Can you drive a stick shift car?

[rbkwp]

geuss can mention the odd / well unusual behaviour of the French
Citroen and there gear shift in the dashboard, admittedly never had a problem with it compared to the British Vaxhaull column change.

 

[NCbear]

I learned on a giant 1973 Plymouth Sport Suburban :tongue: and the driver's education vehicle was an automatic as well. But after I learned to drive stickshift cars at the age of 18, I've had only 5-speeds except for one automatic Ford Focus that I bought with an automatic because the then-boyfriend couldn't drive a stick.

The total: Six Honda Accords and Civics (hatchbacks or wagons) from the early 1980s, one automatic Focus hatchback, one stick Focus hatchback (bought about 2 weeks after he and broke up), and two Mazda 6 hatchbacks.

Now, the only automatics I drive are rental vehicles.

NCbear (who's about to have to switch to automatics due to an old soccer injury to my left ankle that's only getting worse )

 

[deleted15807]

It does seem to be dying. The new transmissions can do everything better a manual can except the 'fun' part of really being engaged with the car and road. Machines can outdo man any day.

 

[gballs]

love driving a stick. the whole sexual metaphor is a cliche but that doesn't make it any less fun.

 

[Hand_Solo]

Can't stand automatics. I'll drive manual as long as I can find 'em. Took quite a bit of searching last time I got a car.

 

[deleted556573]

Not only can I drive a car with a manual transmission, I taught myself how to drive one. The first 10 cars I had were all manual. Nowadays, I drive an automatic. I've grown to hate driving a vehicle with a manual transmission.

 

[VernalTiger]

Wait , Wallaby's and Kangaroos have stick-shifts??? HAR HAR HAR!

Seriously though, I've never found a need to drive a stick. I even worked at a dealership at one point (Porsche, Audi, VW, Mazda) and never ran across an occasion when I needed to drive a stick. Audi Race teams don't even use sticks anymore now that they have the paddle shifting system so perfected. What's the point?!

Depends how hard you squeeze them with your knees. Besides, wallabies are useless once you're over 4 or 5 years old. But delicious!

 

[FuzzyKen]

I can and prefer a manual transmission in some applications by a wide margin.

What has happened to a great degree is that emissions certification in the United States for new vehicles is far more complicated for a manual transmission than for an automatic. It is far cheaper for manufacturers to certify the automatic and for that reason they are discontinuing the manual transmissions. I was noticing that it appears the manual transmission for the Toyota Camry has been discontinued for the 2012 Model year.

Because so many kids are learning to drive automatics and are not able to drive a stick shift, the United States Military has been literally forced to convert some and replace other vehicles with similar purpose vehicles equipped not only with automatic transmissions, but with power steering assists as well.

The venerable work horse of several branches of the United States Military was referred to as the "deuce and a half" That truck was a great workhorse made for decades. The last version of it was referred to as the M-35-A2 The M-35-A2 was taken back in at an incredible waste of taxpayers money and remanufactured into the M-35-A3. They removed the LDS465 Continental Multi-Fuel engine which was a good motor when driven well with a 3176 CAT now obsolete. They removed the 5 speed all synchronized manual transmission and substituted an Allison 5 speed automatic because the kids coming in couldn't drive the stick without leaving the transmission full of chipped of gear teeth. They then retrofitted these same vehicles with air-assist power steering. All of this was done at incredible expense to the taxpayers. Within 2 years of the beginning of the retrofit program, the 'new" M-35-A3 was placed on the obsolete list and most are now being "auctioned" at a mere fraction of the costs of what the cost of the retrofits were. Some of them going out have less than 5,000 miles on them.

The now obsolete HumVee or "Hummer H1" had a General Motors Turbo Hydramatic 400 automatic from the beginning. The big deal on all of this is that with your tax dollars and the failure to teach proper operation of a manual transmission we now get to rebuilt a $5,000 to $12,000 multi-range automatic instead of a $600 clutch replacement or about $250 for the chipped gears.

