I bought a stick (Subaru BRZ) in 2015 and still drive it, so my answer in 2022 was yes. I still greatly prefer manual but now, between my new hilly home and the stop and go traffic, I imagine my next car will be an automatic / ev. I don’t know much about gas mileage or better control, I just think it’s fun. Also, it’s all I’ve ever known. Put me in a rental or other automatic and I get all nervous and jerky and I don’t know what to do with my my left foot.
In the UK and Ireland (where something like 13 lessons are mandatory) there is an indication on your license whether you took your road test in a manual or automatic and if the latter you cannot drive a manual.
The last time I drove an automatic was a rental and it was an upgrade to a larger size since they were out of other vehicles. That trip I was constantly reaching for the ghost shifter at stoplights. When joining a motorway I just put pedal to metal as this car had vrooom!!
Just bought a manual 2008 Toyota Aygo last week. Would not have considered any automatic.
How about: the same thing you do with it when you’re driving along on the highway at constant speed with a manual transmission?
Hee, fair point. I encounter far less of that but I get what you’re saying. I was kind of kidding and really just meant that it’s hard for me to not reflexively move my left foot to press the invisible clutch and grab for the gear shift. Of course I could get used to it if I bought an automatic but I’m picturing the few times I’ve driven one and how weird it felt.
As I mentioned, I bought a stick shift Bronco in 2022. After driving it for a year, I’m not sure I would do it again. I still enjoy driving it, but there are advantages to the automatic. First of all, I think the autos are better for off-road. No clutch-slipping necessary, and plenty of low-end torque. For highway driving, autos will pick the right gear to pass, while I need to think about if 3rd or 4th is better. And, I think the new crop of autos get better mileage!
Oh, and- my wife won’t learn to drive a stick. So, I’m not sure if that is a plus or a minus.
Yes, I’ve heard that’s common in Europe. It’s unheard of in the US, where I live.
One way to increase the chance of success when teaching someone to drive a manual is to be on a road with a slight decline. This will greatly lessen the chance of the car stalling out when the clutch is released. It’s even possible to start moving without using the gas. Slowly let out on the clutch and the car will start rolling when the clutch starts to engage. This way the driver can get the feel of the clutch engaging with little risk of stalling the car.
Duplicate
When I drive my wife’s car, my left foot will sometimes flail around looking for the clutch pedal when I approach a stop.
That’s for the brake. 
I do the same thing. I also shut it off and can’t get the key out, then I remember that I have to put it in Park.
I’m curious how long ago this time would have been in the US. I mean, yeah, it’s self-evident that at some time many years ago they outnumbered automatics, as they predate automatics (though automatics are perhaps older that one might think, being invented in the 20s.) I was born in 1975, and I didn’t even see my first stick shift until … hell … probably an arcade game. I don’t think I knew a single person growing up who had a manual.
All the cars I’ve owned since 1999 have been stick shifts, but I do wonder how far back we have to go where they were more common than autos in the US, and when they stopped doing drivers ed on them. It wasn’t an option in the early 90s, when I took it.
I also wonder what the split in, say, Europe is now. In the late 90s/early 00s, I would say about 90% of cars were manuals.
It would certainly have been the case through the sixties, with automatics becoming rapidly more common and eventually standard equipment on most domestic models by around the first half of the 1970s.
Blecccch. I promise you, I am not one of those dummkopfs. Who taught them how to drive?
I could drive my friends stick Daytona when he was drunk (and I was less so?) yet for the most part couldn’t get out of first gear, without the owner of the car sighing/screeching.
For me it was all forced: Want to test drive this 2001 Mustang Cobra? I can do this. And I did it!
When I picked up the car I had to go in reverse past a dozen cars. Easy peasy.
I had been driviing my automatic Thunderbird two-footed (brake and accelerator) for the longest time so of course the first big intersection I drive through in my 5-minute Mustang Cobra I stamp on the clutch and coast through.
I always drove sticks- until recently. Two things changed- My Doctor told me that it was damaging my already bad knee- and the fact that never auto transmissions can get as good or maybe better mileage.
Hah - when I’d been driving the Civic for a bit, then switched back to our other car (the CRV, or the minivan before that), I had a lot of muscle memory kicking in, trying to use the clutch and reach for the gearshift.
I’m genuinely surprised at how well it all came back when I had to switch back to the Civic again. It was the first car I drove in 2018 after my wrist surgery - as my husband (who’d had knee surgery) needed to drive the CRV. I was surprised that shifting gears was not an issue - my right wrist had been operated on, so it seemed likely to be. The hardest part was TURNING THE THING ON - as turning the key in the ignition required wrist rotation in an unfriendly manner.
Our newer car (bought since then) would have solved even that problem, as it has the fob plus push-button ignition.
I instantly dropped the habit of driving my automatic Thunderbird with two feet after coasting my brand new Mustang Cobra through an intersection with my foot firmly on the clutch, The T-bird became a grocery-getter and my mind would tell me “that’s the brake, dumb ass”
I had no problem when I moved to Ireland then the UK to shift with my left hand. I failed my first three road tests but nothing to do with shifting (enter every roundabout in 2nd gear and you are golden). They are really tough in the UK and most drivers are quite competent and even friendly (waving those waiting to turn on and getting a wave back).
In 2016 I was annoyed with my car so I got a new one. I realized I had become annoyed with driving a stick in traffic. So for the first time without having to worry about if my wife could drive it, I didn’t look for a manual car. I don’t think I could have found one in the type of car I was looking for anyway. Just bought another car this year and still no stick. I think it’s safe to say I’m not going to buy one again.
When I need a new Jeep Wrangler I assume a stick will still be an option. If not, the used car market will be a source.