Do you prefer driving a stick shift or automatic? Those years ago, was your first vehicle a stick shift or automatic?

At this age and since I was 55, I prefer driving an automatic.

My first car was a stick shift, and I had a hard time switching
over those years later to the automtic, but I adjusted quickly
it now suits me well..
 

My wife's previous car, a BMW, is the only automatic that she, or I, have driven. When the car started to cause big repair bills it was time for it to go. She chose a six speed, manual, VW Golf. Twenty-two years later it's still going strong. Reason being, it shares a heated garage with a vintage MG.

Has anyone heard of a crash-gearbox? A non-synchronous transmission, also called a crash gearbox, is a form of manual transmission based on gears that do not use synchronising mechanisms. They require the driver to manually synchronise the transmission's input speed (engine RPM) and output speed (driveshaft speed).

The little Austin that I had when I first met my wife had such a gearbox, she loved that car so I taught her how to change gear without synchromesh. It's a system known as: "double-declutch." During any shift, disconnecting drive components via a clutch unloads the force from the opposing components from the engine and transmission. Using the clutch for each shift out of, and then into, each gear is double clutching.

Fast forward to her joining the ambulance services. She is out with two other trainees in a big Ford car, under instruction to learn how to drive in emergency conditions. They call it: "Blues & Two's." Blue flashing lights and two tone horns. The car was manual gear change but it had synchromesh gears. However, the instructor wanted them to learn the art of double declutching because it gives a patient with severe trauma injuries, a smoother ride to the hospital.

The two young men were all for this. The first one all but wrenched the gear lever out, the second practically tied it in a reef knot. Now it was the woman's turn. The two young men smiled smugly, what would she do if they couldn't master it? She gave them a master class in how to double-declutch, that's what she did. The instructor was impressed, "Done this before?" He asked, "Once or twice," my wife replied, returning the young men's smug smile. It made her day.
 
had a stick shift most of my life, then a couple trucks ago they said a stick shift was extra. now i drive an automatic. My children can drive stick shifts but are amazed we used one in drivers training, I grew up on a farm and drove tractors from an young age. I was maybe 4 or 5 and i had to drive the Ford 8N in the field so my dad could pick up hay bales. The clutch and brake were on opposite sides of the tractor. I was to small to push in the clutch and brake at the same time. So I would stand up and jump down on the clutch that was on the right side and pull it out of gear. Then hope over the center of the tractor and land on the brake to bring the tractor and wagon to a stop.
 
horseless carriage said:
My wife's previous car, a BMW, is the only automatic that she, or I, have driven. When the car started to cause big repair bills it was time for it to go. She chose a six speed, manual, VW Golf. Twenty-two years later it's still going strong. Reason being, it shares a heated garage with a vintage MG.

Has anyone heard of a crash-gearbox? A non-synchronous transmission, also called a crash gearbox, is a form of manual transmission based on gears that do not use synchronising mechanisms. They require the driver to manually synchronise the transmission's input speed (engine RPM) and output speed (driveshaft speed).

The little Austin that I had when I first met my wife had such a gearbox, she loved that car so I taught her how to change gear without synchromesh. It's a system known as: "double-declutch." During any shift, disconnecting drive components via a clutch unloads the force from the opposing components from the engine and transmission. Using the clutch for each shift out of, and then into, each gear is double clutching.

Fast forward to her joining the ambulance services. She is out with two other trainees in a big Ford car, under instruction to learn how to drive in emergency conditions. They call it: "Blues & Two's." Blue flashing lights and two tone horns. The car was manual gear change but it had synchromesh gears. However, the instructor wanted them to learn the art of double declutching because it gives a patient with severe trauma injuries, a smoother ride to the hospital.

The two young men were all for this. The first one all but wrenched the gear lever out, the second practically tied it in a reef knot. Now it was the woman's turn. The two young men smiled smugly, what would she do if they couldn't master it? She gave them a master class in how to double-declutch, that's what she did. The instructor was impressed, "Done this before?" He asked, "Once or twice," my wife replied, returning the young men's smug smile. It made her day.
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That reminds me of when I met my husband to be. I had a Fiat 500 which didn't have syncromesh gearbox. Fortunately, I had been taught how to double declutch so it was never a problem for me. However, my husband had never been shown how to double declutch and despite my attempts to teach him he never did master it completely. He hated that car.... I loved it. ;) I've only every driven one automatic car and didn't like it.
 
My dad insisted I learn to drive a stick shift just in case I had to drive one. He was right. I had a job which included delivering auto parts and it was a small truck with a stick shift. He also made sure my sister and I knew how to change a flat tire.

I prefer an automatic these days, but fondly remember driving my Corvette (stick shift). Fun!
 
i drive automatic ..
i used to drive manual when i was the A to B driver but now Im the Full time Driver ,im Driving the easy cars... ..Bumper cars as i call them LOL
 
WOW!! Learned to drive in 1963 on a stick shift. At the time we had a 1962 VW bug and a 1961 Ford with the gear shift on the column. The first car I owned was a 1963 Pontiac Catalina with a 3 speed on the column. My wife learned to drive in England on a stick shift!! Then she went home to Denmark and had to learn to drive a stick on the cars that drive on the right. When she first lived in the US she was very nervous about driving an automatic thinking it would be difficult until she actually drove one and found out how easy it was. Taught my oldest son to drive a stick on a Pontiac Grand Am and the youngest son learned on his own several years after getting his license.
 

Do you prevefer driving a stick shift or automatic? Those years ago, was your first vehicle a stick shift or automatic?​

I'm torn
Love a stick, but auto is nice

First two vehicles were three on the tree

I was a double clutching mother trucker a few years
Mostly 18 forward gears

My '99 Wrangler is 5 on the floor

jeep.jpg
 
I'm cheap. For a few decades, I drove a stick to get better milage. You get used to it. But I have to admit trying to parallel park on a steep hill with a stick is not one of your fun times. Today, there really little savings in driving a stick. I drive an automatic, and wonder why I put up with all that shifting, and I wasn't saving any big bucks. When I was searching online for a new car, there was no option to have a stick.
 
I learned to drive in a macho town where almost no one drove an automatic. (Automatic muscle cars were allowed.)

So I liked standard/stick shift cars. But now I don't really care.
 
Learned to drive a stick, owned a car with a stick. Hate a stick transmission love automatic
 
My first car was '52 Mercury and it was 3 on the column. Later cars were auto except a Ford Torino which was a three speed and a piece of crap. (On a quiet night you could hear a Ford rust.) Now it's an auto and a CVT at that. You're never in the wrong gear.
 
I learned on an automatic and didn't have a stick shift until I was in my mid 20's. I had a terrible time learning to drive a stick but I finally got comfortable with it. I've only owned two sticks shift cars in my life and I can't say I really enjoyed either one.

I can still drive a stick. I guess it's like riding a bicycle.....you never forget how to do it.
 
Way back when, it less expensive to maintain a stick shift. Now it’s the opposite. I bet some in N.A. would be hard pressed to find a new one on the lot. Nothing like that pit in your stomach sitting behind someone on a steep hill as they can’t pull away from the stop sign in snowy weather. I remember that feeling when I drove a stick.
 
Timely question. Just last weekend I drove my sons car which is a stick, first time I have driven a stick in twenty years. I was actually a bit nervous since it had been so long but muscle memory is a wonderful thing, starts, stops, shifting were all perfect and felt natural, like I have been doing it everyday.

Now I want to drive a stick again!
 

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