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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! :giggle

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. :giggle
 
Angela Toucan said:
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.
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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!
 
Angela Toucan said:
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.
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That is so interesting! I guess I wouldn't have thought of it because we are such an automatic system over here. It's hard to find a manual transmission in a new car anymore. I wish it were more of an option. I would love it if the car I own now was a manual.

Karen said:
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! :giggle

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. :giggle
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We've had a couple of Jeep Wranglers, too. I love them!! And I agree it's a great life skill. I always tell my kids that you never know when there might be a zombie apocalypse and you have to be able to jump in to anything and drive away :giggle

michele hillam said:
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!
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Ooooh yeah, Mustangs and snow don't mix very well. I've owned 3 of them... 1975, 1965, and 1999. They would usually stay parked here from like November to April :giggle. Glad you were ok, though!
 
I learned on an automatic and have never had to drive a manual. Jay tried to teach me when we were dating, and I got the gist of it, but I never understood why you would choose to have a manual when automatics were so available and easier. LOL
 
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.
 
gonewiththewind said:
I learned on an automatic and have never had to drive a manual. Jay tried to teach me when we were dating, and I got the gist of it, but I never understood why you would choose to have a manual when automatics were so available and easier. LOL
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For me, I think it's part control freak (I like the control it gives me) and part ADD (it gives me something to do when I'm driving). It's also just fun lol. Now if I were in a big city and had to do a lot of stop and go I might feel differently!

BevG said:
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.
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I got pulled over once for obstructing traffic because I didn't get pulled out fast enough when sitting in a line of cars :/.
 
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!
 
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.
 
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...:imok
 
This is why God had me born in 1980 -- so I never had to learn how to drive stick. :giggle

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."
 
Iowan said:
The Seattle hills cured me of driving manual transmissions. I was taking my life, as well as those in cars behind me, in jeopardy. Add a sprinkling of rain, yikes, no way. We taught both of our daughters on manual transmissions, a good skill to have!
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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.
 
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