More fans of stick shift switch gears

[DrPizza]

I just like the decrease in maintenance, and the increase in fuel economy (but maybe automatics are closing the gap with more engineering?)

If I'm going downhill for 2 miles, I just downshift a gear or two... I do it automatically without thinking about it, just enough so I maintain around the speed limit (or actually, the amount so that the car doesn't go more than 9 over the speed limit) - saves from constant braking (which heats the brakes, which contributes to more wear)

And, when exiting the highway on offramps, again... downshifting rather than braking. Last time I had an inspection, the guy couldn't believe my brakes had 15,000 miles on them. I've never worn out a clutch either. Plus, I hate when automatics can't decide which gear to be in while climbing hills...

 

[Lithium381]

Originally posted by: RMSistight

Originally posted by: Ameesh
all you guys who have stick shifts who think your goddamn speed racer don't like to talk about how many times you have to shift gears when in traffic... in general sticks are a pain in the ass if you live in a city with any kind of traffic or if the city is hilly at all.

Uh..I live in San Jose and I get traffic all the time. Stick doesn't bother me....hills don't bother me either cause I'm good at driving stick so it doesn't phase me at all.

I'm in San Jose too, stick is all i'll consider driving, it's part of driving...same way you use the steering wheel to turn, you use the clutch/stick to change gears....it's pretty simple and it's 2nd nature. When i bought my car, i only wanted MT....waited 2 months of searching classifids, craigslist etc before i found what i was looking for...so i bought it, paid a little more than i would have wanted to, but not by much and i got a great car so whee!

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: RMSistight

DUDE, just the other day I saw this Nissan Altima that was weaving in and out of traffic on the streets and had trouble deciding on which lane he should be in. I get in front of him with my stick Integra only to find out that mofo was on the CELL PHONE...it was even worse cause he was middle aged Asian. (No disrespect since I'm Asian myself). So the cars finally came to a stop and he was still on his cell phone. I was so tempted to get out of my car, yank that phone out of his hands, throw it back into his car and tell him to concentrate his ass ON DRIVING.

As most of us SHOULD know, stick drivers are pretty dedicated when their driving their cars. Why would they do anything else considering it's STICK? It's those automatic drivers who are doing other crap in their car when they should be concentrating on driving in the first place.

WTF are you talking about? I don't know how "dedicated" you think Civic/Corolla/Focus/Elantra/Spectra/Neon/Sentra/etc. drivers are (the cars in the US most likely to be driven with a stick...cheap econoboxes). They are "dedicated" from getting from point A to point B in the most efficient manner but I highly doubt that they are "dedicated" to driving a stick.

 

[Aftermath]

For those pointing at how "lazy" Americans are, why don't you reconsider and point your fingers at the anemic "drivers education" classes in this country first?

It wasn't that many years ago that I was graduated from drivers ed and got my drivers licence. As long as you could handle a 4 banger automatic down a street without hitting anything, then down a highway while performing a lane change, you're a certified driver in this country. Hell, I was partners with students that would regularly pop curbs, fail to bring the car to a stop before throwing it in reverse and would drift so badly during lane changes that by the time they turned on their blinker and checked their mirrior they were already in the next lane. We ALL passed with flying colors. If you actually had to learn how to DRIVE a car in this country, rather than learning how to not wreck in a near fully automated car with stop/go pedals, more people might appreciate manual transmissions and they might still be more popular today.

Just my $.02.

 

[NutBucket]

Originally posted by: Ameesh
all you guys who have stick shifts who think your goddamn speed racer don't like to talk about how many times you have to shift gears when in traffic... in general sticks are a pain in the ass if you live in a city with any kind of traffic or if the city is hilly at all.

Whatever. If I cared I would have never kept my current car (stick).

<-- 4+ years of LA traffic.

EDIT: Traffic sucks because you don't move. I don't even think about clutch/gear changes.

 

[CraigRT]

manual here too... i won't drive automatic.. more prone to failure, and completely annoying to drive... i never want the car to control how i drive.. 🙂 MT always!

 

[trmiv]

My first two cars were manuals, my current car is an automatic. I doubt I will ever buy another manual again. An auto is just much more conveinent in bumper-to-bumper traffic, and I prefer it. I drive a car to get me from one point to another, not for the "driving experience." Then again, I drive a race car on the weekends to get the "driving experience" so I guess I don't need that kind of satisfaction from a street car.

 

[RiDE]

Originally posted by: trmiv
My first two cars were manuals, my current car is an automatic. I doubt I will ever buy another manual again. An auto is just much more conveinent in bumper-to-bumper traffic, and I prefer it. I drive a car to get me from one point to another, not for the "driving experience." Then again, I drive a race car on the weekends to get the "driving experience" so I guess I don't need that kind of satisfaction from a street car.

 

[WobbleWobble]

Let's say you don't have access to a MT car? How are you supposed to learn? And if someone did have a MT car, would that person let you borrow it to learn? I know I wouldn't want someone learning MT on my car if I had one.

Do dealers let you test drive a MT car if you don't know how to drive one? If you if you don't tell them I'm sure they'll find out! I'd love to buy a new MT car but I'd hate to be wearing out the clutch when the car is new.

I almost bought a used Civic SiR that had a slipping clutch and that's something a non-MT driver wouldn't know. Good thing I had my mechanic test drive the car for me and he told me the previous owner had been riding the clutch.

 

[Beau]

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: FrustratedUser
I never understood why almost all cars in the US are automatics. It's the opposite in Europe.

B/C Americans are lazy and when most people drive 2+ ton SUVs and pickups, who wants to shift for themselves?

I mean come on, when I'm driving my dad's Toyota Highlander or his Nissan Frontier Crew Cab Long Bed, the last thing I wanna think about is rowing gears...

Size wouldn't be the deciding factor when getting an automatic in an suv/truck. Auto tranny's generally mean a higher towing capacity 😉