image found hereMy almost seven year old son and I had a rousing conversation this morning about manual transmissions (stick shift) versus automatics. (He probably knows more terminology than I do, thanks to the Gran Turismo 4 video game.) He asked which type of car is easier to drive, and how it works, and we talked about the clutch and the gears. I was reminded of a conversation I had with a friend last week who said she couldn't pull her husband's vehicle out of the driveway so her kids could play basketball because it is a stick shift and she doesn't know how to drive one.
I learned how to drive with a stick shift. When I was 15, my parents would take me in their Ford Bronco to the church parking lot, or the stadium parking lot at USU, and have me practice getting into first gear, switching to second, and then stopping the car and starting over (and over and over). I must have cut that clutch's life in half just by learning how to drive it. When I turned 16 I purchased my very own car that was a stick shift - a 1986 Datsun 210 hatchback (when I started driving the year was 1992), a real beater of a car where the ceiling material sagged down to touch the top of my head and I could pull it in and out of gear without pushing in the clutch. Good times. I sure am glad I have the ability to drive any vehicle that comes across my path now, whether manual or automatic.
Do you know how to drive a stick shift? Do you have a preference for manual or automatic transmissions? Do you have any great stories about learning how to drive one, or NOT knowing how to drive one?
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My second car was a stick, and I couldn't drive it home from the lot because I didn't know how to drive it yet!
I haven't owned a stick in many years. I do sometimes miss it. I don't, however, miss it when I stuck in traffic, or trying to get out of the giant hill in the parking garages at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. :)
Oh, and whenever I watch the Amazing Race, I am flabbergasted as to how many contestants do not learn how to drive a stick, before the show!
I love driving a stick! I learned to drive on an automatic. When I got married, Aaron and I bought our first car. Aaron wanted a manual because they're easier to fix. He does all our car maintenance. So we've had a stick all along, until this year when we needed a minivan. I love, ADORE, my Odyssey, which is an automatic by default. I still have fun driving our little manual whenever occasion arrives where I find myself without kiddos. :)
I cannot drive stick---maybe I could to save my life? My mama tried to teach me how to on our old '89 F250 before I learned on automatic. She figured if I could drive that I could drive anything. You had to start that car out in
2nd---I never even learned to drive on one that started in 1st. Those lessons eventually died out (I think she thought I was gonn kill the car) and I've never learned.
I drove that exact same Datsun! I also learned how to drive on a stick. My dad would take me to the hill at the high school and make me shift into first gear without stalling it on the hill. Good times... I was terrified.
Now I prefer an automatic, but hubby likes the manual.
I have to have a stick shift. I won't buy a car unless it is. I learned how to drive in one and I've never had an automatic in my life. My dad is a mechanic and he pushed manuals on us because (as noted previously) they are easier to fix. But I got so used to them that I can't stand not having control in an automatic anymore. My sister is the same way and her favorite thing about manuals was the fact that in high school when friends asked to borrow her car, she'd say, "do you know how to drive a stick?", the answer was ALWAYS no, thus she never had to lend out her car!
The first car I ever drove was my brother's (formerly my dad's) 1980 datsun pickup. I was so intimidated. Then when my dad finally convinced me to try and drive his automatic truck I thought it was so easy.
My first car was a 1980 VW Rabbit and I LOVED it - just prayed that I didn't get stuck going up a hill in traffic with all the people I drove to school. Now I still love to hop into James' Honda and really drive. If I have some of the YM or YW with me they are usually surprised that 1)the car is manual and 2) I know how to drive it.
My current car is a stick. While I think sticks are fun, I am NOT a fan of driving one as a mother.
My first car was a stick. It was a mazda truck without power steering. No power steering + stick shift + teenage girl with cell phone = UNSAFE DRIVING. Luckily I was never in an accident, but I cringe thinking about it now.
My dad and husband have both taught me to drive a stick, but I am not good at it by a long shot.
