How well do you drive a stick?

[TFB1]

Originally Posted By: DrDusty86
I had 413k miles on my 95 3.0 5Spd ranger with the factory clutch.

And except for starting out in 1st, I'll bet your clutch is in or out, none of this easing it out when when in other gears to get that ultra smooth engagement... A clutch mostly only wears when engaging, the shorter that interval, the less wear there is...

 

[Dave Sherman]

I learned to drive stick on a 1947 Lincoln V-12 coupe, and had some honing on both a 1972 Honda CL100 motorcycle and a 1980-something Chevy S-10 pickup that I had to borrow from a friend.

The first car I could call my own was a '97 Saturn I bought new with a stick, and put over 128,000 miles on it. Didn't do too shabby with it, even the day the clip popped off one of the shift cables, which made me lose first and second gear. For the record, it's possible to drive home having only third through fifth gear. Just pray for patient people behind you as you start off in third.

My MG has trained me on the art of double clutching since the synchros aren't that great, but I still keep my stick shifting skills with it.

I'll concede that after spending about a year and a half with my '04 CR-V stick shift, I got tired of daily bumper-to-bumper stop-go traffic, broke down and traded it for the current CR-V.

 

[Scott_Tucker]

Originally Posted By: Stewart Fan
I've owned 7 different manual transmission cars in the 22 years I've been driving. For the most part driving a stick is second nature for me.

My Subaru is a bit of a PITA. I'm not sure what it is,but even after driving it daily for 5 months,I find myself really having to pay attention to shift it smoothly.


I test drove a newer suby recently and noticed that the clutch pedal was really light. So much so that the only way I'd want to buy the car would be to put an auxilliary spring on the clutch pedal. Too light of clutch effort an make a car really hard to drive. Does this sound like your car?

 

[Rand]

The clutch is also light in my forester. its nice in heavy traffic you dont get "clutch leg" like I used to get in an older car. It could be a tad heavier.

 

[SEMI_287]

While in college I drove semi milk tankers. We had 10, 13 and one 18 speed. After a day on the truck driving an auto felt lazy as heck.

 

[DrDusty86]

TFB1,
Yes, But the truck did see trailer duty up to 3500lbs sometimes and with the 3.45 gears it would go 30mph in 1st. I would just time the stop lights to stay rolling..When they turned green I'd put my foot back on the floor.
I gave that truck heck, even abused it with Mobil 1 before I knew better. IT NEVER let me down..EVER.
Dusty
PS I NEVER EVER ride my clutch. I know how to drive a manual and my gear box and clutch life show it.

 

[TallPaul]

Nothing fancy, but it is second nature to me. My personal vehicles have all been sticks since 1977:

1977: 1963 Chevy Biscayne 3 on the tree
1977 to 1984: 1977 F100 3 on the tree
1984 to 1999: 1984 F150 4 on the floor
1999 to 2011: 1995 F150 5 on the floor
2011 to present: 2001 Ranger 5 on the floor

All of them with inline engines (6 banger but for the Ranger 4 banger).

 

[javacontour]

The question is can you drive an automatic after driving a stick for a while?

I've been known to "go for the clutch" when I'm coming to a stop and catching the bigger brake pedal the automatic has, making for an exciting stop.

I'm good for doing that about once a month in my wife's car

 

[TFB1]

Originally Posted By: javacontour
The question is can you drive an automatic after driving a stick for a while?

I've been known to "go for the clutch" when I'm coming to a stop and catching the bigger brake pedal the automatic has, making for an exciting stop.

I'm good for doing that about once a month in my wife's car

LOL, I suspect every regular "stick" driver has has pulled that one a time or two...

My stick goof is hunting for 5th gear in my '69 Cobra Jet Fairlane that has four gears(owned since '73)... Since I've mostly stopped driving vehicles with additional gears, hasn't happened lately ...

 

[charbaby]

Before the Asian cars became popular in the '70s/'80s, the only manual transmission vehicles that I actually like to drive were VW's and Volvo's and cars like them. I couldn't beleive how easy they were to drive/shift!

Before that, all of the domestic manual transmission cars/trucks were lots of work IMHO! Some folks like that!

 

[calvin1]

Originally Posted By: javacontour
The question is can you drive an automatic after driving a stick for a while?

I've been known to "go for the clutch" when I'm coming to a stop and catching the bigger brake pedal the automatic has, making for an exciting stop.

I'm good for doing that about once a month in my wife's car

LOL, when I was at my parents' house for the holidays I helped my dad get a car over to a shop for some work it needed. It was my first time in an auto in 18 months and at every stop sign there were two voices in my head. One was yelling "It's gonna stall. Do something! Do something!" The other would yell back "I can't. There's no clutch! There's no clutch!"

It's tough keeping up a straight face for the old man while you're rapidly going insane.

 

[RTexasF]

Born to it, learned on a DeSoto in the 50's.

 

[KrisZ]

I drive like that Senna guy... minus rev. matching, minus keeping the car on the edge, minus constant corrections, minus 9k RPM to 6k RPM shifts. Overall, not bad...

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: javacontour
The question is can you drive an automatic after driving a stick for a while?

I've been known to "go for the clutch" when I'm coming to a stop and catching the bigger brake pedal the automatic has, making for an exciting stop.

I'm good for doing that about once a month in my wife's car

I do that and I go for the invisible shifter in the Expedition every once in a while. My wife laughs about that one.

 

[addyguy]

Learned to drive on a stick - a 1993 Mazda 323, and a 1989 Toyota Tercel.

Actually got my licence on a 1985 Reliant automatic, and then bought an auto for my first car (1985 Buick Skyhawk).

After that, had 3 sticks in a row for 10 years - Civic, Corolla, another 323.

After that, got my Cavalier auto (wife and BIL's learning to drive), and then our current Tribute.

Convoluted story, but can drive a stick juuust fine.....

 

[DAC17]

Both of my cars are sticks (BMW 135i and Focus SE). Always driven sticks, but they're getting somewhat hard to find.

If anyone has driven a Mazdaspeed 3, bonus points for you. That clutch is the most difficult I've ever driven.

 

[gfh77665]

How well do you drive a stick?

Incredibly well. I don't mean to brag at all. but I handle a stick car, truck, big rig, whatever extremely well. Its just a matter of fact. My wife is in amazement of the control I have behind the wheel.

Silly example, but I have a real long driveway (150+ ft.) and I pull up to our brick mailbox coming or going. Every time I drive up literally 1/8 inch from the passenger side so she has a easy reach. It astounds her how I can do this every single time without ever causing a scratch.