Years ago, when my best friend and I both drove 1970-vintage 240Z’s, I observed that girls drove mostly automatics. He showed me plenty of counterexamples to this, which I guess was easy because we belonged to a sports car club.
Anyway, after that time, I saw a lot of stick-driving chicks.
I guess it depends on one’s perceptions, which are not uncommonly refuted by statistics.
AND I (the good farm boy that I am) can drive a “Straight Truck” w/ a “High/Low Axle Transmission too(I can “move” an 18 wheeler if I have to).
I hated driving stick, but I did so because I abhorred the inherent complexity of automatic transmissions, and suspected that the simpler manual transmission would be more reliable and easier to fix if it breaks.
But driving stick was a pain in the rear. Between having to steer the car, hold my coffee, and light and smoke my cigarettes, my hands had enough to do without having to constantly reach for the damn shift lever.
That I am tall also made it a nuisance on my GM car to reach a steering column shift lever with the seat pushed all the way back, especially with having one foot in the air.
My Volvos with their stick on the floor and better overall ergonometric design made it easier for me, but I still hate driving stick. Damn nuisance.
Sure, the performance of auto transmissions is still spongier--so add a little extra horsepower and that's problem solved.
And if autos burn more gas, so what if you can afford it?
Probably the only reason someone drives stick today, is because they like to play vroom-vroom games when they drive like children.
Cars are for getting you from here to there safely. They are also, unfortunately, sometimes needed as a status-symbol sales aid in business and socially.
O and I drive one of these too(mine is Red):
http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US/Motorcycles/electra-glide-classic.html
Of course, like all good FR posters I have not yet read the article :) but are there not plenty of hybrid transmissions with the paddle shift option, giving one the manual experience w/o the manual clutch?
1980 Xterra with 5 speed on the floor.
2000 Xterra with 5 speed on the floor.
In LA it just doesn't make sense. Too much stop and go traffic takes the fun out of it.
I’ve never owned an automatic, and I don’t think I ever will, unless some health issue or the government dictates. If I had to commute into some God-forsaken city, I would have an auto, but that will never happen.
Drive a 6-speed now, 49 speeds lifetime.
I learned to drive (at 14) on a Pontiac Valiant with a 3-speed on the column. A friend of mine taught me and let me borrow the car sometimes, even though I didn’t have a license.
I remember that eventually the 2nd gear broke so you had to get up to a pretty good speed in 1st and then shift to 3rd, with a kind of double-shifting, double-clutching 2-step maneuver. Talk about hard to drive in traffic!
Nowadays, a vehicle with a manual transmission is almost theft proof. Most of the thugs stealing cars and trucks never learned to drive a standard.
A related question is: How many of you drive a stick and can talk on telephone or text?
Back to the government angle, even if no difference in mileage, one would think the government would ignore that and still mandate a stick.
For many years as a Field Service Tech I had to scarf down a hamburger for lunch, talk on the cell phone AND drive a stick shift.
While I learned to drive on a manual transmission, I had to teach my 24 year old son to drive a stick when he got his Mazda. We only had auto transmissions when he learned to drive so it was an experience to teach him as an adult. I have vowed never to try to teach his sister to drive a stick and have warned her husband not to attempt it either. Some people like my daughter just aren't mechanically minded enough to get the whole changing gears thing.
Yup
I can. Have not done so for years, but expect I could pick it right up again.
I can but a torn MCL in my left knee says I better not. I have an auto-manual in my Cherokee and it is pretty handy.
I taught my wife to drive a car with a manual transmission. Don’t I get some sort of award for that?
Have one, taught daughter to drive it last summer. I always find it curious these “green” drivers don’t opt for a stick, better gas mileage.