Manual | Pad Patter 9.8

We drive a manual. The most common car in use in the UK is the manual. If you learn to drive in a manual car you get a full licence, if you learn in an automatic you only get a partial licence that restricts you to automatic cars only. If you are restricted to used cars due to your budget, then there is always more choice with manual cars, and new manual cars are cheaper than automatics too. So unless people have a need to only use an automatic due to a disability, then they learn to drive a manual.

 

I can drive a manual! I had a boss one summer after my sophomore year of college that heard me say I wanted to learn how, so he took me out in his work truck and taught me. Then after I graduated from college I bought a little Saturn that had a manual transmission. That car was the easiest I've even drive and I still miss it! We also had a Jeep Wrangler for a few years that had a manual transmission too, but I didn't love that one. It had 6th gear where reverse belonged and I was always terrified I'd forget and get the wrong gear while driving on the highway!

I plan on teaching my boys how to drive a manual transmission too. It's a great life skill, but I suspect it will become less available as the years so on. Only fancy sports cars that I can't afford will have them.

 

Oh that's interesting to know! Cars are becoming less and less popular here in the US. Most people drive SUVs, minivans or trucks these days and most of those aren't even offered in a manual transmission.

 

I learned (the hard way) on a 1967 mustang....needless to say, it got wrapped around a light pole one snowy morning (on an icy hill). It took WEEKS for my dad to talk to me. Don't worry, he got it fixed and only my pride and his car were hurt in the process! I did learn how to drive it though and still drive a stick shift today. I do also hate hills and stop and go traffic. So far my clutch is still good to go but I don't know for how long!

 

I have driven them in the past. But I was never super comfortable and even got a ticket one time while driving our manual car. Yeah, failure to come to a complete stop -- I didn't want to shift all the way down into first to stop and start again. My children have no idea how to drive one.

 

My first car was manual but I hated it. Only drove it for about a year and then never drove one again - it's been so long not sure I can still do it to be honest!

 

My first car was a manual. It's been a while but I think I could still do it!

 

I clicked on the thread thinking we were talking about photography. I learned to shoot manually in 2012. I never had the opportunity nor interest to drive manual though.

 

Yep, just like Jan @IntenseMagic It's the feeling of power & control and I adored it for the few years I owned a red Porsche!

 

Nope! Not this girl! I had enough issues learning to drive due to dyslexia. It affects directional issues and learning sequences. Took long enough to get me looking in the rear view/side view mirrors correctly and then backing up...

 

This is why God had me born in 1980 -- so I never had to learn how to drive stick.

See also my argument as to why I don't tent camp e.g. "If God wanted me to sleep in the woods on the ground, he would have made me Laura Ingalls Wilder or a bear."

 

I hear ya! When I bought my first car (in Seattle) it was a manual, and hills always panicked me. I would always choose routes with the least number of hills, even if they weren't the most direct routes! I hated when people would pull up close behind me (mine didn't have hill hold like some of the models do). I'm glad I can drive a manual, but I much prefer an automatic.