Only 18 Percent Of Americans Can Drive Manual. :(

[MrObsessive]

This story is kinda old, but the info nevertheless is still relevant. Like everything else in life and society, things change-----and our cars certainly have changed as well. It's still kinda sad though to see the standard shift car go by way of the Dodo bird, and in part I guess I'm guilty as charged. My Challenger is an automatic (actually "Manumatic"), and I have to admit I've gotten kind of spoiled by it. The knees aren't what they used to be, and of course there's the ever annoying traffic jams that happen in my area. 

You can check out the story here, and there's an interesting video of a fellow trying to show two young ladies how to drive a manual. I had no such help.....Dad refused to show me when I wanted my first manual car back in the early '80's, so I ended up teaching myself.  

Had it down pat within a day!

[disabled modeler]

Bill.... we were in the same boat for learning to drive them.  I had to teach myself to as well when my job required it at a car dealership in the mid 80s.

[Dragline]

In 1994 my then wife Sheri wanted a new car. She had her heart set on this black Jeep Wrangler that was at a dealer across the street from the salon where she worked. We went to look at it and discovered it was a manual shift. Undaunted, we ended up buying it and within an afternoon she was going up and down the gears like a champ. If that dingy broad can learn to drive a stick in an afternoon anyone can.

 

[blunc]

and maybe 1% can shift without a clutch...

[Tom Geiger]

Yup. I always had cars with clutches. I still have my 91 Geo Tracker with a 5 speed.  Even back then I had to search for a long while to find one with the right options, in a decent color, with a clutch!  And over the years many people have wanted to take it for a spin, only to find the 5 speed and admitting they couldn't drive it!

Today my daily driver is a PT Cruiser convertible with the high output turbo.. and it's an automatic.  I'm probably better off since I drive it to work and can keep my coffee in my right hand!

Edited March 26, 2017 by Tom Geiger

[MrObsessive]

My Challenger is actually the first automatic I've had since the late '90's. For about a month after I bought it, I still found myself putting my left foot down to disengage the clutch while starting it, only to realize a millisecond later that there's nothing there!

One thing I don't like about the automatic in my car is that it hunts gears constantly when you're driving around town. That's the electronics talking to the trans to figure out what's the best gear for it to be in---------I suppose to bolster fuel economy. I get tired of that sometimes, and that's when I'll put it in "manual mode".

I wonder if any of the driving schools that are still around still teach manual since so few people want to learn anymore?

[Mark]

When I take my truck to the dealer, I try to sit somewhere in the waiting room where I can see it.  More often than not, the first person that walks out to pull it into the service area opens the door, looks in, then shuts the door and walks back to the service desk.  Then someone else walks out, gets in, and drives it in.

[PontiacRich]

I learned to drive a manual in my Dad's '72 F-100 3-on-the-tree.  He put me on a hill an told me we weren't going home until I could get off the hill without stalling or rolling backwards.  I drove manuals through the 80's, then sporadically since then.  

A couple of summers ago I visited my Uncle who has a '70 Olds Cutlass Supreme and he asked me if I wanted to take it for a spin.  Well of course I said yes and got behind the wheel after 20 or so years without driving a manual.  My first couple of shifts were a little rough, but it came back pretty easily.

My '15 Camaro is an automatic w/manual paddle shift capabilities.  Haven't quite got the knack of that yet.

[Dodge Driver]

My brother has a '16 Scat Pack Challenger with a manual trans. The clutch pedal is so light, I stalled it the first time I drove it. Hard to believe that clutch is holding back 485 hp

[MrObsessive]

My brother has a '16 Scat Pack Challenger with a manual trans. The clutch pedal is so light, I stalled it the first time I drove it. Hard to believe that clutch is holding back 485 hp

It might be a hydraulic one---------a lot of them are these days. My '69 AMX 390 4 spd was of the old bell crank type, and it was I thought at the time rather stiff. Not a car I'd want today to drive around town on a regular basis, but back then (late '80's) I was in my late 20's and could deal with it.

[Foxer]

I always had manuals for they control the give, especially in the snow. And I just like driving a manual. They are getting scarce, but I have to say, the automatics ARE getting good at changing gears when I want them to. My current VW GTI has a dual clutch automatic and I can't remember one time over the last 2 years where it didn't change gears when I wanted it to. The dual clutch is smoother than anything I could do myself. It's all in the programming now and it's finally working well in many new cars.  Too about the Dodges.

Edited March 26, 2017 by Foxer

[Dodge Driver]

It might be a hydraulic one---------a lot of them are these days. My '69 AMX 390 4 spd was of the old bell crank type, and it was I thought at the time rather stiff. Not a car I'd want today to drive around town on a regular basis, but back then (late '80's) I was in my late 20's and could deal with it.

I know what you're saying! I had a '72 Charger, 440/4spd. That thing was a leg-breaker! It had those smallish, rounded E-body style pedals, too. Made it hard to get a foothold to push the clutch in. Easy to sidestep on the launch, though!

[Dodge Driver]

I always had manuals for they control the give, especially in the snow.

I agree. I was overall more confident in my 2wd/manual Dakota than I am in my auto/4wd Ram.

