Do you prefer to drive a stick shift (fun as shit, faster too) or do you like the easiness of automatics?

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driving stick makes me feel like a race car driver.

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I used to have a 95 cherokee that had a 5 speed manual, and for a 4 cylinder 4 wheel drive car, that thing hauled ass. The fucker rotted out though, the price to be paid for living in NY

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the truck ive had to drive a few times with stick shift, is the most awful truck ive ever had to be in. perhaps i shouldnt base my feeling towards manual on this piece of shit truck, but im going to right now.

dunno how to, standard 4 door sedan for me

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I don't have a license.
Besides, in this tiny country you can get anywhere by bike or public transport.

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I tried backing a car out of the garage once that was a standard and ended up pushing it out by hand I got so flustered. I was just going to wash it and it was a small Toyota Tercel so it wasn't hard. My husband prefers a standard because of the power situation and they usually are cheaper than an automatic. However his newer truck has power steering which his old one didn't so he's in heaven with that.
I prefer an automatic with optional 4x4. I don't want to be thinking about shifting while I'm paying attention to traffic although hubby said since I can drive a tractor that's a 4 speed with a clutch I would be able to drive a standard pretty easily.
If you have little hill country and not much snow or rough terrain I'd say to just get an automatic. If you're going to tow something it depends on what and how many cylinders you have. I wouldn't tow much with a 4 banger.

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ohhh europe

try taking a bus here. hell, try FINDING a bus here.

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try living in a city, theyre easy to find

buses make sense where they are needed


less buses,less cars. more bicycles

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If the driver of a manual transmission has the proper level of skill, stick shifts almost always are better performing cars in every way when compared to autos. I am not near that proper skill level yet,ha.

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Silly americans with your automatics. Its all about manuals, i've only driven one automatic, and it wasn't a sensational experience. Manual transmission gives you so much more control at the 'at one with the car' feeling

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Indeed. Manual shifting is 2/3 of the fun; just try to keep up with me on the start with an automatic.

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Yeah, I guess when you're on a date it's nice for her to snuggle over close to you and have her leg thrown over and the shifter in her crotch. She can put her arm around you, but it's hard for you to do the same. And it's darned near impossible to load a bowl or roll one when you have to shift gears.

Priorites!

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manual! way more fun.

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Erm...I ride motorcycles, which are inherently manual, so I guess manual is my choice. I've never driven a car.

Do you Yanks have lots of automatic vehicles on the road? The average car on the road here is manual.

Yep, American motorists drive automatics by far. I think this is the only country that prefers automatics to stick shifts. Guess we are fat and lazy......

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its sad really, autos are more expensive, but for places like seattle which has hills that are at 45+ degree angles, i guess it helps to have an automatic, stoplights and all. i still stand by manual trannys any day.

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automatic ? If you want an automatic in holland you have to order one all cars here come standard with manual transmission. And I have only driven cars with manual transmission

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That is basically the hardest manuever for a driver of a stick to successfully execute, starting from a dead stop on the upward slope of a steep hill. If you don't have correct timing and feel the gears correctly, the car shuts off and starts rolling backwards. But if you are expiereinced enough, you could go up a hill covered with light snow safer than you could in an automatic.

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If you want to hear something funny about driving standard on hills, Bill Cosby's old "Driving in San Francisco" routine is good.

"They have hills that go straight up and straight down!"

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auto for me

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ive been trying to find a vw tdi forever, and i cant even fucking find a manual one!! what the fuck! why are people selling their cars wih more expensive transmissions that can handle more power. i am ashamed at how difficult it is to find a manual transmission in america.

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It's not difficult, damn it, if you don't have enough feeling in your body to be able to sense when the engine is pulling or not, I don't want you on my roads. Mind you, I've almost been smacked in front many times, until I learned to keep at least a meter away in any slope tiltig more than three degrees.

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Why should I have to put my arm around her as well? I'm doing the driving, so you can just make yourself useful, why don't you, sweetheart.

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Autos are WAY better for citty driving, its anoying as fuck to get out of a light, shift up to second, only to have to stop and start the process again.

In country areas though a manual is far more fun.

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Agreed. I've only driven a manual a few times (and therefore not that great at it), but since I live in an area with heavy traffic (with fucking low as shit speed limits) and do most of my driving in the city I prefer an automatic for that. My left hand is usually too busy fiddling with the CD player to worry about a gearstick, heh.

And while there are plenty of manual cars on the road down here, I'd say that the majority of new cars on the road these days are auto. Not a vast majority but definately more autos than manuals.

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You're killing me slowly, and painfully at that. At least the manual lets you keep a maximum of control over what the machine is doing.
Oh, but if you haven't spent at least fifty hours driving a manual...

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i voted manual. i agree it can be a pain in the ass in the city..especially rush hour just can't get out of first gear highway cluster fuck...but the times when the streets are more open, it is far more enjoyable. here in the usa, autos are much more popular. back in the days of the muscle cars i think more people could and did drive manuals. now everyones in the rat race and just wants to relax as much as they can while they can. when i went to italy, i saw about 2 autos..everyone there drives a stick. another trend thats picking up in the states are those paddle shifting gearboxes. there are as many different takes on them as there are brands of cars on sale..some are good, most are crap. i drove a friends mazda 3 (not exactly a performance car hah) and i turned it back to full auto after a block or two.

The closest I've gotten to for a stick shift is in the simulator room at my school, and I don't think it's for me. I'd be more worried about what's in front of me and if I'm going the right speed than to have to worry about moving a stick everytime I get to a certain speed.

Automatic for me... meant to vote for that one.

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Elaborate please? My school was to poor to have one of those.

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It was nothing special.

