I finally learned to drive stick

[iCyborg]

What are the benefits of manual transmission? (Not asking this rhetorically, but practically.)

Some people just like driving and being in control of the gear you're at.

AT typically adds weight and it has a higher fuel consumption, not much, for my car it's around 5% difference, and I can save even more with smarter shifting. About the only tangible benefit I know of. Also, slightly better acceleration and performance, probably due to smaller weight in part as well.

 

[busydude]

You feel more involved in the process of driving. There is no practical difference.. it is subjective. 20 years ago there may be a slight advantage to Manual over auto, but now it is not much.

 

[esquared]

Real men learned to drive a stick with three on a tree

 

[Rubycon]

Real men learned to drive a stick with three on a tree

Is that a screwdriver jammed in the tape deck? :biggrin_O

 

[dud]

Took me long enough, but I finally got around to learning it. Borrowed my mom's friend's kid's car ('06 Elantra, 5spd) since they were out of town and had my dad teach me.

I probably looked like a complete retard trying to drive it... took me a while to get the feel for the appropriate gas/clutch points; I still am not that good and getting going from a complete stop. Hills can also go fuck themselves.

Any stories/tips for the newbie? I'd love to practice some more and hone my skills a little bit, definitely more interesting to drive than an auto, but also a bigger pain in the ass since I'm not good yet.

Congrats OP for going with a manual ... once you go stick you can never go back!

 

[Jeff7]

Some people just like driving and being in control of the gear you're at.

Ok, I figured as much. Tis a preference thing.

AT typically adds weight and it has a higher fuel consumption, not much, for my car it's around 5% difference, and I can save even more with smarter shifting. About the only tangible benefit I know of. Also, slightly better acceleration and performance, probably due to smaller weight in part as well.

Yeah, I've seen that historically.
I'm looking at getting a 2012 Impreza to replace my rusting and falling-apart '97 Elantra. Subaru's automatic version is rated to get slightly better gas mileage than the manual-shift version. Rating is 25/34 vs 27/36, for what that may be worth.
(And the weight difference is 55lbs, though that may be because the manual shift version uses a conventional gear-based transmission, versus the automatic's CVT.)
Now dammit, I just need to wait for the darn things to arrive at the dealerships here. The Impreza's not a high-end "luxury" car, but damn, it's got a lot of fancy stuff that my Elantra doesn't have.

You feel more involved in the process of driving. There is no practical difference.. it is subjective. 20 years ago there may be a slight advantage to Manual over auto, but now it is not much.

I'm also the sort who likes cruise control, when the road's sufficiently clear of traffic - no need to worry about my speed drifting up too high.

 

[JackBurton]

Or the "sour grapes" syndrome.

I did certainly see benefit to manual transmission in one application though: Need For Speed 3. However, I rarely need to evade police at high speed though while driving to and from work.

What are the benefits of manual transmission? (Not asking this rhetorically, but practically.)
Yes, it gives more direct control over one aspect of the vehicle's function, but it's at the expense of needing one hand on the gearshift more frequently, and another (small) thing to think about. Automatic also afford the ability to effectively downshift, even if the downshifting just tells the circuitry to use a different set of rules for shifting. My 14-year-old Hyundai Elantra's automatic shifting isn't terribly bright, and it doesn't always make up its mind quickly when accelerating - do I want a quick acceleration, or a more modest one? If I bump it down from Drive into 2nd, it doesn't hesitate at all: Gas = move NOW dammit!

I can't take a sports car seriously with an auto. If you are racing from a roll, I'm already in the gear I want to be in. The guy in the auto has to down shift, and by that time I'm out. That's why I love that Ford only offers the Mustang 302 and GT500 in manual. They're basically saying, "I don't give a shit if you want an auto. This car is meant to be driven with a manual transmission. If you don't like it, go buy another car. We're no watering down our performance cars for the masses." I just wish Ford did this with the GTs. If you want an auto, they should have busted people down to the V6.


