Can you drive a stick shift car?

[Huntn]

For quite a few years, my grandfather(dad's father) lived in the little town of West Jefferson, NC. It's in Ashe County, NC-the northwest most county in the state-and is about a 20 minute drive from the little hamlet of Mouth of Wilson, VA or about an hour from Johnson City, TN.

When we would travel to visit him, we would take an "interesting" route from Central KY to get there, as there really was no direct way. Basically, we would take interstate/4 lane limited access highways(I-64 and the Mountain Parkway) to Campton, KY where we would then meander through eastern KY. The trip would take us through towns big and small like Inez, Whitesburg, Jackson, and Hazard. We'd cross over into Virginia at Pound(Wise County), continue through Wise, St. Paul, etc until we got to Abingdon. At Abingdon, VA, we'd hop on I-81 for about 40 miles to get to Marion and then take US 16 on into West Jefferson.

IMO, the final stretch through Virginia/NC was the most beautiful and scenic part of the trip, but my mom absolutely refused to drive it because driving on "mountain roads" scared her too much.

On one trip, we were meeting my grandfather for breakfast with my mom driving and she took a wrong turn. We found ourselves heading to the top of Mt. Jefferson, the highest point in NC. She was a nervous wreck by the time we got to the top, and froze about 3/4 of the way up. My dad had to just about force her out of the car so that he could drive back down. That was somewhat of an interesting adventure. That was the last time we let her get anywhere close to a semi-mountainous road.

Nice story. For my wife's first trip to West Virginia, she was with me and my brother in a pickup truck loaded with hay bales. I guess it did not help that the truck leaned on curves and they had names like "wild Betty", and us talking about the vehicles that went over here and there. Note the intent was to reminisce, not scare her. I guess the last straw for that trip was trying to get her to walk out onto an overlook for a beautiful view where a cliff had been cut in for a new road, the telling her of a friend (an old guy) who had ridden a bulldozer down the side during a rock slide. All true and she did forgive me.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Nice story. For my wife's first trip to West Virginia, she was with me and my brother in a pickup truck loaded with hay bails. I guess it did not help that the truck leaned on curves and they had names like "wild Betty", and us talking about the vehicles that went over here and there. Note the intent was to reminisce, not scare her. I guess the last straw for that trip was trying to get her to walk out onto an overlook for a beautiful view where a cliff had been cut in for a new road, the telling her of a friend (an old guy) who had ridden a bulldozer down the side during a rock collapse. All true and she did forgive me.

Well, there are times I think that gorgeous panoramas are best viewed through the windscreen of a car, or from the window of an aeroplane.

 

[keysofanxiety]

UK here, the only autos tend to be Jags/Mercs and the like. Everybody drives a manual, myself included.

 

[Huntn]

Well, there are times I think that gorgeous panoramas are best viewed through the windscreen of a car, or from the window of an aeroplane.

I agree, especially when not standing on the edge of a precipice. To my previous post I'll add, that with ancestry research, the surprise discovery for my wife was that part of her family settled in West Va, so we went back and traveled the curvy mountain roads, close to the edge, when not on the Interstate and she seemed fine.

 

[bunnspecial]

I agree, especially when not standing on the edge of a precipice. To my previous post I'll add, that with ancestry research, the surprise discovery for my wife was that part of her family settled in West Va, so we went back and traveled the curvy mountain roads, close to the edge, when not on the Interstate and she seemed fine.

With ancestry in WVa, the real question is-is she a Hatfield or a McCoy

FWIW, I'm supposedly distantly related to the McCoys-it simply wasn't proper for a KY family to get mixed up with a WVa family like the Hatfields.

 

[Huntn]

With ancestry in WVa, the real question is-is she a Hatfield or a McCoy

FWIW, I'm supposedly distantly related to the McCoys-it simply wasn't proper for a KY family to get mixed up with a WVa family like the Hatfields.

Hatfield, but they were not the main family emphasis and as I recall those families cross married so you could be related to both. This is about the time through research we became very aware of how much family inbreeding takes place in rural sparsely populated regions. I imagine this happens around the world.

 

[JackieInCo]

I once bought an old Toyota Corolla 5SP. Went straight to work that night delivering pizzas in it and that night was the night I taught myself to drive a manual transmission car by myself. I killed the engine more times then I can remember.

Now that it's been many years, my current car is a manual and once in a while, I still kill the engine but for the most part, it's as easy as driving an automatic.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Hatfield, but they were not the main family emphasis and as I recall those families cross married so you could be related to both. This is about the time through research we became very aware of how much family inbreeding takes place in rural sparsely populated regions. I imagine this happens around the world.

