I’ll only drive automatic. No desire to work harder at driving in the city.
What, you don’t want to shift gears endlessly while stuck moving between 10 mph and a dead stop on the freeway for three hours?
Hear me out for a second…
Maybe, just maybe, it’s spending 3 hours in stop and go traffic that’s the problem, not the transmission.
Agreed, but having lived it myself with a manual transmission, it’s rough with a manual. It’s one of the few scenarios where I don’t prefer it.
I’m one of the weirdos who wouldn’t mind this. I’ve been dailying my '97 Prelude for most of the summer since I bought it. I didn’t think I’d want to drive it in traffic, but honestly, it’s not the stop and go that ruins the experience for me. It’s the fact that if I get hit by just about any of the trucks on the road, I’m getting a faceful of bumper and best I can hope for is to retain the use of my arms. It’s basically a motorcycle that I can’t lowside.
But I totally get that I’m a fringe case. I completely understand why this would just be too much for someone to want to keep up with in stop and go traffic. Besides, all that starting is bad for clutches. Autos with torque converters handle it a million times better.
Most people aren’t car enthusiasts and enthusiasts need to come to terms with it. Manuals are dying. It’s just the way the world is moving. Let’s enjoy what we have now and appreciate we get to be a part of something we love.
I daily a manual. More people complain about manuals in freeway traffic than there are manual drivers left. Lol
Am I like the only one who just got used to traffic in a manual? It became a complete non-issue after a year. I guarantee we are going to go through this in a few years when one pedal driving in electric cars becomes much more commonplace
I think cars may have something to do with traffic but not sure.
Burn the witch!
There are correlations sure, but I’m not aware of any studies proving a causal link between cars and traffic.
I could just as plausibly say that 95% of cars in traffic have automatic transmissions. And so, just speculating here, but if they all switched to manual transmissions, we may see a significant reduction in traffic.
So… Is a manual transmission not the correct solution? should I move so I can drive a manual?
One way or the other. Cars are the real problem there.
Manual transmission or not, yes, I would confidently say that moving or changing jobs is the best solution to address a 3 hour commute. Bonus point being that you will better be able to enjoy your manual transmission.
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It’s funny because this is the exact same argument anti-cyclists make. Lol
“Tell someone they should ride a bike and suddenly everyone has to move a fridge”
There’s a winning attitude…
Better hope you never have to drive outside of the USA
For me the only reason to drive manual was becase automats used to be less effective. With current generation, the computer with its 12 gears is much more ecological then my macho hand lovingly stroking my cars stick can ever be…
My biggest thing is that they make people pay more attention. I dont think better drivers drive stick, i think the stick makes YOU a better driver.
Less eating, drinking, phone holding, texting etc. You have to know speeds and rpms for which gears. It keeps me from speeding knowing this street is a 4th gear street. When i end up driving a auto car, i will often loook down and wonder how i got to the speed i am at, though that may also be due to the fact its not my car and im just not used to the sensation of speed.
On another note, i think on average manual trans are less prone to failure. I know alot of cars that have essentially been junked due to an auto trans problem, but a manual just needs a new clutch every one and a while. Though this might be less common on newer cars compared to 90’s and early 2000’s cars.
And with the rise of EVs auto transmission failures will be a thing of the past. Except for the few sports EVs that for some reason have a multiple gears.
Do you not know how gears work? For some reason? Do you really not understand why they have more gears?
We do
EVs have a single reduction gear and no transmission or gear change. Most are rated for around a million miles and only require a gear oil change every few years or so.
i think the stick makes YOU a better driver.
It doesn’t make me a better driver, it’s a continual distraction. I recently switched from a manual to an automatic car and I now have far more available headspace to pay attention to the world around me.
i think on average manual trans are less prone to failure.
As far as I’m aware this is still true. They’re also significantly cheaper to repair/replace if need be.
I dont understand how constantly having to (partially ofc) focus on shifting could get you more focused on actually driving. If anything, it takes away your attention from the road.
Shifting is just part of driving. It means you have to pay attention to speed, Rpm, and braking points. It just makes driving more engaging, which reduces distraction. It doesnt make driving easier. If anything it makes it harder. But the benefit is that it reduces complacency.
When i am driving. I am driving. Im not doing makeup, eating, messing with the radio, texting etc. Part of that is driving stick. It keeps you engaged in driving. Thats not to say its impossible to be a distracted driver in a manual, just that its easier to get distracted in an auto.
