32 thoughts on “Not Dead Yet”

  1. Have not been enjoying the automatic transmission experience. Definitely going to look for a manual next time around, preferably with a rag top.

      1. Nice cars shouldn’t be driven in “city traffic”. That where you take your reasonably priced “compact”. I’m retired living in a temperate rain forest are where you often don’t see any cars in front or behind as you weave through the trees. Just before I retired bought a 370Z rag top which had been on the lot for 6 months because nobody wanted a manual. Saved about 10k because of that.

  2. We’ve gone from having to tell your car to do every little basic function to your car telling you to do every little basic function.

    Maybe my butlerbot will be able to drive a stick and I won’t have to use on the autopilot.

  3. After 40 years of 4-18 speed transmissions, my left knee has had about as much fun as it can stand. Not going back, especially with stop and go city traffic.

    1. I had my knee replaced last year, and despite it’s being better, I don’t think I could manage a clutch well.

      The last manual I owned was a 1980 Nissan Crew Cab. I was VERY happy to replace it nine years later with an automatic. But I am very happy I know how to shift. My kids, my siblings, and their kids all learned to shift too, thanks to me teaching them or their moms.

      Their kids? Well, they’re on their own, I guess.

      1. I always wanted to learn shift, but the only person I ever knew who had a stick who’d let me practice got disgusted after I stalled the engine twice the first two times I tried the clutch–no patience, I guess.

        My 2015 Sonic has a 6-speed automatic and I learned 20+ years ago how to manipulate the shift points on an automatic, so I don’t feel like I miss much. Maybe if 99% of my driving wasn’t city traffic I’d feel different.

  4. Manuals are just more fun. And they are an effective theft protection device. Sadly, I think the only cars with manuals in the future will be “enthusiast” cars. The wife’s Mustang GT is a blast to drive.

  6. You can have fun with the manual transmissions especially with rear wheel drive on dirt roads. For work and transportation though, automatics reduce the workload. Heavy equipment included.

  7. I would love to have a second car with a manual, but for my daily driver I’m fine with an automatic. I used to only driver manual, but at 61 years old I’ve had my fun.

  8. Enjoyment depends very heavily on how much traffic you end up stuck in.

    Normally I do enjoy my manual, but I ended up driving my niece around for a day in endless stop-and-go and by the end of it I was having trouble making the shifts.

    1. Modern manuals have made this sort of driving much easier. Our Mustang automatically slightly revs the engine when engaging the clutch from a standing start, making it much harder to stall. On a level surface, there’s not much difference in work by your feet in stop and go or slowly inching forward traffic. For most cars (automatics), they modulate their speed with the brake. I’ve been in situations where I modulate with the clutch and only very rarely have to brake. They are working their right leg, I my left.

  10. I didn’t have to deal much with traffic when driving our Gleaner E. With the 15’ wheat and bean header even semi-tractors would slow down and give me some room. Four on the side, but with the CVT pulley setup driving the transmission from a handle in the cab I got the benefit of both. Had been driving this for about four years and other AG related vehicles almost for 8 when the State of Illinois thought I should have a license when I stepped down to drive cars and trucks for some reason or another….

    1. Four on the side….
      Really 3 on the side, one of those gears was reverse.
      A machine almost identical to our Gleaner E (Dad had made a few mods, including an automatic header control) can be seen here and a different machine with an inside the cab view here . Looks tiny compared to today’s machines.

          1. That 16-18″ auger on that grain wagon can unload it onto a semi-tractor grain trailer in a hurry. Most farmers today load the semis along the sides of their fields and haul either directly to their own storage silos or to the grain processors like ADM. If they have to go 50 miles or so to do so, the semi tractor can easily do that so no big deal. I miss the local grain ‘elevators’, that were largely reliant on rail transport. In the winter our local farmers, mostly the ‘retired’ ones, would hang out there and shoot the bull. All long gone now.

          3. A 24″ auger?

            I am greatly relieved that you got that corrected. I was worried there, for a moment.

          4. I am greatly relieved that you got that corrected. I was worried there, for a moment.

            Hey, if I’m going to hijack a thread, at least I should be accurate!

  11. I bought a 4wd pickup in the early 1980s, when there were no affordable automatic 4wd pickups. I had to get it off the lot, which was entertaining, but then drove it for 26 years. Replacing the clutch after 24 years was the sign that I needed a new vehicle. (The fact that the original gaskets were failing randomly was another contributing factor.)

    I never considered it “fun to drive”, just something I had to deal with in order to get the the 4wd feature I wanted. Driving it in traffic was hard work for the left leg, and driving it in Seattle required confidence in one’s ability to three-foot a start after stopping at those intersections at the top of hills.

    It made the one-way trip to a dealer 15 years ago, and I haven’t driven a manual since. I don’t miss it, although it did take several years to break the habit of reaching for the transmission lever and feeling for the clutch pedal whenever stopping.

    1. …and feeling for the clutch pedal whenever stopping.

      Been there done that.

      I think by the 80’s you no longer had the lock the hubs on the front wheels. IIRC however there was still a separate engage lever on the floor next to the gear shift?

  12. Bucking the trend, my teenaged son decided that he wanted his first car to be a manual, even though he didn’t know how to shift one. He found a killer deal on a ’16 Focus 5-door and I taught him how to drive it. Now, three years later, he’s picked up a Toyota GR-86 with the 6-speed and I’m jealous as hell. If I fit in the car better, I might have gone and bought one for myself. Interestingly, most of his male friends (but not female) also know how to drive stick.

    1. Interestingly, most of his male friends (but not female) also know how to drive stick.

      Oddly, I derive some comfort from knowing some things haven’t changed…

  13. It had been a few years since I’d last drove a stick, when I test drove a manual my wife was considering. No trouble at all getting back into the swing of it.

    My first car had been a four-speed manual, and I’d never driven a stick before and the explanations I’d received of how to operate them hadn’t clicked for me until I just got in and tried to drive it.

    I stalled out a few times in traffic before I worked it out, but after that it took some doing to get me into an automatic, and I felt like I was letting down the side.

  14. “Interestingly, most of his male friends (but not female) also know how to drive stick.”
    The girls that are keepers are the ones who bothered to learn to drive a stick shift aka manual in Straya.

  15. I predict they will come back, as a high-end feature for connoisseurs. Like vinyl records. Next will be dial phones and punch cards.

      1. If they come back enough, then they will no longer work as anti-theft devices though.

        Depends upon the shifter pattern. If they come back, as a buyer you should have a choice in the matter.

        For example, here’s a good one for a six speed manual transmission with two reverse gears!*

        *The Oliver 550, all hail the Green and Orange! (hijacked again)

  16. My car has a CRT that strikes me as the best of both worlds. No fiddling with gears, but if you give it more gas, it instantly goes faster, with no hesitation while it tries to decide what gear you meant.

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