There are some places in the world where - for social reasons to do with family ties, notions of honour and issues of trust - where marriage will only take the form of inbreeding.

Now, due to stark educational deficiencies and a startling lack of development, these same places may not be quite au fait with much modern scholarship on the problems - and possible effects - of issues such as inbreeding.

However, given that such matters became a known and recognised issue with a great many of the Royal families of Europe (that Habsburg jaw, for example; or, the haemophilia passed on through Queen Victoria's line) only in the last century or so, it should not be so surprising that it has taken so long for this knowledge to trickle out to much of the rest of the world.

 

[mscriv]

In college I got a Honda Accord that was a manual transmission. Prior to that I had rarely driven a manual and at first I was anxious especially regarding the whole stopping and starting on a hill challenge. I picked it up pretty quickly and really enjoyed the experience. I don't own a manual car at this point but do enjoy driving one every now and then when the opportunity presents itself.

 

[D.T.]

I'd like to add to the thread that I think everyone - if they have the option - should learn to drive a manual. It's a heck of thing to be in a situation, where you need to operate a vehicle, and can't due to the transmission option.

 

[0388631]

Yes, but I'm inclined to say the best DCTs out there are faster than the fastest pro driver. Unfortunate as that is, or fortunate depending on your outlook. It's nigh impossible to find a luxury car with manual.

 

[satcomer]

Hatfield, but they were not the main family emphasis and as I recall those families cross married so you could be related to both. This is about the time through research we became very aware of how much family inbreeding takes place in rural sparsely populated regions. I imagine this happens around the world.

Your racism to rual people is evil!

 

[Huntn]

Your racism to rual people is evil!

If this >< is serious, it might be bias, not racism. Are you really offended, or just pulling my leg? Since this thread is supposed to be about driving manual transmissions, the following is my final word on this subject. And btw half my family comes from a rural area of West Virginia.

I am saying that family inbreeding appears more prevalent in rural sparsely populated regions not because it's the nature of "rural" people, but that the reality of the physically close proximity to a relatively few families to choose from seems to make it more common. Or maybe it's not more prevalent and it's just my imagination, and I assume it's not found in all families, but family inbreeding is a reality. And when I say family, I'm not focused on the tradional definition of incest (parent, offspring), but families who consistently marry others fairly closely related to themselves, although I have seen an example of a male marrying his granddaughter. Do some ancestry research if you don't believe me.

 

[satcomer]

If this >< is serious, it might be bias, not racism. Are you really offended, or just pulling my leg? Since this thread is supposed to be about driving manual transmissions, the following is my final word on this subject. And btw half my family comes from a rural area of West Virginia.

I am saying that family inbreeding appears more prevalent in rural sparsely populated regions not because it's the nature of "rural" people, but that the reality of the physically close proximity to a relatively few families to choose from seems to make it more common. Or maybe it's not more prevalent and it's just my imagination, and I assume it's not found in all families, but family inbreeding is a reality. And when I say family, I'm not focused on the tradional definition of incest (parent, offspring), but families who consistently marry others fairly closely related to themselves, although I have seen an example of a male marrying his granddaughter. Do some ancestry research if you don't believe me.

Maybe in your family but this is very far from the reality! Your "bias" is just a smoke screen of your disdane for those "West Virginia" relatives! So don't project your bias to a whole group of people!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

If this >< is serious, it might be bias, not racism. Are you really offended, or just pulling my leg? Since this thread is supposed to be about driving manual transmissions, the following is my final word on this subject. And btw half my family comes from a rural area of West Virginia.

I am saying that family inbreeding appears more prevalent in rural sparsely populated regions not because it's the nature of "rural" people, but that the reality of the physically close proximity to a relatively few families to choose from seems to make it more common. Or maybe it's not more prevalent and it's just my imagination, and I assume it's not found in all families, but family inbreeding is a reality. And when I say family, I'm not focused on the tradional definition of incest (parent, offspring), but families who consistently marry others fairly closely related to themselves, although I have seen an example of a male marrying his granddaughter. Do some ancestry research if you don't believe me.

I'll go further.

The places where this such practices are prevalent - and culturally tolerated, if not fully accepted - tend to be not just rural, sparsely populated regions, but are also regions where poverty, and deeply traditional and patriarchal values hold sway.

And here, in this context, I am not just talking about some places in the US, (such as west Virginia) but some of the remote rural places in conservative and deeply traditional and remote corners or pockets of Europe, or places in central Asia, or the Caucasus; these are places where I have worked and lived. Some of the material I came across - and was made privy to - was shocking and quite damning.

 

[mojolicious]

Much prefer driving a manual and feel far more engaged in the driving process.

