European here: Driving manual for 35 years now. Yes, I think I can. Can't cope with those automatic cars though.
this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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Mid 40โs American. I am able to drive manual, and have only purchased manual transmission vehicles. I am not sure how long the market will allow me to keep up this trend.
Probably, I've tried a few times, but I'll ask you, why would you want to? Esp if you vehicle has paddles/slap shift?
30s. I was learning, and could drive with little to no traffic. I have an anxiety thing where my right side tremors, and learning to drive manual with traffic would always set it off. :(
Austria, mid 20s, yes
Early 30s, US.
Technically I learned how to drive manual when I was first learning to drive, but then everyone in my family got rid of their manual cars. I didn't get a car of my own until I graduated college and got a cheap beater for a gift that was auto. I've never had a manual car of my own and since it's been over 15 years I don't think anyone would want me to test my skills on their clutch, but in an emergency I could drive one.
I thought about getting a manual for my next car but my wife is just learning to drive and it's already very scary for her, so I don't think I will add that to her stressors. She's also early 30s, US, but born and raised in a major city so never had to drive. I'd like to sign us both up for manual lessons later on though.
My Dad made me learn to drive in a manual. I'm in the US.
Indiana and Wisconsin USA here. Approaching 50, and learned back in high school, as well as driving old tractors. My first car, a classic even when I got it, was a 63 Chevy Bel Aire manual. Drove manuals all through college and didn't buy an automatic until 2013, when the type of vehicle I needed didn't come in a manual.
I really miss driving stick, especially in snowy Wisconsin winters.
Finland. I've been driving for a bit over 20 years. I got my first automatic two years ago. At first I had to focus hard not to look for the clutch when braking - especially if slamming the brakes.
I had to focus a bit when I drove a manual rental van about a year back, but I'm sure it'd come back to muscle memory if I daily drove one for a week or two.
Iโm a boomer, of course I can, haha.
US (Midwest), 40, maybe? I know how to but haven't driven one since I was probably 19.
Mid 30s, US. First car was a manual, but I have an automatic now. I do miss it, but I probably drive much safer now that it's less fun. Even though it was just a beat up old passat I always felt like I was in forza driving the manual
I just didn't have the need for driving licence. So no, automatic or electric or manual.
With good public transport and cost of car ownership it didnt make sense. But now I will probably do it just in case.
Enough to get a drunk friends car home in one piece.
Yeah. US midwest, 46, learned in an '86 Toyota 4Runner nicknamed The Blue Beast. It was my only vehicle for a number of years.
Yes, NYS, learned in PA as a teen and then got i proficient in college with my used wrangler. Taught my wife after college when we had to share a vehicle. Now late 30s and one of our two cars is manual, but it's 12 years old and it is looking likely that the replacement will sadly be an automatic. Needs change!
When I got married, my wife moved up to live with me in Canada in the dead of winter. Our only car was a manual rust bucket my brother gifted us with. For some reason, it was always freezing cold in that car. I eventually squeezed an old pizza box in front of the rad and it helped retain a modicum of heat. But man what a junker...
At any rate, we'd get off work and it would of course already be dark and I'd take her to a parking lot to teach her stick. She'd be trying to do donuts in the snow while the car was lurching around or spinning the tires. She just kept getting angrier and it didn't help when I'd yell "you're gonna stall! give it more gas!" Our marriage was seriously tested at that point but by some miracle we're still together?
Yeah, I'm 24, from Finland. Most people have manuals here.
Yes. I bought a manual car a few years ago having never driven one before. I taught myself how to drive it in my driveway and with the help of YouTube videos. I really enjoy it and hope that even in the future when EVs are the final nail in the coffin for manuals that I still have at least a "fun" car with a manual. I'm in the US and a millennial.
I'm in Mexico at the moment and my first car was manual transmission. I didn't know how to drive manual when I bought it, so I just learned on the fly.
Not well, but I got some practice with an old beetle back when I was learning. I've kept the practice of keeping lefty on the dead pedal because of it.
43, US - can and do drive a manual.
Yes, I have never owned anything else. I really struggle to drive auto/CVT, honestly, it's so confusing for me.
Early 40s. Murica.
37, US, and yes. I prefer manual for keeping my attention actively on the car and driving.
Yes. As someone from the UK where near enough everyone I know knows how to drive a manual. If you learnt auto only you'd get absolutely hammered by your mates. However this will probably start to change now hybrid/electrics are mostly auto or single gear
US, close to fifty, and I've driven stick since 1992
Yes, Poland, 18 and I prefer (and drive) it
35 and haven't owned/driven a standard in over a year. Yet I still frequently stomp on my own foot trying to downshift or find myself mindlessly searching for the shifter exiting turns.
US 28, can and do. only time I prefer automatic is when traffic is really bad, otherwise manual is more engaging end enjoyable imo
US, yes but haven't owned a manual for years. If Honda sold an Odyssey Si with a 6-speed and a turbo I would drive the hell out of it.
29, USA, can drive stick
First car was manual transmission, I miss that thing dearly
Canada, mid 30. Can, but don't. First car was manual. 2003 Malibu v6
I have an EV now and plan to stay with ev
I know how. I learned ony dad's old pickup. Havent used manual since (in my 30s)
US, 53. I can, but don't. The cars I want aren't available with a manual transmission.
Yep i can. 30 Male Canada. Grew up in the praries just outside a small town. All we had for fun growing up besides games was old cars and dirtbikes. Currently drive a automatic however.
30, Chile, yes, I prefer it.
Late 40s, from the US. My mom drove a manual so I learned on her car. Then my first car was an old VW Bug, and my next couple of cars were also manual.
Now that I live in a city with soul crushing traffic and a completely broken public transit system, I drive an automatic. Driving a manual in stop and go traffic is just not fun. Plus, it's gotten hard to even find a manual transmission anymore. But when we went on vacation to Costa Rica a few years ago they gave us a car with a stick shift and I had a blast bombing that thing around.
Yes. Germany, 20 years old
Yes. Mid 30s in the US, but my first car was also a manual. Glad I knew how to do it when my wife accidently booked a manual rental car during our trip in Portugal last year.