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I recently traveled to Costa Rica and attempted to rent a car. After all the paperwork was filled out the man took me to my car. It was manual transmission! I told him I did not know how to drive a stick shift car. He acted like I was crazy and then told me that in this small tourist town, that was the only car they rented. They told me I would have to go to the Capital City, San Jose CR if I wanted to rent an automatic transmission. Even there only a few cars are automatic.
He acted like I was the only American he ever met who did not know how to drive a stick shift car. I am in my 50s and have driven since I was 16 years old.
Do you drive a stick shift car? What percent of Americans could drive one who have a drivers license?
Nowadays considering the price of owning an automatic is close to the manual price(only $800-1500) in a new vehicle,most get automatic. I'd probably say 1/3. I do know how and I chose my truck in stick.My own personal belief is that if you get a TRUE sports car or a truck,you should get a stick shift.When I have visited foreign countries most people drove stick and alot of the vehicles were diesel as well.
I recently traveled to Costa Rica and attempted to rent a car. After all the paperwork was filled out the man took me to my car. It was manual transmission! I told him I did not know how to drive a stick shift car. He acted like I was crazy and then told me that in this small tourist town, that was the only car they rented. They told me I would have to go to the Capital City, San Jose CR if I wanted to rent an automatic transmission. Even there only a few cars are automatic.
He acted like I was the only American he ever met who did not know how to drive a stick shift car. I am in my 50s and have driven since I was 16 years old.
Do you drive a stick shift car? What percent of Americans could drive one who have a drivers license?
I've never driven one before. I'd love to learn, but how? I don't know anyone with one.
Wow, neat thread. No way can I read all 18 pages though but I read a few. I grew up in NYC where car ownership is very optional and usually auto except for sports cars. Even hardcore sports cars are usually auto. I am one of those people who always looks inside a car to see if its stick or auto. Once I left NYC I saw a LOT more stick shifts, who knew a Ford Aerostar was available with 5 sp floor shift. A lot of this country is still rural and suburban and older cars are still on the road. I suspect a good percentage of the population still can drive stick. On the whole I think if there was a requirement for at least passing your road test on a stick the overall quality of drivers in this countries inner cities would vastly improve. Every now and then you have these horrific accidents where someone lurches forward in an automatic and mows down (sometimes kill) several pedestrians at a time. A stick would have likely stalled in such a scenario. There are a few older people now in the church where I work who absolutely should not be driving anymore. They wouldn't be if their cars were stick shift. I didn't know anyone with a stick either when I learned and it would be a very good friend indeed that would let you abuse their clutch for an afternoon just so you can get stick time. I bought my first stick and paid someone to drive it home for me. Then I took it out myself. It took a day before I could get it out the drive way but in three days I could drive around on level ground. Hills took a lot longer. I always had to use the handbrake until I got the turbo Passat. When you have a stick with enough low end grunt that you can let just enough clutch bite without stalling and without feeding any gas you have one sweet drivers car. Honda's are fine cars but IMO the Civic's anyway require way too much finessing off the line. Sticks rule.
Most of my vehicles have been stick shifts. My truck is a 5speed, but they don't make a Buick Regal in anything other than auto.. haha. So, I have one of each. Love driving a standard trans, gets old in rush hour though.
I think every car I've had since turning 16, except maybe one, was a manual transmission - or stick shift I'm a 'mature' female - and most of my female friends 'cannot' drive a manual transmission - when my sons were both learning to drive, they were taught on the manual transmission before learning the auto - I always told them if I needed them to drive me to the hospital, they'd HAVE to be able to drive my car
My daily driver is the Dodge Nitro with the 6 speed manual transmission - I like the 'control' I have on acceleration, particularly with the 6 cylinder engine (type A personality ) and I'm in big city traffic both ways to/from work.......my driveway car is a Camaro - with the 5 speed manual transmission.
When I drive the hubs truck - I too reach for imaginary shifters
In Mexico the standard rule of thumb is "standard" for describing a stick. Due to the traffic in the large citys (Mexico City etc) people want the "stick" tranny for better pickup while in traffic. Whereas in the US the Automatic is generally favored. Different traffic modes depict the trans needs. Steve
I always feel ashamed to admit that, though many people have tried to teach me to drive a stick, all have quit in disgust. Driving requires all my attention as it is--I just don't seem to have spare brain cycles to handle shifting at the same time. I think it is a real liability because the cheaper cars are often manual transmission, AND you get better gas mileage!
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female - and most of my female friends 'cannot' drive a manual transmission 
- when my sons were both learning to drive, they were taught on the manual transmission before learning the auto - I always told them if I needed them to drive me to the hospital, they'd HAVE to be able to drive my car 