Yeah, I find driving an automatic to be completely uninvolving, and almost as dull and interminable as being a passenger.

I can't envisage self-driving cars gaining much traction with those who have driven themselves (until health/sight start to become an issue).

 

[sammich]

Yes...

but just bought a new car with auto.

I learned to drive in a manual and have been driving one as my daily driver until a week ago, when I decided to replace the old car (mechanical problems). Auto was available immediately (MT wasn't for months, apparently) so I went with it.

The first few days were pretty bad, partly from not being used to the throttle response but mostly because I've lost that control I had before. I'm now 5 days in and I'm slowly getting over it.

/sorta-rant

 

[Huntn]

Maybe in your family but this is very far from the reality! Your "bias" is just a smoke screen of your disdane for those "West Virginia" relatives! So don't project your bias to a whole group of people!

You need to calm down and stop imagining my motivations. I love West Virginia and my relatives, but I can read a family tree and not kid myself. Btw, it's not my tree I'm talking about.

Have you ever done any ancestry research? Regarding the uninformed "your family" comment, my wife has been trying to identify her Grandfather for a couple of years now, and the research into her family tree has expanded into hundreds of family names, prominent well known family names going back to the founders of this country. These examples I know of involve groups of people's on the periphery of her extended family. Fortunately she's smart enough not to yell at the family tree or ancestry.com as biased, racists, or liars, lol. I'm not saying it happened all the time, I'm saying it's not uncommon.

 

[satcomer]

You need to calm down and stop imagining my motivations. I love West Virginia and my relatives, but I can read a family tree and not kid myself. Btw, it's not my tree I'm talking about.

Have you ever done any ancestry research? Regarding the uninformed "your family" comment, my wife has been trying to identify her Grandfather for a couple of years now, and the research into her family tree has expanded into hundreds of family names, prominent well known family names going back to the founders of this country. These examples I know of involve groups of people's on the periphery of her extended family. Fortunately she's smart enough not to yell at the family tree or ancestry.com as biased, racists, or liars, lol. I'm not saying it happened all the time, I'm saying it's not uncommon.

Yes I did a while ago. My Mother's side was from a Senca family and my Grandfather was a Scottish immigrant. On my Father's side my Grandmother was from a side that went back to start of the Revolutionary War (that's the farest back I paid for). They seem to part of the movement West to Kentucky and moved the family moved to North NYS during the Civil War. The family staying South put an e at the last name and my Family still has nothing to do with them! Beside those people are dying out!

 

[vrDrew]

There was a time when cars with automatic transmission paid an inevitable price in inferior performance. They tended to have glacially slower acceleration, and the limited number of gear ratios (most had a mere thee) meant that one frequently found oneself in a driving situation where the engine was clearly teetering between two ratios, neither of which was really ideal.

Those days are for the most part, long gone. The proliferation of electronic sensors throughout the powertrain, and improved metallurgy and machining techniques, means that most automatics have a minimum of four forward ratios. Premium systems boasting up to eight. Combined with modern traction-control systems, the question now becomes: How can you justify not having an automatic? Because the "slush box" of former days now not only can change gears more accurately than you can, it can generally do it a lot faster.

I'll not deny a certain visceral satisfaction from being able to expertly drive a manual transmission car. My late father taught me the intricacies of heel-and-toe shifting, and the wonders of the double de-clutch downshift - with a precisely timed dab on the throttle to match the ratios. But such things seem quaintly archaic these days. The UK's Institute of Advanced Motorists, for one, has officially turned against any form of engine-braking - on the (quite sensible) grounds that modern disc brakes are almost immune to fade, and that replacing a set of pads and rotors is immeasurably cheaper than replacing a worn clutch plate.

My personal revelation came a few years ago, as I watched my (otherwise sprightly and adventurous) mother chugging up a quite steep street in fourth gear in her BMW. Needless to say, her next car came with an automatic transmission, and it has made all the difference. Maintaining her independence and extending her ability to conduct her social life for at least another decade.

Real men (and women) are secure enough to let their automobiles shift for themselves.

 

[Huntn]

There was a time when cars with automatic transmission paid an inevitable price in inferior performance. They tended to have glacially slower acceleration, and the limited number of gear ratios (most had a mere thee) meant that one frequently found oneself in a driving situation where the engine was clearly teetering between two ratios, neither of which was really ideal.

Those days are for the most part, long gone. The proliferation of electronic sensors throughout the powertrain, and improved metallurgy and machining techniques, means that most automatics have a minimum of four forward ratios. Premium systems boasting up to eight. Combined with modern traction-control systems, the question now becomes: How can you justify not having an automatic? Because the "slush box" of former days now not only can change gears more accurately than you can, it can generally do it a lot faster.

