can you drive stick shift?

i understand how it works but have never actually tried driving with one - would like to learn at some point maybe

Used to feel like I was 'less of man' for not being able to drive stick but fuck that noise tbh

― 龜, Wednesday, October 8, 2014 12:15 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm, fuck that noise. my in-laws are super into cars, classic and vintage shit and car shows and all that and i am always kind of amused wondering what they think of their son-in-law who drives a beat-up toyota with bumper stickers and shit. i used to be embarrassed but now who gives a fuck? i love my car and why do i feel like i need to drive stick if there are automatic transmissions available everywhere?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1IE-ERnEBw

I learned how to drive on stick, and only drove stick from ages 16-26. Only reason I don't now is because Toyota didn't make a minivan with stick (at least, not for the US).

I miss it, though. It was fun! Also waaaayy the fuck easier to drive stick in the snow than automatic.

The only part of driving a manual that is even remotely tricky in modern cars is learning the correct pedal motion to re-engage the clutch once you've shifted, and even that is pretty easy to figure out.

The second trickiest part is figuring out how to steer, shift and drink coffee simultaneously. (Hint: omit the coffee.)

Automatic transmission auto rentals in Western/Central Europe cost about 50% more than manual transmission. Also, most of the automatics get rented out by Americans and are in rare supply.

I haven't owned a car with a slushbox in two decades. I far prefer feeling connected to the machine. Heel-and-toe shifting, upshifting at the redline, blipping the throttle for downshifts.

That said, double-clutch automated manuals are slowly trickling down to mainstream models, and for performance and fuel economy, they're finally the equal or superior to rowing through the gears.

is there a reason stick shift would be a preferable way to drive now? is it like the "i only listen to vinyl" of automotive enthusiasts?

i wouldn't mind knowing how to drive stick but i've never felt really i was missing that much really.

You supposedly get better gas mileage, which is negated I'm sure by the cost of replacing clutches when they wear out + the chance that you can fry your transmission with a misshift

sometimes when i'm driving my right hand will hang around the gear shift, as if i'm going to do anything with it, as if i've ever driven stick before. it's like a false phantom limb thing that comes from watching too many car chase movies imo.

for ppl who grew up driving stick or actually enjoy driving an above-average amount i'm sure there's nothing better but for the rest of us (in usa) there's no need to know how to drive stick anymore.

my dad, sometime vintage car enthusiast, owns a '65 mustang and even it is an automatic.

sometimes when i'm driving my right hand will hang around the gear shift, as if i'm going to do anything with it, as if i've ever driven stick before. it's like a false phantom limb thing that comes from watching too many car chase movies imo.

― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Wednesday, October 8, 2014 12:43 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

downshifting with an automatic is super useful tho, i should do it more than i do already.

xps
Manual shifting has a different feel to it that, as Sanpaku pointed out, can be quite gratifying at times. But, no, there's no especially practical reason why a manual would be preferable.

I've always driven automatics and my wife always has driven sticks so it's been kind of funny having to drive each others cars. She thought automatics "felt like go-karts" for years but I think she is slowly coming around. I learned stick on a Cavalier which had the touchiest clutch ever and thus thought for a long time that driving stick was way harder than it actually was. To me the better gas mileage was my main motivation to (eventually) get a stick, though I think automatics have been so good the last decade or so that there really isn't an advantage anymore. oh well.

That said, double-clutch automated manuals are slowly trickling down to mainstream models, and for performance and fuel economy, they're finally the equal or superior to rowing through the gears.

― TTAGGGTTAGGG (Sanpaku), Wednesday, October 8, 2014 12:38 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

What are those things, anyway? So, is there a clutch? No clutch? Are these those paddle-shifter dealies?

Think manuals used to be cheaper by $1k too so that was a factor as well

i have p much only ever driven stick and i am an insufferable prick about it

^^^

otm tho

Tarfumes, here's the wiki on dual-clutch transmissions. They automate the clutching, shifting and rpm matching that occurs during up/downshifts on manuals, and without the energy waste and slow shifting of the torque converter in traditional automatics. While high-end sportscars (F1, Ferrari, Lambo etc) have had them for some time, they're also trickling down as an option on BMW, Mercedes, VW group, Smart vehicles.

They're not perfect, though, as they don't do the slow inching forward in traffic as well as a traditional automatic.

