First car was a 5 speed manual, had to get somebody else to drive it home for me since I didn't know how. I sucked at first but ended up getting OK over time.
2nd car a torqueless 4-banger 1.8 that revved to 8200 RPM with a close ratio 6-speed manual. Fun car to rev-match and row the gears.
Couple of years back I walked into a Ford dealership and put a down payment on the new gen mustang GT, 6-speed manual with the 3.73 gears.
Since I needed a new daily driver, I got an automatic Corolla with a 2.4 because I wanted a car my GF could drive if her truck was in the shop since she really needs to have a vehicle and refuses to learn to drive stick. Supposed to be the sporty one so I thought, how bad could it be.

I've had it well over a year now, and I get annoyed with the automatic. My left foot keeps wanting to hit a phantom pedal when I start it, I disagree with when it shifts, etc.
My work commute is heavy stop and go, and yet I still mostly take the Mustang despite the fact that I bought the daily Toyota to keep the Mustang as a weekend fun car.

It is about as fun as licking stamps for envelopes and I sometimes get into a situation where I need to floor it to get it to downshift to get out of a dangerous situation and the car doesn't want to kick down a gear. Never happen in a stick, just blip, downshift and go at your command.

Everybody's talkiin' about self-driving cars, I don't even like self SHIFTING cars.

I do enjoy traction control, ABS, fuel injection, airbags, bluetooth, etc. so I'm not totally a grizzled old man.

I hear you....I owned 3 4 cylinder manuals and I would take anyone of them back over my 300HP automatic TL. Automotive engineers are will eagerly destroy a good transmission to squeeze an extra 1.5 mpg out the engine.

I have always liked a manual transmission (I learned to drive in a VW)...I have owned and driven one for over 45 years...a clutch does not bother me in the least

I will never own another automatic for as long as I can help it. I just hate 'em.

I guess they're OK for the very old and crippled though....

I find just the opposite with our new Challenger, the tranny's response is impressive, proven faster than a manual, and I believe it.

On the other hand, I climb into my Prelude and the manual is fun as hell, but absolutely no competition as far as shift speed applies.

Just because one model has a slushbox, do NOT surmise that they are all similar.

That was one of the conditions when I bought my Jeep a year ago - had to be a stick shift.

The Gf hates it because she doesn't know how to use it - but she's still a work in progress. I've convinced her to have 1 lesson so far...

Feel like it's more a disappearance of the purist driver, and the companies are more worried about selling to the masses. The majority of car buyers and commuters aren't worried about performance or shift points. You can still find good stick shift cars in the more driver/performance oriented cars. As far as knowing your tranny, I've been driving the same auto for 11 years so I know almost exactly how much to hold the throttle to keep the RPMs where I want them, or how much to shove the pedal to get it to shift, but ya after 11 years and 135k miles, I feel like I very much know and understand the car. I don't think you will get much of a driver experience of econo car...

I started a thread recently to seek answers to questions about buying and owning a Corvette.

This weekend my wife and I are renting one from Enterprise as kind of a shakedown cruise for ourselves--trying to confirm that this is really what we want to do.

I want two things, a convertible and a manual transmission. Talked to the representative today from Enterprise Exotic Car Rentals. They don't have either--coupe with automatic is all they have. I expressed disbelief. "Very few people can drive a manual transmission," he said.

"We're talking a Corvette here," I replied.

"I know," he said. Apparently, even the paddle shifters confound most of those who rent one of these.

Both our kids were taught to drive a manual transmission vehicle. Our son still has a Ranger with a 4-speed manual.

First car a 5 speed?

You must be a kid.

You mustn't remember 3 on the column.

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
I started a thread recently to seek answers to questions about buying and owning a Corvette.

This weekend my wife and I are renting one from Enterprise as kind of a shakedown cruise for ourselves--trying to confirm that this is really what we want to do.

I want two things, a convertible and a manual transmission. Talked to the representative today from Enterprise Exotic Car Rentals. They don't have either--coupe with automatic is all they have. I expressed disbelief. "Very few people can drive a manual transmission," he said.

"We're talking a Corvette here," I replied.

"I know," he said. Apparently, even the paddle shifters confound most of those who rent one of these.

Both our kids were taught to drive a manual transmission vehicle. Our son still has a Ranger with a 4-speed manual.

I had the same conversation a few years ago in Florida when the rental company had a pretty good deal on renting a corvette. I was ready to jump on it when I had a thought and said, "wait, this is a manual, right?"

