And where are you from? And how old? Not “do you” but just if you know how.
I’m in the US, mid 30s and can (and do) drive a manual transmission.
In Germany nearly everyone can drive manual. Used to be that if you didn’t learn how to drive manual in driving school, you weren’t allowed to drive manual with your license.
Nope.
Some people in my family tried to teach me when I was young, but I didnt immediately and perfectly absorb the knowledge of how to master it from the atmosphere, so obviously I was just a piece of shit that was trying to ruin their transmission/car/life and cant appreciate a single fucking thing anyone does for me and that i’m an ungrateful piece of shit and to just get the fuck out of the car and never ask them for anything again (not that I asked them to teach me stick in the first place… They insisted, i suspected then, and continue to do so to this day, that it was just a trap.)
Which really helped my desire to drive, much less drive stick.
23, US. Yes, but I find them pointless for daily driver cars. Modern automatics are more fuel efficient and just make more sense because they’re much easier to operate and less annoying in stop and go traffic.
They’re great for off-roading and racing, but outside of those use cases automatics are just better.
I’m almost 30, living US and don’t know how to drive a manual.
I just don’t understand the purpose of learning or the superiority complex around those that drive manual. In my region of the world, the vast majority of cars are automatic to the point where you might have to straight up custom order a vehicle to get manual.
Sure, if I’m outside of the US, manual might be the standard in some areas…but I have no interest in attempting to drive a vehicle in a foreign country where I don’t know their local laws of the road. I’d rather take public transport or use services like taxis, Ubers, Lifts, etc.
It’s the year 2023. Automatic cars nowadays are more efficient than manuals in a majority of cases.
If you want to drive a manual or you prefer manuals, that’s great! More the power to you and I’m glad you like it! But to have a superiority complex about it is just odd.
It’s like some boomer making fun of a gen Z kid for not knowing how to use a VCR. So what? You don’t to learn how to use a VCR in 2023.
Again, this is in terms of my region. I get that manuals are common in other regions. But again, I have no interest in driving in a region where I don’t know the local rules of the road.
honestly i don’t understand what makes them better for racing. can the auto not be tuned differently to prioritize speed and acceleration over fuel efficiency?
It’s not just about speed and acceleration. It’s also about control. Racing drivers face an infinite number of different conditions out on the track and it would be impossible to tune the transmission in such a way that it does exactly what the driver wants 100% of the time. And it really has to be perfect. 99.9% isn’t good enough because the other 0.1% can wreck the car if it does something unexpected while driving at the limit.
Modern, high end race cars are automatics. Low end or lighter cars will be manual.
Modern, high end race cars are automatics.
No, they’re sequential manuals*. Unless you’re talking about drag racing, where automatics are common.
*Edit: Or they can also be sequential semi-automatics if you want to be extra pedantic. But personally I’d classify a transmission based on whether the driver has to select the desired gear, or if the computer selects the appropriate gear without driver input, because that’s the thing that matters in the end.
31,Sweden
Yes, and I prefer a manual car to an automatic. It keeps me a lot more dialed in while driving.
This thread is an amusing display of sample bias. Only people that want to respond yes and brag about it bothering to respond.
In reality only about 2/3rds of people in the US can drive stick and almost no one owns manual cars.
I’ve never driven a manual car. I’ve had people be like “You can’t drive manual?!” and then I would respond “So are you going to teach me?” The answer is always No, of course not, not in their car (assuming they even owned a manual, which none do anymore). My parents had manual cars but sold them 10+ years before having me.
I understand how a clutch works. It wouldn’t be difficult to learn. But what reason or motivation is there to learn when almost no cars are manual? They total something like 2% of new car sales. If you’re buying something like a 718 GT4 RS or a 911 GT3 RS for maximum driving engagement that’s great, but those cars are priced for the 1% of the 1%.
Even if you had a fun car, which I do, the drive to work is stop-and-go, roads are full, even the fun country backroads are filled with traffic on weekends, forests are burned down, gas is eye-watteringly expensive if you have a slightly performant vehicle. The time to have fun driving cars was 40 years ago.
Agree that fun driving is essentially over, but I don’t think automatic cars are as common outside North America.
In Europe ~80% of cars have manual transmission, mainly due to the (in the past) better fuel efficiency.
Modern automatic cars have often slightly better fuel efficiency, but they cost quite a bit more to buy and maintain, and very nearly everyone knows how to drive stick, so people usually don’t bother.
Edit: As we stop having fun driving cars, should we finally also say goodbye to race biking, and fun motorcycling, once and for all?
Disagree that fun driving is over. Have you driven a tesla?
I have not.
Do they somehow make it fun to be queueing at a busy intersection?
Is driving 70km/h behind a truck somehow a blast if you’re in a Tesla?
If so I’ll make it a priority to try one out ASAP!
Are manuals fun in those instances?
No car is fun in those instances. But that is how we spend the majority of our time on the road.
Hence, “fun driving is over”.
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There are still fun cars. It’s getting incredibily difficult to have fun driving them.
California. 62. Been driving a manual for over 40 years. Most recently a six-speed.
I can, not well, but I can. damn hill starts.
Not sure how common it is now but some cars had a “hill holder” feature that would hold the brake for you when starting on a hill. Makes that whole process much, much easier.
Just pull the parking brake and accelerate until you feel the car slightly raising and then drop the parking brake.
Eventually you get a feeling for it and drop the parking brake before it’s “fighting” the accelerator.
This might sound trivial to some, but I know several people that never use the parking brake in these situations and instead do a manic race with their feet and the car drops a couple meters back and they over accelerate to compensate.
I can and used to drive one regularly. I actually miss the control of a manual transmission (especially in the snow) but it’s harder to find a newer car that has one
I’m in the US and in my 30s as well. My dad taught me to drive on a manual
I can and do drive a manual transmission. I’m 34 and in the US Midwest. It’s just more fun to drive. My car isn’t even fast, but dropping a couple gears to pass someone never gets old.
Yes because here you can’t get a driver’s license without learning how to drive a manual transmission. All your lessons and final driving exam are always in a manual transmission vehicle. (Portugal, 28 years old)
However I know many people who switch to automatic after they’re done with their exam because they don’t want to deal with it. I’ve always heard that manual is for people who like to drive and auto is for people who just need a car to get from A to B.
Yes I can. 30 and from the US.
i dont even know what manual transmission means if that tells you anything about me.
I’m from Mexico I’m 22 years old and I have been driving since 14 or so (rural Mexico). My family has not own a manual since I started driving and I gues we will not buy one soon lol
Yes.
In Europe you basically have to be handicapped to not learn to drive manual. Most people get the manual driving license because it allows you to drive both, whereas the automatic one doesn’t.
Manual transmission was and often still is cheaper, often cheaper to repair, often more reliable, often uses less fuel, and in cheap and less powerful cars the combination is often better. Because there are so many manual cars here, including at rental places, it’s a no brainer to learn to drive manual.
This being said, that’s changing. Also, less and less young people are getting a driving license due to affordability and cars no longer being the status symbol they once were.
In Europe you basically have to be handicapped to not learn to drive manual.
That’s changing though, I see many people taking their driving lessons in EVs, which in turn means they’ll only be able to drive automatics. I guess that won’t bother them too much as they’ll probably only want to drive EVs anyway, or else they would’ve chosen to take their lessons in a regular manual like most people
Yes I know how to drive a manual, I learned many years ago. I’m from the US and I’m 42.
Learned on an old beat up truck when I was like 20, I remember I got stuck stalling out on the highway once, I don’t even remember how. I freaked out so bad. 8 years ago I had 2012 Mazdaspeed 3. I miss that car so so much.
