How well can you drive a manual transportation vehicle, be it car, SUV or pickup truck?
Is it easy for you — no problem at all? Is it so bad that heaven help the passenger riding shotgun as he or she lurches forward and backward with every shift? Or is driving a manual transmission vehicle something you never learned to do or forget how to do years ago?
That’s our question today. Remember, it can take a few moments for the poll to load, so standby.
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You need to ask this question to the younger generation. The outcome would be completely opposite!
Manual transmissions have been renamed.
They are now Millennial Anti-theft devices😀
……. and that’s why my Jeep is a manual transmission. The crack heads don’t know how to drive it!
My HS driver’s Ed cars were manual transmission. A demand for a skill in rural America. My towd is manual, by choice, not need.
Remember, most motorcycles are “manual transmissions”. The operation is the same, just the controls are different.
I’m 75 and have driven stick shift since about 12, hauling corn to the mill. Drove cars and pickups and fire engines and over the road semis.
But I like automatics.
Very well, I was a professional driver for years.
Started driving in 1965 on a 1961 Ford with Three on the Tree and Overdrive, Manual steering, manual brakes. I have no issues driving a manual for short distances, the old knees don’t like the clutch so much anymore.
Easy to do once you master moving uphill from a stop. I taught myself on a 3 speed Volkswagen bug.The only problem I had was when the battery, which was under the back seat, caught on fire.
Sure it wasn’t 4speed? My bug and micro buses were all 4 speed.
Our 2014 Jeep Patriot 5 speed has a hill hold feature that keeps slight pressure on the brake for about 3-5 seconds after pulling your foot off the brake. Now that I truly enjoy.
Wish more vehicals had them again. They were cheaper too rebuild and the DIYer could manage too maintain or repair with a jack and small tool box.
I personally have literally thumbed a ride into the nearest town, picked up syncros and clutch, throw out bearing, “I think”, pressure plate, 90 wt oil and thumbed it all back too the side of the road S.W. of Denver, dropped the Borg warner T-10, installed the sync’s, put her back together and drove that van another 10’000 before selling it back in the mid 80’s. Really wish life was still that easy.
Learned to drive in a Ford Econoline van 3 speed manual and my first car was a 3 on the tree with worn shift linkage. Nothing like unlocking the shift linkage in the middle of the street with traffic backed up.
Haha, same vehicle for me. My first boss, upon finding out I couldn’t drive a stick, threw me the keys and said “let’s go”. Drove through lunchtime traffic. That was 40 years ago. Still grateful to him.
I remember doing that.
Ask anybody under 50 years of age about 3 on the tree and you’ll most likely just get a blank look.
I’m old enough that most cars we were able to afford were manuals. Automatic transmission was a luxury item.
I have always had motorcycles and vehicles that you have to shift so it’s always been second nature. My wife is just as adept.
In fact our TOAD is a Fiat 500C with a 5speed that we drive every day. However only 1of our 3 grownup children are able to.
I learned to drive at 11 years old with a three on the tree !
My three on the tree also had a fifth under the seat.
If you asked under 35 years old people 98 percent would say they didn’t know how.
Is there stick built anymore?. Even 18 wheelers can be auto.i can drive stick but why. I counted shifts in my daughter’s Fiat X19
42 shifts in a 3 block jaunt. Could wear a guy out.
Chev doesn’t offer stick on their 2500 series
When I was 14, I started working in a used car lot. My job was to wash the cars and move them around once in a while. I also took cars that needed work to the main dealership about 2 miles away. Yes, 14, no license and driving on township roads. My boss once told me to take a 1961 Ford Galaxy to the the shop. I got in and found three pedals,?????.
I told him I had never driven a stick shift. His answer was “you will now”. After about 5 minutes I pulled out and jerked that car down the road. Coming back was much better.
That was back in 1967.
Learned on a manual and swore when I bought my car it would be an automatic. Wrong. Every car I have bought since 68 has been a manual. They are just getting harder to find.
I prefer the stick shift in smaller cars and trucks.I remember driving a pickup with four forward gears on the column.
I started out driving mini bikes with 100cc motorcycle engines with 5-speed transmissions when I was 10 years old. By the time I got into my first car with a standard transmission was second nature to me knowing how to drive and shift. Oh, I wasn’t 16 yet. My one and only new car purchase with a stick shift was a brand new 2000 VW Jetta with the VR6 engine. What a riot to drive and the car flew!
Boy, does THAT age us! 😀
Oh, but Scott, it’s not “age,” it’s “experienced.”
Can I drive a stick? I was born in 1946 enough said! ☮️✌🏻
Born in 46 as well. Paid $50 for my first car, a 53 Ford ‘three-on-the-tree’. I never had an auto tranny until I bought a 97 F-350 in 98 to tow our travel trailer. I truly miss shifting!
