Do you drive stick or auto?

[Arkaign]

2006 Kia Rio, soon to be gone .. 5 Speed Manual (gf's car)
2008 Ford Focus, will sell this as well to put with cash towards a G37 Sedan .. 5 Speed Manual
2012 Scion TC, my new work runabout .. 6 Speed Manual ..

So 3 manual vehicles, soon to be 1 manual 1 auto, unless I come across a good deal on a G35 6MT Sedan, but those are rare. GF loves driving manual, but the auto in the G cars is really quite good, and it's going to be the family car, so it'll be fine.

 

[jteef]

an M3 with a 5sp and a 1M with a 6sp.

 

[BW86]

standard

 

[Arkaign]

I think this thread will be a little skewed as the vast majority of drivers have autos, but couldn't be arsed to post in a thread about it because they truly don't care about driving. Hence, why people buy Corollas

 

[GregGreen]

The braindead masses inability to maintain a constant speed makes having a stick a chore.

I love having a stick 99% of the time. The one time I don't is because of other people. Other because of the quoted issue or because of stop and go traffic on the highway. Other people are sadly the worst part of driving a stick. If I lived somewhere there was lots of traffic, there is no chance that I would still be driving a stick.

 

[GregGreen]

I think this thread will be a little skewed as the vast majority of drivers have autos, but couldn't be arsed to post in a thread about it because they truly don't care about driving. Hence, why people buy Corollas

The move to "The Garage" from ATOT is also likely to skew it.

 

[Jeff7]

Automatic. My car's got a CVT now, and I rather like it. There's always power to the wheels, even while the car's busy making up its mind about a transmission ratio. Or I can always flip it over to manual mode, and shift myself, but being confined to 6 specific ratios means I probably won't get peak fuel efficiency.


I've tried a manual long ago; I often stalled it out from a dead stop, and never could get he hang of it.
But, automatic also means one less thing to draw my attention. I'm also the sort who uses cruise control frequently, at least while there's no one nearby me - no worries about going too fast or slow.



The only time I preferred manual was in Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit. But, I'm generally not street racing or outrunning cops in my daily commute.

 

[jmarti445]

I've never owned a stick shift, but I do know how to drive stick shift for the record. That being said, I prefer manual but would consider stick if I couldn't get an automatic for a car(I learned how to drive stick last year, brother's Mini Cooper).

 

[Agent11]

My truck has a 6 speed manual.

It is a lot funner to drive than a automatic, once you go manual you wont want to go back.

 

[yhelothar]

5sp

I prefer it for normal driving as well. Auto just feels much less responsive and takes away so much control of the car. The worst part for me is when you take your foot off the accelerator and the RPMs drop to near idle. When you want to resume acceleration, there's a second lag for the engine to rev back up.

This isn't an issue for the paddle/sequential shift though. But it's still slow to change gears when you tell it to.

 

[DigDog]

motorbikes. but cars i only like auto. f* me doing that 2-pedals with 1-foot thing is ridiculous. who the f* thought that was ok ..

 

[yh125d]

motorbikes. but cars i only like auto. f* me doing that 2-pedals with 1-foot thing is ridiculous. who the f* thought that was ok ..

If you're heel and toe ing and you're not on a racetrack, you're doing it wrong...



On a side note, I think manual is superior in traffic as well - provided you're a smart driver - e.g., not one of the ones who will race up 3 car lengths then stop, 3 car lengths, stop, etc.

Keep a few lengths ahead of you and idle along in 1st. Much better for everyone involved


Seriously, pretty often I can be in near-gridlock traffic for 20 minutes and only touch the brakes or clutch maybe 5-8 times

 

[mmntech]

So you're saying an auto trans is superior for driving in traffic, but you don't know how to drive a manual trans?


5M for me.

I've driven a manual dirt bike on winding trails, which involves a lot of low speed driving. It's a colossal pain.

 

[Arkaign]

I've never owned a stick shift, but I do know how to drive stick shift for the record. That being said, I prefer manual but would consider stick if I couldn't get an automatic for a car(I learned how to drive stick last year, brother's Mini Cooper).

 

[HybridSquirrel]

I drive a stick shift, but automatic transmissions are much mroe pleasing day after day in traffic.

 

[zerocool84]

I wish I had auto, I get tired of driving manual now and want manual only on my car to have fun occasionally and auto for everything else. You never get used to driving home tired from work in LA traffic.

 

[skyking]

3 autos here. Had a whole string of manuals before that. Commuting sucks with the clutch cars.

 

[xSkyDrAx]

Learned on auto and drove it for 6 years.

Got my first stick this year and am loving it.

 

[angry hampster]

My Mazda is a 5-speed manual.
Wife's Focus is an auto.
Bike is a manual of course.

 

[KentState]

If you're heel and toe ing and you're not on a racetrack, you're doing it wrong...



On a side note, I think manual is superior in traffic as well - provided you're a smart driver - e.g., not one of the ones who will race up 3 car lengths then stop, 3 car lengths, stop, etc.

Keep a few lengths ahead of you and idle along in 1st. Much better for everyone involved


Seriously, pretty often I can be in near-gridlock traffic for 20 minutes and only touch the brakes or clutch maybe 5-8 times

I wish gridlock traffic was that easy to drive around here. Even coasting in first gear, everything comes to a dead stop enough that you have to at least push in the clutch. I find that in a mile stretch, speeds go from 0-40-0-40 a few times and then repeats for 20 or so. Now that I'm taking public transportation, I'm finding less tolerance for driving in traffic in general and more-so with a stick.

 

[Excelsior]

Both -

'01 VW Passat - 5spd Auto
'03 Honda S2000 - 6spd Manual

I like both at certain times.

 

[AdamK47]

Auto in the daily beater and sticks in the go faster cars.

 

[hans007]

I drive an auto.

If I had room to have a second car it would be stick. I could probably just get by driving stick now but the few times I've gotten to drive friends cars or rentals I enjoyed it.

That said I live in LA and the auto is good for that.

My next "main" car will probably be auto.

 

[DVad3r]

I drive commercial trucks and both auto/stick cars. I prefer automatic, but, once in a while stick is fun. I'd def love to have stick in a Corvette or a Mustang, but, in the long run I couldn't see myself using stick for my commute.

I think stick is a big deal here in North America, in Europe almost everybody drives stick, it's not a big deal. I also find that chicks that drive stick here think they are special or something, I have news for you, you're not!

lol

Oh yea, my bike is kind of stick, I hope automatic bikes never gain popularity.

 

[Rifter]

Learned on a stick, first car was a stick, current truck is an auto. Always prefer a stick in all situations.