Think manuals used to be cheaper by $1k too so that was a factor as well

funny enough if you want something like a new Dodge Challenger in a stick it'll cost you $1k extra. I always thought the cheap cost was a big benefit, particularly on the secondary market where they are harder to sell as half the population can't drive 'em

You supposedly get better gas mileage, which is negated I'm sure by the cost of replacing clutches when they wear out + the chance that you can fry your transmission with a misshift

― 龜, Wednesday, October 8, 2014 9:41 AM (1 hour ago)

my last car had 219,000 miles on it when the engine was done for and I gave it away for parts -- it was still on the original clutch and transmission. my new car (it's a 2005 rav-4) is also a stick shift. Apparently because fewer people are learning to drive stick, stick shift cars are less likely to be stolen, which for me is very valuable

less likely to be stolen

the first truly practical reason yet given for owning a manual transmission car

otm

i've read news stories in the past about 'dumb crooks' who tried to steal a stick shift car and it was a big 'fail'

I knew a guy (who was maybe a psychopath) who said he drove a stick b/c it made him feel superior to other drivers

more control over the car in stick shift, if you think that's impractical then idk

stick was how i learned to drive, and after that period of my life when i was driving that car i've barely driven any, so when i do drive an automatic i feel vaguely reckless, like i'm just floating through space at high speeds with no control

i'm no control freak, the car can do what it wants

http://dc466.4shared.com/img/_rVDwTvg/s3/kitt_lights_animation.gif

well stick does suck if you happen to live right by an area with a stoplight at the top of a steep hill where drivers will creep up riiiight behind ya at a red light

They're not perfect, though, as they don't do the slow inching forward in traffic as well as a traditional automatic.

― TTAGGGTTAGGG (Sanpaku), Wednesday, October 8, 2014 1:07 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Cool, thanks for that info! Cleared it all up for me.

it sucks that to learn to drive a stick in the USA you have to know someone who has one to let you drive. maybe there are american places that rent sticks? not where I've lived recently. I wish I was better at it b/c I live in europe again and getting an automatic is a pain & $$$

You can pop the clutch with a manual to start when the battery is dead etc.

Manuals are easy to learn and fun to drive, but there is a short learning curve. An afternoon in a big parking lot and learning to start on a steep hill are all you really need. It can be picked up in a few hours.

Had to learn how to drive stick about 7 years ago when I was house/cat sitting for a woman who had a chronically ill cat that sometimes needed to make emergency trips to the vet. She gave me a few lessons in her beat-up 20-year-old corolla before she left town for a month. And sure enough I ended up having to take that cat to the vet. The vet office was up a short, steep hill which was tricky, but I did alright.

Don't think I could remember how to do it now though.

more control over the car

I guess if you are stuck in mud and need to rock the car by shifting rapidly from first to reverse and back, then a manual would give you more control. In my experience the process of upshifting or downshifting is basically dictated by the shift points designed into the transmission's gear ratios, and an automatic can recognize these shift points just as well as I can. Ignore them and I just over-rev or else lug the engine.

But I am not a very demanding driver, either.

i have p much only ever driven stick and i am an insufferable prick about it

― gbx, Wednesday, October 8, 2014 11:56 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Cannot remember the last time I drove a stick. I do miss having a bit more control going up a hill than "accelerate harder".

I don't know how you UK/AUS drivers do it left-handed.

well stick does suck if you happen to live right by an area with a stoplight at the top of a steep hill where drivers will creep up riiiight behind ya at a red light

― Maggie killed Quagmire (collest baby ever) (frogbs), Wednesday, October 8, 2014 11:20 AM (18 minutes ago)

hahah yeah, that can be stressful

no feeling quite like being a teenager who kills the engine on an uphill stoplight with a line of cars honking behind you

that's when you peel out and leave them behind in a cloud of dust and smoke!

http://www.clickhole.com/quiz/how-many-these-springsteen-songs-have-you-heard-1162

Can’t Drive Stick So I’m Stuck In This Town

I learned to drive on a stick and the only new car I ever bought was a stick because at the time (1999) it was considerably cheaper. I don't think I've driven a stick since we sold the car in 2005 so who knows how terrible I would be at it now. Given a choice, I would prefer an automatic because it's easier and I don't feel compelled to connect to the car or prove my awesomeness or whatever. I just want to get where I'm going safely and stop having to worry about the dumb car.

def rented an automatic in australia because that would have added an extra level of insanity

so who knows how terrible I would be at it now.

You'd probably remember/be good at it. I hadn't driven stick for nine years until I had to for my job, driving a junker "yard car" in an auto salvage yard. It all came right back to me. And the muffler had been removed, so I would find excuses to drive it/rev it just for the hilarious sound it made.

Yeah, I bet you're right. I hardly drive at all anymore and when I was home on vacation, I picked that back up (in an automatic) pretty easily. I'm sure it doesn't hurt that I learned while my brain was still young and squishy.

