to drive one anyway.