Ok today’s question is, do you drive a stick/manual or an automatic vehicle?
If automatic, do you know how to drive a stick? (Also, how old are you? Just curious if this is a lost art among youngsters nowadays)
@narfcake yeah, I’ve been looking at cars recently and had to nix most of them immediately because no manual option.
Cars that do have manual options tend to fall into two camps.
Budget models and you can only get manual on the bare bones car or if it’s a performance vehicle a lot of them you have to buy the most expensive tier to get manual.
I find automatics lifeless and boring to drive so I’m not happy that I might get stuck having to buy one next time.
I mostly drive an automatic lately, but I learned to drive (at 12) in my dad’s old Dodge pickup with a 4-on-the-floor granny-low manual transmission (in the 70’s). My first car (1969 Mustang Mach 1 428 Cobra Jet!) was a stick as were the next several. I didn’t really drive an automatic much until the 2000’s. I made sure all my kids could drive a manual transmission.
@mike808 I’ve never even seen a column shift? Is that even a real manual, with a clutch, or just one of those pseudo manuals , an automatic that lets you select gear?
All my cars have had the gear selector comfortably by my right arm in front of the hand break.
@mike808@OnionSoup Real manual transmission indeed! 3 on the tree used up until the early 80’s. I had a buddy that had a 1980 Ford Grenada while we were in high school (mid-80’s) that had one & it was kind of a handful as I recall, especially when we visited the Twin Cities for a concert.
@chienfou@mike808 interesting. I assume it was rotary, like when automatics have the shifter there. I assume the idea was you didn’t have to take your hand off steering wheel when changing gears.
I also assume you can’t skip gears easily with that configuration (Can’t jump from one to three or three to one). Although if only three forward gears they’re probably quite widely spaced in ratio so it’s not something you would want to do often.
Three gears doesn’t seem a lot to me. Never driven anything with fewer than 5 forwards gears. I see the bronco they have coming out has 5 + reverse + “crawler gear” for 7 gears in total. Not sure how different crawler will be from first gear but presumably to stop you stalling going slow off road.
@mike808
Or conversely, IF you are used to a stick, when you hit that ginourmous brake pedal (in your car with an automatic transmission) with both feet in an emergency and scare the crap out of your passengers!
Automatic.
I learned how to drive stick when I had my learner’s permit.
I haven’t driven stick in forever. I do however drive a forklift with both feet, so I think the coordination is still there.
Late 30s.
I currently drive a stick but have enjoyed both types over the years.
I’ve heard much of the millennial generation doesn’t know how to drive a stick due to less availability in general, therefore young thugs wanting to steal cars are confused and mad when they hop in…
I drive automatic. My car (Volvo) has the option for manual but no clutch so it’s not real. I learned when I was 15 (been driving by myself since I’ve had my learners permit) but never had a manual car so I’m not very good at it. My friends with manuals have nicer cars and don’t want me tearing through their clutch so won’t let me try on their car. I would like to master it though.
I’ve always had a stick-shift (I learned on my brother’s rambler, 3-on-the-column, and that indicates my age) except this last work truck, which is auto and I’m not particularly impressed. Mileage and performance is lower, and they’re more expensive to service than manuals. I drive it like a stick, shifting up and down for curves and down-hills, as my right hand is instinctively on the shift lever anyway. Now if I can just figure out what to do with my left foot …
It varied according to what my father thought he could pick up cheap and sell. 3 on the tree, 4 on the floor, 5 on the floor, you name it. We had an English Ford Anglia, a 2-cylinder Lloyd (600 maybe), a Renault Dauphine, and a 1957(?) Studebaker. I learned on the Renault, and on my mom’s Ford Falcon, then her Rambler, which was 3 on the tree. The first car I bought myself was a used MGB ragtop, and it was a lot of fun. Ah, those were the days.
I drive automatics, never learned stick shift with a caveat. Before the caveat, I did drive a stick shift once, and it wasn’t great. Thankfully, didn’t have to go that far. The caveat is that I grew up on a farm and drove tractors quite often. I don’t find the experience of a tractor manual transmission maps that well to an automobile. I was born in the 70’s, but only by a couple months.
