You still drive a stick?

[Lofty]

There are days when I really enjoy rowing the gearboxes on both of my motorcycles. There are also those days when I want to drive the truck and be shiftless.

[snowymonkey]

I love that sticker..... but I fall in that generation (by birth, but I don’t claim it). Born in 82. I however have driven manuals most of my life (lots of ACVW’s).

Currently drive a manual 07 Subaru Forester. I love that thing. I miss having a Jeep.... but we have had good luck with Subaru’s.

I actually enjoy a manual much more than an automatic..... for where I live. Lots of backroads and interstate. If I lived in a bigger city with more stop and go traffic I think the manual would get old. I did live in Pensacola for a bit while driving a 62 ragtop bug.... but that was almost 15 years ago.

[sKiZo]

Yup ... <G>

[Lee Pape]

When I used to work and commute daily I likes to have a stick. Living in Iowa we do get snow during the winter. With a stick it let me choose the gear that felt best to me for the conditions at the time. The best car that I ever owned for winter driving was a Geo Metro. It had a 3 cylinder engine with a 5 speed gear box. It's lack of horsepower and the 155/80-13 tires helped a lot in the snow.

[David Z]

Makes driving feel like driving, and with the stick it gives you a place to hang your hat, not like on the "Three on the Tree".

[Peter Pan]

Automatic is for to cause accidents in mountain range like here in Costa Rica. Once upon the time I made a inspection at a saw mill with a handicapped colleague in his automatic car.... on the way downhill it started to speed up like a 2 stroker, brakes heated up and faded several times. NO THANKS.
By the way my own last car is a 1960 Willies standing without tag since 1998.
As a sticker from USCA says:
My other car is a sidecar!
There is standing and waiting the Jawa-Husquarna rig for reassembly and new tag since 2012 too.

Sven

[Shortline]

Yup. A Jeep just needs a stick. Mine has one. Wouldn’t have it any other way. Though, it was hard to find one, most are autos now too!

[Tin Man]

Grew up with manual trannys but I remember when i was about 15, learning to drive a dump truck with a 4 speed transmission and a 2 speed axle. Had a gasoline V-8 so ya had to baby it up outta the pit with a load lest you blow an engine. I thought I was the cats azz.......until I climbed up in a cousins semi with its gazillion speed road ranger transmission.

[rebelrider]

I have a 1980 Honda Civic, and a 1999 Ford Ranger. Both with manual transmissions. I agree with the above comments that control, engine braking, and feedback are good reasons to still have one.

[bratmanxj]

My wife complains "that you have to pay to much attention" when driving stick, I told her I was never riding with her ever again.

The two SUVs are automatic, because you just can't find anything worth a dam in stick anymore. The work beater Mazda3 is stick, as were the last 2 Mazdas and VW Passat. I use to drive 30k miles a year for work and the manuals were just easier to rack up miles on. I have to re-tune the brain to hit the brakes when driving the SUV vs engine braking in the car.

I told my niece and nephew that I don't give a dam about what driving school they do, they need to pass my test of Chicago rush-hour traffic in my stick shift car before they can get their license.

[INSUBORDINATOR]

I began using automatic transmissions due to old leg injuries. Auto trans - have improved greatly over the years & actually shift faster & smoother than many drivers. There are statistics to show that automatic transmissions actually prevent damage to the engine from lugging & over revs.
*My daughter bought a 91 automatic Miata way cheap - it had nearly 300k on its broken speedo - she drove it another 8 years with no major repairs.
*I bought a used 01 automatic Miata for a very good price 6 years ago, & later learned it has factory sport suspension, best auto trans with overdrive, + positraction + deluxe Nardi interior. It was so cheap because it has an automatic transmission. It is STILL the finest car I ever had.

IIMO you stand a better chance of NOT needing engine/drivetrain work on USED CARS WITH AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSIONS. Many near gone clutches can't be detected. That's how its worked out for me - since I haven't bought a NEW VEHICLE since the 1970's - Then - only USED, & have been even Luckier having next to NO UPKEEP OWNING JAPANESE CARS. My used Fords & Chevs were rolling money pits. Just my $.02

[chaos2]

My wife's old Contour, son's Blazer, in laws Grand Caravan, my old Malibu, all sold for junk around 100-150k mile because the automatic quit working and car was not worth fixing. Soured me on slushboxes but I'm sure they're gotten better. Wife has 80k on her riceburning minivan now, time will tell.

[:FI:Igor]

My preferred vehicle is the Ural (56k km), rain day vehicle 1992 Ford Ranger (304k miles) 5 spd. Back up to all that is 2010 Ford F-150 (99k miles). Wife's car is a 2016 Honda Accord (33k miles). In my dreams, my only vehicle is the 2015 Ural! In dreams: same wife, same son, same house with more closet space, and somehow have a 17 year old daughter from India (haven't figured that out yet!)

[tgtrotter]

Makes driving feel like driving, and with the stick it gives you a place to hang your hat, not like on the "Three on the Tree".

Three on the tree is a steering column manual. An improvement from floor shift and eliminating some transmission hump.

It's all personal choice. Slapstick muscle cars can be as fun as manual sport cars. I can drive my diesel powerstroke automatic like a manual using the electronic gear selector.

Reliability ? Probably manuals better. Driveability ? Depends on skill and below

Coordination ? I can drink a soda, eat pizza and read a map book in a manual as easy as any millennial can Google and drive an auto.

My wife taught both our girls to drive a stick in one hour. No bull. But it took her about 20 times to figure how low that second gear was on our '51 Plymouth with three on the tree. She kept trying to put it in first gear while rolling.

[VWK75S]

I have to be careful in an automatic that I don't put my left foot on the brake to shirt.
John