Why Don't people enjoy driving a manual trans??

Status
Not open for further replies.
I've never understood the degree of self importance that driving a modern manual transmission brings out in some folks. Modern manual transmissions are simple to operate-even my 60-something year old wife can do it. And I'm quite sure she'd wonder why some of the folks in this thread think it is anything beyond ordinary.

If you really feel the need to prove your prowess with a transmission, go drive a real manual transmission, something like a 5 and 4 that takes some real skill and timing to operate. My guess is that 95% of the folks crowing about their manual transmission skills wouldn't have the foggiest notion of how to drive anything outside of their dumbed down, synchronized, so easy that ladies in their 60's can do it, modern manual transmission.
 
Have you ever tried drinking a cup of coffee while driving a stick? Now try eating something while shifting. Now try answering your phone. Now try texting. Putting your makeup on makes you look like you just escaped from the mental ward. Now, you will have to drive twice as far to work in the morning, after rolling backwards down the hill several times, while trying to take off while do 2 of the things above. Thus killing any fuel savings you have been told you would have by owning a stick. But, you get to enjoy the smell of burnt clutch, and that soothing sound of all the teeth being ground off the gears.,,
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Clubber_Lang
I love how some people on here are so agitated at pushing in a clutch pedal in traffic.

Driving isnt supposed to be like 4 wheels supporting your lazy boy fully reclined living room furniture.

Waahhhh!

I feel like I should call up the waaahhhmbulance.


Waahhhh? Really?

I love this faux elitism that comes with driving a MT. I try not to get riled up in forums, but come on, give me a break.

I like a good MT as much as the next guy. I've had about a 50-50 mix with the cars I've owned. West Virginia topography is definitely more suited to the AT. After driving a MT in the Bay Area of California and in Toronto, Ontario on a daily basis when I lived there, I agree with everyone that says driving a MT in constant everyday stop and go traffic basically sucks. I see you're from SC, and if you've never lived anywhere else (big, high volume traffic city), you probably won't understand.

If someone wants driving to be like their Lazy Boy, so be it. Doesn't make them lazy or any less of a human being, or that they are bad drivers. Nor does it mean they don't enjoy the driving experience.

For the poster above that claimed that when driving an MT, you'd at least get some exercise... don't go there, insinuating AT drivers are lazy people in general.

Bottom line: drawing conclusions about people based on their transmission preference is silly at best.
 
I shouldnt do it. But i can eat/drink/use the phone while shifting in traffic.

And if you cant master starting up a hill, i guess you shouldnt bother yourself with driving a manual. (Its easy!)"

Also....ive lived in the suburbs of Filthadelphia, and in the mountains. I know hills and traffic.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: wrcsixeight
Sure there are times when having a manual would be more irritating, like in traffic, but I imagine if everybody were forced to drive a manual there would be less stop and go, accelerate and slow, but more a constant first or second gear march, like when you get behind a trucker in traffic.

In theory maybe. But having lived and driven in heavy traffic in Europe where most cars are still manual, the situation is no better there. Traffic is traffic.
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
MANUAL
Possibly distracting/dangerous

LOL! Only if you don't know how to drive one.

Thanks for the morning chuckle.
 
If its a 4 cylinder, I prefer a manual. Everybodys situation is different, if I had to commute daily with traffic like alot of people do. I would want the automatic ALL day then. Otherwise, for a 6 cylinder or V8 -- auto is the way to go for me!!
 
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
I've never understood the degree of self importance that driving a modern manual transmission brings out in some folks. Modern manual transmissions are simple to operate-even my 60-something year old wife can do it. And I'm quite sure she'd wonder why some of the folks in this thread think it is anything beyond ordinary.

If you really feel the need to prove your prowess with a transmission, go drive a real manual transmission, something like a 5 and 4 that takes some real skill and timing to operate. My guess is that 95% of the folks crowing about their manual transmission skills wouldn't have the foggiest notion of how to drive anything outside of their dumbed down, synchronized, so easy that ladies in their 60's can do it, modern manual transmission.
 
Originally Posted By: Clubber_Lang
I shouldnt do it. But i can eat/drink/use the phone while shifting in traffic.

And if you cant master starting up a hill, i guess you shouldnt bother yourself with driving a manual. (Its easy!)


I have an idea: let's take everyone that can't drive a MT, or a MT up to your standards, line them up along the wall, and shoot them.
 
Originally Posted By: d00df00d
except for the last line, which I disagree with just as mightily.

Hehe... yup, I should have worded it more carefully. I have no problem with those who treat their vehicles as appliances and who don't get emotional about driving.

Many of us here in the US spend a large chunk of our lives commuting in cars, and often stuck in traffic. It's frustrating, so I can't blame people for not loving it.

It's like using a riding mower. If you only have to use it occasionally to mow your lawn, you might enjoy it. But if you mow lawns for a living, day in and day out, it might turn into a chore and you won't be that enthusiastic about it anymore. Does it make you a bad person?

I do agree with you that allowing yourself to be distracted while driving is a bad thing.
 
I have an idea: let's take everyone that can't drive a MT, or a MT up to your standards, line them up along the wall, and shoot them.

No, lets call them what they are. Ham fisted Dorks.
 
Last edited:
My wife and I prefer and only own stick cars. She bought a new Accord coupe with a manual years ago and traded it in for a Mazda3 with a stick. She drives to see her parents in Brooklyn, NY a few times a year. I think people who prefer manuals are more spirited and engaged drivers.
 
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
I've never understood the degree of self importance that driving a modern manual transmission brings out in some folks. Modern manual transmissions are simple to operate-even my 60-something year old wife can do it. And I'm quite sure she'd wonder why some of the folks in this thread think it is anything beyond ordinary.

If you really feel the need to prove your prowess with a transmission, go drive a real manual transmission, something like a 5 and 4 that takes some real skill and timing to operate. My guess is that 95% of the folks crowing about their manual transmission skills wouldn't have the foggiest notion of how to drive anything outside of their dumbed down, synchronized, so easy that ladies in their 60's can do it, modern manual transmission.


Wrong. Ive driven a three on the tree plenty. Its no big deal.
 
Manual transmissions are fun if you are the only car on the road. Stop-and-go traffic and arthritis make the automatics more inviting.
 
OP's comments are starting to make me regret having participated in this thread.

Everyone else seems to be posting usefully. I suggest we just ignore the chaff and keep going.
 
I prefer manuals, but in reality, like the poster mentioning the BMW128i, it's the whole package that either makes the car enjoyable to drive or doesn't for me. My automatic Mazda 3 is as enjoyable to drive as my manual Focus in everyday commute and I like driving both. But give me a real appliance like a Camry and I doubt I would enjoy it even if it was manual.
 
Originally Posted By: GreeCguy
Now this is driving a stick shift - truly a dying art and skill.

http://youtu.be/xAADEoJpTFQ



I used to have to double-clutch an old Chevy of mine - the synchros were shot. Even my old Corolla need double-clutching when it was cold.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

TiGeo
Child #3 graduated from the KCE manual transmission driving school
2
Replies
20
Views
683
nthach
T
taught badly at driving a manual
2
Replies
39
Views
2K
JTK
buster
GM 8L45 and Octane
Replies
3
Views
870
ragtoplvr
C
Finally able to pay it forward!
2
Replies
22
Views
747
JimPghPA
Klutch9
The (fun?) adventures of selling on FB Marketplace…
2
Replies
26
Views
1K
dubber09
Back
Top Bottom