I currently alternate between stick/auto depending on whether I feel like driving my car or truck that day. Late 30s. Learned in college, in heavy stop & go traffic, when I needed to borrow a car and the only friend who’d lend me theirs had a stick.
I learned to drive on a '51 Chevy, 3 on the tree. I later improved my skills (meaning, I stayed on the road) on a 1960 or maybe '61 Chevy Greenbrier Van. It had 3 by the knee.
I LOVE stick shifts and I’m very sad that they are going away. Right now I still have a stick shift car that sometimes works. I also own an automatic mini van.
@f00l My tractor is hydrostatic - one pedal goes forward, the other goes in reverse; the harder you push, the faster it goes. Having driven tractors/backhoes with manual transmission and clutch, I wouldn’t want to go back to one.
Manual.
Late thirties. I have owned three cars and none have been automatics. None have been anything particularly “fun” or exotic, either.
Come to think of it, I have never personally owned a vehicle with automatic windows, either.
None of the above is true of you also include my wife’s cars, except that neither of the cars she has owned have been particularly “fun” or exotic, either.
@OnionSoup Yeah, I always felt like they always tended to break in the down position, since it’s more work to raise the window than to lower it.
That’s also part of why I don’t like automatic transmissions. I greatly prefer to keep things simple.
My newer car is actually a 2014 and it has both manual transmission and manual windows. I’m not sure I’ll be able to find a newer car with crank windows, though.
I never even owned an automatic trans car until I was in my 50’s. 3 on the tree, 3, 4 & 5 on the floor. The last stick shift I had was a 2002 Jeep Wrangler.
It was a slightly difficult transition the first few days, a few times I slammed my foot down to hit the clutch only to find the brake… oops…
Now in my later 60’s, I really like that automatic.
Mid 40s .
Automatic but can drive stick
Got forced into a learning experience when an asshole ex said he would be the DD but started doing shots with the boys. I knew theory only. I drank cola for the rest of the night poured his drunk ass into the passenger side and drove his mustang convertible to where by car was at his dorm. I got pulled over by a cop who thought i was drunk driving due to my jerking shifts. A alcohol test later 0.0 , a lesson on how to drive shift and the cops number and a date planned for the next weekend I continued on. I dumped asshole I dated cop for a while I have never owned a stick but have occasionally driven.
Automatic now except for the Saab convertible project car in the driveway. Someday I’ll get back to it. Learned on automatic but all the delivery trucks in the family florist business were manual. Made my cousin crazy that I couldn’t do anything but a quick run in someone’s personal car. He tried to teach me in a church parking lot. Couple of days later he traded in the oldest truck for a brand new automatic box van. All mine. Until I ran the extended mirror down the side of a city bus. Finally learned stick when my wife and I bought our first car together. Le Car only came in manual. Embarrassing but true.
Automatic, but I have owned a few manual vehicles in my lifetime. I don’t miss those times being stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic using a clutch. Even more anxious was being at stop sign/traffic light at the top of the hill and the car behind you being inches from your rear bumper – probably driven by a person who failed to realize the gravity of the situation because they had never driven a stick.
@DrWorm Heh. I have to deal with the hill thing every day. There’s a stop sign at the top of a hill that is steep in both directions, and people definitely will pull right up on you.
Right now if it looks like there’s a line at the stop sign I downshift and just creep slowly up the hill, leaving plenty of gap between myself and the car in front. Usually I can time it so that I’m caught back up in time to just hit the stop sign in time.
Always had an automatic. I learned the basics of a stick and technically drove one but only a short way a couple times. Old enough to have been called out when renting a car for requesting an automatic. Currently drive very little unless I am temporarily doing a different assignment for work.
Learned to drive on stick, have owned both. Each, in my opinion, have advantages and disadvantages. I do like with a stick how, when your battery is on its way out and goes dead as it doesn’t hold much of a charge for long, you can get it started by coasting down a hill. I did that for almost 3 weeks until I finally broke down and bought a battery.
@DrWorm That is how I learned how that works (eg being part of the group that runs while pushing). When my pickup’s battery was on its way out I had to really think about where I parked so I didn’t have to back up to face the hill. Fortunately the area was hilly.
I can drive either equally well. I learned on a manual with “3 on the tree.” Later I owned several cars/trucks with 4 or 5 on the floor. And I am old enough to be retiring in a few weeks.
