71 replies to this topic

[planetarian]

I've been driving a manual '94 Geo Prizm for the past five or six years. Messes with my head bad when I hop in a friend's auto.

[Iulianus]

What if I have trouble driving an automatic, because I only drive manuals? Does that make me less of a man, or more?


In fact, I was surprised when I bought my last vehicle and they told me that a stick would cost $200 more than an automatic. Something to do with extra stuff for the AWD traction control, because a manual clutch doesn't slip like an automatic.

Edited by Iulianus, 30 September 2012 - 07:53 PM.

[Euphor Kell]

I too own and drive a manual (actually, i think its a syncro-mesh, or some such, i'm lead to believe that the old style "Manual" cars disappeared here in oz quite a while ago) a Hyundai Tiburon, 6-speed.

honestly, i wouldn't drive anything except a manual if i could help it (although, i DO like the drive of a toyota Prius-C, with its ****** system - they call it "Brake mode"- it really can mimic how i drive a manual) they are becomming harder and harder to find.

i went looking for a larger car to accomodate the growing family (think a van or something similar), and i have been told again and again that they just DON'T MAKE THEM in manual anymore...

what a shame.

when i get in my wife's auto car, it feels too weird, almost like the car doesn't have anything to hold it back, but it won't go straight away either, ugh! feel so disconnected with the car.
not to mention you can always spot an auto car out on the road, the ones that ride their brakes all the way down the hill...

[Iulianus]

The other problem I have is people who pull up right onto my rear bumper when I stop on an incline. I'm like "Hello, I have a stick here! I'm going to roll back into your lap when I have the clutch in, and let off my brake!"

[Ranger207]

Stray Ion, on 28 September 2012 - 08:53 AM, said:

And your vehicle is less likely to be stolen as not everyone knows how to drive it.

I saw a story in the news the other day about someone trying to steal a 911. The cops got there before he left because he kept stalling.

I'll learn how to drive a stick as soon as I learn to drive an auto. It's on my list of things I want to learn. (I have driven stick, but that was on a rural road. Once we came into town, I kept stalling. Didn't help that the stop light was on a hill and it was my first time driving a manual.)

[themoob]

I don't even drive!

[Sarriss]

Yeach, on 28 September 2012 - 03:34 PM, said:

I have a manual RX-8GT.

I envy you good sir. I'm tempted to buy a beautiful Infiniti G35 Coupe although it's a bit more then I wanted to spend.

[WidowMaker91]

Riin Suul, on 28 September 2012 - 08:41 AM, said:

I personally agree with you, but it is getting increasingly hard to find manual transmission cars.

gonna pretent u didnt say that... lolol



and yea i agree, even tho i drive a Automatic, ive rode quads ( ATVs ) and dirt bikes so much to know how to drive a stick, my GF drives a stick , go figure its an 01' eclipse, but hey, its still a stick and i always drive it lol

[Waverider]

That is strange to me... Here most people do not know how to drive the automatic... I learned how to "drive manual" (car, motorcycle and even a bulldozer) when I was 13 years old and drove the first automatic at the age of 18.,They still very rare around here. Automatic gears are considered high cost of maintenance here.

Edited by Waverider, 01 October 2012 - 05:00 AM.

[Badgerpants]

I don't like automatic transmissions, I haven't driven very many but they seem to either over speed or under speed the engine. I was taught how to Drive a manual, I know how to drive a car, I want to do more than just steer! No automatic transmission for me!

Edited by Badgerpants, 01 October 2012 - 05:09 AM.

[Badgerpants]

Ranger207, on 30 September 2012 - 07:59 PM, said:

I saw a story in the news the other day about someone trying to steal a 911. The cops got there before he left because he kept stalling

There was a news story in Australia about a woman who got Car Jacked, the thief forced the owner out of her car, got in, saw it was a manual transmission, got out again and ran away! Happened several years ago so I can't provide more details.

[Harpdog]

Being English, I have always been mystified by the North American continent's bewilderment about manual transmission. When you learn to drive over here, you learn on a manual. When I learned to drive at 17 (20erk years ago now), I could have requested to learn on an automatic, but the attitude of the instructor would have been something along the lines of.

'I'm sorry, I thought you said you wanted to learn to drive'.

Also, (I believe) my license would have come with an endorsement saying I was only allowed to drive auto's until I completed another test in a manual transmission.

Since then I have owned an automatic. A Toyota Carina E, and it was a lovely drive, but driving it properly (shifting down on steep gradients, etc) isn't that much different from a stick.

A few years back I was in the US and ended up being the only sober person so I volunteered to drive a friends car and go on a beer run.

'You won't be able to do that, it's a stick'. She said.

'Don't worry love, I'm British'. Was my reply.

Personally I'd have been more worried about letting someone drive my car on, what for them, was the wrong side of the road.

But no. The fact that I could get into a strange stick-shift, at night, drive several blocks there and back and not get my self into any sort of trouble seemed akin to magic.

From the looks on peoples faces you would have thought I'd just pulled $1m out of my arse.