[JTalmage]

That number seems low. I know I can drive a stick shift... my back just tells me not to 

[High octane]

I learned how to drive stick shift in the mid 60's and have done a lot of driving with a manual trans back-in-the-day. With having two knee replacements, my shifting days are over with. There's really no reason that many people should learn how to drive stick when they have a choice of both stick or automatic trans, when they pick out a car.

[Ace-Garageguy]

WARNING: This post contains sarcasm, and may not be appropriate material for some readers who are easily offended or see everything as being about themselves, particularly those who see griping about creeping societal ineptness in general to be only the province of past-it old men.

Just another one of the vanishing "irrelevant" skills...like being able to write a coherent sentence in English or make change from a dollar.

What a great time to be alive. Nobody has to know how to do much of anything.

Brave New World meets Idiocracy.

 

Edited March 26, 2017 by Ace-Garageguy

[Tom Geiger]

When I take my truck to the dealer, I try to sit somewhere in the waiting room where I can see it.  More often than not, the first person that walks out to pull it into the service area opens the door, looks in, then shuts the door and walks back to the service desk.  Then someone else walks out, gets in, and drives it in.

I once drove my '65 Barracuda to a fancy restaurant.  They insisted that the valet would park it.  About 10 minutes later they were looking for me in the restaurant, because none of their valets had ever seen  a three on the tree.

Another funny story:  Friends of ours are rather impulsive when buying things. They went to a multi-dealer sales event and bought a Mercury Topaz. They go to the dealer to pick it up and I get a call from them.  They never realized the car they bought had a clutch! And neither of them could drive it.  So I went to the dealer and drove their brand new car back to their house.  I spent the rest of that Saturday teaching them how to drive the car.  It got tense when the wife was catching on faster than the husband!

[Pete J.]

I was about 6 or 7 when I learned to drive our farm Jeep CJ2A.  That was so rugged and durable that all three of the children learned to drive it.  I doubt you could have burned the clutch out on that.  Been driving a mix of automatics and manuals since.  Here is a list of some of the manual transmission cars I have owned.  69 Mustang(200 cube six), 72 240Z, 74 911, 78 Toyota PU, 80 Toyota PU, 87 Corolla FX-16, 93 MR2 turbo.  

There is a certain satisfaction in slapping a perfect down shift at the entry of a turn that you just can't get with an automatic.  By the way, surprise surprise, there are a few new cars out there that you can't get with an automatic.   Subaru WRX base and STI models are manual only!  Learn to shift or go home!  

[Mike 1017]

A friend of mine bought a  2013 Boss 302. Mustang. It sits in his garage because he can not get the hang of the manual trans.

[Mark]

I ordered a new car with a stick in 1979, not knowing how to drive one.  The woman at the dealer offered to show me how to drive it, but when I went back to order the car she'd gone on vacation.  I learned it about two weeks before the car came in, using my older brother's '64 Chevy II with floors that provided a great view of the road below.  The day I picked up the car, I drove it about 200 miles, mostly in rural areas.  I put something like 900 miles on it the first week.

[dublin boy]

If you pass your driving test here in an automatic, you can't legally drive a manual.

I'd imagine 95% of people in Europe can drive manual cars.

[Ace-Garageguy]

If you pass your driving test here in an automatic, you can't legally drive a manual.

I'd imagine 95% of people in Europe can drive manual cars.

Last time I was in Europe and the UK, it seemed almost all of the available rental cars had manual gearboxes. Fine by me, but many Americans I encountered over there weren't too happy about it...which struck me as pretty funny.  

[dublin boy]

Here's the exception to the rule Bill.

Friend of mine got a Greencard for America and moved over before he really learned how to drive.

Every time he comes back he orders an automatic rental car in advance. I made him drive my manual car one time to see what he was like. Never again! LOL

[MrObsessive]

One of the reasons my Dad made me teach myself to drive a manual was because of a nasty experience he had in trying to teach my Mom how to drive one about 20 years earlier. At the time (early '60's), Dad had a '55 Plymouth Savoy 2 door with three on the column. My Mom didn't know how to drive at that time, let alone know anything about standard transmissions. 

Well between Dad's probably rather brusque way of showing her, and Mom's stubborn attitude to learn, a vicious fight broke out when she stripped the gears, and apparently wrecked the clutch. Dad then told me years later he wouldn't show ANYONE how to learn a manual ever again, let alone trying to teach them to drive. 

BTW, to this day my Mom still cannot drive a manual! 

It's funny that I can remember only one instance where Dad rode with me in the car, just before I got my license. Since I already had a learner's permit (from MD), I had to take Driver's Ed over again when I moved back here to PA in my senior year of high school. I can remember Dad being quite hyper over every little thing, and then I remembered the story of him and Mom. 

It would be a few years later, and enter love at first sight when I came across a neat 1965 Dodge Dart Convertible with a slant six and three on the tree. I just HAD to have that car as it was for sale for only $500! That's when Dad told me that if I wanted the car, I'll need to learn on my own as he was off limits to teach me. I bought the car, and literally drove it home in first gear (about two miles), and was determined to spend the rest of the day learning, and within no time had it down pat-------surprising my Dad!

Edited March 26, 2017 by MrObsessive

[crazyjim]

My '86 Mustang GT is a stick.