I misread my driver's permit and instead of coming back within 60 days to take the road portions, I waited 60 days. Police instructor wasn't in town on that specific day, so I had to go to the next town over in Mom's Subaru stationwagon and took it in that.

Learned how to drive smoother on a stick real quick.

the first time I drove a stick it was a prof's car & he wanted to work while we drove to chi for a meeting so he drove us to the toll road & we switched seats, then I took us the hr on the freeway. so my first time behind the wheel of a stick was at 80 miles an hour. but once you get started it's easy, and I didn't have to shift down except for a couple of toll booths, so it was fine. once we got to the city we switched back.

The most annoying thing I remember about my manual transmission:

I had this week in 1995 where I was still living in Minneapolis and still working temp jobs. One night, me and this drinking buddy go to this weird bar where the bartender wasn't wearing sleeves and they were passing out boxes of matches that looked like Marlboro packages. We got the hell out of there and when we got to the car, my reverse gear wouldn't work. You ever try to get out of a parallel parking spot in the snow with no reverse gear? I'd go forward a little bit and then my drinking buddy would push me back. Turns out, I'd also lost my fifth gear.

So I get this job at Affiliated Foods Headquarters out in fucking Edina or somewhere. I'm driving my Cavalier down the interstate at 60 in fourth gear. I scope the parking lot for a space on an incline where I can coast backward at the end of the day, or at the very least, has a wall or sign in front of the space where I can shove off and run and jump back into the car. A little ghostriding the whip from 0 to 15.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I don't know how you UK/AUS drivers do it left-handed.

i only did this once, in rural ireland, and after 20 minutes or so of sheer panic i got ludicrously into it. it was like playing a video game - learning a set of new actions which are quite similar to a set of actions that i already knew. the weirdest thing for me is that the gears are laid out the same - first is up-right, second is down-left, etc, so that you're moving your hand in, closer to your body, as you shift up the gears.

no, far more frightening than that was the fuckin roundabouts. DO NOT WANT.

Actually much safer than signal light intersections.

Someday I will make a pilgrimage to Swindon's famous Magic Roundabout from across the Atlantic.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/63126000/jpg/_63126500_msn_magic_roundabout_470x350.jpg

sticks are annoying as fuck. glad i can do it but won't buy another one.

i get the control aspect, and the mileage +, but sticks are just too shitty and annoying in stop and go traffic

Automatic only. And I use cruise control at every opportunity. I like to adjust the cruise speed while pretending I'm in space, engaging forward or reverse thrusters.

re mileage - i understand that manual transmissions have historically been better on fuel economy, but i'm not sure that's still the case in many makes/ models. the difference is certainly not as substantial as it once was.

i drove a manual trans '02 Jetta from 2008 until last month and was definitely not impressed with the mpgs (though tbf i'm not sure that era Jetta was renowned for its economy). my current '05 auto Altima does considerably better. and quite a bit larger.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

i can think of three ilx0rs who don't/cannot drive; who are the other four

waaaayy the fuck easier to drive stick in the snow than automatic.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, October 8, 2014 11:34 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

missed this before, so otm

don't drive in snow. don't do that.

You sure? It's fun!

i really only drive from el paso airport to the observatory at top of a mountain.

the first 3 hours are city and freeway so automatic works.

the last 30 mins is like 25% grade and the automatic is awful.

on balance, i would have to say: don't go to grad school.

It snows in El Paso?

Driving automatic still feels like operating a dodgem car to me.

Although two US ILX0rs offered to let me use their cars last year and I demurred out of wrong-side-of-the-road concerns, and it's only just occurred to me how easy it would be bcz automatic

I don't know how you UK/AUS drivers do it left-handed.

Used to borrow a friend's left hand drive car at uni, then drive my parents' right hand drive when I went back home. Whenever I switched I would fumble around a few times for the gear lever with the wrong hand by the door, but settled back in to the right mindset pretty quickly.

On a trip to Boston once the rental place was like "we have a manual, if you can drive that?" I was all smug-Britishes and like "Yeah, I think I can handle a manual, buddy". Got in and had the immediate panic of realising the gear stick was on the 'wrong' side of me, and curse my smugness, etc.

I like automatics, but I don't miss the unexpected downshift of an overzealous auto transmission while going round a corner. I had some dicey moments in my last (automatic) car where the back end kicked out a little because I went just too hard on the accelerator coming out of a bend. It was a ~1994 car, though, and I'm sure auto boxes have come a long way in 20 years.