I do, too, and drove one for many years. I'll be the one to splash cold water on the conversation, though.
Driving a stick arguably requires the use of both hands and legs, which is great and partly the reason why so many enjoy it - that sense of engagement. It's far less boring.
But here's the deal. Injure any one of those appendages and driving a manual becomes a whole lot less fun. In some cases, you can get by, but it's less than ideal. Having your arm closest to the shift in a sling, for example, makes your vehicle undrivable.
It won't matter to most people... right up until the moment it does.
I was a manual purist, until I move to a large city and had to drive in it often.
I still miss my manual cars, but god damn it was a pain in the city.
Manual transmission is half arsed. If you really want manual, ride a bike.
Wow. #1 'get off my lawn' post of the day. There is nothing wrong with auto... It's the drivers.
Spent all my life driving manual cars and I am completely comfortable and at ease with their pending demise due to hybrids and full BEVs. I wouldn't be surprised if some EVs get phony gears and broom broom noises for people who can't cope with just having to set a direction and push a pedal to make things happen.
I went from a inline 6 BMW diesel manual engine I drive for 10 years to my current Mazda 6 2.5L with automatic. Its easier and more luxurious to drive the automatic, but when I going for drive enjoyment I still have the habit of grabbing the shift lever when downshift is needed, and I often miss the feel and control of the manual when I edging it on curvy roads, even when my automatic has shift paddles, its just not the same.
But in a traffic jam in a city, for sure I will any day take an automatic over manual...
I rented an electric car over the summer and the acceleration damn near pushed my eyeballs back in my head. No gear shifting at all, just continuous acceleration. An electric grocery getter will blow the doors off nearly everything you can throw at it from the previous 50 years. Will not be looking back fondly on my manual transmissions.
Every car I've owned has been manual and I hate my latest decision since 99% of my driving is stop and go. Honestly I'd prefer no cars at all.
It's funny manual is the standard here so there's no ego boost to driving one, people always tell me it's because we have more corners which has never made any sense (I e. You need to go into second or third at roundabout which I think older autos would have a little lag with or something, certainly not a problem in cars from this century)
I would love an automatic, i think it would make my driving safer in several ways, for a start not having to focus on gears at key moments like navigating road changes and corners or pulling away in a busy carpark. When I drove in the US it was so nice not having to constantly be doing stuff in traffic that I wasn't anywhere near as tired which again is a big safety issue
I grew up in the UK, learning on stick, moved to us drive an automatic.
i live in a city, I work in an office, I don't have any hobbies that require something I can't lift with two hands (except my piano, but I hardly take that around with me).
I can't for the life of me think of a reason why I would need a stick. its so pleasant to be able to drink coffee or water while driving, have an arm out the window, or even just being at rest driving.
I dont get the appeal.
All it took for me was a single drive home during Thanksgiving traffic; a trip that normally takes 10min took an hour, I swore off manual transmissions that day.
Driving was a major part of my job when I lived in Boston and I drove manual. Honestly it isn't very fun being in traffic, but I wouldn't say it's much worse than driving an automatic. It becomes old hat. It probably depends a bit more on how stiff the clutch is and other mechanical variables, but I would agree with another commenter here that it does make people better drivers. I would also say manuals aren't for everybody and that's ok, but I also think they should be the norm rather than the complacently comforting automatics that make everyone feel like they are in a golf cart rather than a large metal missile.
With today’s technology, you turn on assisted cruise control and only worry about keeping the car in your lane, while it automatically accelerates/brakes through the traffic.
There is a significant difference in effort of driving manual vs automatic.
Yeah but that's cutting edge technology. Lane assist and automatic acceleration/braking is a tiny percentage of cars, plus it comes only on fairly high end or well optioned vehicles. Sure if I could afford a 70k robot vehicle that would be easier, but that's not really what we were talking about or comparing.
https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=which+cars+have+dynamic+radar+cruise+control
Since 2019 models like Honda Accord, Toyota Camry/Prius/Corolla, Subaru Legacy, and many others have had this tech; very far from 70k robots
Once again, that's not the comparison. The comparison is between generally used transmissions, not manuals vs a small percentage of automatic transmissions that have the expensive add on computer/lidar controlled engine and braking systems.
