My Secret Shame......I Can't Drive Stick Shift (1 Viewer)

[Matt Butler]

I just recently learned and Im almost 32 years old. I learned on a friends 5 spd Ford Escort. I was in 3rd gear within an hour. (and yes I stalled many times.)

I learned on an automatic and never bothered to learn manual. In Sacramento the traffic can suck bad so growing up ive always felt like it wasnt a need to learn manual.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Go for it Phil.. once you're used to it, you'll laugh when you subconsciously reach for the stick while driving an automatic.

Just don't subconsciously stomp on the break as if it were the clutch. I did that once.... once.

 

[Vlad D]

I've done that too. Not so funny.

 

[GuyMaren]

My only car is a stick, but when I drive an automatic, I find left-foot braking seems to cure this tendency. Not to mention improving my comfort level in heavy traffic. But if you try this, do not rest your left foot on the brake pedal. Have it hovering above the pedal when you might need to brake. And it does take some practice to get the pedal pressure right.

 

[Phil_L]

Does the asking price include a trip to New Mexico?

 

[Yee-Ming]

It used to be that to pass your driving test here, you HAD to drive a manual, but at the beginning of the year they allowed auto-only driving tests. Mistake, if you ask me, for the various reasons already stated why one should at least know how to operate a manual, even if you intend to only ever get an auto car.

Me? I prefer manual. It really isn't that difficult. Both my cars were/are manual cars. Although since the wife doesn't like driving manuals (she knows how, just doesn't like it), I usually have to play chauffeur for her even when it makes more sense for her to drive herself...