It is definitely NOT part of driving as it is not required, obviously. Dont confuse ‘a method used for driving’ with driving itself. If in the past cars were made so that you are driving upside down, people like you would argue using the exact same words. ‘its part of it’, ‘its harder so you focus more’, etc. It makes zero sense to keep an outdated distraction for the fictional benefit of reducing other distractions. The missing stick doesnt make people eat or use their phones while driving, thats what bad drivers have been doing for decades. People that care about safety try to minimize distractions, which includes shifting without doubt. You are free to use the stick, it is not banned yet and is not as big of a distration as others (mainly because of hundreds of hours of practice), but you cannot argue that it is not a distraction at all.
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You said its a part of driving and makes people better drivers and it makes me angry ever time people make arguments like these. It makes no sense that adding artificial distractions to driving would give a benefit. Youre saying it can make other distractions hard enough not to be attempted but thats just because youre already partly distracted, youre even using the words ‘forced attention’. What is a distraction if not something that takes your attention? Thats like making people drive with an eyepatch so theyll look at their phones less. Maybe it would even work, I dont know, but that would make me even angrier at how stupid humans are.
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Its not an artificial distraction. It has real implications on how your car works. Just because you are not shifting, doesnt mean the car does not shift. The extra control allows a user more control of the vehicle. It does require more skill and practice, but has a higher performance ceiling. There is a reason race cars dont use automatic transmissions. The best race cars dont have a clutch, but the driver is still in control of every shift.
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Forced attention and distractions are different. Driving stick is more attention on the act of driving itself. Look at the research for self driving cars and expecting the drivers to pay attention. Its nearly impossible to pay attention to something that takes less interaction. Honestly, if you lack the hand eye coordination and multitasking ability to drive stick, i pray you never try to change a radio station or turn up or down the heater in your car.
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This is a very astute answer, I like it
For speed control I wish every car had easy to use cruise control and speed limiting, I hate having to constantly worry I’ve crept above the limit and will get a ticket especially on long boring roads littered with speed cameras.
Imagine just being able to concentrate on what’s around you and where you’re going without needing to be endlessly worrying about engine revs, speed enforcement, and the potential cost of getting either wrong.
Do you love cars stick? Are you a gay car?
i very recently learned how to drive. Learned manual because it is still the majority of cars on the roads here… Looking forward to the majority of the vehicles being automatic! It makes a lot more sense
8+ auto with paddles. Perfect
Handbrake start is for noobs. Learn to use your clutch.
Roll backwards into the person behind you to establish manual dominance.
On a steep hill, your clutch will thank you for using the handbrake. Especially in stop and go traffic towing a trailer. Ask me how I know.
How I know?
I know you’re being funny, but to answer the question I posited: every summer, after people came back from towing their caravans up through the mountains, my dad’s shop would be replacing loads of clutches with people complaining about the weird smells their car started making. Or the sudden trouble they had shifting.
There’s a nightmare scenario if I ever heard one.
Cars are for nubes, real chade walks🫡. Talking about the true manual here.
true! although wouldnt manual be walking on ones hands ?
No, that would be handual.
yeah but manual is an adjective often meaning ‘to do with hands’ or whatever. like a teeth are dental
BTW, I think you can technically drive a car with only hand, but that sounds like a bad time in most cars.
Yes, it comes from the latin word for hand
Using your third foot…?
You let the clutch up until the rims start to drop a tiny bit, at this point you can let off the brake and move your foot to the gas. You shouldn’t move backwards as long as you are slow and feel for the engine to not stall
You get the car rolling with just the clutch. Quite the pain, not a fan of driving stick myself.
Tell me you are a diesel driver without telling me. By the time you get an average gas car moving the light is red again if you don’t rev it to at least 1500
Ah, you mean that because diesel cars have more torque, you can do things like starting uphill with just the clutch.
I was wondering, because I certainly didn’t opt for a handbrake start for the fun of it. My car’s engine simply died, if I lifted the clutch too far without accelerating and ‘too far’ was far below getting enough torque to not roll downhill.
Mine has a brief brake assist, about 1.5 seconds it won’t roll backwards on a hill start.
It’s so subtle and I’ve had the car so long, I completely forget about it.
Any time I drive a car without it freak out when I come off the brake and the car starts moving backwards.
Tips for a learner? My stompy parking brake won’t play nice right now, so I kind of need to figure this shit out in my new old truck. Lol.
Well, it’s just a trick you need to get the feeling for. Start one foot on the break, and other on the clutch. Let clutch go halfway, without stalling the car, and quickly move your right foot from brake to gas. Press on gas pedal, while releasing clutch. If you do it right, the car starts driving forward, even on a upwards hill. It takes practice, and every car feels different.
