I learned how to drive on a stick. Every new car I've bought has been with a manual transmission. Automatic is convenient especially with daily commutes in traffic, but as far as actual driving - they're boring. Plus manual transmissions are generally cheaper and serve as a defacto anti-theft device. How many car thieves can drive a stick these days?
Do you drive automatic or stick?
- Thread starter sean miguel
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I also learned to drive on a manual transmission. I own both manual and automatic transmission vehicles.
Wanna blow the minds of millennials?
Put them behind the wheel of a column shift 1974 Chevy pickup.
Wanna blow the minds of millennials?
Put them behind the wheel of a column shift 1974 Chevy pickup.
With age come automatic transmissions. So sayeth a freeones dinosaur.
As a youth I never even thought about having an auto. I drove various VWs, an Austin Healy Roadster, a Fiat X19.
But then when I hit 35 I bought my first auto transmission car and that was it for manuals. Took a brief fling at nostalgia by buying a 25 year old VW bug at age 40 as a back up "fun" car. The "fun" lasted about a month before I dumped it lol
As a youth I never even thought about having an auto. I drove various VWs, an Austin Healy Roadster, a Fiat X19.
But then when I hit 35 I bought my first auto transmission car and that was it for manuals. Took a brief fling at nostalgia by buying a 25 year old VW bug at age 40 as a back up "fun" car. The "fun" lasted about a month before I dumped it lol
bobjustbob
Proud member of FreeOnes Hall Of Fame. Retired to
Interesting point. I wonder if any insurance companies take this into consideration? ... never mind.
I also learned to drive on a stick. I don't buy new cars so what is available is from the vast majority that don't buy stick. Can't find them.
A stick to me gives more control. Downshift to slow down. Get that extra kick into the passing lane and on ramps. Automatics just don't give the response when asked.
I'm a safety freak, so I go for automatic to have two hands on the wheel
Little Red Wagon Repairman
MFOMBSoPGA
I've had a few vehicles with stick shifts but now I have a GMC Sierra SLT Z71 with a V8 and automatic transmission. Plenty of power for me and real comfortable to cruise in.
freeones_regina
Administrator
Driving on a stick is the default situation here in The Netherlands.
When you take driving lessons you will not even be asked what you prefer, stick it is.
If you want to use automatic you have to request it and when you get your drivers license you are not allowed to drive a car on a stick.
When you take driving lessons you will not even be asked what you prefer, stick it is.
If you want to use automatic you have to request it and when you get your drivers license you are not allowed to drive a car on a stick.
DrakeM
Does this look infected to you?
The last three cars I've owned have come with a hybrid style, think VW calls it "tiptronic" where automatic is the norm but you can push the shift lever over to the right and you can up and down shift with a simple push up or push down. I've rarely used this feature as I don't like driving stick. Also I've heard that a stick is more fuel efficient than an automatic given normal driving conditions (i.e. not street racing style driving). Does this hybrid fill the gap on fuel efficiency and the other stuff stick drivers crave while keeping the convenience of an automatic as the default?
Interesting.
Elwood70
Torn & Frayed.
I had a 5-Speed Mustang that I'd leave the keys in the ignition, windows down, to run into the liquor store on Friday nights.
In downtown Baltimore.
Never had an issue.
I taught myself to drive a stick in a '78 K-5 Blazer with a granny gear.
My current ride is an automatic, but I drive it like it's a stick. I ground off part of the shifting mechanism, so I can shift it without pushing that goddamn button.
I miss my stick shift.
As another poster said - I "have both." Daily driver = auto (2008 Honda Accord sedan); summer car = stick (2004 Mustang SVT Cobra). Every Spring when I take the Mustang back out on the street - I'm grinning from ear to ear.
nice.
FOUser#4510856320198a
BANNED
I drive an automatic, but my first new car was a stick. Trip with me back through the years. I was just a lad, but already showing signs of the magnificent bastard that I would become. My financial picture had improved to the point that I could put my beloved '79 Nova, my first mount, he of the open-foam bench seats (what fabric upholstery was left crumbled at the touch), various and sundry vomit spots and soda stains, and the ill-advised trunk-lid-turned-trailer-hitch scars... I sold that motherfucker for 3 times what I bought it for, after putting some of what had to be its last miles on it. Then I bought a Chevy S-10, and the salesman taught me to drive stick. That fucking afternoon. Magnificent bastard.
