Stick or Automatic

[arwensun1965 0]

I think judging by the replies the brits are having most trouble with automatics, see we do not have many here in England, and the norm is to drive a stick. Infact if you pass your driving test in an automatic you can not use a stick, but if you pass your test using a stick then you can drive both. That is or was a rule here.

Janice

[Oath 0]

In my opinion using an automatic transmission is not driving, its like using a go kart, albeit heavier and faster (sometimes ) of course it gives you a free foot to rest on the dash or something

so manual.

[arwensun1965 0]

In my opinion using an automatic transmission is not driving, its like using a go kart

[Dwarf_Ogress 0]

Automatic = less concentration

[mawilson 2,133]

In my opinion using an automatic transmission is not driving, its like using a go kart,

That's the point. Fun, not work.

[Alex+R 0]

I think judging by the replies the brits are having most trouble with automatics, see we do not have many here in England, and the norm is to drive a stick. Infact if you pass your driving test in an automatic you can not use a stick, but if you pass your test using a stick then you can drive both. That is or was a rule here.

Janice

In Brazil it seems like they don't like automatics also because they don't have them. Actually when I left there were a bunch of commercials on TV for some new automatic cars and it showed lots of people having trouble learning to drive their car and said something like "there will be a lot of new automatic drivers soon" so who knows...

[Oath 0]

I guess it depends on how you feel about driving, I love it, and a manual transmission gives me more control over the vehicle, my wife has a sports van with an automatic transmission, when you put the foot down it sounds as though the transmission is about to fall out, it changes at too low RPM for getting speed up fast, or for overtaking, while it has the option to drop gear there are many driving techniques you simply can't use in an automatic, my other complaint about automatics is the ebrake (at least in the ones i've driven) being a small pedal on the far left of the deck, handbrakes for the win ><

[mawilson 2,133]

I guess it depends on how you feel about driving, I love it, and a manual transmission gives me more control over the vehicle, my wife has a sports van with an automatic transmission, when you put the foot down it sounds as though the transmission is about to fall out, it changes at too low RPM for getting speed up fast, or for overtaking, while it has the option to drop gear there are many driving techniques you simply can't use in an automatic, my other complaint about automatics is the ebrake (at least in the ones i've driven) being a small pedal on the far left of the deck, handbrakes for the win ><

Well....my automatic goes from 0 to 60mph in 4.5 seconds, so no complaints there

[Autumnchik 6]

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I think it's better to get someone you're not related to to teach you stick. I taught friends to drive on sticks after their parents had given up on them. It's easier when you don't love the person. They don't get so hurt when you yell at them.

I needed therapy after my dad taught me to drive a stick.

Oh yeah, brings back memories of my dad's favorite teaching method: trial by fire! After taking me around the completely deserted back road he lives on, letting me drive 20 MPH max for maybe 15 minutes, he then had me drop him off at his house and told me I had to drive the car back to my mother's house (30 minutes away). It took quite a bit longer than 30 minutes for me to make it home that day! Despite that trauma, I do drive stick and really love it

[homesick_american 1]

I think judging by the replies the brits are having most trouble with automatics, see we do not have many here in England, and the norm is to drive a stick. Infact if you pass your driving test in an automatic you can not use a stick, but if you pass your test using a stick then you can drive both. That is or was a rule here.

Janice

Apparently it's still a rule in the UK.

OTOH in Texas you can drive either an automatic or a manual on a class C license, no matter what you took your test on. I took my test on an automatic...owned a manual from 1991 to 1995 and again from 1999 to 2001. I hate automatics; it feels like the car is driving me instead of me driving the car.

[WifeOHunkyJohn 2]

I love the automatic.

In the UK I started taking lessons, not knowing at the time that I would be moving to the USA within about a year and a half of starting the whole driving thing and I hated clutch control. Ok so my instructer sucked, and he was very mean and always tutted under his breath whenever I tried to make it work, but still, that whole "biting point" thing especially being on a hill and hoping to god you don't roll back down the hill and smack the car behind you... I loathed it.

Then I moved to the US and started driving in January and it was AWESOME. You just point the car in the direction you want to go, step on the gas, and voila, you're off. No changing or crunching the gears or stalling at junctions, just press and go.

And, having only just started to appreciate the manicness of the freeways - I love the freeways, it's the other drivers that complicate things - the fact you have the rest of your concentration on what everyone else is doing, without having to work out what gear you need to be in, trust me, it's a blessing.

I wouldn't trade my automatic for anything.

Unless of course, it's the Aston Martin as featured in Casino Royale, and even then, I'd ask for them to make it non-stick.

[Nessa 23]

In my opinion using an automatic transmission is not driving, its like using a go kart, albeit heavier and faster (sometimes ) of course it gives you a free foot to rest on the dash or something

so manual.

Exactly how I feel. The same about cruise control, I really enjoy driving, what's the point in sitting my a$$ there and have the car doing everything, it's like when I used to drive those bumper-cars when I was 8

In Brazil it seems like they don't like automatics also because they don't have them. Actually when I left there were a bunch of commercials on TV for some new automatic cars and it showed lots of people having trouble learning to drive their car and said something like "there will be a lot of new automatic drivers soon" so who knows...

Actually we have automatics. It's the opposite than here that when you buy a car you have to ask for it to be stick, because they come automatic, in BR they come with stick and if you want you have to ask for automatic. Of course not all cars have that option, since we're used to drive stick we see automatic cars as a feature for old people to drive cuz they're too tired to change the gears...

[Alex+R 0]

In my opinion using an automatic transmission is not driving, its like using a go kart, albeit heavier and faster (sometimes ) of course it gives you a free foot to rest on the dash or something

so manual.

Exactly how I feel. The same about cruise control, I really enjoy driving, what's the point in sitting my a$$ there and have the car doing everything, it's like when I used to drive those bumper-cars when I was 8

In Brazil it seems like they don't like automatics also because they don't have them. Actually when I left there were a bunch of commercials on TV for some new automatic cars and it showed lots of people having trouble learning to drive their car and said something like "there will be a lot of new automatic drivers soon" so who knows...

Actually we have automatics. It's the opposite than here that when you buy a car you have to ask for it to be stick, because they come automatic, in BR they come with stick and if you want you have to ask for automatic. Of course not all cars have that option, since we're used to drive stick we see automatic cars as a feature for old people to drive cuz they're too tired to change the gears...

I know Brazil has them, or I'd never drive in Brazli!

Edited May 9, 2007 by Alex+R

[Nessa 23]

Alex can't drive stick!! Alex can't drive stick!!

..ok, childish moment has passed

[Alex+R 0]

Alex can't drive stick!! Alex can't drive stick!!

..ok, childish moment has passed

It's true. Someday maybe I'll learn...