So, if I had to, I could. I'd stall a lot, but I could do it.
Hopefully, I don't ever have to. I like my automatic. :)
I learned on my dad's 50-something power/automatic nothing hulk of rusting metal and red paint. You know, one of those that you can't use a regular jack on because the chassis (chassis?) is so high you have to use a 4 foot high jack that is so heavy i couldn't even lift it by myself.
Yeah, scariest thing ever to pull up to a stoplight going uphill and have someone pull up right to your bumper. I'm amazed I never rolled back over anyone when I was trying to get it into first gear when the light turned green.
I've been taught. I think I could do it if I HAD too- but I'd rather not. (My mom can't drive one, so we never had them growing up.)
My husband just bought one for our second car. It's super frustrating that I can't really drive it. For instance, we met friends for breakfast with our kids, and I had a baby shower to get to just a little bit later in the morning. We had to take two cars and switch the baby's chair just so that I could take the 'mom' car without the kids. Annoying.
I keep thinking I need to find a friend to practice with. My husband is NOT a very patient teacher.
I'll have to add this to my list of things to learn. I sat in the backseat of a car while the boy I had a crush on taught my friend how to and she completely wrecked his clutch - she was mortified, and I was mortified at the thought of doing the same. I've never even tried!
Back in my day - when dinosaurs roamed, part of driver's ed was passing off that you COULD drive a stick. Now, most kids don't learn unless their parents specifically teach them. Which we have done with all our boys.
Now, what's funny is just yesterday Luke and I were driving around and he asked me if I loved the road trip in the Mustang. I have to be honest and say that as much as I LOVE the Mustang, I hate the clutch!
My parents bought a manual Geo Metro when I got my license so I could drive myself to seminary and school. I spent HOURS AND HOURS in parking lots trying to learn how to drive that thing, and I never did learn how. The scary thing was that my parents didn't care, and made me drive it anyway. I about killed myself several times, rolled back into other people's cars, stalled in the middle of the intersection and had to push myself out...months and months of this. I cried the entire time I was in the car because I was so scared since I didn't know how to drive it. It was horrible. Many years later Neil and I had a manual Ford Explorer and a super hot Acura STS S-Type, and I couldn't drive either one. That was especially hard with the Acura since it was such a sexy car. I was stuck at home much of the time since I had to have Neil take me everywhere! I just couldn't get the hang of it.
I never wanted to learn how to drive a stick. I remember being in the car when my older sister was trying to learn and getting stuck at an intersection and then getting out of the car and trading seats with my dad because she just gave up, she balled all the way home.
So I never wanted to even try, it just looked too hard.
When I learned to drive, my family had a ginormous automatic suburban, and a small colt that was a stick shift. I was incredibly jealous of my friends who had small automatic cars to learn in. I was pretty proud once I got good at the stick though. I prefer automatic, but the thing I like about a manual transmission is that you know better what speed you're going without actually checking the speedometer. I always knew that I couldn't shift out of 3rd in my neighborhood, and I couldn't go faster than 4th on the main road.
On a side note, I just now learned how to spell speedometer. I always thought it was spedometer, until the little red squiggly line corrected me.
I, too, learned to drive on a stick. The funny thing is that when I was in drivers ed and we had to drive the (automatic) simulator, I couldn't figure out how to get the gear shift into gear! I totally got an F on that assignment because I didn't know I had to pull it toward myself before I shifted into drive! Yep. Genius.
When I was eighteen, an old boyfriend taught me how to drive his car, which was a stick. I drove it for a year. The length of our relationship. I've never driven a stick since. I wonder if I can still drive one...
Hugs and Mocha,
Stesha
If I had to, I could drive a stick shift. Though my lessons were a very long time ago...and they were not fully successful. But my sister will drive nothing else, she loves her stick shift.
I will only drive a stick shift if it is up to me. I feel like if anything goes wrong I can still get to where I am going in it.