Learned on a 5-speed stick, but my first car was a '66 Barracuda with 3-on-the-tree. (It was an old car already - I’m not that old). I currently have a Chevy pickup with stick -and- manual 4x4. Not sure how I’m ever going to top two sticks on the transmission hump.
I think I’ve only had one personal car with automatic. (The last three cars I bought for my wife have been automatics. I feel weird when I drive her car.)
I also made sure my kids were proficient with driving stick. First, because I knew the skill would give them more driving options later on. Second, I figured if they were good drivers while dealing with the extra complexity of stick, they might also be more proficient in dealing with distractions when driving friends around. A couple of other parents told me they would only let their kids ride with ours, for that very reason. My kids each still keep at least one car with stick. I hope the tradition carries on to my granddaughters!
Not sure how I’m ever going to top two sticks on the transmission hump.
@mehcuda67 The second in your truck is for the 4WD transfer case, though, right? Because for car oddities, you need a twin stick that select a second set of ratios.
/image mitsubishi twin stick 8 speed
(More common in large commercial trucks; very uncommon in passenger vehicles)
@narfcake Bingo! The second stick is on the (rather large) transmission hump, but goes to the transfer case. The choices on that stick are 2WD, 4WD and 4WD granny drive, plus a neutral. I guess it has 10 forward and 2 reverse speeds, by Mitsubishi logic.
I love the 4WD in the snow, and put it on for short distances in the rain just to keep the seals lubricated. I only use the granny gear once or twice a year, but it’s good to have when you really, really need it. It beats the ignominy of abandoning the truck and getting towed if you do something ill-advised/ just-plain-stupid involving lots of mud or snow.
@mehcuda67@narfcake Seems to me I had both on an ancient 4WD Toyota Tercel Wagon. I remember having to wedge myself against the door to push it to engage. Saved my bacon though several times on unplowed roads with 2 or more feet of snow.
Automatic - They only offer a stick in the bare bones base version of my vehicle. My second car was a stick, which I taught myself to drive. I had ridden motorcycles since I was 11, so I knew the process of shifting gears. Things were just in a different place. I went to test drive the car and lied, saying it had been a really long time since I had driven a stick, which was pretty funny since I was only 20. I had never actually driven one. Had no problems at all, didn’t stall it and was totally smooth. I’m considering picking up a used Miata just to have a fun little convertible. It would be nice to drive a stick again.
@cinoclav
Go for it. Looked at a Miata but my head hits the headliner when the top is up… ended up with a Sunfire that I really enjoyed the hell out of.
Used to drive a motorcycle back when I could afford them… made the switch to a convertible when I realized they had the same ‘wind in your (thinning) hair’ feel, but you could put the top up if it was raining! Oh… and everyone else on the road doesn’t try to kill you like they did when I was riding a motorcycle…
@chienfou Yeah, I have an old CBR600 in the garage that I haven’t ridden in years. I’d love to get back to riding but it’s just not fun in this area anymore. I figured a convertible would be a nice alternative.
I drive manual. I really don’t understand why it’s so hard to find cars with manual transmission these days.
I hate automatics. I refuse to own a car that is an automatic. (Which severely limits what I can buy these days as manuals tend to be on either budget cars or top of the line cars).
I’ve had both manual & automatic transmissions in vehicles that I’ve owned/driven. I guess I never had any issue w/ a manual because I grew up driving a tractor as a kid, so it kind of came natural. I really liked the 5-Speed in my Dodge Daytona (quite a few years ago), but also like the automatic in my Dodge Caliber that I currently drive.
Most of my cars have been sticks, including a mini-van with a 5 speed manual… currently own two manual vehicles, but have had to resort to ‘borrowing’ my (elderly) mom’s car lately due to a badly sprained left ankle that made using the clutch in my 2003 Vibe a bit of a bitch.
Gave lessons to a friend’s son last summer when he visited from Wisconsin. Yes. It is a disappearing skill set in this day and age.
Old enough to have had an AARP membership for about a quarter of my life… you do the math.
@moonhat It’s really not THAT bad, especially with the new GPS capabilities. They make sure you don’t forget to turn LEFT when you get to the roundabouts!
biggest struggle for me was hitting the wipers instead of the turn signal… which is on the right side of the column in LHT areas.
