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Posted on 09/04/2026 2:24:01 PM PDT by Libloather
Are drivers who never learn this skill getting the short end of the stick?
Recent research shows that this once-ubiquitous ability is increasingly becoming a lost art.
Only 18% of Americans know how to use a stick shift — with the number even lower among younger drivers.
In a survey of US drivers, Extreme Terrain found more than a third of Gen Z drivers (35%) never learned to drive stick, compared with just 9% of baby boomers.
Further, driving confidence is waning among younger drivers, with only half of those under 30 believing they could competently drive a manual.
“People in their mid-40s and up are probably the only people left who really grew up with the stick shift; people now don’t know how to drive it unless their parents or grandparents teach them,” driving instructor Andy Nelson, owner of Safe Driver Solutions, told The Post.
To that end, and to Nelson’s point, more than half of manual drivers (56%) surveyed learned to drive a manual from a parent or older relative.
The reason for learning how to drive a stick has evolved over time; only 22% of Gen Z drivers learned out of necessity, compared with 55% of boomers.
“Like most of society, it’s turned toward disposable technology, so rather than fixing the transmission, they just replace it,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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Bought a used Kia Rio 10 yrs ago from a dealer. Got a great price because they were having trouble selling it; no one wanted a manual trans. I did. Here we are at 103K and it just keeps motoring along, and I’M driving it.
For those manual drivers, see if this is you.
People Who Drive Manual Have These 5 Rare Traits
Ford mustang gt 500 only have manual shifters.
You could build a training module into today's cars as well, more than just the shift up / shift down notification on the dash.
I wouldn’t have a Jeep unless it was manual transmission. If you have an automatic transmission, it might as well just be a show Jeep with all the accesories on it and shiny clean like it just came off the showroom floor, which is what all newer looking jeeps look like.
No problemmo, changing a flat tire, just call AAA and sit tight for an hour or two. Easy peasy! //
**If you’re in a mountainous area, your cell phone signal might be hit & miss. Keep Flares in the trunk, just in case.
I leared how to drive a stick on a 1931 Ford Model A.
Three speed crash box.
My dad taught me how to double clutch and how to shift without the clutch.
Drove a VW beetle for about a decade and currently have two of them.
These skills I fear are lost amongst the young
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well put
I know a few female die-hard manual transmission drivers. Three stood out; one drove a Jeep, one was a speed demon in a sports car, and one drove an SUV. And they drove them well.
I learned to drive in 72 in a 63 Beetle. Driving a stick is like riding a bicycle. A lot of young folks don’t even know how to ride a bike. Oy!
Of course, they may also drop dead trying to locate the button to lower the window. ;-)
When I bought my first vehicle (1980 pickup truck 4x4) I wanted a manual for off-road stuff so you could really get it into low gear.
When I bought my next vehicle (4x4 pickup in 2001) it was an automatic. I know they didn’t make a manual in the style, perhaps other styles or makes had it but not many.
I miss the low range the few times I need it. But it has the rear locking differential which I didn’t have before and that has come in handy a couple of times.
99.5% of my driving now is on pavement, so I don’t miss the manual.
Old Beetles are way cool. Great machines in snow country too.
My grandfather taught me manual transmissions on his farm tractors.
Similarly, I learned photography on a manual SLR. Pentax K1000. I learned the relationships between aperture and shutter speed.
Now it is not necessary to learn these things. But the fact that I understand it makes me a better photographer.
And similarly again, the fact that I learned to drive on a stick shift makes me a better driver.
I think back to having a VW Beetle many years ago. I was pretty young but had never driven a stick shift before. My husband got in the car with me and we took off. He hollered at me the whole tie because I was not too good at it.
We pulled up out front, I asked him to get out, he did because it drove him nuts. I took off and that beetle was a buckin’ and jerkin’ down the street.
I learned it and I became quite fond of the stick shift after a while.
I never thought much of it but a coworker commented about being envious because she didn't learn, and respected that I did. She was from Europe and would go back to visit family regularly.
I worked with a woman who regularly did television and movie extra work and was in quite a few pictures because she could drive a manual transmission, including a three-on-the-tree. Especially in scenes of period pieces with older cars, they'd pay extras more if they could drive manual transmissions since it saved costs by requiring fewer dedicated drivers. She also got to be in a lot of scenes such as car chases (as one of the vehicles being passed), or scenes where a fleeing perp slides over a car hood while the car is stopped at a light, or a perp gets thrown on the hood and cuffed by the cops.
My father taught to drive cars with manual transmissions & my first 3 cars in my life were all manual. I also ended up being a heavy equipment operator in the USAF & drove quite alot of manual shift vehicles there. That being said, my last three personal vehicles including my current F150 were/is an automatic transmission, and my next car hopefully in 2027 will be a Tesla with FSD, it is impressive.
When he was 17, my kid took my car in for tires. The lady at the shop jumped in then stared at him. He asked if she needed help. She said “I know how to drive a stick. I’m amazed that you do.”
That was ten years ago. Now he’s mad because his employer is getting rid ifntheirb13 speed semi’s for automatics.
I learned to drive using a stick shift and clutch. No big deal it became just natural with little thought process. Back in the 60s I chose a stick as that transmission was more efficient and cheaper. Today our transmissions are very efficient and close to a stick but not equal.
Today I buy automatics as the choices on the lot are mostly automatics. Also, my beloved wife is “The Arch Angel Avenging destroyer” of clutches and the plate and I am to damn old to pull a transmission and replace things. They are heavy! I did often in my youth but no more. She is also enemy number one of brake pads. But I do love her.
Ha! I have never owned an automatic. I refuse to own one. I bought my last car which was 4 years old because that was the last year they made it in stick. I jokingly tell my nieces and nephews that I have a “millenial anti theft device” installed in my car.....the stick. Its so much more fun to drive. I like the direct control.
While automatics are popular in North America, outside of the US and Canada, most cars are manual transmission. If you want to travel, you need to know how to drive stick.
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