Can You Drive a Stick Shift?

[OPHELIA_HARDIN]

^You couldn't pay me a million $$ to drive in LA, ever.

On an unrelated note: which streets are steeper? The ones in SF or the ones in VC? I'm dying to know.

San Francisco. Guess where I used to live?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22nd_Street_(San_Francisco)

Yep, that's right! Between Vicksburg and Church...

 

[G-Lexington]

I learned on standard, but drive automatic. But I've driven a stick in San Francisco. Yes, even down Lombard.

Lex

 

[cm98059]

To the comment about using the emergency (parking) brake for stopping (starting) on a hill. I have heard about using this "trick", but I have never needed to use it. Even on the Hills of Seattle.

 

[cm98059]

I have never liked those shift lights. My experience with them is that they are set at too low of a rpm, and that if you shift when they illuminate, your engine lugs.

 

[cm98059]

I have a big old 1979 GMC dually with a 4 speed. Last time I drove it with a trailer I got about 6 MPG. (on premium!) Big block baby! I can't hardly drive it anymore though, since it's got a manual clutch (instead of hydraulic like newer vehicles) and I fucked up my knees...hurts to push the pedal.

I know that feeling, I have arthritis in my knees and ankles, so if I am in city traffic, the 5 speed can be a real pain.

I learned to drive a stick shift. I love driving one, but now I really get tired shifting all the time in town traffic. I drive an automatic, and it's a Mustang. I bought used.... I thought it would have been a stick. but a lot of todays young people don't know how to drive a stick.

Yeah, I think it is too bad that more people cannot drive a stick shift. I sometimes wonder about being out in the 5 speed, If something were to happen to me who would be able to drive my vehicle back for me.

If you're shifting up, nothing really, except that you're burning more gas than you would be if you had shifted. Oh, and you won't go as fast. On the other hand, down-shifting can save much wear-and-tear on your brakes.

Actually a missed upshift can cost you an engine. If your engine spends too long above the red-line, you can blow the engine.

Just wondering... how many pages can a CAR thread on a GAY board reach? ... lol

Two or three so far.

I have to every time I visit my sister - she has NEVER had an automatic car and recently she got a new Scion...manual

I think it is great that your sister drives a stick shift. A friend of mine was once in an abusive relationship, one of the ways that he was kept from escaping that relationship was that the only cars were stick shift, and he didn't know how to drive one when I met him. That changed. I am a firm believer in being able to drive a stick shift. If you can drive a stick shift, you can drive anything.

 

[cm98059]

I can drive manual transmission cars; I learned to drive in them and they're covered by my licence. I choose to drive automatics though.

Interesting. There's no distinction over here.

There should be, I see way to many kids at my school burning the clutches out of their parents cars.....

I agree with you completely. I see people driving stick shifts that should still be in the parking lot learning how to drive them. But I see the same thing with people driving automatics. Some people should not be allowed to drive. Drivers licenses are too easy to get.

 

[cm98059]

The only distinction over here is the vehicle class you're allowed to drive depending upon size, weight, number of passengers, etc. In Canada, we have 15 different classifications (limitations).

If you're at all interested, you can read about them here: http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/driver/classes.shtml

I think it is great that Canada has an endorsement for 15 passenger vans. Some of the people driving 15 passenger vans here in the states can be scary. Think 15 passneger van full of college kids on their way to a conference with no experienced driver. This explains why I had to drive from Seattle to Wyoming to pick up said college students after they blew the engine in the van.

 

[Lefty]

Learning to drive starting out on stick is when a snot nosed kid starts to understand

the integration of the driver and the vehicle. Red line, lugging, engine talking to you

and you working with it. Stereo was secondary. Cell phones didn't exist. Nowadays

the American vehicle is an extension of the living room... and most people drive like it

is. scary eh?

 

[cm98059]

Learning to drive starting out on stick is when a snot nosed kid starts to understand

the integration of the driver and the vehicle. Red line, lugging, engine talking to you

and you working with it. Stereo was secondary. Cell phones didn't exist. Nowadays

the American vehicle is an extension of the living room... and most people drive like it

is. scary eh?

Yes, it is scary.

 

[codeerror]

Never had a car without manual transmission. It always beats the automatic on snow or ice.

The only automatics I've driven is a 68' mustang, the rental I had in the US and a tank

 

[cm98059]

I've attempted to learn how to drive a manual transmission car, but I couldn't grasp it. I honestly think it was the car, though. The clutch was too sensitive and it kept popping when I was in first gear.

You said the clutch kept popping in first gear. Do you mean that it kept popping out of First gear? Did you have trouble in any other gears?

 

[talbot57]

Never had a car without manual transmission. It always beats the automatic on snow or ice.

The only automatics I've driven is a 68' mustang, the rental I had in the US and a tank

Hi Code. My full automatic has a winter setting and ESP (Electronic Stability Program), it can vary the power to each drive wheel. I find it the best for driving in snow/ice.

 

[Corny]

Hi Code. My full automatic has a winter setting and ESP (Electronic Stability Program), it can vary the power to each drive wheel. I find it the best for driving in snow/ice.

Even manuals have ESP. ESP also only works when it's almost too late (you're slipping/sliding). I have seen guys with automatics kick their cars and start walking during "snow-in" days here

 

[mbamike]

Yrs I can, but it has been several years since I've driven one.

 

[kev]

Yeppers...and I bet if you saw me double-clutch, you would pop a boner.

 

[bankside]

I think it is great that Canada has an endorsement for 15 passenger vans. Some of the people driving 15 passenger vans here in the states can be scary. Think 15 passneger van full of college kids on their way to a conference with no experienced driver. This explains why I had to drive from Seattle to Wyoming to pick up said college students after they blew the engine in the van.

Not Canada, just Ontario.

In Alberta, if you can drive a car, you can drive a 15-passenger vehicle with your run-of-the-mill Class 3 license:
http://www.servicealberta.gov.ab.ca/Drivers_Licence.cfm

Probably because Alberta is great for cutting red tape, bureaucracy, and over-regulation. Unlike all those eastern liberals with their "government requirements" and their "safety regulations" and their love of "teaching people things" like the elitist liberals they are. The only real surprise here is that Alberta actually caved in to mandatory seat belt laws. I was doing just fine when God was my seat belt. If He didn't want you to go through the windscreen, you stayed put just fine.

 

[teadrinker]

I have friends who refuse to drive automatics - in their view it's not "proper driving". However, being the lazy sod that I am, I quite like what I call "applied steering". However, I grew up driving manuals, and still can and do. It's good fun - I do feel more "connected" to the car and the road when I'm driving a manual.

-T.

 

[gsdx]

^What's double-clutch mean?

A double clutch means that you depress the clutch to shift out of gear. Then you release the clutch and depress it again to shift into the next gear.

If you've ever heard gears grinding when shifting occurs, that is the result of 'non-synchronous' transmissions in which the gears don't mesh. This requires very careful timing in switching gears. That's where the double-clutch comes in. The second clutch depression helps to line up the gears.

Most transmissions these days are fully meshed all of the time (synchronous). There is no need for double clutching, but some people still do it because it sounds neat.

 

[sexylatinboy]

lol I can't, my uncle has a stick shift car and he tried teaching me countless times but I never learned. I prefer automatic it's so much easier stick shifts look to complicated.

 

[jackoroe]

Yes, I've almost always owned at least one car with a stick shift. I think they give a sense of control that automatics just don't have. The stick is going the way of the DoDo Bird I'm afraid. The new paddle shifts are faster than a stick and don't have a clutch to wear out.