My Lexus is 350 was totaled by an elderly woman who jackknifed me and literally the second I settled with insurance I began looking for a manual because the paddles just don't do it for me.
Have always had automatics. When I was learning to drive though my dad has a manual transmission car so he insisted I learn how to drive that before switching to an automatic. It's come in useful a few times over the years, normally in taking over driving for friends who drank a little more than intended. It doesn't surprise me that not everyone knows how to drive stick, but it does surprise me when I'm somewhere with a good number of people and literally no one else in the room does.
me...and I live in the mountains. I bought the last year of the subaru 4x manual..2014 Many people told me I should not buy the manual, "because they will never make it again." ha. my manual will easily outsell any auto 2014 out here, in Colorado. Going up Eisenhower tunnel in bumper to bumper traffic is a chore, but I have a cool, key button to help
I learned on a manual Mercury Topaz and now currently drive a manual Ford Ranger. Also have an automatic Mazda 3. I live in an area with a lot of hills, and I now sort of regret getting the standard truck. It really really sucks in stop and go traffic when there is an accident or construction. I agree there is a fun factor sometimes, but I doubt I will ever get another manual after this one. Plus the missus can't drive a stick and the Ranger is a really difficult vehicle to learn on.
The most annoying thing for me when driving a stick is when you are at a stop light on an incline and the person behind you stops with inches of space between your vehicle and theirs. It's your damn fault if I slightly bump you when you give me no freaking room for error. That's the problem with people who only have driven automatics their entire lives and never learned stick. Many of them are used to tailgating and don't know how difficult they are making it for the driver with the manual in front of them when they tailgate at a light going up hill. I know new cars with manuals have hill assist, but unfortunately mine doesn't. I wish there was a bumper sticker that stated:"Manual transmission vehicle. Tailgate at traffic lights at your own risk". Also, how many stick drivers here are proficient with advanced manual techniques such as rev match downshifts and heal and toe. I know heal and toe is not really necessary on public roads, but I do find it fun occasionally. The only problem with the **** car I drive is that the pedals aren't really spaced for it. It took me a while to be proficient at 'bliping' the throttle. At first I would would blip the throttle way too much. Which brings me to another point with people who learn how to drive stick. They become good at throttle control. I know some new expensive sports cars such as Porsche's 6-speed comes with a mode where it will blip the throttle for you on downshifts. I don't know how I feel about that, but as long as it is a mode and you can turn it off, that should be fine.
This was mainly a problem my first couple of weeks on a manual. I'm at a point that I'm not worried but rather annoyed when someone tailgates me at a stop. I really don't like using the handbrake method and my car's clutch pedal's engagement point is pretty high which makes it a tad more difficult to not roll back an inch or two on steep inclines.
Drove stick all my life until kids came along. Had to sold the Max SE for a family car. It has been years so I have forgotten how much I miss it. I'm pretty sure if I drive one now, I will hate my current car for a few weeks. When I was traveling for busn alot and still had my stick, I misses it greatly every time I'm on the road with a rental. The feeling of driving my car once back home was great. On texting and fb, ever wonder why google is in self driving car... More time for googling. That future gen will miss the complex ability to just drive.
Learned to drive on a stick and drove it for 8 years, but with Houston traffic and my commute I would have at a minimum chronic knee problems if I still drove one, or quite possibly I would have driven off the side of an overpass due to temporary insanity.
You mean tiptronic? My high-powered luxury vehicle is automatic, but can switch to electronic manual. I have 2 other vehicles that are strictly manual. I've driven tractors, tanks, and all sorts of construction vehicles. I can pretty much drive anything with wheels or tracks. Driving manual takes more effort, but I like it. Can't say I like it more (or less) than automatic. It's just good to have an option. Good to have more than one vehicle to choose.
In the last four years I have vacationed in Italy, Costa Rica, Switzerland, and the UK and all the decently priced rental cars were manual. (For example, the manual Opal SUV was only $60 a day while the automatic Ford Escape was $130 a day.) I am really glad my Dad forced me to learn how to drive one. However I had one in Houston in my 20s and jesus the traffic is not made for manual trans.
Used to drive manual in College. That's now my weekend car. Still drive manual when I go to other countries. But yes you are a self absorbed *******, OP for the premature conclusions
I wouldn't say driving a manual makes you a better driver, but i would bet that the better drivers out there prefer manual.
Just to clear the confusion here. When I refer to 'better driver' I mean that I am a better driver when I drive a manual rather than an automatic because I'm forced to pay attention in areas such as stop and go traffic and traffic lights, while in an automatic I just hit the gas peddle. My reference point was not other drivers but me from an automatic to a manual and I assume that notion applies to most other drivers.
