I finally learned to drive stick

[911paramedic]

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

I forgot about that damn thing. A friend of mine had a van with that kind of transmission, what a stupid way to drive. I hated driving that damn thing.

 

[JackBurton]

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.

LOL, I knew some goof would come out with a knee jerk response of, "nuh uh, Ferrari uses an auto." The Nissan GT-R also only comes in auto, but that is also the reason it gets criticized too. And I just love how the lazy ass auto fans use a Ferrari to defend ALL auto transmissions. I guess since the Ferrari's auto transmission performs so well, a Toyota Camry's auto trans responds just the same.

And a little FYI, you cannot get a Porsche GT2 RS configured with an auto either. Looks like Porsche is telling lazy ass auto driver, FU too. .

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

When I lived in Germany my german girlfriend had a citroen 2VC, which the French nicknamed the Deux Chevaux - which basically translates to 2 horsepower. It drove like it had 2 horsepower too. Its shifter was located in the dash and you changed gears by pulling or pushing the shifter while twisting it to various positions at the same time.


If you have ever seen the Bond movie For Your Eyes Only you might recognize it.


The car was actually fun to drive when the weather was nice and you could put the top back. Wasn't something you wanted to take on the Autobahn though.

 

[JackBurton]

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.

What gear do you downshift an auto at 50MPH?

 

[Jeff7]

...
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%.

Regardless of the gas mileage accuracy, I wouldn't want a manual anyway, unless it was the automatic-manual that can be bought with some of the Subarus - no clutch, just flip the paddles on the wheel and it acts like a manual.
I've got little interest in a manual transmission.
(I'd take the bus to work if I didn't have to walk more than 2 miles total to and from the stops, and transfer from one bus to another in the city's center, and more than double my total commute time.:\)
I'm the sort who drives because I need to be somewhere else, not because I want to drive.
And the Impreza's got a lot of practical features I like, and AWD for a little help on the road in Erie's winter hellscape.

What gear do you downshift an auto at 50MPH?

I've got an Overdrive button on the shift column, which is useful for things like downshifting just a bit on a highway for a quick boost if I really need it. That just bumps it down by one gear. However, the car is usually good about figuring out what to do if I just give it a bit more gas at that kind of speed, unless I'm on a hill. Then I have to hit Overdrive if I want more response.
On the Impreza, my understanding is that bumping it to manual mode will automatically put it into a transmission ratio that approximates a gear from 1-6. Then it can be downshifted as needed.

In general though, I rarely feel a need to do any manner of non-automatic shifting at that speed. Most of my downshifting is done at an intersection, when I want to be sure that the car is going to move when I want it to, rather than sit there for a bit as it tries to decide between 1st and 2nd gear.

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

That might have been a useful thing to have known back then, though usually the only thing different I felt from the engine was it sputtering as it stalled out. :\

 

[KaOTiK]

I learned how to drive on a stick and every car I've owned since has been manual. When I drive an automatic car it feels so damn weird, I don't know what to do with my right hand as I always keep it resting on the stick normally.

I'm not a car guy or even a big fan of driving, but I prefer manual so much more for having better control of the car and being able to feel how it reacts. Also nice for detecting a problem sometimes feeling when something is off just a tiny bit that you wouldn't notice with an automatic.

 

[zCypher]

congrats!
i was a terrible student, took me forever to catch on but I'm so glad I did it. every car I've owned has been manual except for the parisiennes (naturally!).

i've never heard of the handbrake trick for the hills. seems to just be adding more steps when you're already trying to take in a lot. the best advice is practice, practice practice which is FUN!

 

[TridenT]

LOL, I knew some goof would come out with a knee jerk response of, "nuh uh, Ferrari uses an auto." The Nissan GT-R also only comes in auto, but that is also the reason it gets criticized too. And I just love how the lazy ass auto fans use a Ferrari to defend ALL auto transmissions. I guess since the Ferrari's auto transmission performs so well, a Toyota Camry's auto trans responds just the same.

And a little FYI, you cannot get a Porsche GT2 RS configured with an auto either. Looks like Porsche is telling lazy ass auto driver, FU too. .

