Back up......No don't back up!

[solemnwarning]

Naw this is when he's pulling in to my parking lot and stopping.

also 9 times out of 10 he unloads my order while talking on his cellphone.

Again... HOLY CRAP :O

How the hell does he shift and steer with one arm? :\

[Banrion]

I personally think that everyone should be taught how to drive a manual transmission when they are starting to drive. It forces you to pay attention to the car, as well as the road.

I personally prefer to drive manual transmission, NO hydraulic clutches. Your car then tells you everything you need to know about road conditions and you have a much greater control of the vehicle in bad weather conditons, as well as being more fuel efficient if driven appropriately.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I can't drive a stick, either...that's why I bought an automatic. And on the test drive I was so nervous driving this brand-new car that wasn't even mine...I wouldn't in a million years try to test drive a car I didn't actually know to drive!

My dad would probably prefer a stick, but my mom has back/neck problems and fibromyalgia, so she really can't drive one anymore. Otherwise, there's probably a good chance we would have had one when I was learning to drive.

[Andara Bledin]

I've driven both manual and automatic, and while you get a mild amount of greater control with a stick, an automatic is much less trouble, and much, much easier on your joints than a stick.

Here's something fun to try: Drive a small 2-door manual while wearing full middle class renaissance garb, including corset and full hoops.

Actually, once you know how to set the seat to account for the upright posture forced by the corset, and you figure out how to fold up hoops, it's not really difficult at all.

These days, unless you're driving a high-end performance vehicle without any traffic considerations, there is not really enough difference between the efficiency of a manual versus an automatic to even mention. And when you consider that the vast overwhelming majority of drivers wouldn't have the skill to take advantage of what little difference there is any more, the whole point becomes moot.

I do think that everyone should make the effort to at least be competent with a manual transmission, however, just so that if they're in a bind, they're not helpless.

^-.-^

[protege]

I can't drive a stick, either...that's why I bought an automatic. And on the test drive I was so nervous driving this brand-new car that wasn't even mine...I wouldn't in a million years try to test drive a car I didn't actually know to drive!

I actually learned how to drive a stick...in a dealer's lot! I'd just destroyed my Tempo the week or so before, and they'd just gotten in a nice Tercel in trade. The salesman showed me the basics (I'd never driven a stick before) in the lot. I wasn't sure if I wanted the car, but my father helped clinch the deal. He said that if I didn't want it, he'd get it, and give me his POS Taurus. I said hell no, bought the car, and got used to driving it. 13 years later, I actually *prefer* a stick. Still miss that car.

I think driving a stick makes me more aware of what the car's doing, the road conditions...plus I think it's more fun. Oh, and it keeps certain annoying relatives from borrowing my cars

[yomiko]

For me it all comes down to expense. It costs more for an automatic transmission at the outset, and when those things fail, the bills would make a grown man cry. I personally prefer a stick, though in stop and go traffic, it leaves much to be desired.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Hehe, my ex actually has the opposite problem. When I saw him and Pablo last week, he took me out for dinner for my birthday. We took my car cuz his truck is a POS and a smoke-smelling mess to boot (I've been in it I think twice and we dated for 2 years and lived together for more than 1). I didn't feel like driving, since I had driven all the way to his place from work while he sat and waited, so I handed him the keys. You have to have your foot on the brake to take the car out of park. We couldn't go anywhere until I realized what he was doing wrong

[Mark Healey]

Doesn't automatic transmission just encourage stupidity while driving?
I mean, you don't need to understand much to drive automatic, and it's ineffecient anyway

5 of the 7 cars I've owned have been manual. It's great when you let the battery go flat. I'm now using Flexcar and all of theirs are automatic. I've decided that if I ever buy a new car it will be an automatic. I decided this when I banged up my left knee and couldn't drive because of it. With a manual you need 4 working limbs.

Advanantages of a manual:

1) Better mileage (not so significant now days)
2) Easy to start with a flat battery.
3) Cheaper
4) More reliable (but with todays cars, something else will fail to the point of junking the car before either type of transmisson does).
5) When pointed up hill it is easier to back up a few feet, just let go of the brake.

Advantages of an automatic:

1) You can drive with only two good limbs.
2) It's just easier which makes it good for teenagers.

[Tigress]

When the hubby and I were car shopping to replace my totaled Saturn (first car I ever bought; paid off roughly a year ago ), I found a car that was perfect in almost every way and was just a few hundred above the amount of my insurance check... except it had manual transmission.