@chienfou I did that once! After a few hours, my brain sort of remapped and I could function. I was motivated, because it was the last car available on a Saturday afternoon.
@chienfou I was surprised to find that I had no difficulty adapting to shifting a stick with my left hand in New Zealand. At least the clutch and brake pedals and the shift pattern were in the familiar orientation! The things that gave me trouble were the reversed windscreen wiper/turn indicator control stalks and the rear view mirror on the left.
@macromeh I can remember coming back after a trip to Ireland and having trouble remembering which was the passing lane when I got to France and was driving there.
I had no problem remembering I was back in a right-hand traffic country however I had a hard time remembering whether I should be in the far left or far right lane to pass.
Weird!
@chienfou@macromeh I drove a ex-army truck (canvas top) with kids in the back when I worked for an outdoor adventure program in England and Scotland. Stick. Initially I had to concentrate really hard so as not to screw up with 20+ kids in the back. I finally adapted well enough (lived there for a year) that when I got home I had this dream that I wasn’t sure which side of the road to drive on. No cars were coming to tell me. I then finally figured out (in my dream) to look to see which side of the car had the steering wheel.
In Cambodia they have cars with steering wheels on either side. Of course we were also sharing the road with bikes pulling trailers or had a ton of people balanced on it, animal pulled carts, motorcycles and in Phnom Penh an elephant with tourists on its back. That was chaos in slow motion so far less dangerous to have steering wheels on both sides. Oh and the center line was primarily for decoration. The most important safety feature was the horn.
I drive an automatic, never learned stick except for video games haha. I did try to drive my friends mustang once and made it to the other side of the parking lot.
can drive both…own a automatic with the adaptive cruise that works at all speeds that way I let the truck do most of the work. would have autonomous, but the Rivian or Tesla cyber truck arent available yet for me to buy
@Cbear I bought my first car with adaptive cruise control (but not full autonomous driving) at the beginning of the year. The feature is OK but not all that I had hoped it would be. It always seems to err (IMO) on the side of extreme caution/overreaction when autonomously decelerating or braking. I suppose that is necessary, but I find it annoying sometimes.
Yes! And, Yes! I know how to drive a stick; automatics generally annoy me. However, my current car is a Chevy Volt, with a CVT automatic, which does not have that annoying characteristic of a geared automatic, bumping from gear to gear whenever it feels like it. CVT keeps the perfect ratio at all times; it’s like driving a Mario Kart. I still like a manual and will definitely look for one if I decide to get a second car (thinking Mazda MX-5 Miata).
I learned with a 4-on-the-floor car and a 4-on-the-column pickup with granny 1st. Owned various cars including a hand-me-down automatic, otherwise all manual transmission until now.
On the doorstep of 50. Automatic. Technically I did learn how to drive stick but 1) didn’t do it well and 2) haven’t driven it in close to 30 years. I’d like to think that I could drive it if my life depended on it, but don’t want to test my theory.
An odd bit of market profiling you’re doing for meh, but I’m eager to see their foray into selling cars with what I assume are going to be manual transmissions.
Stick shift preferred – I’m definitely older.
It’s a lost art among younger folks because many vehicles don’t even have the option for a manual.
@narfcake yeah, I’ve been looking at cars recently and had to nix most of them immediately because no manual option.
Cars that do have manual options tend to fall into two camps.
Budget models and you can only get manual on the bare bones car or if it’s a performance vehicle a lot of them you have to buy the most expensive tier to get manual.
I find automatics lifeless and boring to drive so I’m not happy that I might get stuck having to buy one next time.
I mostly drive an automatic lately, but I learned to drive (at 12) in my dad’s old Dodge pickup with a 4-on-the-floor granny-low manual transmission (in the 70’s). My first car (1969 Mustang Mach 1 428 Cobra Jet!) was a stick as were the next several. I didn’t really drive an automatic much until the 2000’s. I made sure all my kids could drive a manual transmission.
Follow-up 9.1: If you drove a stick, was it a 4-on-the-floor or a column shift?
@mike808 oooooh good one
@mike808 I’ve never even seen a column shift? Is that even a real manual, with a clutch, or just one of those pseudo manuals , an automatic that lets you select gear?