"Oh no, sir. Don't worry. All of our cars are automatic."

"You kidding me? What the hecks the point!? Never mind. Give me the Toyota crapbox."

You gotta rent outside the US if you want a manual. I just returned today from Spain where we had a sweet Audi A3 with a six speed. That was actually pretty fun.

You obviously don't spend much time in bumper to bumper stop-and-go traffic.

60 to 90 minutes of shifting between neutral and first (second if you're lucky)??

No thanks!

Speaking of transmissions though... I have driven a couple CVT transmissions in rentals in the last year or so. Now THOSE are really horrible!

-----------------------------

quote:

Originally posted by rbert0005:
First car a 5 speed?

You must be a kid.

You mustn't remember 3 on the column.

Bob

Early 30s. Don't remember 3 on the tree.

I came from a family who wasn't much into cars or guns. Had to seek out information about both m'self.

Ah the stick. So much fun to drive when you are alone & just driving. But.... No good when....
1. Your date needs attention!!!
2. You are trying to eat a hambuger
3. You are trying to keep something still in the passenger seat.
4. You want a really fast shift. New performance autos are really fast.
5. You need to call or text - gasp

Some of the new autos can act like a stick. I have owned 8 Vettes, both stick & auto. Prefer the auto. The little woman is likely to get tired of you jacking around with the stick on the way to church.

For steep hills and stop-and-go traffic, automatics are the way to go.

I drive a stick, and my next will probably be a stick also.

I love a stick. I have a 5 speed Tacoma-not a performace ride, but fun. I got the wife a Corolla model with paddle shifters. Not a bad compromise, but definitely not a stick. And yeah, I did the "3 on the tree" for quite a while. Key with button ignition, too. Back when cars had points 'n' plugs. Bout a hundred years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by acidjazz:

quote:

Originally posted by rbert0005:
First car a 5 speed?

You must be a kid.

You mustn't remember 3 on the column.

Bob

Early 30s. Don't remember 3 on the tree.

I came from a family who wasn't much into cars or guns. Had to seek out information about both m'self.

1976 Ford Granada, three on the tree. I have not driven a stick in over 25 years.
The S-10 with a 5 speed and hydraulic clutch I drove after the Ford was quite a change.
After the Granada I could work just about any manual. Talk about lack of feel.
Now if I want I guess I could use the paddle shifters and run through the gears but why on 2.5l Toyota Camry (yeah it is a "SE", like the rear spoiler does anything but raise my insurance rates).

quote:

Originally posted by EasyFire:
Ah the stick. So much fun to drive when you are alone & just driving. But.... No good when....
1. Your date needs attention!!!
2. You are trying to eat a hambuger
3. You are trying to keep something still in the passenger seat.
4. You want a really fast shift. New performance autos are really fast.
5. You need to call or text - gasp

Some of the new autos can act like a stick. I have owned 8 Vettes, both stick & auto. Prefer the auto. The little woman is likely to get tired of you jacking around with the stick on the way to church.

I've hit up many a drive thru in my life and never had a problem with the stick. With a Vette and its long gears you're barely shifting.
Admittedly in my teenage years, hooking up in a car, the stick would always get in the way!

I know to squeeze out the extra performance of the car, the auto transmissions are faster. But I don't race 'em.

Sadly with the new 8 and 10 speed autos, the gas mileage and performance are getting so good that the stick is left way behind.

I've had more manual cars then auto and years driving it's manual a good 80% of my years driving.

Current have an auto. I really enjoy driving a manual but they are harder to find in a mid-size car and that's more what I need now. That and driving where I live traffic in manual just sucks.

I used to get up early on Sundays to take my 5 speed two doors down some twisted two lane roads. Those were some fun drives. Those fun two lane roads today now have stop signs, lights, more lanes and much more traffic. That and speed cameras.

Made the extra effort to find my Accord with a six speed, only one of four Sport trim sedans in all of Houston when I bought it in 2015...

quote:

Originally posted by EasyFire:
Ah the stick. So much fun to drive when you are alone & just driving. But.... No good when....
1. Your date needs attention!!!
2. You are trying to eat a hambuger
3. You are trying to keep something still in the passenger seat.
4. You want a really fast shift. New performance autos are really fast.
5. You need to call or text - gasp

If you're in a situation where you're doing a lot of shifting, you shouldn't be doing any of that crap anyway, manual or not. You're supposed to be paying attention to your driving. (Anyway, I assume you were half joking)

And stop and go traffic never bothered me. Even in a blizzard going back up Parley's Pass.