Posted on 04/10/2022 3:21:08 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Only around 18% of American drivers can handle a manual transmission, according to U.S. News and World Report. You know: the clutch pedal and the stick shift—three on the tree, four on the floor or, I don’t know, five to drive maybe. Different gears, manually engaged.
Turns out that “basically” isn’t the same as “actually.” When my father’s Oldsmobile died this month, my family replaced it as the backup car with a used Chevy. Since I’m the backup driver, I climbed in, stepped on the clutch, started the car, stepped off the clutch. The engine promptly stalled. Only by grinding the gears, smoking the clutch and jerking forward in jumps did I finally get moving.
In 1980, some 35% of cars produced in the U.S. were manuals. Today that figure is closer to 1%, and only 3.7% of Carmax sales are for stick shifts—shockingly low considering that 80% of cars sold in Europe have manual transmissions. Some car makers, including Audi, no longer offer manual transmissions in the U.S. market at all.
So why would anyone want one? Your car is less likely to get stolen, for one thing. Thieves prove as incapable of using a clutch as any other American.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
“I can’t believe you did that “
Did what?
“ You almost hit my car”
‘but I didn’t did I?
How am I going to get out?
I noticed they were still eating. “I’ll be gone before you are finished”
Absolutely. What an experience.
My first car a1953 Chevrolet Bel-Air with “three on the tree.” I always preferred MTs. My wife has 04 Honda Element with an A.T. and I have a 05 with a manual, both have about 135K miles. She is on her fourth set of brakes mine with the manual still has the original pads. Manual transmission are great if you live in the mountains or drive in mud or snow.
Plus it decreases your chance of your car being stolen.
This was MA…..probably different in other states.
.
Two-factor authentication for automobiles. Never had anything but manuals until my wife let my 2015 Jeep Wrangler roll away and totaled it. She’s not allowed to drive my Shelby.
Its the easiest thing in the world.
Just need a big Cat motor and an 18 speed.
I drive a 05 Audi A-4 with a 6 speed manual, love it.
The Laws of Physics don’t forbid a wrong way car.
I always look both ways.
“....using the downward slope of a hill to start an automatic?”
Some older GM auto trans cars had a hydraulic pump run off the output shaft. They could be push started.
I grew up watching my dad drive a TransAm, so it wasn’t hard for me to pick it up in my friend’s Probe on the first try.
However, when I did get to drive the TransAm, even with the seat full-forward, I was barely tapping the clutch; and in boots that give me 3 full inches no less.
I had an auto-manual Mazda 3 for awhile, and while not quite the same, it was great being able to start in second gear in winter.
Our latest m/t cars have hill hold. Works pretty well at least when the cars are new.
Practice at a stop sign on an incline and you’ll get it.
“...I wouldn’t trade anything for my 10 speed auto...”
I have one of those; ~1750 engine rpm @ 80.
I noticed that! LOL But...it was just too late and if I had done it right, or fixed it with another post, you would never had made me laugh.
I would like to learn how to drive one. He was going to teach me, but I didn’t want to practice in his Mustang which seemed to have too much power.
I did. The other driver did not before he came barreling out of nowhere.
I had one car that had a stick, and I thought I would never learn it. But I did. I drive an automatic now, but I’m glad I know how to drive a stick just in case
My daughter learned to drive with a stick as a teenager. Now grown and married with teenagers, she bought a brand new Honda Civic two years ago and insisted on a stick shift. The dealer had to find one and bring it for her to buy.
I had a conversation with a visitor from Bolivia a few years ago. He was in the USA buying a used CAT bulldozer for export to his country.
He told me all American used cars imported to Bolivia are stick shifts. He said they are far easier to repair. Automatic transmissions are very complicated to repair and many countries don’t have enough skilled mechanics needed to fix them.
I just bought a 1969 VW Beetle in remarkably great condition. Four-speed stick and I would not have it any other way !
Once they invented great coffee, a stick just gets in the way
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