All my cars have had the gear selector comfortably by my right arm in front of the hand break.
@mike808 @OnionSoup
Yes… real manual, real clutch!
@mike808 @OnionSoup Real manual transmission indeed! 3 on the tree used up until the early 80’s. I had a buddy that had a 1980 Ford Grenada while we were in high school (mid-80’s) that had one & it was kind of a handful as I recall, especially when we visited the Twin Cities for a concert.
@chienfou @mike808 interesting. I assume it was rotary, like when automatics have the shifter there. I assume the idea was you didn’t have to take your hand off steering wheel when changing gears.
I also assume you can’t skip gears easily with that configuration (Can’t jump from one to three or three to one). Although if only three forward gears they’re probably quite widely spaced in ratio so it’s not something you would want to do often.
Three gears doesn’t seem a lot to me. Never driven anything with fewer than 5 forwards gears. I see the bronco they have coming out has 5 + reverse + “crawler gear” for 7 gears in total. Not sure how different crawler will be from first gear but presumably to stop you stalling going slow off road.
@mike808 @OnionSoup
Still used the classic “H” pattern. Primary benefit was the potential for a front ‘bench’ seat rather than buckets
Why are there two brake pedals on this car, grampa?
@mike808
Or conversely, IF you are used to a stick, when you hit that ginourmous brake pedal (in your car with an automatic transmission) with both feet in an emergency and scare the crap out of your passengers!
@mike808
Guess @daveinwarsh has had the same trouble (see post below from earlier )
@chienfou @mike808 when I drive my wife’s automatic my right hand keeps reaching down for the shifter when I’m accelerating.
Automatic.
I learned how to drive stick when I had my learner’s permit.
I haven’t driven stick in forever. I do however drive a forklift with both feet, so I think the coordination is still there.
Late 30s.
I currently drive a stick but have enjoyed both types over the years.
I’ve heard much of the millennial generation doesn’t know how to drive a stick due to less availability in general, therefore young thugs wanting to steal cars are confused and mad when they hop in…
@moonhat
Funny
I drive automatic. My car (Volvo) has the option for manual but no clutch so it’s not real. I learned when I was 15 (been driving by myself since I’ve had my learners permit) but never had a manual car so I’m not very good at it. My friends with manuals have nicer cars and don’t want me tearing through their clutch so won’t let me try on their car. I would like to master it though.
I’ve always had a stick-shift (I learned on my brother’s rambler, 3-on-the-column, and that indicates my age) except this last work truck, which is auto and I’m not particularly impressed. Mileage and performance is lower, and they’re more expensive to service than manuals. I drive it like a stick, shifting up and down for curves and down-hills, as my right hand is instinctively on the shift lever anyway. Now if I can just figure out what to do with my left foot …
@stolicat
/image my left foot
It varied according to what my father thought he could pick up cheap and sell. 3 on the tree, 4 on the floor, 5 on the floor, you name it. We had an English Ford Anglia, a 2-cylinder Lloyd (600 maybe), a Renault Dauphine, and a 1957(?) Studebaker. I learned on the Renault, and on my mom’s Ford Falcon, then her Rambler, which was 3 on the tree. The first car I bought myself was a used MGB ragtop, and it was a lot of fun. Ah, those were the days.
@OldCatLady a MGB ragtop must have been so fun!
@moonhat It was! I drove it until I was 8 1/2 months pregnant. It’s all about leverage.
I drive automatics, never learned stick shift with a caveat. Before the caveat, I did drive a stick shift once, and it wasn’t great. Thankfully, didn’t have to go that far. The caveat is that I grew up on a farm and drove tractors quite often. I don’t find the experience of a tractor manual transmission maps that well to an automobile. I was born in the 70’s, but only by a couple months.
I currently alternate between stick/auto depending on whether I feel like driving my car or truck that day. Late 30s. Learned in college, in heavy stop & go traffic, when I needed to borrow a car and the only friend who’d lend me theirs had a stick.
I learned to drive on a '51 Chevy, 3 on the tree. I later improved my skills (meaning, I stayed on the road) on a 1960 or maybe '61 Chevy Greenbrier Van. It had 3 by the knee.