Now if you are driving a regular car, auto is fine, although I still prefer a manual.

 

[feralkid]

Ugh, hated it when I drove a old truck that was stick but the light switch for brights / dim was on the left hand side of the floor so that didn't help either.

No, that's the left foot side.

 

[disappoint]

I can't take a sports car seriously with a stick. That's why I love that Ferrari only offers the 458 Italia in auto. They're basically saying, "I don't give a shit if you want a stick. This car is meant to be driven with an auto transmission. If you don't like it, go buy another car. We're no watering down our performance cars for people who don't have all their teeth." I just wish Ford did this with their cars. But Ferrari > Found on road dead any day of the week.

Now if you are driving a regular car, stick is fine, although I still prefer an auto.

 

[feralkid]

I can't take a sports car seriously with a stick. That's why I love that Ferrari only offers the 458 Italia in auto. They're basically saying, "I don't give a shit if you want a stick. This car is meant to be driven with an auto transmission. If you don't like it, go buy another car. We're no watering down our performance cars for people who don't have all their teeth." I just wish Ford did this with their cars. But Ferrari > Found on road dead any day of the week.

Now if you are driving a regular car, stick is fine, although I still prefer an auto.

 

[disappoint]

If you only had auto focus...

 

[Jeff7]

I can't take a sports car seriously with an auto. If you are racing from a roll, I'm already in the gear I want to be in. The guy in the auto has to down shift, and by that time I'm out.

Unless I've gone to the trouble of anticipating that I'm going to need to accelerate rapidly, and have already downshifted my automatic appropriately.

That's why I love that Ford only offers the Mustang 302 and GT500 in manual. They're basically saying, "I don't give a shit if you want an auto. This car is meant to be driven with a manual transmission. If you don't like it, go buy another car. We're no watering down our performance cars for the masses." I just wish Ford did this with the GTs. If you want an auto, they should have busted people down to the V6.
Now if you are driving a regular car, auto is fine, although I still prefer a manual.

Manual does seem to be the choice for those who like a sportier feel to a car.

I mainly need a box that gets me from one box to my destination box.
(You live in your house, which is basically a big fancy box. Then you get in your wheeled box, and drive it to a workplace or store, which has a reasonable chance of being another big fancy box of a building.)

 

[feralkid]

If only google had auto focus...

Think about it, bro.

 

[iCyborg]

I can't take a sports car seriously with a stick. That's why I love that Ferrari only offers the 458 Italia in auto. They're basically saying, "I don't give a shit if you want a stick. This car is meant to be driven with an auto transmission. If you don't like it, go buy another car. We're no watering down our performance cars for people who don't have all their teeth." I just wish Ford did this with their cars. But Ferrari > Found on road dead any day of the week.

Now if you are driving a regular car, stick is fine, although I still prefer an auto.

From wikipedia on 458 Italia:
It is the first mainstream model to not be offered with a manual transmission.

Not exactly an argument for auto, what about almost all the other Ferraris?

 

[feralkid]

From wikipedia on 458 Italia:
It is the first mainstream model to not be offered with a manual transmission.

Not exactly an argument for auto, what about almost all the other Ferraris?

Yeah, I figure he's gotta be about 9 years old to not have known that.

 

[Printer Bandit]

this reminds me of 5 speed girl.

 

[disappoint]

Yeah, I figure he's gotta be about 8 years old to think I didn't know that.

Fast Only Rolling Downhill

 

[disappoint]

From wikipedia on 458 Italia:
It is the first mainstream model to not be offered with a manual transmission.

Not exactly an argument for auto, what about almost all the other Ferraris?

