Comments on: Every Man Should Know How to Drive Stick

By: ronin

ronin — Mon, 13 May 2013 22:34:03 +0000

Hello there. I live in Europe, Romania to be more precisely, and in our country you couldn’t get your license on an automatic car until few years ago. Today, you can get your license on an automatic car but that license will allow you to drive only automatic cars. If yu get your license on a stick you can drive both types of transmissions. So it’s much more desirable to earn your license on a manual car. Considering those written above you understand that I know how to drive a stick..I don’t have any problem with that…but recentely I made the switch to an automatic car…and I can say to you without any doubt that is much more fun to drive an automatic..how can you event think that is more fan a stick? Maybe everyone wants the thing they don’t have…maybe because of that. And when you start up the engine in your car you don’t need to keep any pedal pressed. That’s true for manuals as well as automatics. In automatics you can’t start the engine anyway if the lever is not in Park or Neutral. In a stick car just make sure the stick shift is in neutral, not in any forward or reverse gear.

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:42:07 +0000

all my life I have driven automatic transmission but with this article I get the feeling I can drive a stick without having to go to a driving school. Thank you very much.

By: Miki

Miki — Thu, 09 May 2013 17:18:28 +0000

I think it’s not fair to call people who drive automatic shift lazy. Especially when they are from the US where of all the vehicles sold in 2012 only 4% were manual shifts and the number getting lower for this year. You might find it even more expensive to get a new stick shift than automatic or not find one at all or you have to order it from the maker or even import it. Just don’t worth the trouble.
Its true manuals give better control, better feel of the machine, less distraction, pleasure of driving, all the margins of better mileage, lesser maintenance cost, rental and initial vehicle prices. But the majority of Americans have little time to negotiate these. Its simply easier to drive an automatic with hands and a single foot and be less worry about driving. I do enjoy manual but convenience is the order of the day after all.
Good article!

By: Manual FTW

Manual FTW — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:52:01 +0000

JBSO,

Be careful not to mix correlation and causation. There is a very good chance that better drivers choose to drive manuals, and not the other way around. After all, the people who buy manual transmissions obviously care about driving enough to go out of their way to buy something that is more proactive and gives them more control.

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 02:55:37 +0000

I wish I could get a stick but I don’t think it would be fun to drive a stick in a huge downtown area like the one I live in, I’d be changing gear every other minute.

By: JBSO

JBSO — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 05:22:24 +0000

I’ve always been a believer that driving a manual transmission makes the person a better driver, because they need to pay better attention to what the car is doing. It makes the person more aware of their surroundings. Plus, I think it keeps the driver more attentive, and safer than the automatic counterparts. It’s hard to eat a big mac, talk on the phone, and smoke a cigarette while shifting from 2nd to 3rd. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but in general people who drive manual transmissions generally allow less distractions when driving.

All of my vehicles are manuals, and whenever I drive someone’s car that is an automatic, the first thing I always do out of habit is stomp my left leg to the floor.

By: felix

felix — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 11:38:52 +0000

When starting from a stop, the primitive man revs the engine to 1.5k to 2k then lets out the clutch to catapute the car forward in hope that the engine doesn’t stall. The evolved gentleman lets the clutch to the friction point without touching the gas. Then he finesse the clutch to keep the rev close to idle as he adds as much gas as he deems necessary. Putting 1.5k rpm was rarely needed when I drove my lil Scion xB, with the 1.5L engine, even when starting on a step hill in San Francisco.

The primitive man also manhandle the synchronizers to get the stick in gears then lets the clutch out without attempting to rev match, jerking their passengers around. The evolved gentleman has a good grasp of matching engine speed to road speed for the gear, and would make an effort to smooth out every shift.

I once was that primitive man myself when it came to stick shifting.

By: Bradley Dykstra

Bradley Dykstra — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 05:06:04 +0000

My first truck was also a 1998 copper red Isuzu hombre, 5 spd, “space cab”! Fully loaded, still driving it. I laughed when I read this, ive never seen another one like it.

By: nik

nik — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 22:48:27 +0000

onetoomany is spot on!!!

driving a stick is fun sometimes.
i have a automatic 01 turbo beetle that
can kill most corvettes. it is an automatic.

when i bought it i went with an auto due to
chicago driving. a manual is no fun for such things.

now i dont have to do the chicago driving and the beetle is just a project car now.

as far as talkin bad about us due to the fact that we call it a “stick” ?
seriously? yall that bored?

some of ya smoke fags “cigarettes”
call car parts bonnets and boots
i could go on, but ya might have gotten the point

my truck is a stick, and i can drive it just fine

By: onetoomany

onetoomany — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 23:37:39 +0000

Automatics can overtake just fine. There is no clutch, but you can still shift manually. You don’t actually have to wait for it to do it for you – this is a common misconception. Some of the newer models will even do it faster and more efficiently than your han will, but you always have the option of doing it the old way. My current car has a handbrake, and 5 gears I can shift to manually, just like your manual, in addition to an optional 4 wheel drive mode. I can also start my car by remote from my iphone in the winter, alert me when I’m close to an object before or behind me, or one is in my blind spot, and it can parallel park for me if I don’t feel like doing it manually (although I can and definitely do all the time). I can turn all of that stuff off, but since I live in a city, it’s often quite useful. I had a stick and drove it for years with no problem at all. It definitely isn’t hard an isn’t any kind of sign about not being smart or lazy. You guys take pride in very strange, inconsequential things. The traffic around here is very stop an go, so the stick became tedious. I got a better job with annual bonuses, so I put it towards a new model vehicle that has tons of interesting perks, computer controls, cruise control, and other stuff like that. I will teach my own kids to drive both ways just in case, but I’m certainly not deluded enough to think that one preference somehow makes someone a better person. Your lives must be pretty empty if that is what matters to you and is the indicator that you’re a true man’s man. I would possibly miss the clutch in the winter time, but the four wheel drive, modern tire treads, ability for my car to start and warm itself and my seats is a pretty decent trade off. The cheaper cost was a big deal when I didn’t make enough money to make ends meet, but now I can afford a little more luxury in my life. I drive because my car is a tool, not because I want to have fun, but I think all the little perks in my ride make it more fun than manually shifting ever did, and if I’m feeling nostalgic or think I can gain an advantage in a given situation, I can always shift manually anyways. I gave my old cheap stick to a buddy of mine that was in need, but he has a nicer car now for himself as well. If I actually need a stick (although I certainly don’t know what situation that would entail), I can always go get it. It’s easy to have a bias if you have your preference and that’s all you use. If you actually use both you can look at this a little more objectively. The winter driving and natural engagement that comes from driving a manual are fine arguments, but so many of you are involved in a pissing contest right now and really need some perspective. How can you take pride in driving a stick if you’re from a country where it’s hard to even find an automatic and then call American’s lazy for also driving what is more readily available. If they are lazy for not seeking out the car that happens to be relatively scarce in their area, so are you for doing the exact same. In The United States, cruise control is a very useful feature. Driving a stick isn’t some sort of muscle man workout. You’re barely moving more than someone in an automatic. Get off your high horse. I’ve driven both extensively driving in general is more lazy than walking. Anyone driving any vehicle has no room to talk about being lazy. It’s not even relevant.