Mr. Daystar
In a bell tower, watching you through cross hairs.
Try an old Ford Squire station wagon, with 3 on the tree....which I guess is the same, but with kids today, they loose it in the snow, if the car is rear wheel drive....they all learned on front wheel drive compact cars, then they get a job and buy a high power rear wheel drive vehicle, and are clueless as to how to handle it. What bugs me, is everything is going to paddle shifters on the steering wheel. I like the old school clutch and floor shift....for fun, and practical reasons.
I have bought automatics for the last 3 trucks...my first was a Ford Ranger with a 5 speed. I couldn't even drive it home, I learned after I bought it. I became a truck driver, and shifting up and down all day, left it a little tiresome to do after work. Plus my wife refuses to learn, and she drives when I'm drinking.
Just bought a brand new car the other day and it's an automatic. Never owned a stick.
My second car was a stick. Nothing fancy, just a little hatchback, but I did love the way she could get up and go. I also really loved seeing men in giant heavy cars, revving like they were going to beat feet off of a red light, and then leaving them behind with little effort, because when your 4-banger car weighs nothing, no V-8 takes off as fast as you do.
When that car got retired, and my next was an automatic, I used to play this one racing video game at a local pool hall, just because the controls are for a manual transmission and it reminded me of the fun of driving a stick. Took me a long time to stop missing the feel of shifting your own gears.
But while I'd love to have an open top Jeep with a manual transmission, just for the fun of it, there's a reason I want walls on my day to day car, and an automatic transmission. When you drive around for work, when you've got a kid in the car, when you have to eat on the road, everything becomes more complicated (and in some cases dangerous) with a stick shift. Even just going through areas with extreme hills or in mountains is more difficult. When I was in L.A., I drove first to Griffith Park Observatory, then past it further up the mountain, to the house that was the exterior for The House on Haunted Hill. I found myself actively thanking the stars in the heavens that the car my uncle loaned me wasn't a manual, because just trying to turn around an automatic is scary enough on those tiny little roads which climb a mountain. And 12-point turning around is your only option, since there are no drive-ways or side streets to use.
For me having a stick-shift is an impractical idea, that is only feasible if you can afford to have both practical and impractical vehicles in your garage. Which is a luxury I wouldn't mind having one day.
When that car got retired, and my next was an automatic, I used to play this one racing video game at a local pool hall, just because the controls are for a manual transmission and it reminded me of the fun of driving a stick. Took me a long time to stop missing the feel of shifting your own gears.
But while I'd love to have an open top Jeep with a manual transmission, just for the fun of it, there's a reason I want walls on my day to day car, and an automatic transmission. When you drive around for work, when you've got a kid in the car, when you have to eat on the road, everything becomes more complicated (and in some cases dangerous) with a stick shift. Even just going through areas with extreme hills or in mountains is more difficult. When I was in L.A., I drove first to Griffith Park Observatory, then past it further up the mountain, to the house that was the exterior for The House on Haunted Hill. I found myself actively thanking the stars in the heavens that the car my uncle loaned me wasn't a manual, because just trying to turn around an automatic is scary enough on those tiny little roads which climb a mountain. And 12-point turning around is your only option, since there are no drive-ways or side streets to use.
For me having a stick-shift is an impractical idea, that is only feasible if you can afford to have both practical and impractical vehicles in your garage. Which is a luxury I wouldn't mind having one day.
ChuckFaze
Closed Account
Major points for Stick Shift: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...attackers-cant-operate-stick-shift/529611001/
Elwood70
Torn & Frayed.
I also really loved seeing men in giant heavy cars, revving like they were going to beat feet off of a red light, and then leaving them behind with little effort, because when your 4-banger car weighs nothing, no V-8 takes off as fast as you do.
Depends on the car - and the driver.
Those "men" obviously didn't know what they were doing.
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