Been driving my 1995 NSX-T 5-speed manual for 26+ years now. I absolutely LOVE it. It is for sale and I’m really going to miss it. I’m actually contemplating getting something else with a manual x-mission.
Started off driving in a ”55 Ford pickup truck! 3 on the Tree! When I was a crane operator, had the old Chauffeurs license back then and had to drive 5 speeds with 3 speed transfers, 15 speed road rangers with a top shifter, etc. We should all go back to the manuals and get some of these idiots on their cell phones off the roads! Just my 2 cents worth!
Completely agree with you
Our toad has a 6 position millennial theft deterrent system. My wife and I have no problem driving it. 2014 Jeep Patriot, 5 speed, hand crank windows, non locking steering wheel. One of the easiest vehicle for flat towing.
I answered very well but I have to admit it has been YEARS since I have driven one.
Oh, but Kaeleen, one of the happiest surprises in growing “older” is that we find that things such as gear-shifting is never forgotten, even after 65 years
Manual transmission is second nature. My first car (“purchased” from my parents) was a ’54 Ford Ranchwagon, inline 6, three speed column shift. Right now, we have a ’68 MGB with a 1.8L 4 cyl, 4 speed manual, that we get out occasionally and run through the gears. It’s no problem going from my ’15 Ram 2500 down into the MGB. And it’s fun driving around “topless”.
Since this demographic is mostly over50 I would imagine most have driven with a clutch. My first vehicle was a Chevy LUV so driving a stick came 50 years ago for me
Oh my gosh, I had a Chevy Luv too! Had forgotten all about that little truck.
Having circled the Sun for 78 years now, I cut my teeth on standard shift cars and trucks. I did soap box derby at 7 years old. I was (illegally) driving cars and trucks on city streets at 13 years old. I got into drag and oval racing (dirt and paved) in the 1960′ before and after serving my country in the US Air Force in the early 60’s. I worked at Cornell Aeronautical (later and now called Calspan) from 1966 to 1970 on Project Apollo. In between contracts there was a brilliant man whose last name is Millican (if my memory serves me right). I worked with him to build ramps to get a car to fly off a ramp and make a 360 degree twist in the air and land on its wheels on another ramp. I did not drive that car but it had a standard transmission. I’ll bet that the majority of you who read this comment have seen that car scene in a James Bond movie. That car stunt was developed right here in a large skid pad on the property of Calspan in a suburb of Buffalo, NY. Stay safe, Stay well
My first car, bought in 1962 after turning 16, was a 1953 Chevy Bel-Air stick shift on the column. I had taken free driving lessons at high school during the summer and was one of only four students who wanted to learn “stick shift.” It helped a lot when I joined the local fire department in 1970 One of the fire engines was a stick shift that you had to double-clutch. Heavy Duty Rescue truck also was a stick shift. Became my career for 28 years.
Got my license on that exact car
My first car was a Fiat 1100d with a 4 speed on the colum, that fooled LOTS of people. LOL
Learned how to drive manual one afternoon in the empty Eastern Michigan University stadium parking lot so I could apply for a job as a school bus driver the next day. I’m so short they had to block the pedals.
When I worked part-time at a dealership service department if a manual transmission came in the young people would come find me to move it. They really hated to if it was a Z car that they thought was cool.
I LOVE Anti-Milliniel Theft Device! I can drive, I just can’t type.1957 Ford 3 on the tree in 1965. I can drive,
A stick shift is a theft prevention device. Someone should market a fake shifter that could be attached to newer cars.
The response from the RV-owner age group should not be a surprise. I know I am an end of the curve guy because of several dozen cars I have owned to date, the only automatic is the RV. Those were never available with a manual transmission. I still try to shift it anyway…..
Know the feeling
It is only relatively recently that I was dragged, kicking and screaming, into the world of automatic transmissions. I have since made my peace with them.
1973 Triumph TR-6, red, convertible. Loved driving it and the sound of the exhaust when down shifting. Had a job requiring travel around SF Bay Area, including San Francisco. That was fun. Oh, those hills! Knowing how to drive a stick shift has come in handy in our RV’ing life. We have 2 Mini Coopers, one we tow. Knowing how came in handy when, several years ago, my husband had to go to the hospital when we were in the Keys. I was able to follow the ambulance (no lights on) to the hospital and bring him back to RV park after he was released.
Two of my five vehicles are manual shift transmission. 1964 Ford Fairlane with a 351ci Cleveland V8 and B&W T-10 4-speed and also a pristine 1986 Toyota PU 4×4 with a 5-speed.
Bet that Fairlane got up and romped.
My daily driver is a 4WD 5 speed.