Now, there is far more going on than that. Most automotive manufacturers have sealed their automatic transmissions and eliminated any method the owner can have to check the automatic transmission fluid. The idea is to make them stand up during warranty, but a small leak will spell the end of these new multi-speed automatics and present the owner with again a $4,500 transmission repair that has two purposes. The first is that it generates a huge profit for service departments of dealers and second it will sell a ton if new cars by coercion because the 7-10 year old car falling into this class will now have a lower book value than the rebuild or replacement of that transmission. Forced trade offs by making common sense maintenance impossible. . . . .

Is there a time automatics are better?

Yes, New technology has made some miracle transmissions from Eaton which has Autoshift and from Volvo which has "i-shift" in their 80,000 pound 18-wheeler over the highway trucks. These are manual transmissions that are shifted by computer with a level of precision that a human simply cannot match. This has, in these trucks, created fuel mileage numbers which are exceptionally good for the size of the vehicles. On the right route a huge OTH truck can easily get 8-9 miles per gallon driven well and using these new gearboxes. The VOLVO unit is particularly great and by virtue of very expensive computer technology does nearly everything for the driver including the engagement of the auxiliary engine braking system. These transmissions both have abilities to memorize routes and driving styles and maximize efficiency under a particular set of parameters. These transmissions have adaptive learning built in. Auto Shift and i Shift are now multiplying in large trucks and I forsee them going into highway bus operation as well because they can be a great deal safer while offering greater performance by virtue of more gear selections and greater fuel mileage for the same reasons.

Computer shifted manuals are nothing new. Porsche is now offering a version of this on their newest 911, and paddle shift manuals controlled by computer have been around in some exotic sports cars for several years. To me however the only GOOD application is in the large trucks. . . .
The rest are a new gimmick to boost sales to the same junior rock stars that can't drive a stick either!

 

[august86]

In general,
Automatic vehicles: are for people who are lazy, disabled, rich (or chauffeured), female or old. :redface:

Manual vehicles: are more for driving enthusiasts and those who don't like or can't afford automatic.

Tiptronic/DSG/Dual-clutch or flappy-paddle vehicles: or as I call it "the metro-sexual car" is all the rage with the newbies and yuppies, and much like David Beckham, allows you to say you're a guy, but still as fluffy and clean as a baby. :tongue:

For me, automatic is a no-no. I enjoy feeling of, and controlling the power, etc during gear changes. So, I prefer Manual transmissions or at the very least dual-clutch :smile:

 

[bostonguy1]

I can't drive stick. The concept seems simple enough.. but because I'm left handed, it's not so convenient. I suppose maybe if I moved to Australia or the UK it might be! haha


With the car I have currently, it has a manual option (yet it's an automatic).. When I'm bored, Ill switch it over to Manual but. I always seem to mess it up so I just stick with the Auto.

 

[molotovmuffin]

I drive a 5 sp. truck atm and I used to own an old chevy with 3sp on the column...I miss that old truck.

 

[sdbg]

I've been driving cars and motorcycles with manual transmission since high school. I will not buy a car if it's automatic. I have a little Honda with 5 speed manual. It's a blast to drive. Unless I become an amputee, I'll never give up a manual transmission.

 

[D_Johnson Withernads]

Manuals all the way for me. They're just more fun to drive (plus more economical, less to go wrong, less expensive to repair, you can still bump start them etc'). I like to be fully in control of what my car's doing - I want to choose when to change gear!

I've only ever purchased one car that wasn't a manual. It was an Alfa Romeo with the selespeed transmission (automatic clutch). The selespeed sytem in it was the same as what you'd find in a Ferrari that would cost you 5 or 10 times as much, so it should have been pretty damn good. Loved the car but still wish I'd bought the manual version...

 

[Patchos]

In general,
Automatic vehicles: are for people who are lazy, disabled, rich (or chauffeured), female or old. :redface:

Manual vehicles: are more for driving enthusiasts and those who don't like or can't afford automatic.

