Current Events > I tried learning to drive manual transmission and got the car into first gear...

(+) Yeah! (+)

AbstraktProfSC2 posted...

because we're not in the 90s anymore and most of that stuff is a negligible difference with modern cars

Lol. Yeah dead batteries don't happen in 2022 cause magic.

ForsakenHermit posted...

An old John Deere my dad owned that had a clutch to shift gears (mostly backwards and forwards.)

Just thinking about it gives me traumatic flashbacks to my dad yelling at me to use the clutch while smacking one of his hands into the other.

The traumatic part is an exaggeration btw.

Reminds me of my dad trying to teach me to drive tbh.

I tried an automatic one time and it felt awful and sluggish. I could see the appeal in heavy traffic areas where it's a constant stop/go but anywhere else, manual wins.

If you can't drive manual, ask someone who can to teach you.

CanuckCowboy posted...

Reminds me of my dad trying to teach me to drive tbh.

This whole topic reminds me a bit of that. I had a learners permit and drove my parent's automatics but when I got my license and it came time to get a car by Dad decided the perfect car would be a manual Honda Accord because it was super reliable according to consumer reports and a bit cheaper than the automatics and every young man should know to drive manual (Dad was an Engineer).

So when I was a senior in high school we went and got a slightly used two door 2002 Honda Accord with a manual transmission and a moon roof and electric window openers rather than the wind up ones. My Dad thought it was the perfect car but it was a nightmare for me the first few days because I had no idea how to drive it but within a week it was great. I went to the high school lot (it was summer) with my Dad trying to learn it, and then I went to the lot again with my friends (one of them knew how to drive manual) and tried my damndest to learn but I still felt like I drove like crap for a while.

I drove that thing from 2004 to 2018. Great car.

Ilishe posted...

I tried an automatic one time and it felt awful and sluggish. I could see the appeal in heavy traffic areas where it's a constant stop/go but anywhere else, manual wins.

If you can't drive manual, ask someone who can to teach you.

Try an electric vehicle. Gas vehicles (manual or automatic) are awful and sluggish by comparison.

I'm more surprised that in America (it seems, anyway) that you can drive a manual without having learnt to drive one before hand.

You can speed up faster in manual, it is really noticeable.

Funkydog posted...

I'm more surprised that in America (it seems, anyway) that you can drive a manual without having learnt to drive one before hand.

Yeah, that's absolutely insane. Even if the law actually allows it, I don't get how an insurance company would.