Oh, do I have a story of learning to drive a stick. A story that nobody should have to experience. I was 15 years old, not yet old enough to get my permit. My step-dads truck was stolen from the church parking lot. (This was the 4th time it was stolen from the church parking lot :-)The police called him a week later saying that they had found his truck and he needed to come get it now or they would have it towed. My step-dad is very frugal with money, so he didn't want to pay all of the fees to have it towed. He called my mom, to drive him down there so he could drive the truck home. My mom was half way across the state, so she was no help. So he turned to me and asked if I thought I could drive the other car home. I told him absolutely not (they were both sticks).
I forgot to mention that his truck was found in the very heart of the ghetto in inner city Kansas City. Oh, and that I am a very pasty white girl.
So, to continue, he told me I had to help him and he would drive slowly and not get on any freeways. I very reluctantly agreed (I had never driven a car before in my life). On the way to where to truck was, I got a very quick crash course in driving a stick as well as rules of the road. Once we got the truck out of the mudpit it was stuck in, we started on our way home (a 20 min drive on back roads.) I had no clue where I was so I was relying on following my step-dad to get home.
Everything was going fine, I got the hang of it fairly quickly. The a light turned red, I thought that I HAD to stop, so I did. And it was on a hill. haha!! My step-dad had gone through the light, so on top of being stuck on a hill, I was lost in the inner city. I tried though 10 green lights to get the car going, but I kept killing it over and over again. It didn't help that my legs were shaking so bad and I was crying so hard that I couldn't even see. Light after light people would speed around me honking their horns and cussing and flipping me off. Remember I was 15. I was so scared. I was finally able to get up the hill, but I was too scared to drive any further, so I turned down the nearest street and stopped on the side of the road. Everyone from the neighborhood came and stood on their porches wondering what I was doing in their neighborhood. Luckily my step-dad drove up just as some people were approaching me.
Since the car wasn't in an area that it would get towed, my step-dad decided that we would just leave it there until my mom got home and could go get it.
He took me home and bought me ice cream. He felt so bad.
I didn't get my license till I was senior in high school because I was so scared to drive again.
I now love driving a stick.
When I met Mark, he had a super cool Mustang. Of course it was a stick. I had never driven one before. He gave me a few lessons until we sold it. A year later we bought a car that was a five speed. It was our only car, and I had no choice but to learn. Mark took me to a BYU parking lot on a Sunday to teach me. I got pulled over because the officer couldn't see our temporary tag in the back window. He wondered why I kept circling the parking lot. When I told him that I was trying to learn how to drive our car, he laughed. It was pretty funny....and oddly enough, the only time I've ever been pulled over.
I learned how to drive a stick in college. It's a long story. Kind of an embarrassing one.
But it was beneficial, as my soon to be husband had a stick and that would be our only car for the first 2 years of our marriage. I don't miss it at all.
I can drive stick shifts if they're old and stubborn. I can't drive my husband's car though because it's a German sports car and the clutch is on a hair trigger.
I'm definitely an automatic girl.
My first two cars were sticks. I'm not going to lie, It figured out those first 4-6 gears, but reverse was a real booger..for a while!
I do miss my stick shift, on occasion. But it's short lived as I'm reaching from the front to back (handing of snacks and sippy cups).
I learned to drive on a stick shift also. At age 14. Taught by my 13-year-old little brother while my parents were out of town. Lovely. Thanks goodness we stayed safe!
I totally prefer sticks, but alas, Louie never learned to drive one, so we have boring automatics.
I miss the zippy-ness and the being in control. But then again, I need my hands more now, so maybe automatics are a must for mothers with 3 littles.
Thanks for making me remember my stick shift experience. I needed a reason to smile today.
We've had our stick for a year now and I finally can drive it without crying. About 9 months ago I got stuck on a HILL outside WAL-FART with 82 cars honking behind me while I sobbed and stalled the car 100 times before a nice kid came and drove my car for me around the corner. Yeah---kill me!
