Ok so I screwed up again.. hopefully this time it will work LOL

Hey, you did it!

I drive automatic.

you know stick people are just driving snobs!

I drive an automatic now but I drove a stick in the UK.... automatics are so much easier to drive.....

Kezzie

I think mainly men like driving stick.... not sure what that says about them

I have tried numerous times to drive a stick and I suck. I stick with the automatics now.

It's much funner to drive a stick, but I've currently got an automatic.

Next car will be stick though.

I drive an Automatic right now but I also know how to drive a stick. I like a stick for its "pick-up" but I still prefer the automatic as it's easier to drive.

Ok so I ride motorcycle. I put down stick because you left us Hog riders no other option.

Manual transmissions get better gas milage! At least in the Toyota brochure they do
Yes sticks are fun to drive

I have had a stick for so many years that is is nice to have an automatic now so I don't have to keep shifting all the time!

I can do both, I have an automatic but I like standard transmission too.

see now i would have thought some women wouldve preferred sticks lol

hey cari... where is the option for both?

I had a stick.. but, peferr automatic.
we both drive.

I have never owned an automatic in my life. Manual transmission is a lot more fun, you get more control, and better gas mileage. besides, it's better in the snow.
Karen can drive both, but her car is automatic.

I prefer stick, but we have an automatic (my husband has no clue about driving a stick). Should I ever get my own car, it will be a stick because I like to have extra control over my car.

Currently, I'm driving my mom's car though which sports a tiptronic, an automatic that allows you to shift without the clutch. The best of both worlds, maybe...

We drove a stick in Ireland and here too...you've more control over the car, better take off and better gas mileage

Initially learned to drive on automatic (used Barracuda, which was how I found out about the persistent Park-start problems of Chryslers). After leasing a LOADED Taurus for over a year, I traded it for a Jetta (I wanted the City, which was basic except for having AC--but these were out of stock by then) deliberately choosing 5-speed.

Developed a liking for European (rather than Japanese) style mainuals from the eight years I owned the Jetta (European style requires a bit of a "procedure" to pop car into reverse--not possible to do so other than deliberately).

It would be nice if rental agencies stocked cars with manual--as I INVARIABLY hit that blank space where the clutch pedal should be.

Currently driving an automatic, but I learned on a standard--my first car.

got only automatics now but prefer stick
cruise control, power this and power that...makes me dosey on the highway

I passed my test in an Automatic in the UK so that is the only car I am legally allowed to drive. I have tried to drive my husbands stick car but I cant even get the car started! I dont know how you mean to balance the clutch with the gas and then brake aswell! Soooo much confusion!

None of the above!! We have a car with CVT (continuously variable transmission) so it's neither manual nor automatic ... it doesn't have gears at all!

We have both. A stick and automatic.

I have a stick right now. I go back and forth between the two. I seem to have more control with a stick and when it snows around here you need all you can get.

I'm almost over the idea of having a stick........................kind of hard putting your make up on, eating drinking and smoking at the same time. Just kidding.



Baileyj

I know what you mean!
I learned to drive stick while back in Belgium, we were practicing in the township where I was supposed to take the road test. I swear, those speed bumps and stoplights were driving me insane.
I think it'll be easier to learn to drive an automatic. I'm going for my written test next week. Wish me luck!

I had that problem during my first driving lesson and then my teacher gave me this talk about treating the clutch like a lover, carefully and with lots of feeling. Worked wonders, since then I only have problems when I forget the existence of the clutch after driving automatic for a while.

Balancing it is easy, left foot is clutch exclusively, right foot is brake and gas...

Stick; more control, more mileage, more fun...

Give me a stick shift every day of the week! I can't stand automatics; they never shift when I want them to and when they do it's invariably with a huge lurch. Granted, the newer ones are better, but I'd still take a manual given my choice.

Get a CVT! They don't shift at all, ever--they just go when you ask them to.

Seriously, I had the same objection to automatics, but I put up with it because driving stick in traffic is too much hassle. CVT is the best of both worlds.

(and I've more than once experienced downshifting when I DIDN't want it)

Much prefer a manual transmission. It's what I learnt in and I like being move active in the driving. We have an automatic here and it is so dull to drive, it really is. Also have the lurching problem and it shifts far too late, like it shifts at 35 and then after screaming for ages will shift again at 60. Yeah, I know it is an old banger ready for the scrap heap, but still.....doesn't accelerate well either. We're looking for a new (new to us anyway) car at the moment and hope to find a 5 door, 5 speed hatchback, but it seems impossible to find. It will be interesting to see how easy it is to switch from shifting with the left hand in the UK to shifting with the right here!

my current car is automatic but eventually I'd like to get a manual.. can't drive it yet but i figure I can learn... My car is 20 years old but its transmission still actually shifts fairly well (no lurching or anything really..) but its only 3 speed so it doesn't shift that often anyways...

got a stick..like it much better than automatic

I have driven stick ever since I learned in college on a 69 Dodge Pickup. It had the shifter on the column. I worked grounds crew for 4 years in college and even got to drive a dump truck. Now I have an 86 Honda CRX.
Stick keeps my driving in control, I need to think as I drive, and I can also feel like a race car driver when
I get the urge to get aggressive in my driving.

