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Spoken like someone who can only drive an automatic!!!
Actually I do care. I respect those who can drive a manual transmission, a lot more than people who can't. Especially in regards to women drivers. And... it seems to me, that people who can drive a manual transmission vehicle are just better at driving than those who can;t. They seem to pay better attention on the roads and handle their cars better.
You beat me to the punch. Right on all counts. People who can drive manuals know they have to pay attention while driving. Fail to down shift when you need to and suddenly the engine stalls. Amazing!
My position is that if you can't drive a manual transmission, you can't drive. There's a lot more to driving than just controlling the speed and keeping the vehicle between the lines. People who can drive a manual have a much better sense of what their car can do, and why. Just watch the brake lights on narrow winding and/or hilly roads. I can pick out the people who can drive manuals as opposed to those who can't. Would I want a manual in stop and go drive time traffic? Heck no! But out on the open road, especially back roads they're a real kick. My brother in law has an old Ford pickup with a four speed tranny. They live in south Jersey farm country. He lets me take it out and just randomly drive around because he knows I like to.
The car my dad taught me to drive on was a 1963 VW Beatle.
I learned how to drive it in a local parking lot that was empty on the weekends.
The first car I owned was a 1974 Mercury Capri with a whopping 122ci engine and a 4 speed transmission.
Just last week I went to lunch with a buddy from work. He was talking on the phone and trying to eat an ice cream. Sitting in the passengers seat, I was able to shift through all of the gears for him... yes, I know how to drive a manual transmission...
My position is that if you can't drive a manual transmission, you can't drive.
I'm not completely joking when I say that I'd eliminate a lot of the traffic on the roads by outlawing automatic transmissions. I'd even go the further step of requiring the manual transmissions to be non-synchronized. Can't double-clutch every shift, up and down? Call a cab.
I learned to drive a manual many years ago. Love them! They offer much more control on snowy roads. My current vehicle is automatic because I get tired of the constant need to shift gears. It's too bad we can't have a car that offers us the choice -- automatic today, manual tomorrow.
I'm not completely joking when I say that I'd eliminate a lot of the traffic on the roads by outlawing automatic transmissions. I'd even go the further step of requiring the manual transmissions to be non-synchronized. Can't double-clutch every shift, up and down? Call a cab.
Other than our RV, all the vehicles we still drive have manual transmissions. The difficult part is everytime we buy a new car we need to special order it. I understand the dealers only stock what most people want and I'm sure it in the not too distance future manual xmissions will be a thing of the past.
While I can certainly drive manual, I do not like it that much and if I have the choice, I would always choose an automatic, except for a high-end sportscar on a curvy backcountry road. There is some truth in the statements that people should know how to drive a manual to learn how a vehicle handles and get a feeling about what kind of forces are involved in moving forward.
However, modern automatic transmissions (7-9 gears) are much more efficient than manuals can ever be. They are faster, smoother and require no attention so the driver can focus on the road.
It's not that the automatic is making the driver stupid, it is just that for the stupids it is more easy to drive an automatic than a manual.
You beat me to the punch. Right on all counts. People who can drive manuals know they have to pay attention while driving. Fail to down shift when you need to and suddenly the engine stalls. Amazing!
My position is that if you can't drive a manual transmission, you can't drive. There's a lot more to driving than just controlling the speed and keeping the vehicle between the lines. People who can drive a manual have a much better sense of what their car can do, and why. Just watch the brake lights on narrow winding and/or hilly roads. I can pick out the people who can drive manuals as opposed to those who can't. Would I want a manual in stop and go drive time traffic? Heck no! But out on the open road, especially back roads they're a real kick. My brother in law has an old Ford pickup with a four speed tranny. They live in south Jersey farm country. He lets me take it out and just randomly drive around because he knows I like to.
^^The part in bold! Current car is an automatic - I definitely wouldn't want to drive a manual in Houston's traffic - BTDT and never again. I totally agree that on the back roads and open roads, they are a lot more fun to drive.
I taught 2 of my 3 kids how to drive a manual when they were teens. We didn't have a manual transmission car when my youngest was learning to drive, otherwise she would have been taught too.
When I was learning to drive a manual, my mother had the bright idea to make me do it in San Francisco. She decided if I could drive on all those hills, then I could drive one anywhere. However, she didn't tell me the car was going to roll backwards as soon as I took my foot off the brake to get going. That's not the best place to learn! My first car was a 66 VW Bug and one of the problems it had was the gear shifter would pop out of place when shifting gears - usually between 1st and 2nd gear. I had that happen one other time in a 68ish Volvo we briefly had in Berlin. The gear shifter popped out of its socket and I couldn't get it back in so I was pretty much stranded in the middle of a very busy intersection with a lot of very angry German drivers around me.
If you can float 'em, go ahead. I've had to do it a couple times when clutch cables broke.
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That's not the best place to learn! My first car was a 66 VW Bug and one of the problems it had was the gear shifter would pop out of place when shifting gears - usually between 1st and 2nd gear. I had that happen one other time in a 68ish Volvo we briefly had in Berlin. The gear shifter popped out of its socket and I couldn't get it back in so I was pretty much stranded in the middle of a very busy intersection with a lot of very angry German drivers around me.
