Fewer drivers pick the stick: The increasingly rare manual - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Grenadiac;51183905]The 70s and prior. Automatic transmissions were sluggish on average and very expensive to build so that they could keep up with fast acceleration; a manual and a good driver allowed the '69 Fury with its 383 to get a 5.1 0-60, blindingly fast for a commercially available car at the time. Modern computerized transmissions outpace any human.[/QUOTE] It's still pretty good for a lot of modern race cars though. In rally and drift you can down-shift to shift the weight of the car, causing it to slide. Can't do that with an automatic car.

[QUOTE=Hillo;51184225]I have driven same year model E350 and a E250 merc, E350 had a column shift+paddle gears and holy shit it's so much better because you can put shit like your phone where the shifter would be[/QUOTE] Reminds me of a thing that bothers me something incredibly fierce, why the hell don't they make universal phone holders in new cars so you can slap it in right next to the gauge cluster, along with charging plug? I've seen oh-so-many customers who use their phone as GPS, even when their car has a built-in GPS in the infotainment, take a hint already. [QUOTE=joost1120;51184270]It's still pretty good for a lot of modern race cars though. In rally and drift you can down-shift to shift the weight of the car, causing it to slide. Can't do that with an automatic car.[/QUOTE] People shunning manual but claim they like racing often ain't into Rally on narrow and twisty dirt roads or Drifting. Which are ironically my preferred kind of racing, along with cheap-banger 'contact' racing.

[QUOTE=Van-man;51184273]Reminds me of a thing that bothers me something incredibly fierce, why the hell don't they make universal phone holders in new cars so you can slap it in right next to the gauge cluster, along with charging plug? I've seen oh-so-many customers who use their phone as GPS, even when their car has a built-in GPS in the infotainment, take a hint already.[/QUOTE] No, up on the dash with a view out the front. I use my phone as a dashcam and it'd be damn nice if the car had a dock and charge cable up there for me so I didn't have to fuck with suction cup mounts.

I've never driven a car with automatic transmission. Granted I've only had my driver's license for a year, but still. Driving stick isn't hard, but yeah if you're doing morning traffic everyday I'd probably get an automatic as well. If it saves gas, too, it's honestly kind of a no-brainer, unless you really like manuals I guess.

Driving a manual keeps me more focused on the road.

It's fun and useful to know how to drive manual but I understand why some people can't be bothered

Automatics in here are expensive to buy due to being a recent entry, they're expensive to maintain and repair due to a lack of spare parts, and the general opinion is that they're not as flexible as manual cars. I mean, I might be a shit driver IRL, but being able to shuffle between uneven gears at your desire gives you incredible amounts of control while driving, and it's only really a problem if you're in extremely busy cities or you're forced to reverse in problematic areas, like reversing uphill or into a busy street. I can see why Americans don't prefer stick, however. If you're commuting over large distances(and my limited knowledge indicates you do) regularly you might as well eliminate the need to manually shift, because you'll barely use the first two, hell, even three speeds, unless a strict limit is enforced.

I can drive stick, I just use an auto because I'm lazy and like a low-effort cruise. Much of my commute is bumper to bumper traffic in one of the worst cities to drive in the world, and a manual is mildly involving at best and just tiring at worst. Even if I had the money for a new car, I'd buy an auto and never look back.

I'm pretty sure that automatic transmission cars are still rare in Poland. In fact, I can't even image what it's like do drive one.

I drove a car on the streets from one town to another for a grand total of 1 times, with stick. Never sat behind the wheel before and I still did pretty well. I can't imagine why people struggle to drive stick, honestly. Almost every car over here has a manual transmission It mostly boils down to muscle memory, too. And it's not much of a problem when driving long distances because you'll be in 4-5th gear for the biggest part of the ride

I've been driving a stick for a few years now and you truly overcome all of the 'hard' things about driving manual very quickly. At this point I actually find a stickshift a little easier to drive than an auto because the car is more predictable (no eternal forward crawl, no surprise gear changes), plus the driving characteristics are better (I can leave the car in a lower gear if I know I'm going to be slowing down soon, etc) I'm only 21 but I already know I'm gonna drive a stick as long as I physically can.

manual makes driving actually fun... each gear is their own personality and feeling :>

There are only two reasons not to use an automatic now (from a driver's point of view): fun, and size/weight concerns for very specific vehicles like race cars and motorbikes. Modern autos are faster and more economical than human drivers. I still love my manual, and all of my friends drive them too, but they're dying out.