I also learned to drive with a stick shift. I love them! I even drove my Gpa's 18 wheeler trucks around the block a few times when I was 16. I am very grateful that I know how to use a clutch and stick shift. It seems these days that there are many poeple that don't. That's sad. However, in my old age (I'm just lazy) prefers an automatic these days. My first car that I bought myself at 16 was a Manza Spider and it was also a stick. I loved that car until my hubby (now ex hubby) totaled it on our wedding day.
I learned how to drive a stick shift, and am grateful for it...most of the time my 'practice time' was spent alone in my neighborhood b/c whenever I asked my brother to come with me (b/c all I had was a permit), he would toss me the keys and say "just be careful."
Knowing how to drive a stick also made learning to drive a motorcycle WAY easier...and I miss my bike :o(
I learned how to drive with a stick as well. I mean what can I say when you grow up in MT on a farm. I love a stick but with having kids and when living in a bigger city with lots of stop lights I prefer an automatic but living where we do now I would like a stick but we don't have one.
My dad made us learn to drive ona stick shift, and when i would qietly sneak the emergency break on at red lights on hills he would playfully smack my hand! :)
I'd like to learn, but never have.
I had a Datsun 210 hatchback as well. Stick shift all the way, baby. Oh the memories of that little car--breaking down, spinning out, pumping the clutch . . .
The first car I drove was a Datsun 280 ZX, but it was automatic. The first car I bought, however, was a stick shift. I'd driven a little bit of stick shift after my Datsun caught fire on the freeway, but I really learned how to drive a stick shift when I took my car off the lot. I remember thinking when I bought it, "I'd better not hurt an ankle or anything, since I need both feet to drive." A couple weeks later I messed up my ankle and couldn't drive my new car for quite some time!
Driving a stick is becoming a lost skill nowadays. Kind sad. I HAD to learn how, because the only cars I got to drive were sticks. I even took my driving test on one--and passed my first time. (Yes, I'm rather proud of that.)
erin! i also learned how to drive at the USU stadium parking lot. there was a stop sign in it back then! and...it was totally a stick shift. i miss driving a stick shift. i can't believe how many people cannot drive one...
My oldest had to learn on a stick shift because that's what we own. I drive a Jetta and my hubby drives a convertible Mustang..now mind you she just got her license the month she turned 19...tested twice for it. Now she brags about the fact that she is the only one of her friends that can drive a stick.
I humiliate myself when driving a stick. I can only sort of do it, so it's not such a good idea for me to try! :)
I love driving a stick shift, but once the arthritis set into my knee I had to get automatic. Every now and then I forget (it's been 10 years) and I reach down like I need to shift. I always make myself laugh.
My parents taught me on a stick shift as well because they said that you never know when you are going to be in an emergency situation and have to drive a car that has a clutch. I thought they were silly but whatever at least they let me drive and then about 6 months after I turned 16 I was in a situation where I had to know how to use a clutch, I guess they knew what they were talking about.
I never drove one growing up, but then when Eric and I started dating, he had one that he insisted I learn how to drive. I felt like a brand new driver learning how to drive for the first time! It was nerve racking.. but I soon got it, or so I thought.
There was the the time that I got stuck in the health center parking lot, as when I was trying to back out, on an incline, every time I would try to shift out of R into 1st, well the car would start to roll, I would panic.. and yeah.. oh and did I mention that the bolt that held up the engine also choose that moment to break.
But I somehow managed to get over this and then we had a Mazda 3 that was stick and I LOVED it! Nothing like being able to drop it down to 4th and grab that extra power and zoom past people... ahh I miss it.
I don't know how to drive a stick shift. It'd be nice to know, but not quite on my priority list right now... Besides, the only stick shift in the family is a HUGE truck. Not exactly what I want to learn on!
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