My parents used to drive manuals almost exclusively, so I could recall my childhood memories and learn how to drive stick if I really had to. The hubby, however, knows about as much about cars as my grandma does about computers.

And one of the more important criteria I had this time around was finding a car we both could drive in case his Oldsmobile (which is on its last legs/wheels) completely dies on him before he can free up enough money to get a new car. He's a foot taller than me and could physically fit behind the wheel of my Saturn... if he didn't mind driving with his knees.

So I ended up picking up a Jetta for about $3,000 more than I wanted to spend. But I love my new speedy little marvel of German engineering. And I finally Christianed the CD player by playing my Rammsteinn CD in it. It seemed... appropriate.

[Jadedcarguy]

For me it all comes down to expense. It costs more for an automatic transmission at the outset...........

Not always.

The '04-'06 Pontiac GTO actually offered the auto standard, while the stick was an option. The reason give was that the Tremec T56 6 speed manual was a more costly tranmission than the 4L60 4 speed auto. Having driven both, I say the stick is a far better trans.

Another benefit was the stick improved mileage enough to eliminate the gas-guzzler tax that the automatic cars were saddled with.

[Seshat]

Speed limit is way down on my list of priorities while driving, near the bottom in fact. I'm far more concerned about what the other cars are doing, than in the arbitrary number the local government has decided is "safe."

It's actually not arbitrarily decided. Road engineers design roads (particularly highways and major roads, not necessarily local roads) so that the average driver, with average reflexes and a car in average condition is able to see hazards and drive safely in moderate weather conditions at a specific speed. I don't remember the details - my father was deeply into road safety and talked to me about assessing safe speeds, road design and the like.

Now, if the road surface is in perfect condition, the weather is perfect and your car is in perfect condition, the traffic is light or non-existent, and you have both vehicle handling and road courtesy skills that are well above average, the speed limit for the road is going to be well below what you can safely drive at. For every element of those that isn't true, the safe speed on the road drops.

Assessing a safe speed is an art, but one that road engineers and people interested in road safety take seriously. In an ideal world, 'safe speed' could be determined individually based on car condition and driver condition and skill, with a general 'safe speed' modifier for each stretch of road based on road, weather and traffic conditions. But for the moment, that's not possible.

[Broomjockey]

Assessing a safe speed is an art, but one that road engineers and people interested in road safety take seriously. In an ideal world, 'safe speed' could be determined individually based on car condition and driver condition and skill, with a general 'safe speed' modifier for each stretch of road based on road, weather and traffic conditions. But for the moment, that's not possible.

Which is why I fully support the advent of self-driving cars! Of course, to do it, everyone would have to get their cars done at once, but with GPS systems becoming sophisticated enough, it's not impossible.

[Kogarashi]

I personally think that everyone should be taught how to drive a manual transmission when they are starting to drive. It forces you to pay attention to the car, as well as the road.

Or they just need my dad in the front passenger seat, ready to slam his hand down on the dashboard and yell "You just ran over that kid!" when he doesn't think you slowed down enough for a kid on a bike on the side of the road. It got me to pay more attention to my surroundings, though. I tend to tune out phone conversations in favor of watching my surroundings, rather than the usual vice versa so many other drivers seem to suffer.

I tried to learn manual once. We had an old Saturn with a stick-shift. Dad took me out in that one afternoon for my first lesson. I stalled twice trying to get out of the driveway (good ol' farm driveway that's the length of the barn and the house put together), and another three times trying to get up the hill next to our house. We got out a way before I stalled it yet again, and Dad and I got into a shouting match (why yes, I'm my father's daughter). He ended up driving home, and I didn't want to try manual again. Soon after, the car broke down and Dad wasn't able to get another good manual for a long while.

[Der Cute]

Hehe.

My dad, ever practical control freak he is, tried to get my mom to learn a stick shift. He had a point: if he was away on orders, and the truck broke/died/gone, how would she get stuff? Groceries, etc? (we had a truck and a car - car had stick shift)

And my mom was trying to get dad to stfu...so she went along and was trying to drive....

Lord how the fur flied that day. I then decided I would never drive a stickshift, especially if my dad tried to teach me. I was lucky - I was 25 before I ever drove a car legally.

cute

[Banrion]

My dad taught me to drive a stick at after picking me up from a 14 hour shift in sleet. He just gave me the keys and told me to get home. After a few stall outs he explained the mechanics behind the way it works, and after a few more stalls, I got moving a bit. It was a stressful night, and the next few times I tried, but once you know how, it is alot more fun to drive manual, and there is more control in the really nasty weather.