A good indicator for learning this – especially if you don’t have the feel for your clutch yet – is to watch your RPM counter. If it starts to dip, the clutch is starting to engage. From there on, continue as described.
If you’re on a really steep incline, you’ll have to press both the brake and gas pedal at the same time using your right foot, while feathering the clutch with your left. I’ve heard this called the “heel toe” technique.
If your engine has enough torque or if the hill isn’t steep enough, you can ignore this and just ease off the clutch while transitioning from the brake to gas.
Heel-toe is used during downshifts to match rpms
Yep. I also used it a lot when starting on a hill on vehicles without handbrakes.
Awesome. Thanks. I’ve down Heel-Toe before in an automatic up a mountain road in the snow, so I’m familiar with that a little.
Ever drive in Seattle?
No, but my family hails from the Ozarks.
good point
I do, too, and drove one for many years. I’ll be the one to splash cold water on the conversation, though.
Driving a stick arguably requires the use of both hands and legs, which is great and partly the reason why so many enjoy it - that sense of engagement. It’s far less boring.
But here’s the deal. Injure any one of those appendages and driving a manual becomes a whole lot less fun. In some cases, you can get by, but it’s less than ideal. Having your arm closest to the shift in a sling, for example, makes your vehicle undrivable.
It won’t matter to most people… right up until the moment it does.
I’m a manual aficionado, but my mother hasn’t driven a stick, despite teaching all her children how to, since I was born due to her arthritis. Apparently her knees don’t like having to clutch constantly. I’d rather have her mobile and active as she is now, than have her stuck at home reliant on my dad to give her rides.
As someone with a manual and bad knees, I feel for your mom. One day I’ll probably have to do the same, thankfully that day hasn’t come yet.
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Clutch with left foot
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stabilize steering wheel with right knee (if necessary)
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reach over with left hand and engage gear
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grab steering wheel with left hand
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drive normally
Me drinking coffee in the morning, a tutorial.
That’s how they all do it in Britain anyway.
Hey I do that too!! There’s a skill for moving from 1st to Reverse with the left hand while the right looks for the cup holder with the coffee in hand.
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I was a manual purist, until I move to a large city and had to drive in it often.
I still miss my manual cars, but god damn it was a pain in the city.
I love driving stick. Or I did up until the day my left knee fell apart. Now it’s just not an option for me.
Having your arm closest to the shift in a sling, for example, makes your vehicle undrivable.
I broke my right shoulder and spent two months driving my stick shift SC2 (in the US) entirely with my left hand. It’s doable, you just have to shift really quickly and get your hand back on the steering wheel. Not having the use of both feet would probably kill the deal.
This happened to me in highschool. I got a bad skiing injury, my leg wasn’t broken but I pulled my ACL, and they put my leg in a brace. My parents had to come pick me up at 10PM and drive my car home for me. Nobody was happy about the situation.
I got pulled over a couple of months ago and the cop told me to put it in park. I wiggled the stick back and forth to show it was in neutral and they thought I was fucking with them and kept saying to put it in park. Idiots
“Sorry sir. I was in airplane mode.”
smartest cop
This is the funniest.
All of these people responding that they prefer auto so they can eat or otherwise not pay attention in the car are the best (only?) argument for why everyone should drive manual.
Whatever your transmission preference is, if you’re not engaged in driving you shouldn’t be on the road!
I assure you, as someone who has been driving a manual for years now, I can definitely eat a burger and drive while my mind wanders heh
You don’t need to assure me of the blatantly obvious. My point wasn’t that you can’t eat and drive manual at the same time, it was that all these people claim automatic is a better transmission on the basis it facilitates their choice to drive distracted shouldn’t be on the road. I didn’t see a single person saying “oh I like driving manual better because it makes it easier for me to be an irresponsible road user”.
Jesus Christ, I’m just goofing around, what the fuck is up with people on this website being so goddamn serious all the time?
You came across as super patronizing so I responded the same. It’s not that big of a thing man, chill out.
But I even put the heh T_T me big American eat cheeseburger and drive car… How could it be patronizing?
I can drive my manual and eat at the same time just fine, thankyouverymuch :) I think I once submitted a pull request while on the road…
git driving: not even once
You can eat and not pay attention with a manual transmission, I don’t know why we’d pretend you can’t. If you’re just on the highway cruising both are just going to be in one gear all the time.