Porsche 911 Turbo S only comes in flappy paddle gear box as well... So... what now, bro?

That said, I know how to drive stick, but executing it is quite troublesome. Some cars have a lot more play than others with the clutch pedal.

 

[amdhunter]

If you can't find it, grind it.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

It took me ages to learn, but I have my Miata down pretty well. Somehow I couldn't figure it out until my mom was driving me around and I just listened to the engine and from that point on I only stalled a couple of times. Of course, a Miata is probably the easiest car in the world to try manual on, so I might fail at anything more difficult.

 

[Murloc]

driving stick just requires practice.
Practice a lot and you will get the hang of it.

If you have to start on a steep slope, clutch and gas alone won't do it (depending on the car). In that case, just use the handbrake, release teh clutch and push the gas a bit, then release the handbrake and you'll get going.
It's way easier to do it this way, you won't have to fear traffic lights on slopes anymore.
After some time you just get used to it and starting on a slope won't be a problem anymore anyway, just practice.

on a flat surface, you release the clutch with the gas to make it faster, but you should be able to do it without too.

I sometimes drive an automatic too, but it has various functionalities that are useful to make it less of an hassle to people used to stick (anyone in europe):
- it's a robot-controlled manual
- you can control the gear you're in manually, you just push up and down, no clutch
- if you press completely the gas pedal, it downshifts to give you max acceleration
- it downshifts to accelerate
- it adapts to steep slopes by keeping the rpm higher
- it has a sports mode that keeps the rpm higher, useful for engine braking.

 

[ManchesterManson]

Hah, nice parody. I can't believe nobody picked up on it.

 

[Broheim]

When I lived in Germany my german girlfriend had a citroen 2CV, which the French nicknamed the Deux Chevaux - which basically translates to 2 horsepower. It drove like it had 2 horsepower too. Its shifter was located in the dash and you changed gears by pulling or pushing the shifter while twisting it to various positions at the same time.


If you have ever seen the Bond movie For Your Eyes Only you might recognize it.


The car was actually fun to drive when the weather was nice and you could put the top back. Wasn't something you wanted to take on the Autobahn though.

ftfy, and it IS a fun little car to drive, there's something so delightfully simple about it (eventhough at the time it was state of the art).

 

[IGemini]

Hah, nice parody. I can't believe nobody picked up on it.

Check the timestamps, sparky. The link is the parody.

 

[Demo24]

i've never heard of the handbrake trick for the hills. seems to just be adding more steps when you're already trying to take in a lot. the best advice is practice, practice practice which is FUN!

I think that might be a bit more common in other areas these days, as I've heard it's actually part of the UK driving test in order to make a start on a hill without rolling back. Goal is to just take your foot off the brake completely, which then gives you more time to deal with the clutch and gas. I use it sometimes on really steep hills, especially if someone has decided to stop right behind me, as my car doesn't have much torque down low. Sometimes I roll back just a bit for fun and make the person behind me a bit nervous.

Hah, nice parody. I can't believe nobody picked up on it.

Not sure if you're calling this thread a parody or that one, this is the original thread.

 

[JackBurton]

Porsche 911 Turbo S only comes in flappy paddle gear box as well... So... what now, bro?

That said, I know how to drive stick, but executing it is quite troublesome. Some cars have a lot more play than others with the clutch pedal.

Paddle shifting is not auto and not manual, it's somewhere in the middle, "bro." So what's your point? I'm not big on paddle shifters, but I'd definitely take it over an auto.

 

[clamum]

It took me ages to learn, but I have my Miata down pretty well. Somehow I couldn't figure it out until my mom was driving me around and I just listened to the engine and from that point on I only stalled a couple of times. Of course, a Miata is probably the easiest car in the world to try manual on, so I might fail at anything more difficult.

:awe:

 

[xanis]

Hah, nice parody. I can't believe nobody picked up on it.

LOL missed that. Well-played.

 

[KingstonU]

Figuring out the point where the clutch actually engages was paramount for me to get good at it. No-one can teach you it and every car is different.