The simulators were just mock ups of the seat you satin, the wheel, the dashboard, pedals, everything you would see in the driver's seat. Kind of like an arcade, only gay and crappy and you are only wasting your time.

They were all hooked up to this computer that recorded how fast the person was driving, whether they were in the right gear, used their signal lights, etc. And on top of the computer was a projector that projected a movie that was just the first-perosn view of a person driving, and you have to follow the guy's instructions on the video and the teacher's instructions (turn when you have to, signal, all that crap).

IT basically gave you the visual feeling of being in a car, but it didn't stimulate the other sense you need to drive properly (sense of touch to feel the vibrations of the car, sense of hear to hear your suroundings). Sometimes, we had one jack-off pressing his gas pedal down hard and going like 100 mph thinking the teacher wouldn't know, like he was some cool guy.

Drivers Ed was good but it was BORING after the first half of the semester.

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I've never drove a manual, so auto for myself.

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After you've done it a few times you get the feel of a standard, but I just don't see any point in that.

As far as having it under control, sweetheart, and you know who I mean, there's nothing to control. The car would probably have a better reaction time shifting than a person. And about having the arm around the other I meant that if I was on a date, I'd rather have the guy's arm around me than mine around him. I'd either have a dislocated shoulder or have to sit on a cushion. There weren't many sunroofs when I was thinking about that. ;0

It's also a question of if you want to drive with both feet, too. And supposedly the safe way to drive is to have hands at 10 and 2 o'clock. Can't do that if you're octopusing the car.

We had simulators 30 years ago when I took driver's ed! That's really something that some places don't have it yet.

arvina, if you're having trouble finding a particular thing for your vw pm me and I'll see if it's something my neighbor might be able to help you with. He and his brother are restoring a classic Ghia. He might know some websites or places for you to check.

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What do you mean by both feet? As in one for the gas, one for the brake? Over here auto. drivers are taught to only use the same foot for the gas/brake.

Yeah, but with a standard you use both.

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Yeah...with a stick it's left foot always ready w/ the clutch....and right does gas/brake

Automatic....the left gets to chill

I've always been suprised at the ratio of american cars being auto apposed to manual.

Fuck automatic.

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My school didnt have a driver's ed class at all, maybe that explains it. Strangley enough it had an automechanics class that was in a huge garage where they fixed cars all day.

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Our school didn't actually teach the classes, but the building was used for it and the simulator was on the property. There's a private agency that used to do it or the Sears Driving School if you didn't want to go through the school's. It was cheapest that way though. And we got a discount on car insurance if we took classes and also if we had a high gpa. (I sure as heck didn't qualify for that one!) But I waited a few years before I ever got my license.

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i love the manual transmission in my truck. it is much more fun but gets to be a pain in the ass at times. nothing better than fucking eating and slamming some gears. since i got a stick shift i have also gotten pulled over for the first time though.

i didn't see soulinsane post here yet. if i recall correctly he has a car with a standard thats turboed. i love turbos. my dad brought home an SRT-4 neon from the car lot today. i love hearing the sound of the blow-off valves. ahhh orgasm.

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What was it about a stick shift that got you pulled over?

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Haha this is getting far more fun than I expected. No, I can both start and stop noticeably faster in a manual; especially useful is the ability to force down the speed without touching the brakes.
And I found the part about arms around someone quite amusing because, that really isn't a problem, trust me on that one. And with the teachers on my driving school, you jolly well learned to keep both hands on the steering wheel, or they'd force the routine into your head with a 2-by-4.

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I forgot you like dating midgets so it probably would be easy to reach a shifter. Otherwise it's reach your arm around, put it back down to shift, reach your arm around, put it down to shift, drop your smoke, reach to shift, move the wheel, hit the ditch........
I think you still need hit with a 2 x 4 sometimes.

Oh yeah, my insurance gives discounts if you're female and a non-smoker, too. So if you smoke and they have that policy lie. Some of you could probably pull off the female part, too.

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Manual

They get better gas mileage too!

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Manual pros...

Dead battery....no prob. Pop it in 2nd and push.

Sneaking home at 3:45am? Cut the engine and coast into the driveway.

What if you live uphill?

By Damaskus

Making Love in a Subaru
that's what I wanna do with you
We can always feel around the steering wheel
there seems to be so much that we can do

An alibi that I will not allow
is when you tell me that you don't know how
'Cause it's just like being in bed
all your clothing you must shed
you can stick 'em in the glove box for now

Don't try to tell me it's a sin
just lie back, I'll put a hickey on your chin
When you act this indiscreet, creating so much body heat
the tachometer will nearly start to spin

And now let us lie between the sheets
and thank heaven for reclining bucket seats
Don't touch that for goodness sake
you'll release the parking brake
we'll both start to roll down the street (yipes)

Now I'm gonna try to lock your door
Wait a minute, now I'm feeling sore
It's not that I'm not able, something's sticking in my navel
my gosh, it's the four-on-the-floor (ouch)

Pigeons overhead flying high
Circling above us in the sky
now I'm feeling ill-at-ease, my darling would you please
close the sunroof something just fell in my eye (yuck)

You say that something's pinching at your feet
hey look what you just found, hey ain't that neat
it's my roach-clip and my bong
they've been missing for so long
all this time they must have been beneath the seat

Now you're suffocating and I'm water-logged
all the windows are beginning to get fogged
So my dear with your consent
I'll open up the flow-thru vent
I only hope it also isn't clogged

There are other things that we can do
but only if you're tired of getting scratched
Honk the horn real good
and you'll wake the neighborhood
and they'll have a marvelous view

Making Love in a Subaru, my friend
Making Love in a Subaru

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Just floor it beforehand

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