I LOVE stick shifts and I’m very sad that they are going away. Right now I still have a stick shift car that sometimes works. I also own an automatic mini van.
Either is fine I have owned plenty of both
Are tractors and forklifts always stick shift? the ones I’ve driven have been stick shift
Those are both fun to drive, but I probably think they’re fun to drive because I’ve never driven either all day long for work
@f00l My tractor is hydrostatic - one pedal goes forward, the other goes in reverse; the harder you push, the faster it goes. Having driven tractors/backhoes with manual transmission and clutch, I wouldn’t want to go back to one.
Manual.
Late thirties. I have owned three cars and none have been automatics. None have been anything particularly “fun” or exotic, either.
Come to think of it, I have never personally owned a vehicle with automatic windows, either.
None of the above is true of you also include my wife’s cars, except that neither of the cars she has owned have been particularly “fun” or exotic, either.
@Limewater I avoided automatic windows as long as I could. They’re all automatic nowadays though.
My thought was always with automatic windows there is more to go wrong and expensive to fix when the window motor dies.
Nowadays though that doesn’t tend to happen as often though.
@OnionSoup Yeah, I always felt like they always tended to break in the down position, since it’s more work to raise the window than to lower it.
That’s also part of why I don’t like automatic transmissions. I greatly prefer to keep things simple.
My newer car is actually a 2014 and it has both manual transmission and manual windows. I’m not sure I’ll be able to find a newer car with crank windows, though.
I never even owned an automatic trans car until I was in my 50’s. 3 on the tree, 3, 4 & 5 on the floor. The last stick shift I had was a 2002 Jeep Wrangler.
It was a slightly difficult transition the first few days, a few times I slammed my foot down to hit the clutch only to find the brake… oops…
Now in my later 60’s, I really like that automatic.
Mid 40s .
Automatic but can drive stick
Got forced into a learning experience when an asshole ex said he would be the DD but started doing shots with the boys. I knew theory only. I drank cola for the rest of the night poured his drunk ass into the passenger side and drove his mustang convertible to where by car was at his dorm. I got pulled over by a cop who thought i was drunk driving due to my jerking shifts. A alcohol test later 0.0 , a lesson on how to drive shift and the cops number and a date planned for the next weekend I continued on. I dumped asshole I dated cop for a while I have never owned a stick but have occasionally driven.
Automatic now except for the Saab convertible project car in the driveway. Someday I’ll get back to it. Learned on automatic but all the delivery trucks in the family florist business were manual. Made my cousin crazy that I couldn’t do anything but a quick run in someone’s personal car. He tried to teach me in a church parking lot. Couple of days later he traded in the oldest truck for a brand new automatic box van. All mine. Until I ran the extended mirror down the side of a city bus. Finally learned stick when my wife and I bought our first car together. Le Car only came in manual. Embarrassing but true.
Automatic, but I have owned a few manual vehicles in my lifetime. I don’t miss those times being stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic using a clutch. Even more anxious was being at stop sign/traffic light at the top of the hill and the car behind you being inches from your rear bumper – probably driven by a person who failed to realize the gravity of the situation because they had never driven a stick.
@DrWorm Heh. I have to deal with the hill thing every day. There’s a stop sign at the top of a hill that is steep in both directions, and people definitely will pull right up on you.
Right now if it looks like there’s a line at the stop sign I downshift and just creep slowly up the hill, leaving plenty of gap between myself and the car in front. Usually I can time it so that I’m caught back up in time to just hit the stop sign in time.
Always had an automatic. I learned the basics of a stick and technically drove one but only a short way a couple times. Old enough to have been called out when renting a car for requesting an automatic. Currently drive very little unless I am temporarily doing a different assignment for work.
Automatic!
No, I don’t know how to drive stick (no matter what you think that means)!!
Learned to drive on stick, have owned both. Each, in my opinion, have advantages and disadvantages. I do like with a stick how, when your battery is on its way out and goes dead as it doesn’t hold much of a charge for long, you can get it started by coasting down a hill. I did that for almost 3 weeks until I finally broke down and bought a battery.
@Kidsandliz That brings back some memories. As broke teenagers, push starting friends’ vehicles was a frequent occurrence.
@DrWorm That is how I learned how that works (eg being part of the group that runs while pushing). When my pickup’s battery was on its way out I had to really think about where I parked so I didn’t have to back up to face the hill. Fortunately the area was hilly.