Either way, the problem is that people have to drive even if they don’t want to engage. The popularity of automatic transmissions proves that (to most Americans at least) cars are an appliance and something people do because they have to. Fuck cars.
You can eat and not pay attention with a manual transmission, I don’t know why we’d pretend you can’t. If you’re just on the highway cruising both are just going to be in one gear all the time.
I never claimed you couldn’t eat and drive a manual. I said that people who claim autos are better because they make it easier to choose to drive distracted (alternative phrasing - who choose to drive like a reckless asshole) shouldn’t be on the road.
Either way, the problem is that people have to drive even if they don’t want to engage. The popularity of automatic transmissions proves that (to most Americans at least) cars are an appliance and something people do because they have to. Fuck cars.
Well, yeah, that’s always been the case. There are some enthusiasts sure, but for the most part a car is seen as a more convenient bus. But people riding the bus seldom choose to behave dangerously while commuting, there’s something about the mentality of these people (choosing to drive distracted) that is at odds with normal, acceptable behavior
true. when did the chad drink driving get replaced with soy ‘distracted’ driving
It’s better to be skilled at distractive driving than being unskilled.
I went from a inline 6 BMW diesel manual engine I drive for 10 years to my current Mazda 6 2.5L with automatic. Its easier and more luxurious to drive the automatic, but when I going for drive enjoyment I still have the habit of grabbing the shift lever when downshift is needed, and I often miss the feel and control of the manual when I edging it on curvy roads, even when my automatic has shift paddles, its just not the same.
But in a traffic jam in a city, for sure I will any day take an automatic over manual…
Every car I’ve owned has been manual and I hate my latest decision since 99% of my driving is stop and go. Honestly I’d prefer no cars at all.
I prefer my manual even in stop-and-go traffic. Gives me something to do other than hate the people in front of me.
Hell, in a car, is other drivers.
There’s a game that is called “Hell is others” I got it for free, but haven’t installed it. It seems to be some sort of survival horror game where you attempt to avoid everyone else and escape the city
It is very difficult to find manual transmission in a passenger car in the US now. I would like one but good luck finding what you want used. Even new, very few models have a manual option. And I think it costs more for a manual transmission now. It used to be cheaper.
The cheapest car I know of off the lot is a base model versa which comes with a manual that’s decent.
The noob trap is “upgrading” it to get the automatic. It’s maybe the worst new cvt you can buy.
Nissan Versa?
Does the base MSRP of $15,980 have the manual transmission?
Imma have to test drive that, I think.
Yeah the lowest trim level has a manual (or can be had with a manual). Call ahead to the dealership to make sure they have it in.
christ, a base model Versa for $16k. Thats a nightmare
Can confirm: I drive a Nissan and the CVT is feckin awful.
I could barely find any sticks when I was car shopping, and they were all base models. I finally found a dealer with a manual Impreza but it was actually more expensive than the automatic next to it with a sunroof and heated seats
Your luck may change… Way back when I was car shopping I found a used BMW 328i with the sport package discounted because they couldn’t find a buyer who knew how to drive a manual. I have been driving that car for 12 years now.
>BMW
>12 yearsStop lying.
I didn’t say it was cheap.
Nah, dude/dudette, I’m done churning butter. If you have to change gear every two seconds because the bellend infront of you couldn’t navigate a straight road it just gets annoying.
Also handbrake start at a hill is for amateurs who don’t know their transmission (⌐■_■) yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
Also driving in Seattle or San Francisco
The the car I drive for work has a volume knob and I hate it with a passion.
Those piss me off for reasons beyond manual supremacy - they’re bad UI design too. A knob is for controlling something (like volume) which varies continuously over a range. It is not for selecting from a short list of discrete options!
Ah, gotcha! We need a menu inside the entertainment system where you can select a gear via touch-screen… /s
Please stop giving them ideas
yep.
Spent all my life driving manual cars and I am completely comfortable and at ease with their pending demise due to hybrids and full BEVs. I wouldn’t be surprised if some EVs get phony gears and broom broom noises for people who can’t cope with just having to set a direction and push a pedal to make things happen.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some EVs get phony gears and broom broom noises
Lexus made one already
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a42180807/lexus-built-an-ev-with-a-fake-manual-transmission/
No God damn please, dont ruin my Utopia of everyone in 2040 running almost silent cars :(
Sorry to burst your bubble.
