Can You Drive A Standard

[GreatWhiteEbola]

Learned to drive stick on this bad boy...

Spoiler!

Lost the ability to drive a stick about 10 years ago, I sure do miss it.

[Ironhorse]

Yes, drove them for over 20 years. I'm 43.

[Regulator75]

It's been way too long (20 + years) and I'd destroy the clutch.

Plus, I'm too "distracted" with my phone, food, GPS, Latte, Wife, Stereo, DVD player and a kid to worry about shifting.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Some vehicle need to be double clutching, the Unimog(s) I drove needed to be, until you learned the grove of the vehicle. Oddly, each on was different.

Oh absolutely. There are still cars out there in the world that required it to achieve smooth transition of the gears. I'm only commenting on the majority of vehicles these days that this technique no longer apply to.

[polak]

Originally Posted by Regulator75

Plus, I'm too "distracted" with my phone, food, GPS, Latte, Wife, Stereo, DVD player and a kid to worry about shifting.

Trust me. You can do all those things with a stick.

[Plett25]

Originally Posted by polak

Wouldn't knowing how to double clutch prepare you pretty good for that? You'd have a good idea of how to rev match?

I guess so, but it requires more feel. If you double clutch and screw up a little, the car will jump as the clutch engages, but if you miss a little when shifting without the clutch, you literally grind gears.

One of the most awful sounds imaginable.

[Regulator75]

Originally Posted by polak

Trust me. You can do all those things with a stick.

Well, the Wife... Yes...

[bc-chris]

yup - i can drive standard

my dad FORCED me to learn shortly after i got my license - i'm glad he did

every vehicle my wife has owned excluding her current one had been a standard

[TheyCallMeBruce]

The only thing standard isn't so great is when come time to sell your car. Because of the limited pool of people who know how to drive stick, I had a really hard time selling my car. I thought, maybe a 4 door sedan would be an easy sell since it's japanese and caters to the family market, but nope.

[afc wimbledon]

in the uk if you take your test in an automatic that is all you are allowed to drive.

[albertGQ]

I can drive a standard. I turn 30 on April 1st.

My wife can drive a standard too but when we bought our Mazda 5, we bought automatic. I sold my RSX (standard) & took her VW Golf (standard).

I don't have many male friends that don't know how to drive standard. Most do.

Driving a standard in stop and go traffic isn't even bad. I don't know why everyone complains.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

in the uk if you take your test in an automatic that is all you are allowed to drive.

Odd that, it would make sense if it was for an auto.

[Leon]

Yes, learned at 17. I love standard and it really helped driving in Calgary during the winter when I lived there.

[TopChed]

I'm 26, learned to drive a standard when I was 18. It is much more enjoyable to me now, and the lack of a manual transmission might sway me from buying an otherwise nice car in the future. It's not something I want to give up any time soon.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Kybosh

I'd be concerned if my girl was driving a Mexican gardener. I'm old fashioned like that though.

what can i say, its california

[albertGQ]

I don't even know how to drive an automatic.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I'm 31, and I am vehemently pro manual transmission. Have yet to buy a car without one, and will hold out for as long as humanly possible.

Out of most of my friends, about half the guys seem to be able to, and the other half I make fun of. In terms of the girls, it seems pretty rare that girls can drive them....I'm always a little surprised when I run into a girl who can.

It's getting more and more rare though to find people who drive them....but I gotta admit, I instantly respect people more when I find out they drive a stick. I also lose a lot of respect for anyone who has a fantastic sports car, and goes automatic.

A turn on, amirite?

I find that because my commute is so short and really never have to face much traffic I don't get the frustration a lot of people do with driving. To me, driving is a fun thing to do and it's fun to shift gears. I often just go for drives for fun.

I think perhaps if I lived in Okotoks and had to commute downtown, even though it's only 15 minutes, it would be a tiresome 15 minutes on a manual transmission.

[Regorium]

26. Didn't know how until 6 months ago when I bought a fancy sports car, and felt that manual was the only way to go. Now it feels quite natural and I'm glad I learned.

[kenk-la]

Yes, and I am glad I can. I learned when I was sixteen because my first car was a standard, so if I wanted to drive I had no choice but to learn.

[valo403]

Nope, and no desire to ever learn. Tried to learn once while living in Australia (I'm sure the flipped side didn't help) and found it to be a complete waste of time. I also consider people who take cars too seriously to be rather sad (just balancing out Table 5 et al's losing respect for people who drive autos )