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I love my stick shift car. I love the satisfaction of doing it myself and doing it well. Driving out on the streets is pretty darn boring. Rowing through the gears and heel and toe down shifting spice it up a little bit for me. Having a manual in the mountains is awesome. Having a manual when towing a small trailer is great. And not having the worries that I am damaging my transmission by overheating it is great. Of course having a manual transmission on the motorcycles is nothing but fun! It is nice to be able to slip it into neutral and coast to a traffic light or coast down a long grade.
So far my manual transmission cars have been a 1986 Mazda RX-7, 1991 Mazda RX-7, 2004 Ford Focus Wagon, 2003 Ninja 250, 2005 SV650, 2006 KLR650, and my current 2003 VW Jetta Wagon with the diesel. Oddly enough the manual transmission requirement caused my search to last almost a year to find the Jetta.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Davida3606
Most people today (about 80%) of people 19 years old and under, in the US, don't even know how to drive a stick shift anyway! Most of them don't even want to learn how either! What's the point? It's hard to learn and they are starting to get rid of them anyway.
You know this world is more than just the US? When you travel abroad you see something weird. Manual transmission cars...every where.
Learned how to drive a manual transmission on a '54 Ferguson tractor and loved it ever since. (And I'm pretty young)
I think it's a shame that it's so hard to find manual transmissions nowadays. I might actually consider buying a new truck if you could get a full size truck with a manual other than a diesel.
Whether or not they're completely practical, manuals are more fun, pure and simple.
3 of our 4 vehicles are standards and both of my kids (13 & 15) are quite comfortable with them.
If you have a car that has reasonable power and performance......you most likely won't need a stick.
The cars that need a stick are the ones where you need that extra advantage in performance, speed or torque that you just cannot get from an automatic.
Say you own a kinda wimpy car, and you live in Los Angeles. Merging onto a fast moving freeway will be easier and safer with a stick....you can really wind that baby up and get moving pretty fast in short order, even with a wimpy 4 cylinder.
I enjoy driving a stick shift, but not as a daily driver. Too much time in traffic. Most performance cars now have advanced beyond a stick shift, and soon enough they won't them anymore.
If you have a car that has reasonable power and performance......you most likely won't need a stick.
The cars that need a stick are the ones where you need that extra advantage in performance, speed or torque that you just cannot get from an automatic.
Say you own a kinda wimpy car, and you live in Los Angeles. Merging onto a fast moving freeway will be easier and safer with a stick....you can really wind that baby up and get moving pretty fast in short order, even with a wimpy 4 cylinder.
Nope, don't NEED it, but there's just something about driving a large V6 sedan with a 6spd manual... Merging onto the interstate, passing cars, etc.
It provides a rush that an automatic can't match.
And no, it's not for speed (the CVT version of my car is faster from 0-90 than my 6 speed, contrary to popular belief) it's about the driving experience.
And my kids love to ride in it for that simple reason.
Years ago I wouldn't buy a car unless it was stick shift. Now I'd rather do without. Especially living in NYC where I'm bound to be stuck in traffic at any time.
With todays' technology going into auto and manumatic transmissions, I'd prefer an auto over a stick shift anyday unless I can find myself behind the wheel of a 66 Shelby Cobra.
They kept making manual transmissions to this point because there was A. a market and demand for them and B. early automatic transmissions were horribly inefficient. Nowadays demand for manuals has dropped, automatics are more efficient, and there are two new types of transmissions that are also competing for mindshare, the CVT and the DCT. However, there's always going to be a minimal and specialty requirement for a manual transmission, particularly in heavy equipment and other areas where you just have to have a manually actuated clutch.
But when it comes to "regular" cars, and even performance cars, automatics, CVTs, and DCTs shift faster, are more efficient, and hold up better, and most have a manual mode that shifts faster than any lever+pedal setup. Manual transmission "advantages" translate to them being cheap and easy to rebuild by hand.
Nope, don't NEED it, but there's just something about driving a large V6 sedan with a 6spd manual... Merging onto the interstate, passing cars, etc.
It provides a rush that an automatic can't match.
And no, it's not for speed (the CVT version of my car is faster from 0-90 than my 6 speed, contrary to popular belief) it's about the driving experience.
And my kids love to ride in it for that simple reason.
WINNER!
For fun, a sporty ride with manual transmission makes me smile every time. Commuting in traffic in the same car, not fun at all.
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When you travel abroad you see something weird. Manual transmission cars...every where.