I'll not deny a certain visceral satisfaction from being able to expertly drive a manual transmission car. My late father taught me the intricacies of heel-and-toe shifting, and the wonders of the double de-clutch downshift - with a precisely timed dab on the throttle to match the ratios. But such things seem quaintly archaic these days. The UK's Institute of Advanced Motorists, for one, has officially turned against any form of engine-braking - on the (quite sensible) grounds that modern disc brakes are almost immune to fade, and that replacing a set of pads and rotors is immeasurably cheaper than replacing a worn clutch plate.

My personal revelation came a few years ago, as I watched my (otherwise sprightly and adventurous) mother chugging up a quite steep street in fourth gear in her BMW. Needless to say, her next car came with an automatic transmission, and it has made all the difference. Maintaining her independence and extending her ability to conduct her social life for at least another decade.

Real men (and women) are secure enough to let their automobiles shift for themselves.

Why did she not shift down? I still prefer the vrooom, shift, vroom fidelity of clutch/shift-zoom making me feel one with my car. My little Fiat is fast off the line. In comparison, the little anemic shifts in the automatic version, may be more economical, but are boring...

 

[Scepticalscribe]

There was a time when cars with automatic transmission paid an inevitable price in inferior performance. They tended to have glacially slower acceleration, and the limited number of gear ratios (most had a mere thee) meant that one frequently found oneself in a driving situation where the engine was clearly teetering between two ratios, neither of which was really ideal.

Those days are for the most part, long gone. The proliferation of electronic sensors throughout the powertrain, and improved metallurgy and machining techniques, means that most automatics have a minimum of four forward ratios. Premium systems boasting up to eight. Combined with modern traction-control systems, the question now becomes: How can you justify not having an automatic? Because the "slush box" of former days now not only can change gears more accurately than you can, it can generally do it a lot faster.

I'll not deny a certain visceral satisfaction from being able to expertly drive a manual transmission car. My late father taught me the intricacies of heel-and-toe shifting, and the wonders of the double de-clutch downshift - with a precisely timed dab on the throttle to match the ratios. But such things seem quaintly archaic these days. The UK's Institute of Advanced Motorists, for one, has officially turned against any form of engine-braking - on the (quite sensible) grounds that modern disc brakes are almost immune to fade, and that replacing a set of pads and rotors is immeasurably cheaper than replacing a worn clutch plate.

My personal revelation came a few years ago, as I watched my (otherwise sprightly and adventurous) mother chugging up a quite steep street in fourth gear in her BMW. Needless to say, her next car came with an automatic transmission, and it has made all the difference. Maintaining her independence and extending her ability to conduct her social life for at least another decade.

Real men (and women) are secure enough to let their automobiles shift for themselves.

My sentiments exactly.

I don't doubt the thrill that 'engagement with the car' or, 'connection with the road' allows skilled drivers who have effortlessly mastered all of this stuff - that is, those who enjoy the physical sensation of control that mastery of manual transmission allows them.

However, while I love the autonomy of motoring, I prefer comfort, ease and stress free motoring.

I'll be honest; I prefer to be driven than to drive, and - as @vrDrew as put it, anything which allows for ease and enables hassle free autonomy and independence for as long as possible wins my support and undying gratitude.

Why did she not shift down? I still prefer the vrooom, shift, vroom fidelity of clutch/shift-zoom making me feel one with my car. My little Fiat is fast off the line. In comparison, the little anemic shifts in the automatic version, may be more economical, but are boring...

Boring, and anaemic, I'll take any day over the need for complicated concentration ……usually, when I am in transit, I am thinking of what I have to say at whatever lecture, or briefing, or presentation, I have to give; I dislike having to concentrate on the details of the road and car, too.

But I am impressed by skilled drivers, and wish them well in their enjoyment of the physical act of driving.

 

[Gutwrench]

Yeah I can drive a stick, but the only think I want to shift anymore is a motorcycle.

 

[MathBunny123]

I think I'm the only teen in Canada driving a stick car...
I'm still not comfortable with it, I drove it a couple times but I always rev up to 3k RPM to make sure the engine doesn't die

 

[Cloudsurfer]

How can you justify not having an automatic?

Here in Europe it's simple. The option for automatic transmission is almost always a couple of thousand euros more expensive than a manual. That combined with the fact that everyone learns to drive in a manual, it's not hard to grasp why it's the transmission of choice for us.

We will eventually see a shift (no pun intended) in transmission to automatic when we switch to electric vehicles over the next few decades.