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It looks really hard and unsafe to drive a manual. How do you know which gears to shift while driving and how do you make sure you shift correctly while keeping your eyes on the road and hands on steering wheel? It looks like driving manuals is hard work, do people actually enjoy driving a manual?
I love it so much I intend to hang onto my old truck as long as possible.
Keeping eyes on the road while steering and shifting a manual is EASIER than having to look at digital displays on automatics that require pressing buttons and choosing menu items to “shift” or change “driving modes.”
The shifting pattern is mostly the same from vehicle to vehicle, varying only in number of gears (usually 5 or 6). The only difference other than that that I encountered was Reverse in a VW Golf and also in an old Mercedes.
Shifting a manual is a tactile, aural, very physical act that provides tremendous feedback to the driver. That makes driving one a whole lot more fun. And, as with any rewarding activity, it requires practice and, in most cases, instruction at the beginning.
I didn't say it can't be done, but I am saying that for me anyways, it wasn't fun, at all *lol*, all that creeping along and stop and go in first gear, and standing on the clutch is just repetitive and frustrating (and it's already both those things even with an automatic! ;-)). When I moved to the Boston area, working in Cambridge, was when I switched to an automatic, and since I still work there and commute 76 miles daily often in heavy congestion, I have never gotten another stick shift in the 20 years I've been here.
In heavy traffic, all driving sucks. Commuter rail or light rail for me when I had to deal with big city traffic. It’s amazing how much irritation and money I could save by doing that. Then I got to drive my vehicle on weekends to get out in the countryside. Fun, not drudgery. Lowered my insurance rate, too.
Yes, manual shifting can be done... for decades, it was the only choice.
I know how to drive a "stick," if the need should ever arise.
But now that automatic transmissions are available, why do some people still want manual transmissions?
I've always chosen manuals partly because I had to use manual 4X4 on the job for many years. Switching between them was a pain. One of the main reasons I prefer a manual is that actually needing to DRIVE the car keeps me more aware of what is going on and how the car is behaving in response to the road. Especially when the driving conditions are poor (snow, ice, wet surface). I can anticipate just when to shift and apply power or brake instead of guessing (hoping) the car will do it when I want it to. Keeps me focused on what I am supposed to be doing while in the driver's seat. Harder to zone out and get distracted, bored, or sleepy on long drives. If I can find a manual model of my next car I'll pick that.
There's pleasure in being efficient with gearing and using the car's power efficiently too. But then, I am also a sailor...learned to sail before I could drive. Learning to work with wind and water by manually operating sheets, tiller, and sails gives some of the same sort of pleasure driving a manual does. Manuals are simpler and less expensive to repair. Replacing a clutch is no big deal. Deciding whether or not to replace an automatic could spell the end of a car. There are a few things you can do with a sick manual in a pinch that you can't with a sick automatic.
Then there's the little aspect of theft prevention. Get a huge laugh out of puzzled wannabe thieves who can't get one to move. Anyone who thinks a manual transmission is unsafe is simply demonstrating major ignorance. Millions of manual transmission cars were running millions of miles before the automatic was even imagined. The cars aren't death traps...operators make them deathtraps.
Last edited by Parnassia; 04-16-2019 at 12:55 AM..
Yes, manual shifting can be done... for decades, it was the only choice.
I know how to drive a "stick," if the need should ever arise.
But now that automatic transmissions are available, why do some people still want manual transmissions?
Who knows?
We have electric shavers now, but some guys still shave with blades.
And us really retro guys DON'T shave.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NW4me
The manual typewriter is said to be making a comeback.
Analog watches still sell.
Digital watches convey false precision. No self-respecting person of integrity would have one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NW4me
Perhaps there are even a few people out there who still write with fountain pens.
Surely. They still sell well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NW4me
To each his own.
Copy that.
But, perhaps the best way for me to answer you is to paraphrase a visionary former President of the United States:
Quote:
But why, some say, drive manual? Why choose this as our means? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 95 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?
We choose to go with a manual. We choose to go with a manual in our travels and to do the other things, not because they are easy, but because (some think) they are hard, because that means will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one with which we intend to arrive!
It looks really hard and unsafe to drive a manual. How do you know which gears to shift while driving and how do you make sure you shift correctly while keeping your eyes on the road and hands on steering wheel? It looks like driving manuals is hard work, do people actually enjoy driving a manual?
They make automatic transmissions for people who find the whole idea of manual transmissions too hard to comprehend. I drove manual all my life but now at 70yrs old my last car was an automatic as i now have leg mobility issues,fortunately transmissions have come a long way and my current auto transmission can be shifted manually with no clutch if i wanted to operate it like a manual.
Actually, if your first car was with stick - the rest is easy peasy. My first was with stick, the present is also with a stick and I must admit i feel pretty comfortable with it (never felt threatened by it).
If you REALLY want to have fun, drive a manual transmission in England, Australia, etc.
yeah, I always get the goosebumps for "being" on the wrong side of the car. I am not used to the left passenger seat and every time I sit next to the driver I do a little prayer.
It’s enjoyable until you get stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. The clutch work gets old in those situations. I think a manual transmission is safer sometimes. They have lost their edge over automatics with MPG since the automatics are more efficient.
It's been a while since I've driven one consistently (and I'm still kicking myself a bit for not purchasing the stick version of my new car!), but it's really fun to drive a manual on the open road--not so much in stop and start traffic. Cars come with "hill assist" these days, so one of my biggest hangups about driving a stick when I was a teenager no longer exists for the most part.
There's no real need to look down to see how you're shifting once you get the hang of driving a manual as muscle memory pretty much takes over. Left hand stays on the steering wheel; right hand usually rests on the shift (at least for me, it did/does).
There are some excellent YouTube tutorials out there about how to learn to quickly and easily drive a car with a manual transmission. Check them out and you'll see just how simple driving a stick can be.
Stop sign on a hill. Especially while towing. You get good at feathering the clutch with your foot on the brake.
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yeah, I always get the goosebumps for "being" on the wrong side of the car. I am not used to the left passenger seat and every time I sit next to the driver I do a little prayer.