Yip. Grew up when stick shifts were the norm. My sister had a car with a punch button panel for shifting. I bought a 1969 Cobra Tornio (not a cobra jet with a 428)with a stick shift. It could be driven from a stop in any gear. My wife and oldest daughter learn to drive in my 1976 F250 with a stick. Daughter occasionally did circles in the road while my wife was teaching her. Now technology has moved on to things much better and wonderful.
Bet your sister had a ’57 Plymouth — or at least a Chrysler product. My dad had one. Ever so cool
Learned on a Divco stand up Milk truck, then 3 on the tree, then a cargo van , then 18 wheeler, then Commercial Ice Cream delivery truck, then my own 6 speed pickup ,then my own motorhome ,so you could say I can.
33 years as a commercial truck driver with 3.000.000 miles plus, need I say more! Every thing from 5 speed cab over to 7, 9, 13, 15, 18 speed transmissions. Most were Peterbilt.
Use to drive one every day and was pretty good at it. The issue now is arthritis in the knees and lower back. Just can’t do it for very long. I loved driving a manual tranny.
Dad taught me how to drive a manual transmission on a 62 Ford F100 pickup with 3 on the tree. Went out to a sandy county road, had to start from stopped position, let the clutch out without spinning the tires, if the tires spin meant stop and start again. Learned fast because this was the vehicle I was going to drive when I got my license. Years later I learned the 5 speed with Hi/Lo rearend while working for a roofing company. Hired on with the Fire Department and was driving the first day. As years went by and training new recruits to drive the 5 Hi/Lo, the Fire Department in the late 80′ started ordering new rigs with automatics. I’ve also driven 13 and 18 speed manual transmissions.
It’s been a while since I’ve had to drive one, but I can get by. Luckily, it’s like riding a bicycle, and it comes back to you really quickly.
one of our 2 toads is stick
For fun, next give a Millennial a quarter and ask them to make a call on a rotary coin-operated phone.
I had to take my driving test in a stick. Not a real problem, but parallel parking was an issue. The car was a MG and I just drove into the spot. I was close enough because the examiner couldn’t open the door more than a couple of inches. Much discussion ensued after the test was finished. Finally they agreed that my method was acceptable because of the result. To make them happy after the discussion I did go back out and did a “textbook” parking job. The car we got for our daughter was also a stick. She had to practice enough so she could drive to college!
I deliberately chose a car with manual transmission so there would be fewer things to go wrong. My little Toyota Echo coupe is a dream to tow and, besides, it gets great gasoline mileage. It also has manual window cranks. :>)
I was raised on manual transmissions
I also taught all my kids to drive manual
Love the old school
This is one of those questions I could answer two ways. I learned to drive on a standard shift and drove one for many years. I taught two of my older sisters how to drive one and my son when he first went to auto mechanic classes. The problem is I can’t handle driving one for long now because of bad knees and hips plus severe arthritis of the spine.
one of the vehicles with which i learned to drive was a 1964 VW Beetle…4 on the floor. I spent a LOT of hours behind the wheel of the bug. Our first new car as a married couple was a 1970 Ford Maverick with std transmission…3 on the tree. And I now own my grandpa’s 1946 Willys CJ2A. so,yeah, I can drive cars with manual transmissions.
It’s getting hard to find a manual transmission on new family cars. Most manufactures have determined most people want an automatic trans so they quit offering standard transmissions in cars.
I learned to drive in a 1964 Chevy Belair with three on the tree. Taught my boyfriend (now my hubby) to drive it. Fun times.
Just fine learned manual floor or column growing up and also while in drivers ed in high school it was required to drive auto and manual efficiently to pass and that included the gals. 57 Ford pickups, Land Rover, 71 VW Karman Ghia, Porsche, Jaguar, AMC Eagle SX4, Morris Minors, Fiats, to USAF De-Icers, tractors, box vans, buses. As one has grown old the automatic is a heck a lot easier with mobility issues and with more traffic now then 50 years ago.
I started driving in 1964. Learned on a VW bug. Had several standards through out the years. Last standard purchased was a Can-Am Spyder. Did not want the automatic, cost more to purchase and more to maintain, plus takes all the fun out of riding. Married in 1973 and taught the wife how to drive a standard and when the children came of age taught both my son and daughter how to drive a standard. Would not let them take the driving test until they could stop in the middle of a hill and go forward uphill and backward uphill without drifting. All of them are glad they learned!!!
For the 1st 45 years of driving it was manual in my personal vehicles. Also drove trucks with up to 18 gears over the last 50 plus years. Glad to have an automatic now with the pain my knees and other joints give me.