You're missing the point if you don't realize WHY they made that decision with the 458.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

My dad always owned manual transmission cars, until periodic arthritis flare-ups made it too painful to constantly be shifting gears. But he did let me have a go at driving one. He said that I seemed to pick up on it rather quickly. I didn't think it went so well, so I don't know how it went.
Once the car was moving, shifting was terribly simple. Getting it moving wasn't so easy. I was told that I would be able to easily feel when the clutch "grabbed," or something of that nature. If anything was supposed to be felt while pushing the pedal, I never found it. I had to go by the distance the pedal had been pressed to approximate when it was ok to give it gas.
On the plus side, I never made that awful gear-grinding sound. I just stalled the car constantly when trying to move from a stop.

I don't have much benefit for manual transmission in any case. A car is a way of getting me from one place to another. Manual transmission adds one more complication to meeting that goal.

I did recently test-drive a car with the CVT type transmission, and its manual-shift capability simulates 6 gears. That kind of manual transmission is fine with me - since there's no clutch to bother with, it's quite simple, and it's optional to use it at all. But the manufacturer also says you get better gas mileage if you let the car figure out the gearing ratio.

You don't literally feel much through the clutch pedal. You feel what the engine is doing in response.

 

[ShawnD1]

I've only done about 500km on automatic on rentals, friend's cars etc. All the rest, and I've had license for quite a few years now, is stick. In Europe, stick is much more prevalent, or it was 10 years ago when I moved to N. America. So I had to learn it when I was in HS since there was no choice really.
I still drive manual, and love it. Blipping the throttle on downshift, or engine braking mmmm.
Diesels are easier to drive with manual, harder to kill the engine as it has more torque in lower rpm. I could keep it on a fairly decent incline in place just with the clutch and no throttle.

Automatics in general are hard on the engine. My auto corolla redlines almost every day just to get up to speed. My manual civic almost never went above 4k rpm. Didnt need to.

 

[chusteczka]

A driver can get more enjoyment/power from a small engine with manual transmission (150HP or less).

Manual transmission also provides more control in snow. If the car gets stuck in snow, it is very easy to rock a car out with manual transmission.

Automatic transmission is better for stop and go traffic in a city.

 

[Chaotic42]

I sometimes get comments on my driving because I finally got an automatic, but I still drive with my right hand on the shifter.

 

[MtnMan]

Heel-toe for starting off on hills, shouldn't roll back an inch if at all.

Learned to drive on a straight (3 speed on column) with a foot starter on the floor right of the gas. (52 chevy pickup, and I was barely big enough to reach pedals and see out, but I wasn't on the highway)

Drove a number of firetrucks from 5 speeds with granny, 5 speed with split rear and 13 speed road rangers, plus a number of farm tractors.

 

[ShawnD1]

Yeah, I've seen that historically.
I'm looking at getting a 2012 Impreza to replace my rusting and falling-apart '97 Elantra. Subaru's automatic version is rated to get slightly better gas mileage than the manual-shift version. Rating is 25/34 vs 27/36, for what that may be worth.

Their estimates are total BS. The official estimates say that an automatic 2010 Toyota Corolla should get much better gas mileage than a 2008 Subaru Impreza with a manual. I happen to own both of these cars. They get the same gas mileage - roughly 8.2L/100km in the city (28.6mpg US). That would be fine if these cars were similar in any way, but it's not even close. The Subaru is 300lbs heavier, the engine is a 2.5L instead of 1.8L, and the Subaru has AWD. On paper, the Corolla has every advantage to give it better gas mileage, yet it's all pissed out the window because the automatic transmission is horrendously inefficient.

Get the manual Impreza. I love mine. It's so much fun to drive. I'm blown away by how good the gas mileage is too. My corolla is slightly below the official Canadian estimate for city mileage, but my Impreza is beating it by more than 20%.

 

[911paramedic]

My first vehicle was a '69 VW van, too cool for words. My dad taught me how to drive stick in Marin, and then he took me over the bridge into SF. I got pretty damn good in a very short time from that tactic of his.

I taught my son in my old jeep out on dirt roads in the Nevada desert, he picked it up right away. I set my camera up on a tripod in the backseat looking forward too, so I have it all on video. I should really take a look at it again, it was really fun and over ten years ago when Vegas was much smaller.