I am really annoyed by “stick snobs” – those people who have manual transmission cars and just can’t shut up about it. I really don’t give a toss, but they blather on and on about how you aren’t really driving if you drive an automatic and look down their stick-loving noses at you. Shut the fuck up.
So far as I am concerned, manual transmission is an obsolete technology, like manual steering, manual choke, carburetors, and crank starters. I don’t need it; I don’t want to worry about it. So shut up about how great it is, what “control” it gives you. Just shut up.
With current automatic transmission technology, manual shift doesn’t even give you an advantage in fuel economy. It’s just bloody macho posturing.
Plus, hyaving a stupid manual transmission just places an unnecessary obstacle in front of learners.
I think it does give you more control, but if you are unfamiliar with it, or just plain hate it, or are learning how to drive, all that business about “control” is rubbish. I think the important thing is that some people like the manual transmission, some people like automatic, and some guys who like the stickshift have nothing better to talk about, or have some sort of obsession with it.
It’s kinda like the Ford Vs Chevy and Chocolate Vs. Vanilla debates.
I don’t agree that you aren’t really driving, but I also disagree that stick shift gives you the same measure of control as automatic transmission. I can downshift and accelerate around a turn much quicker and much more safely with standard shift than with an automatic. In addition, downshifting (as opposed to braking) is an excellent means of controlling speed in snow and ice driving.
In most driving done by most people, however, automatic transmission is perfectly adequate, and no one should be looking down their noses at an automatic transmission driver. But it’s simply not true to suggest that there is no difference, either.
Hrm. If you drive a Ford Taurus or a Nissan Altima and you have an automatic, I’m not gonna say anything.
If you drive a BMW M3 or a Porsche 911 and you have an automatic, then (unless you are physically “handi-capable” or something) you are a nitwit, plain and simple, no two ways about it, and I will call you a nitwit at every available opportunity (you nitwit).
So, I guess I’m a selective stick snob.
(Tonight I get to go pick up my new 2004 Passat V6 with a manual transmission! I’m embarrassed that I’m so excited about getting a new car, but I am!)
I really don’t think that stick is obsolete. There’s simply no argument that stick is better and gives more control when driving fast or in challenging conditions. But I agree that it’s far preferable to have an automatic when in towns and cities.
If I could have a switchable transmission that gave me automatic when in cities, and manual when on the open road, then I’d be happy.
Chocolate and vanilla go hand-in-hand to make bliss. You can’t make chocolate chip cookies without vanilla. And you can’t make them without … um … chocolate. mmm cookies.
I like my stick shift. I enjoy driving more with a stick shift, even in the city. In fact I find myself faux shifting when I drive a car with auto. However, I don’t miss 3-speed on the column shifting from my old pickup. Five (or six) on the floor is the way to go.
But I don’t anyone who would demean someone for having an auto.
jjimm: you want a Porsche with a tiptronic, then. Tons of fun. Of course, you might not like the insurance rates.
Taxguy: that understeered POS Volkswagen (unless you got the 4-Motion) could just as easily have been an automatic, and you wouldn’t be able to tell when it slides out of every corner you throw it at.
[sub]Seriously: congrats, not my kind of car, though.[/sub]
I take a lot of road trips, and I would kill to have an automatic with cruise control on those - especially in the DC area where there’s so much traffic all the time. I have bad ankles, and by the time I’m finished shifting gears constantly on the highway, I have two very achy ankles. I’ve tried borrowing my dad’s SUV for road trips since it’s an automatic, but I hate the car and I always feel like I’m going to tip over when I drive it.
Aside from road trips, I like my stick shift. Mr. avabeth and I are planning to get a mini-cooper, and I’ve told him he has to learn to drive stick for it.
ha! is this a systemic Volkswagen thing? The only corner i’ve ever slid out of was in a stick-shift Rabbit.
Me, I could swing either way. Prefer auto for city, stick for efficiency on the highway. But if stick is available and cheaper I will buy that for the money.
Thank you. My crappy little Nondescriptmobile Altima can’t help it that she’s an automatic. She still manages to kick the ass of every ricer that tries to race her at stoplights.
My dad had a philosophy: Everyone should learn to drive on a stick shift. He taught me and my two sisters how to drive a stick before he’d even let us look at an automatic. And you know what? It really helped. Ignoring the whole “what if the only rental car at the agency is a stick” quandary that is not a problem for us, learning to drive a manual transmission car teaches you how to treat your automatic car right. You learn how to accelerate, how to slow down, how to listen to your engine. The Nondescriptmobile has benefited from my experience in the Dadmobile. I do want a stick shift in my next car, but like the po’ person I am, I’ll take whatever I can get as long as it gets me from Point A to Point B without breaking down at Point C in between.
You probably don’t even know how to drive a stick, do you? You really should learn. You never know when you’re going to HAVE to drive one (to take a dying friend to the hospital, for instance). Shame on you for not knowing…
I opened this thread to find out what kind of sticks the OP was referring to. Walking sticks, perhaps?
No, stick shift transmissions. Meh.
I drive a stick shift because I hate automatic transmissions. (My first car went through 3 of them.) I think a stick shift is more fun, but if anyone else wants to drive an automatic, y’all have fun.
(Note: I was glad my S.O. had an automatic when I had knee surgery though.)
For the record, my whole car is manual: manual locks, manual windows, manual transmission.
Sorry, acsenray. I used to say the same thing to my stick snob friends. Sounds perfectly logical, your position. Only problem is: logic has little to do with it.
When I was finally forced to learn to drive stick, it was like a person born blind finally given the chance to see. It was hard to learn, but once I got a feel for it, I really GOT the feel for it.
I will never drive automatic again, and I will forever look down my nose at you poor slobs who have not yet experienced true sight.
Sorry, acsenray. I used to say the same thing to my stick snob friends. Sounds perfectly logical, your position. Only problem is: logic has little to do with it.
When I was finally forced to learn to drive stick, it was like a person born blind finally given the chance to see. It was hard to learn, but once I got a feel for it, I really GOT the feel for it.
I will never drive automatic again, and I will forever look down my nose at you poor slobs who have not yet experienced true sight.
Of course I could drive one if I had to. But who needs them?