I learned to drive stick in 1957 since automatics were frowned on by my peers (read high-school kids) as a passing fad and just plain not cool. I now, at 80, drive a 2014 Chevy Spark (named “Sparky), which is a five-speed forward gears as my towed car. (Where did they come up with “toad car????) Anyhoo Sparky gets 45 mpg and Ita, my Class C with automatic, gets 8 on a good day. So driving “stick” is as natural as breathing. I must admit that I have to glance down at the gear shift to be able to figure out what gear I’m in sometimes, but the RPM gauge helps.
It’s what I learned to drive on when I was kid at 8 years old. In fact it was a 1967 VW camper that my parents bought in Germany. And we traveled around Europe going to 21 countries in it, and I helped do some of the driving even then at that age. And I didn’t buy my first automatic until I was 50. And my second car is a stick to this day. I won’t ever give up driving a stick. I even taught my wife and kids how to drive a stick.
In 1959 in IL if you took your drivers license test in an automatic car a notation was made on your license “AO”meaning automatic only. Drove manuals, 7 1/2 years in the Marines the only automatics were the CO’s car, 8 years driving truck from 9-18 speed manuals, finally got into a 10 speed auto shift manual, that was nice in Chicago traffic at rush hour on the Dam Ryan expressway. Now at 78 glad most manufacturers have dropped the manual transmission in their products. Lol
My everyday car is one with a manual transmission. Unfortunately, they are getting harder to find.
I hope to keep using a manual transmission till the day arrives I cannot drive period. My current vehicle has one, and my next one will too.
Have you looked at the manufacturers option lists lately? Except for a few econoboxes the manual transmission is obsolete.
My last three cars were all standard (not to mention every motorcycle I’ve ever owned, including the latest two) but my new truck, Ram 1500 diesel, not even an option… Plus the gear selector is a knob, which has taken some getting used to!
Wait until that “hockey puck” chip fails, back to the dealer for a huge repair bill. Give me a mechanical gear shifter any day.
I haven’t been without the third pedal in a car in over 56 years.
Not only a manual, but I had a summer job that I had to drive a 1950 something International pick up that had a manual transmission without syncromesh. For those of you who have no idea what that means, you had to “double clutch” it, which is putting the clutch in to take it out of gear, then letting the clutch out to use the gas peddle to get the engine to the right rpms for the next gear, then put the clutch in to get it in that gear, then let the clutch back out. If you didn’t do it right, the gears wouldn’t “mesh” and would kick the shift handle back at your hand, which hurt! Syncromesh in newer transmissions is a device to get the mating gears spinning at the right rpms automatically.
When up shifting you double clutch to bring the gear speed down for the next gear, when down shifting you double clutch and rev the engine to mesh the gears. When I was driving trucks I always “floated” my gears, never used the clutch unless I was stopping or backing into a loading dock.
Not only can I drive a manual transmission, but I greatly prefer it over automatics, especially for use ascending and descending grades. I envy Europeans whose vehicles are overwhelmingly equipped with manual transmissions, and whose citizens regard the American preference for automatics as somewhat peculiar. I’m even considering travelling to Europe to purchase an RV with a manual transmission, traveling around over there for awhile (where “wild camping”, ie boondocking, is widely accepted in countries like France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy, the Balkans, etc.) and then shipping the vehicle back to America. The only concern with this plan is whether a Euro-spec RV can pass the strict American emissions requirements, just about the only instance in which America has tougher environmental regulations than Europe.
It’s not so easy finding a manual trans these days. I believe the last stat I recall seeing was that under 10% of new vehicles are manuals.
I really haven’t driven a stick for over 10 years. But I have almost always had a stick for the previous 40+ years. We’ve become lazy. I always preferred a stick, and my son still does.
First car after marriage was a Triumph TR4A 4 on the floor, Its successor was a TR6 which was followed by two Corvettes, also 4 on the floor. The niftiest was the Saab 9000 Turbo Four speed – until the clutch (hydraulic) failed on a Saturday in the Adirondacks. had to float the gears back home, 200 miles of mostly mountain road searching for routes with no lights or major cross streets. Finally made it to an Interstate and then had to stop for toll booth on and off the Thruway. the look on the toll takers face as I came into the stop with the engine stopped and accelerated out on the starter motor in first was priceless. haven’t been able to find a suitable car with stick shift since that one. Current Jeep Grand Cherokee has 8 speed auto, very smooth and far more efficient than any stick shift.
My first time driving a car when I was 12 was a “three on the tree”. For the past 50 years, half of my vehicles have had manual transmissions. With the new cars being mostly computer controlled, having an automatic is the most economical set up.
Because of Achilles tendon problems I traded my last car, a manual 5 speed with manual windows and no AC, for an automatic. Miss the clutch but now that I live in southern NV and not the Pacific NW I’m glad I have the AC.