Tiptronic/DSG/Dual-clutch or flappy-paddle vehicles: or as I call it "the metro-sexual car" is all the rage with the newbies and yuppies, and much like David Beckham, allows you to say you're a guy, but still as fluffy and clean as a baby. :tongue:

For me, automatic is a no-no. I enjoy feeling of, and controlling the power, etc during gear changes. So, I prefer Manual transmissions or at the very least dual-clutch :smile:

Pardon??

Ok so we have
- Lazy
- Disabled
- Old
- Female

And where in these most prejudiced, sexist and bigoted lists would you put:
- Gays
- Jews
- Blacks
- Asians
- Etc?

Look forward to your response!

 

[hotwetkiss]

Couldn't drive an automatic, manual box for me all the way.

 

[vince]

I can drive either prefer a stick in winter driving better control. Besides a stick anyone still use a steering column shift?

One of my first cars was a 1962 MB 220 with three-on-the-tree. It was a beater, but that thing was indestructible. We use to do hill climbs in it. It had no ground clearance to speak of, but if you had enough speed on it didn't matter... just bounce over the logs and rocks.

I sold it to a guy who used it for about six months before he lost the brakes going down to the ferry landing and drove it off the ramp. Fortunately he lived, but that was the end of old Betsy. The Ferry Corp pulled her out and we had a funeral and everything. That car had spent its whole life on the island and quite a few people came to pay respects.

 

[thirteenbyseven]

This thread reminds me of high school driver's ed during the spring of 1986. At our school the instructors were also the physical education coaches that doubled as driver's ed teachers and (just my luck) the junior varsity football coach and drill instructor wanna-be that everyone hated was sitting in the right seat. I also remember the car was a 1985 Buick Skylark with a manual transmission, a leftover from the previous semester. Additionally the GM product, based on the "revolutionary" X-body, had a puny ninety-something horsepower 4-cylinder engine that took an eternity from zero to sixty.

Anyway, this idiot coach Martin invariably treated attractive female students like a perv wanting to get into their pants. I remember sitting in the back seat with a friend of mine as one of our song leaders with great nipples named Cheryl alternately popped the clutch, ground the transmission to metal shavings, stalled at stop signs when she forgot to take it out of gear and ran over curbs, all the while coach a-hole soothed her ego with positive reinforcement.

Naturally when either Jeff or myself were in the driver's seat we would get the third degree as if we dropped a pass in the end zone. "Signal earlier!" "Don't press on the accelerator and slip the clutch like you're trying to spin the wheels on a drag strip!" In a car that was one of the slowest family sedans ever sold.

I don't think driver's ed is even taught anymore at many U.S. high schools because of budgetary and liability issues, but back in the mid-eighties we all learned by watching audio-visual movies like Death on the Highways and with ex-Marines like coach Martin.

 

[thadjock]

yeah i started when i was 11yo. oh u mean a car....yeah started driving around a manual tran car around the same time, now very expert at both.

 

[nicenycdick]

I grew up in NYC and was lucky I even drove a car, let alone learn to drive a stick! When I got married and went to Italy on my honeymoon in 1981, I ordered a rental car with automatic transmission. They must have been laughing hysterically when I put that order through. Needless to say, there was not an automatic in sight when I landed in Milan. So, I learned to drive a stick shift on the roads in Italy. And if you can do it there, you can drive it fucking anywhere! By the time I got to the end of my trip, I was indistinguishable from all the rest of the crazy motorists in Rome. Still don't drive one in NYC, though...

 

[D_Ariva_Derci]

I will always dislike a Hyundai Tiburon and their drivers all because a dipstick kid tried running me off the road in one after acting a fool trying to get me to race him. I finally take the bait and he, literally, tries to destroy my car.



The whole MPG thing isn't as relevant with the technology today as it was in yesteryear's cars. And as always, a fully built automatic will run with if not faster than a manual, even with the best driver.

well im sorry to hear of your experience with another driver. most of my cars have been stick shift, but also, a lot of them have been pre 1970.