[Catamount]

As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing special or mystical about the amount operating one does in a vehicle as it gets from point A to point B. I don't want to "drive", as though having to do more work to get myself from one location to the next somehow makes something as mundane as using an automobile more fun. Motorsports aside, a car, as in the one I drive down the street everyday, is a boring, utilitarian tool, and if all I had to do to make it go where I wanted was push a button, fall asleep, and let it do the rest, I'd be perfectly happy (actually, I'd be more happy).

Now, can I see some utilitarian value to learning to drive a stick shift? I suppose, for that one in a million chance that there are dire consequences to not being able to operate the one vehicle around, and that one vehicle just happens to not be an automatic, because the owner wanted a more convoluted method of transportation that badly, and it's a situation where somehow, no one else knows how to operate it either, yeah, I suppose it would be a reasonably useful skill, but as utilitarian skills go, it's pretty low on the priority list, imo.

[Kravity]

I don't own a car, but my motorcycle's got manual transmission.
One time I was driving my cousin's automatic motorcycle and I nearly crashed because I instinctively tried to switch gears, ended up kicking the road and upsetting the balance. I tend to stick with my own motorcycle now

[Yeach]

Sarriss, on 01 October 2012 - 04:36 AM, said:

I envy you good sir. I'm tempted to buy a beautiful Infiniti G35 Coupe although it's a bit more then I wanted to spend.

Thank you.
However sometimes the RX-8 sometimes feels like its more trouble than its worth. There are quirks that you have to deal with.
The depreciation on them is really obscene. You can get a 2004 for less than 10k CDN.

[SkyChuffer]

I disagree.
If you can make something easier, make it easier.
Or would you want to go out hunting in the forest to catch your breakfaust / harvest beans / tie your shoes / whatever just because "I AM A MAAAN!"?

Growing up, I've heard that line uttered so many times from so many people it'd just have sickened me and it's always wrong and it just about always comes from someone who has been taught the 'macho' way in life, it's ridicilous. What about in the future when purely automatic cars will come that can drive to and from destination to avoid unnecessary crashes?

As a final add as someone wrote 'women can't drive half the time anyway',
I'd rather have a bike than a car since a car feels like driving a brick or your grave.
Funny how it is I have seen many women drive better due to driving safely than men who drive recklessly. Though even funnier it is that my friend who happen to be a male drives safely and not recklessly.

[Sarriss]

Yeach, on 04 October 2012 - 05:21 PM, said:

Thank you.
However sometimes the RX-8 sometimes feels like its more trouble than its worth. There are quirks that you have to deal with.
The depreciation on them is really obscene. You can get a 2004 for less than 10k CDN.

Which is exactly why I'm looking for a well maintained used one.

[Sarriss]

I sort of figured this topic would boil down to those who drive because they love it, and those who see cars as merely a tool. This topic was probably inappropriately named and would have been better suited with "who can drive a manual?" or "manuals make cars more fun to drive". I drive a manual because I love to drive, and I don't think it makes me "more of a man" I drive one because I like to have a stronger connection to the vehicle I'm driving. I love to feel the engine respond to my touch and listen as I switch gears seamlessly. I am lucky that I live ridiculously close to where I work and thus walk to work everyday, which is why I am going to be investing in a sports coupe shortly because now every time I get into it, I'm driving purely for the sake of it. Yes, I still have errands and other mundane things I need to do and a car facilitates that but it also gives me freedom. Also upgrading to something where I no longer care about fuel economy means that it's more about the drive and less about the economics of owning a car, which is ultimately what every car enthusiast wants.

I understand if someone (man or woman) sees a car as merely a tool for transportation and cares only that it runs reliably and cheaply. That is sadly how newer generations are going, including mine. There is a very large % of people in my city who don't have a license simply because they never want to drive, at least that must be the reason because our public transit is horrible and cities far larger then ours have a much better infrastructure.

However it is ignorant to refer to manual transmission vehicles as "more convoluted method of transportation". You must be younger then me if you think that. Automatics have been around for a long while yes, but standards predate them by decades. Hell, the automobile has been invented for a hundred years and only now are automatics starting to finally get better fuel economy then standards, and it's still marginal at best. (not counting hybrids of course)

Just as ignorant as to assume you aren't a real man if you don't know how to drive a stick. You make it sound as if we choose to drive a stick because we know 1/5 of the people who ever sit in our car would ever be able to drive it in an emergency and that somehow makes us superior. That being said, I would boycott any vehicle that could drive itself and would never own one until it became law. I love to drive, and I do it safely, I'm not worried about me, it's every white knuckled, boy racer, drunk and reckless drivers that worry me.

[MD9445]

Well, I'm just going to say this, I think EVERYONE should learn to drive a stick. It's basic driving 101.

Then again, when you drive what I drive, and 18 double over non-syncro tranny, that's shifting. But I guess the worst I have ever had to deal with was a 36. Yes, they exist but are VERY rare.

This was not a car, but the transmission weighed as much as one!

[Jukebox1986]

Wait, there are People who cant drive a manual? in my driving school, there was one automatic. But i drove it just one hour! My teacher used to say: "Now you know, there is something as an automatic. Now lets go back to the real cars...."