Moondancer

If I were looking for what you're looking for, I'd have my eye out for a Ford Focus ZX5.

I drive stick mostly - I do not have preference although automatic is a bliss when you are in heavy traffic.

Hubby drive automatic mostly, but can handle stick.

Actually, the Focus is a car to stay away from.

F.O.R.D. = Fix Or Repair Daily.

(and Ford certainly hasn't learned to design any car smaller than the Crown Vic to fit a large American driver or passengers).

I had two Ford Ka's back in the UK, both of which were sound and reliable cars on which I never had to do anything except routine maintenance.

Also, I rolled one over and the other was involved in a four-way crash and both times I walked out without a mark on my body - in a car as small as the Ka, that's pretty impressive.

I will stand by my Fords!!

In most of Europe it's just the other way round... people going automatic are considered to be "less adequate drivers"

Have always driven stick, but we travel lots of miles in our job so we thought we'd get an automatic this time and I must admit I like it!!!

European Fords are different from American Fords. Same company, different R&D crews, different safety standards. It's ridiculous, but true.


I'd look for a VW Golf or a Honda Civic, which is easier to find. Only problem is those cars are not cheap to come by.

I like stick better, I drive stick in Brasil. Fiance doesn´t drive stick as it´s rare in PR, and wants me to switch to automatic driving when I am there, saying he won´t give me a car that´s stick, ´cus then he won´t be able to drive it, meh!
I will get a stick, and he´ll learn. I actually taught him here, but he never practiced it there.

Exactly, completely different cars!! I love the Ford Focus, my Mum has one in the UK and it's a great car. Never had a problem with it. I had a 3 door Renault Clio in England and I just adored that car, it saved mine and my husband's lives literally. It seemed perfectly big enough for me, and the boot space was great. We managed to get 3 rather large suitcases in there and a couple of smaller carryons on the back seat easily when we were doing airport runs. I'm sure we could find a nice 5 door here, but they seem to be harder to find and therefore much more expensive, I dont think our budget would stretch to a Golf of Civic Our budget is extremely tight, well to be honest, kinda none existant right now. It is more for when I get a job and our income is more stable that we are looking. In the meantime, hope the old banger in the driveway will keep going til then, although with the noises it is making, I have my doubts. It has been a much abused car poor thing even had a German Shepherd (not ours) rip the seats apart!!

As far as the stick goes, apart from the extra control, I'd prefer it to keep up my driving skills. I dont want to get too used to automatics and find I have a problem driving manuals back in the UK, since automatics are a rarity there.

So, how is Brazilian driver mentality (in native environment) as a whole?

Desi driving mentality in India--the pits! Although I can drive a stick, I would not dare to practice it in India--as you also add dealing with animals (dogs, cows, buffaloes, etc), lots of two-wheelers (mopeds to 350 cc), etc.

More sepcifically, is Brazilian driver mentality (in Brazil) closer to American/Canadian or to desi on Indian road?

I love me a stick shift. Automatics are easier when in traffic but you can't beat a stick when you want to blow past someone. I love driving a stick.

I drove a stick in England too and I'm finding it rather embrassing to say the least driving here, ive never driven on the wrong side of the road before and to cap it all Jon's car is an auto

Janice

Yup, same problem here. No job, no new car even though the old one is showing it's age increasingly! The problem with finding a used car of the kind you want is the combination of things; Americans seem to prefer the limosine over the hatchback, the automatic over the stick, and the three door over the five door (if not a limosine). Just to figure out the market, I've been looking for ages for exactly that combo, but without success, at least not in my extended area.

You don't really lose your ability to drive a stick, though. It's tatooed on your brain. I usually forget to press the clutch the first time I get back into the car, the car does a little jump, and I won't forget for a while.

I drive an automatic. I kind of know how to drive stick (and was able to sucessfully do so in an emergency awhile back) but wouldn't want to regularly go out on the road in one! Then again I learned in my moms BMW and was so afraid of wrecking it it made the experience way too stressful!

Hope you're right! Will be putting that theory to the test while we're back in England next month and hiring a car for a week!!

I did see a nice Mazda 3 5 door Hatchback last week in a parking lot, but they seem to be a new model and would therefore be WAY out of our price range. *sighs* will just keep looking!





I would be very stressed driving a BMW too!! I'm sure you'd do just fine in a regular car.

Some cars don't even come in manual any more -- like the new Toyota RAV4. There are also the "manumatic" transmissions installed in some high-end cars -- they have a manual shifter, but no clutch is needed.