I can drive either equally well. I learned on a manual with “3 on the tree.” Later I owned several cars/trucks with 4 or 5 on the floor. And I am old enough to be retiring in a few weeks.
Learned on and preferred 5 on the floor until I drove an electric CVT. Had an automatic before and after the electric, but neither stack up.
@yeppers
Whatcha drive?
@PocketBrain Now, a 20 year old automatic Honda Civic. My electric was a Fit EV which Honda insisted on taking back after 5 years.
Learned on a 5-speed stick, but my first car was a '66 Barracuda with 3-on-the-tree. (It was an old car already - I’m not that old). I currently have a Chevy pickup with stick -and- manual 4x4. Not sure how I’m ever going to top two sticks on the transmission hump.
I think I’ve only had one personal car with automatic. (The last three cars I bought for my wife have been automatics. I feel weird when I drive her car.)
I also made sure my kids were proficient with driving stick. First, because I knew the skill would give them more driving options later on. Second, I figured if they were good drivers while dealing with the extra complexity of stick, they might also be more proficient in dealing with distractions when driving friends around. A couple of other parents told me they would only let their kids ride with ours, for that very reason. My kids each still keep at least one car with stick. I hope the tradition carries on to my granddaughters!
@mehcuda67 The second in your truck is for the 4WD transfer case, though, right? Because for car oddities, you need a twin stick that select a second set of ratios.
/image mitsubishi twin stick 8 speed
(More common in large commercial trucks; very uncommon in passenger vehicles)
@narfcake Bingo! The second stick is on the (rather large) transmission hump, but goes to the transfer case. The choices on that stick are 2WD, 4WD and 4WD granny drive, plus a neutral. I guess it has 10 forward and 2 reverse speeds, by Mitsubishi logic.
I love the 4WD in the snow, and put it on for short distances in the rain just to keep the seals lubricated. I only use the granny gear once or twice a year, but it’s good to have when you really, really need it. It beats the ignominy of abandoning the truck and getting towed if you do something ill-advised/ just-plain-stupid involving lots of mud or snow.
@mehcuda67 @narfcake Seems to me I had both on an ancient 4WD Toyota Tercel Wagon. I remember having to wedge myself against the door to push it to engage. Saved my bacon though several times on unplowed roads with 2 or more feet of snow.
Automatic - They only offer a stick in the bare bones base version of my vehicle. My second car was a stick, which I taught myself to drive. I had ridden motorcycles since I was 11, so I knew the process of shifting gears. Things were just in a different place. I went to test drive the car and lied, saying it had been a really long time since I had driven a stick, which was pretty funny since I was only 20. I had never actually driven one. Had no problems at all, didn’t stall it and was totally smooth. I’m considering picking up a used Miata just to have a fun little convertible. It would be nice to drive a stick again.
@cinoclav
Go for it. Looked at a Miata but my head hits the headliner when the top is up… ended up with a Sunfire that I really enjoyed the hell out of.
Used to drive a motorcycle back when I could afford them… made the switch to a convertible when I realized they had the same ‘wind in your (thinning) hair’ feel, but you could put the top up if it was raining! Oh… and everyone else on the road doesn’t try to kill you like they did when I was riding a motorcycle…
@chienfou Yeah, I have an old CBR600 in the garage that I haven’t ridden in years. I’d love to get back to riding but it’s just not fun in this area anymore. I figured a convertible would be a nice alternative.
@cinoclav yeah, I say:
I drive manual. I really don’t understand why it’s so hard to find cars with manual transmission these days.
I hate automatics. I refuse to own a car that is an automatic. (Which severely limits what I can buy these days as manuals tend to be on either budget cars or top of the line cars).
I’ve had both manual & automatic transmissions in vehicles that I’ve owned/driven. I guess I never had any issue w/ a manual because I grew up driving a tractor as a kid, so it kind of came natural. I really liked the 5-Speed in my Dodge Daytona (quite a few years ago), but also like the automatic in my Dodge Caliber that I currently drive.
Most of my cars have been sticks, including a mini-van with a 5 speed manual… currently own two manual vehicles, but have had to resort to ‘borrowing’ my (elderly) mom’s car lately due to a badly sprained left ankle that made using the clutch in my 2003 Vibe a bit of a bitch.
