Anyone still drive stick?

theMot

Reformed collector of junk
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Everything up until my latest ute (pickup truck to you murcans) was a manual but now I drive an auto and I can’t see myself going back to a stick unless I ever buy some high end sports car. I tried the manual version of my truck and it was pretty awful to be honest. Auto boxes have come a long way. I was reading an articles the other day and less than 10% of car sales are manual.
 

StevenK

ng.com SFII tournament winner 2002-2023
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Yeah I've given up on manuals too. Auto is just easier and lazier which ticks both of the getting older boxes.

I assume there's no such thing as a manual electric? That alone spells out their demise.
 

Heinz

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I was manual all the way and still would be if I wasn't driving a company car. That said the auto in the Volkswagen Caddy diesel is fucking great.
 

SignOfGoob

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You won’t find any high end sports cars with manuals because the sequential gearboxes are way faster. You also won’t find any American pickups with manuals because pickup drivers are poseurs. In the US the pickup has become the new M5. You buy it because of its highway performance and because you can get away with stupider shit in it.

My newest car is a 2014 TDI wagon. I drove the manual and it wasn’t any fun so since the boy’s mom would be driving it most of the time anyway we opted for the DSG instead, no regrets.

My daily is a 2013 Fit. The Fit is one of the few cars left that not only has an available manual trans but a good one. The shifter is better than any front wheel drive car I’ve driven but still not as good as my 1.6 Miata. The clutch feel is…nonexistent. Modern manuals have special delay valves in the clutch master cylinder and special calibration in the engine that together make the engine rev down as slowly as possibly. This is great for emissions, and helps MPG a teeny teeny bit, but more or less ruins the feel and genuinely makes the car harder to shift smoothly.

Have fun when you can, they simply won’t be offered in the very near future.
 

RAZO

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I still love driving manual but don't drive stick unless I'm overseas and even now that is not the case since almost all newer cars are automatic.

Driving stick in the States for me sucks because of all the traffic. Not even worth it as a daily driver. If I was to buy a older sports car for the weekend like something along the lines of a 95-99 M3, for sure that would be manual.
 

lithy

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Drove the Miata to work today. But both of my main daily drivers are autos and are not offered with any manual transmission.
 

Lastblade

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I have 2 manuals. I love driving MT, it is less boring and as an added bonus, keep you focused on the road and not on the phone. Manuals are pretty much dead these days outside of a few models. Interestingly enough, even most high end sports cars are automatic since they are faster and the take rate is just too low (see the new Corvette). Buy them while you can, they will likely keep their value when electric cars are more prevalent.
 

Lagduf

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Yeah I've given up on manuals too. Auto is just easier and lazier which ticks both of the getting older boxes.

I assume there's no such thing as a manual electric? That alone spells out their demise.

I don’t think most electrics even have transmissions.
 

SignOfGoob

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You won’t find any high end sports cars with manuals because the sequential gearboxes are way faster. You also won’t find any American pickups with manuals because pickup drivers are poseurs. In the US the pickup has become the new M5. You buy it because of its highway performance and because you can get away with stupider shit in it.

My newest car is a 2014 TDI wagon. I drove the manual and it wasn’t any fun so since the boy’s mom would be driving it most of the time anyway we opted for the DSG instead, no regrets.

My daily is a 2013 Fit. The Fit is one of the few cars left that not only has an available manual trans but a good one. The shifter is better than any front wheel drive car I’ve driven but still not as good as my 1.6 Miata. The clutch feel is…nonexistent. Modern manuals have special delay valves in the clutch master cylinder and special calibration in the engine that together make the engine rev down as slowly as possibly. This is great for emissions, and helps MPG a teeny teeny bit, but more or less ruins the feel and genuinely makes the car harder to shift smoothly.

Have fun when you can, they simply won’t be offered in the very near future.
I don’t think most electrics even have transmissions.

They all have transmissions, but all or nearly all have only one gear.
 

LoneSage

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I have a really good story about feeling emasculated by not knowing how to drive manual.
 

xb74

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Amazingly, Toyota still sell their Troop Carrier in a manual only and it sells very very well. Our environment here is very rugged though and it is definitely 4x4 country.
Auto for the daily drivers, manual for the fun cars 100% (sports/muscle/off road).
 

Syn

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Yes, my MX-5 has a built six speed in it. It came with a 5 speed and a 2.0 but over the last week I had a turbocharged 2.5 put in it. I can't wait until I put a thousand miles on the trans, break in period, and can floor it. It's fast considering I need to keep the tach under 3K. It's going to be one helluva sleeper. Quiet exhaust and looks stock, no need for unwanted attention from the police.
 

NeoSneth

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you can't find them in high end sports anymore. the fuel efficiency argument is gone, and the maintenance argument is debatably gone.

i still enjoy a manual, but the people obsessed with them are enough to drive you away.
 

ShootTheCore

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I'll keep driving manuals for as long as I can keep finding them. Automatics are boring!
 

FAT$TACKS

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So for this one job I had to drive a company car. It was a 5 speed manual, Geo Metro . An early 90's, 2 door hatchback job. I think it had the 1.0L engine in it as they bought the cheapest one they could get. That car was so turd. Sucked a lot of the fun out of driving a manual.
 

wyo

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I haven't had a manual since I sold my WS6 years ago. Unless Im out of town or driving in the middle of the night, i prefer an auto due to the traffic volume and yes, laziness. I set cruise control as much as possible and it adapts to other cars now which is great. Bring on the fully autonomous cars!
 

SignOfGoob

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So for this one job I had to drive a company car. It was a 5 speed manual, Geo Metro . An early 90's, 2 door hatchback job. I think it had the 1.0L engine in it as they bought the cheapest one they could get. That car was so turd. Sucked a lot of the fun out of driving a manual.

Yes. The car being a complete piece of shit does make driving less fun. If you think the five speed version sucked you should have seen the CVT. The cabriolet version shook so much at highway speed that the mirrors were hard to see things in.

The Swift GTI versions are honestly pretty fun but not what most people’s experiences of small Suzukis are based on.
 

GohanX

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I'll drive a manual for as long as cars still have them. An argument can be made that modern automatics shift faster, and that's very true for boring, straight line driving, but the fact of the matter is you can't do nearly the amount of stupid shit in an auto that you can in a manual. It's not just about shifting up and down to the next gear, it's about modulating the clutch so that the engine and driveshaft are spinning at different rates to apply exactly the desired power. It's about using the gas, clutch and brakes at the same time to shift weight to the desired tires for maximum grip. It's about being able to throw it in the exact RPM and gear it needs to be in while braking in a corner so you shoot out of it like a rocket.
 
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