You don’t have to drive stick…
Only thing I drive is OP’s mom wild with pleasure.
Just get an auto with paddle shifters, best of both worlds without having to feel like you’re operating Victorian era machinery. Modern auto boxes change faster than you can, and give better acceleration and economy.
I love driving and passed my test in a manual. I wouldn’t go back now.
No thanks. I like a manual gearbox because it’s fun, I feel in control. I don’t want to rely on electronics for something less fun. I don’t care if automatics are now faster, or if paddles are faster. They’re not as fun.
I thought paddles would be cool. My first 335i was a dct and I eventually sold it for a real manual 335i. It’s really gonna suck when manual is truly gone :(
6mt 335 gang unite. I love mine.
My father in law decided randomly one day I was going to learn to drive manual. So he started up the pickup truck, and said “it’s easy to get started going down hill” as he demonstrated rolling down a steep hill. Then he u-turned, parked the truck at the bottom of that steep hill, turned off the engine got out and said “your turn”. Dick.
Lol volkswagen autostart Slows down for speed bump. Engine turns off.
Wait this happens?? Lmao
Autostart and lane assist are turned off in my car.
🤮 So glad my stop-start has been broken on my Hyundai for years now, everything else works though
I feel like learning manual is easy if you already know how to drive. My newest car is a stick shift and I just started driving it. Took like a month to be comfortable, but I was able to drive it and get from point a to point b without being good at it. Really just first gear that’s annoying.
My ex tried to teach me to drive stick on the way home from urgent care… my urgent care. Because it was convenient for him at that time. He refused to teach me several times before then because it was inconvenient. (why yes, I did leave him decades ago over abuse, thanks for asking! Tho it was not the specific thing)
I don’t care if manual is superior in some irrelevant way; I refuse to learn now due to trauma. Pretty sure I looked just like this picture.
Hey glad your free of that
Different technology, different pros/cons. You don’t need to learn it in the same way you don’t need to learn to calculate the sheer force of a raindrop on a window: you just don’t need to.
Learning manual is one of those things that requires some understanding of what’s going on, a lot of time, and patience. It’s a feel thing, but you need context. After that, it’s muscle memory - and context.
Honestly, most people do all parts of it wrong. So don’t feel bad.
Meh, stick is simpler so if anything goes wrong it’s easy to fix or less things to break. The only other reason is that it forces you to pay attention to your driving, so, if your into cars, it’s more enjoyable to go for a drive.
Automatic is superior, especially now. You aren’t missing much.
Thing is, it’s not superior in any way, quite the opposite. Maybe things were different decades ago.
Though I drive an automatic now, I do still feel like manual transmission gives you a little bit more control. I miss being able to use the clutch in the friction zone for fine control at low speeds or even reversing. Plus I miss being able to downshift at higher speeds for a bit more torque. The last one is achievable by just pressing the accelerator to make the automatic shifter understand what I want to do, or by using it’s manual override but that feels less natural to me for some reason.
Just get an automatic
laughs in automatic
Press the clutch with your left foot, slowly release it as you slowly press the accelerator with your right foot.
To be fair it is more complicated than that. You have to feel the car start to move, hear the revs react, adjust the rate at which you release the clutch and how much gas you give accordingly and for some vehicles/situations you even need to pause the release of the clutch for a moment to let the vehicle start to gain speed. It’s all something you eventually get used to and can do without thinking but there is a significant frustrating hump to get over in the learning curve.
I feel like those who say they don’t understand why people like driving manual are people who never got over that hump. Because once you get over it, it is a lot of fun. And even if you still prefer to drive automatic after that because of your personal preferences, you still get why some do like it.
I’ve taught a half dozen or so people to drive manuals. Each one did something I’d not have expected. My favorite was the person who pushed the clutch down only as far as they pressed the brake when coming to a stop. Of course the car died. Once we could break that habit they did alright.
I pretty much just start with having them stall the car to prove the world doesn’t end…it’s fine. It’s gonna happen a dozen or so more times. Let’s move on.
On the other hand, I grew up driving manual, as most people in Europe, and my first time driving an automatic I was rolling up to the car rental exit and I pressed the brake as hard as I usually press the clutch. It was not fun for anyone in the car.
Then over the next few days of road trip, everyone else in the car had their turn at driving and we all did it 2 or 3 times, so it became an inside joke.
There was a point when everything I owned were manuals. Went to visit my parents and had to drive one of their cars. Got in and went to start it and thud! I instinctively went for the clutch and brake. Right foot found the brake and my left foot found the floor.
You typically learn to feel the accelerator and brake with one foot but just engage the clutch (ie, all the finesse is letting the clutch out). But you know this. All your muscle memory works like that. When you switch to automatic, just use the one foot and it works much better.
You have probably already worked that out but it’s handy advice if you’re a passenger in an automatic with a first-time driver who is used to manual.
The hard part to muscle-learn was to leave the left foot alone and just use the right one.
“Press the clutch, release it slowly and accelerate.” Bus enginge turns off
I enjoy driving, so I drive a manual. People who don’t enjoy driving, or who merely drive because there’s no other alternative, should not drive a manual.
That being said, nobody should drive a tesla.
I love driving but I will not drive a manual unless there’s no other alternative, it’s 2025 I shouldn’t have to be doing that for my car
I don’t like my car doing anything I didn’t explicitly tell it to, or not doing what I do he’ll it to, like not downshifting when it’s time to downshift.
Exactly. I hate those little gear shift recomendations. Fuck off I will shoft to 5th when I want to and not when you say because your dumb ass cannot see the hill we are about to ascend in 200m.
Just get an automatic transmission instead. That might be my American perspective showing though. I know manual transmissions are more common in Europe (or at least I’ve heard), but I don’t know if that’s just driver preference or for some other reason (like cost).
Automatics had a bit of a bad reputation, for quite a while. They don’t/didn’t play well with our road layouts. E.g. they could be slow to downshift when climbing a hill, and kick when they did decide to play along. I believe they have improved a lot, but most people are used to manuals, and so more manuals are sold. This makes automatics more expensive and rarer.
In France they’re only starting to get traction. They just weren’t a thing until say ten or fifteen years ago. Top of the line cars had the option, but it was very rare. It’s a matter of culture. We have an automatic now (wife is more comfortable with it), it handles gear changes shittily but it appeases my left leg, so we’re even.
I will say when I rented a car in Wales in the mid 2010s they had like literally 2 automatics and they were double the rate. It wasn’t at all common there then.
Heard the manual vs automatic argument million times. I learned to drive using manual, my first few cars were all manuals and this is all I knew for a long time.
When we bought our first car together with my wife we got an automatic. She is a less confident driver, and wanted an automatic car. I dont mind it at all, got used to it and now I don’t miss manual at all. She is a much safer driver, under stress or in a sticky situation the manual transmission is a an extra thing to worry about and I feel calmer knowing that she can fully concentrate on the road instead of shifting.
I think manual is great for experienced drivers, but automatic is so much safer for beginners and people like my wife.
i had a manual mustang cobra a long time ago and dealing with the clutch in stop and go traffic could get exhausting. my leg would actually start getting tired after a while.
I also learned on manual in Europe and switched to automatic when I moved to the US because it’s the only option.
i like driving while being able to rest one arm out the window, or sip from a drink or something.
If I need to quickly accelerate out of a busy turning I put it into Sport mode and turn Eco Mode off
Ahh but its so worth it. Also just take the bus lol, driving should only be for fun. Make all fuel eco and its gonna be more expensive but cars as a form of transport are horrible. I like driving but i also like swimming and that doesnt mean i want to swim to school/work.