Gave lessons to a friend’s son last summer when he visited from Wisconsin. Yes. It is a disappearing skill set in this day and age.
Old enough to have had an AARP membership for about a quarter of my life… you do the math.
BTW @moonhat … if you need some more data points for your ‘research’ here are some previous topics we covered a few months back…
https://meh.com/forum/topics/4-29-20--the-end-is-nigh
@chienfou I see… thank you
Oh, and for a REALLY fun experience… drive a stick in a country with left hand traffic like England or Australia…
@chienfou no way-- the thought of that is way too scary! I’m a nervous driver half the time in the US, I can’t imagine in one of those places
@moonhat It’s really not THAT bad, especially with the new GPS capabilities. They make sure you don’t forget to turn LEFT when you get to the roundabouts!
biggest struggle for me was hitting the wipers instead of the turn signal… which is on the right side of the column in LHT areas.
@chienfou I did that once! After a few hours, my brain sort of remapped and I could function. I was motivated, because it was the last car available on a Saturday afternoon.
@chienfou I was surprised to find that I had no difficulty adapting to shifting a stick with my left hand in New Zealand. At least the clutch and brake pedals and the shift pattern were in the familiar orientation! The things that gave me trouble were the reversed windscreen wiper/turn indicator control stalks and the rear view mirror on the left.
@macromeh I can remember coming back after a trip to Ireland and having trouble remembering which was the passing lane when I got to France and was driving there.
I had no problem remembering I was back in a right-hand traffic country however I had a hard time remembering whether I should be in the far left or far right lane to pass.
Weird!
@chienfou @macromeh I drove a ex-army truck (canvas top) with kids in the back when I worked for an outdoor adventure program in England and Scotland. Stick. Initially I had to concentrate really hard so as not to screw up with 20+ kids in the back. I finally adapted well enough (lived there for a year) that when I got home I had this dream that I wasn’t sure which side of the road to drive on. No cars were coming to tell me. I then finally figured out (in my dream) to look to see which side of the car had the steering wheel.
In Cambodia they have cars with steering wheels on either side. Of course we were also sharing the road with bikes pulling trailers or had a ton of people balanced on it, animal pulled carts, motorcycles and in Phnom Penh an elephant with tourists on its back. That was chaos in slow motion so far less dangerous to have steering wheels on both sides. Oh and the center line was primarily for decoration. The most important safety feature was the horn.
I drive an automatic, never learned stick except for video games haha. I did try to drive my friends mustang once and made it to the other side of the parking lot.
I’m 31
can drive both…own a automatic with the adaptive cruise that works at all speeds that way I let the truck do most of the work. would have autonomous, but the Rivian or Tesla cyber truck arent available yet for me to buy
@Cbear I bought my first car with adaptive cruise control (but not full autonomous driving) at the beginning of the year. The feature is OK but not all that I had hoped it would be. It always seems to err (IMO) on the side of extreme caution/overreaction when autonomously decelerating or braking. I suppose that is necessary, but I find it annoying sometimes.
Yes! And, Yes! I know how to drive a stick; automatics generally annoy me. However, my current car is a Chevy Volt, with a CVT automatic, which does not have that annoying characteristic of a geared automatic, bumping from gear to gear whenever it feels like it. CVT keeps the perfect ratio at all times; it’s like driving a Mario Kart. I still like a manual and will definitely look for one if I decide to get a second car (thinking Mazda MX-5 Miata).
I learned with a 4-on-the-floor car and a 4-on-the-column pickup with granny 1st. Owned various cars including a hand-me-down automatic, otherwise all manual transmission until now.
On the doorstep of 50. Automatic. Technically I did learn how to drive stick but 1) didn’t do it well and 2) haven’t driven it in close to 30 years. I’d like to think that I could drive it if my life depended on it, but don’t want to test my theory.
An odd bit of market profiling you’re doing for meh, but I’m eager to see their foray into selling cars with what I assume are going to be manual transmissions.
Sidemanual.com
Morningshift.com
PastaClutch.auto?
@stinks I look forward to the turn signal Mehrathons.
@mike808 @stinks
make a side trip to Florida!