Stick shifts?????

Drove a stick for years and wouldn’t be bothered with anymore. Sure, it was zippy but no more so than my present car. Touch the gas and accelerate.

Heard an opinion that more people are getting speeding tickets in electric cars. They accelerate so smoothly that the driver doesn’t even notice. The police do.
 

Learned to drive via a manual on the column, then was told to take the driver's test in a boat- no just a huge Cadillac with automatic transmission. Ha.

My early cars were all manual on the column or on the floor. Didn't get an automatic until I had been driving for maybe 15 years or so.

After marriage, I wanted another manual, but husband never learned and won't learn manual. That meant that on overseas trips, I try and rent the manual!
 
I like stick shifts because they can get better gas mileage. Stick shifts can also give the driver better control of the vehicle in snow and mud. There are times though that I have become so fed up with shifting gears all the time. I do like the ease of having an automatic transmission. It is like I have more time to watch the traffic around me.
 
You can drive an automatic car like a manual, it gives
you more control, when you start to move, pull the
gear stick into "L" and it will hold that gear till you
move the stick back to "D", but be quick to get back
into "L", before it goes up through the gears, it will
take some practice, but in the end you will become
an expert at changing gears in an automatic, instead
of allowing the car to decide.

Mike.
 
Of the dozens of vehicles I've owned throughout my lifetime, I'd guess about half have been manuals and half automatics. I currently own and drive both. It really doesn't make much difference to me.
 
Yes. I drive a stick shift. My last car was a stick shift too. I'm so accustomed to driving that kind, that when I start out driving automatic, the car won't move because I have my foot on the brake pedal as if it were the clutch.
 
I have always felt I had better control over a stick shift. In fact you are in full control over deciding when it's time to switch gears (right or wrong), but I just sensed I was better at deciding than an automatic. I would end up with an automatic when I would find the right buy on a second hand pickup, but with a new car I made sure it was a manual. And of course the gas mileage was always better. BUT....

These arguments may be less valid than they were at one time. Some new cars are actually posting higher gas mileage on their automatics, with all other things being equal. Can you trust the the gas mileage claims? Probably not, but if that's the case, I would think the ratings would all be inflated by about the same percentages on all vehicles.

Sooo... I bought a new car just this year, and I changed over to an automatic. I had a one week "test drive" that was loaned to me while another vehicle was in the shop, and I was impressed enough to buy that very same loaner car when the dealer decided to sell it. Gone is that radical neck snapping surge when an automatic shifts down on an uphill grind. I can't do an actual gas mileage comparison, because the car has a much bigger engine than the economy engines I've demanded in the past. It's 10 mpg less than my old Mazda 3 trade in, but it's totally different kind of car.

I also own a Mazda Miata. It's my second one, and if I buy a third it will always be a manual transmission. It's seems like putting an automatic in a sports car would be sacrilegious. It would be like watering down your milk. For a regular car, newer more modern automatics may be adequate from now on. I'll know better a couple years down the road with this new one... maybe.
 
At work I drove a 10 speed road ranger trans, also 13 & 18 speed trans for many years.
Now that I'm retired it's automatic all the way.. (y):)

I forgot to mention when I first started out, the transmission I was using is what the old timers referred to as, 'sticks.'
The main box was a 5 speed transmission with another separate 4 speed brownie box trans.
They were not synchronized so you had to get it just right to shift.
 
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Learned on a manual transmission in 1963. Took my road test in a VW. Parents bought a 65 Mustang! 3 speed manual on the floor, 6 cylinder - didn't matter! I thought I was the coolest kid in High School in that car.
 
I would not consider a manual transmission today. Not sure I agree that you have better control. Often requires down shifting when turning corners and that can impact concentration.
 
I drive an automatic
And my new car has no gear stick or handbrake or no spare wheel lol
 
No one has ever used the word, "coordinated" and me, in the same sentence. My mom & dad, both refused to teach how to drive, so I used a driving school. We began with a stick. Whenever I shifted from 3rd right into reverse, the car would make this groan, and we had to pull over to "talk". Apparently, they made a transmission made just for my unique driving talents-an automatic. Surprisingly, I was able to drive a stick in the Navy. Parallel parking on a steep hill with a stick is not exactly a slice of heaven, so I love an automatic.
 

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