[QUOTE=Mikenopa;51184379]Driving a manual keeps me more focused on the road.[/QUOTE] also this...

I have a manual tractor if that counts. [editline]10th October 2016[/editline] Also I don't know if it works with automatic transmissions, but I know with a manual if you have trouble starting it up all you would need is a long slope to get it started.

It's an additional skill to master and it's just plain fun. There's a satisfaction in heel-toeing a downshift perfectly that no automatic, dual clutch or otherwise, has ever provided me. Maybe not relevant if you're not driving an old heap, but it's also very easy to roll start a manual if you left your lights on etc.

[QUOTE=Hell-met;51184128]the elitism around manual driving has always astounded me heck it's literally even in the opening post[/QUOTE] It's just something for people who haven't done anything else with their lives to dickwave about. "I can drive stick, look how awesome I am." Congratulations I guess? The rest of us honestly do not care-- we just want cars that are in decent shape and run well, that get reasonable gas mileage, and that can take us to and from wherever we need/want to go.

my car has a quasi-manual mode that allows you to downshift to get more RPMs when entering the highway or going up a hill. Auto cars now are about as efficient performance wise than manuals, so car companies are rarely making them anymore.

i ride a 50cc scooter

[QUOTE=Elstumpo;51184735]i ride a 50cc scooter[/QUOTE] When I was 15 and only could ride 50cc holy shit scooters were the worst shit. Partly because I was 6' and partly because it's just more fun to have a clutch and gears so you can abuse the shit out of that 50cc you've got

[QUOTE=*Freezorg*;51184195]...Don't blame that on the car's transmission. Come to Europe and see if we're rolling back into each other's cars left and right. We're not. You fail the driving test if you let the car roll back. If you want to make it easy for yourself, use the handbrake, even if it isn't the "skilled" approach.[/QUOTE] I remember coming to a full stop and starting to drive again right after on a very steep incline during my driving test flawless [QUOTE=TestECull;51184256] You want good gas mileage? Fun to drive? Harder to steal? More engaging to drive? Less likely to get borrowed? Simpler? Cheaper to buy? Cheaper to maintain? Longer lived? More reliable? More in your control, something that's increasingly slipping away with every new computer added? You ever wonder what it's like to have a backup method to start your own car when the battery or starter doesn't do the trick? Get the stick. Unless you've lost the use of a leg or an arm there is no compelling argument in favor of the auto.[/QUOTE] The only real reason is making driving simpler - which isn't a bad thing per se. I imagine it can be advantageous in extremely crowded areas, where you'd just be using the clutch if you were in a manual anyways

So far both my cars have been manuals, but fuck me, the third one is gonna be an automatic (or preferably an electric). I drive because I have to, not for fun, and I'll take just about anything to make the 40 minute drive to work a little more comfortable. That and I'm never gonna own an expensive and powerful car, so having absolute peak performance is not a concern for me.

I learnt to drive manual but drive an automatic. It's just more simple to use. It's great for when you're stuck in traffic.

I've yet to drive an automatic that hasn't pissed me off with jerky shifts or how often it decides to change gears for no reason at all. There is no reason to downshift a gear if I slightly let off the gas on a flat road. I rue the day manuals are all but extinct. I guess the 2016 Corvette is the last sports car I will get to drive before everybody ditches them.

I'll stick with manual because I can actually b have control over my car instead of five different layers of abstraction that can get me thrown in jail.

I can drive and I was taught with manual as is common here in England. Never driven an auto, I think I'd shit myself if I had to drive one, I'm so used to changing gears. It's nice. Keeps you on the ball.

Jakarta has one of the worst traffic jams imaginable so driving an automatic car is so much more convenient and less tiring too

I doubt I'll ever get an automatic I drove an automatic vehicle in the army and I've driven some automatic cars I don't like it

[QUOTE=ElectronicG19;51184992]I can drive and I was taught with manual as is common here in England. Never driven an auto, I think I'd shit myself if I had to drive one, I'm so used to changing gears. It's nice. Keeps you on the ball.[/QUOTE] It's quite fun sticking someone who's never touched an auto in my car. They tend to instinctively go for the shifter, which only does auto or sequential and keep trying to change to no avail. Thankfully the ECU won't kick it into manual unless you hit the button or my engine would be fucked by this point I think. God I wish Smart offered my model in manual over here, just to see if I could drive it better than the computer. I'm not sure if it's me or the computer, but it does have some issues shifting up in a timely manner.

I just bought a manual Mazda MX-5. Guess I joined the minority.