“basic traffic noise from highways won’t get perceptibly quieter due to electric cars. Urban road traffic noise below 40 kph likely will, as engine noise starts to dominate at lower speeds. And we can all look forward to fewer and fewer noisy motorcycles and trucks, and no economy cars with broken mufflers.”
https://cleantechnica.com/2016/06/05/will-electric-cars-make-traffic-quieter-yes-no/
Interesting to see if that makes it to production. To me it seems as dumb as someone buying an MP3 player that has a fake turntable, record and needle you need to set down for the music to play.
Hell even automatic ICE vehicles have this. Toyota deliberately makes the transmission less responsive in their vehicles because they found that drivers prefer to feel a bit of lurching.
Car won’t start? Push it down a hill, avoid running over my foot, and climb in before it pulls away from you.
This is how I got to nursery school on at least one occasion I can remember.
I love manual transmission, and miss it badly. It was awesome getting out of both mud and snow. Plus, I felt like I was actually driving the car, not guiding it.
Where’s my manual electric car?!
What do you mean electric motors have no transmissions?!
What do you mean electric motors have no transmissions?
They do though, it’s just that most are single speed reduction boxes (unless you’ve got a Taycan).
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Electric motion makes an electric trial motorcycle with a clutch!
Best I can do 🤷
Ahhh we had a different method - push it until you get to a decending road (don’t know the right term in english lol) put in 2nd gear and start rolling while trying to start like maniac - worked every time lol
Descending works, but “a downhill road” would be the more conversational way to say it
What about… a condescending road?
Nah that’s when the road is like, “that’s some real good driving for a moron”
That’s basically what I described: down a hill. Although in my experience described above, it was not on a road.
So I didn’t catch that, sorry I guess it’s universal lol
You tell your car explicitly where to go, when to start, when to stop, when to accelerate and when to slow down.
Sounds like actual driving to me.True, but controlling the transmission gave me an extra layer of sensation, a more direct involvement in the process. It’s a matter of degrees. Plus, there are levels of finesse one gains.
You can ride in a taxi and you won’t be the driver even if the actual driver is patient enough to let you tell him explicitly when to start, stop, etc.
Wrong analogy. You command your car, not taxi driver.
But that’s my point - commanding isn’t the same thing as driving. If you’re the passenger in a taxi, you can be commanding but you’re clearly not driving. If you have a car with an automatic transmission, you’re still driving in most ways (you steer, brake, etc.) but you’re no longer the driver of the transmission; you’re just the commander of it.
If you have a car with manual transmission then you have additional control over modes of the engine. But it’s not the essence of driving, because you can have control over mode of the engine of washing machine, for example.
Key component of driving is control over route and speed of a car. And you still have it with automatic transmission.I’d go so far as to say you aren’t the commander of the transmission. The programmer who designed the shifting algorithm controls it.
It’s funny manual is the standard here so there’s no ego boost to driving one, people always tell me it’s because we have more corners which has never made any sense (I e. You need to go into second or third at roundabout which I think older autos would have a little lag with or something, certainly not a problem in cars from this century)
I would love an automatic, i think it would make my driving safer in several ways, for a start not having to focus on gears at key moments like navigating road changes and corners or pulling away in a busy carpark. When I drove in the US it was so nice not having to constantly be doing stuff in traffic that I wasn’t anywhere near as tired which again is a big safety issue
I grew up in the UK, learning on stick, moved to us drive an automatic.
i live in a city, I work in an office, I don’t have any hobbies that require something I can’t lift with two hands (except my piano, but I hardly take that around with me).
I can’t for the life of me think of a reason why I would need a stick. its so pleasant to be able to drink coffee or water while driving, have an arm out the window, or even just being at rest driving.
I dont get the appeal.
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Out of curiosity, how far do you drive on an average day, and what’s considered a long drive for you?
I’m wondering if the popularity of automatics in the US is affected by longer commutes on average, which makes manual driving more exhausting. My personal feeling is, on a 5 hour drive to my parent’s house, I really want to be able to relax and listen to some podcasts without getting too weary to drive, but I’m not sure if it really makes a difference.
I think you’re onto something. U.S citizen here and I actually love driving stick but where I live it’s a few hour drive to anywhere which makes driving a manual seem like more of a hassle, whereas those long trips in an automatic feel leisurely and I’m more well rested when I arrive.
Couple that with manuals more commonly found in larger trucks around here. I work on vehicles, see many and can’t remember the last small car or truck that was manual. It’s all semi’s, dump trucks, dualies, you know? Big trucks which adds another barrier to people.
I feel like if there were smaller manuals in my area then perception would change. As it is they’re reserved for work, big work at that.
It’s sad to lose manuals in society but I’m seeing them less and less, everything seems to be going electric now, even companies known for diesel manuals.
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