The few, the proud,...

[bachophile]

Like riding a bicycle. Once it’s in muscle memory, u can do it immediately

[Mik]

Yep. I haven't driven one since 1997, but I'd have no issue doing so.

[Jolly]

I bought my last vehicle with a stick (F-150) in 1997. Before that, I had two others, a diesel Rabbit and a GMC pickup .

Wouldn't mind having a Miata with one. In British Racing Green.

[Jolly]

Last big truck I drove with a standard had a 270 Cummins with a Fuller 13-speed Road Ranger. That was years ago... Doubt I could do it now.

[89th]

@Axtremus said in The few, the proud,...:

This is not exactly a "young" forum. I wouldn't be surprised if all of us (active participants of TNCR) learnt to drive using a manual transmission. The only exceptions I can think of are probably @89th and @Aqua-Letifer. It's just a function of age.

What's funny is IIRC both @Aqua-Letifer and I worked (before we met in college) on golf courses doing maintenance using a Cushman. That's 3-speed (left stick) manual transmission utility cart/vehicle. That's how I learned to drive stick, but admittedly every car I've owned/driven has been automatic and I've never had a desire to drive manual. In fact, I remember telling my parents when I was younger "I'd imagine before automatic transmissions were available, people driving stick shift probably thought 'I sure wish changing gears was automatic.'"

[jon-nyc]

I learned both at the same time. We had a stick and an automatic at home back then. My first car was a five speed manual.

Last time I drove a stick was a rental car in Portugal in the summer of 2022.

[Doctor Phibes]

British rental cars still generally have the stick - at least, they did when I rented one last year.

[Aqua Letifer]

@89th said in The few, the proud,...:

@Axtremus said in The few, the proud,...:

This is not exactly a "young" forum. I wouldn't be surprised if all of us (active participants of TNCR) learnt to drive using a manual transmission. The only exceptions I can think of are probably @89th and @Aqua-Letifer. It's just a function of age.

What's funny is IIRC both @Aqua-Letifer and I worked (before we met in college) on golf courses doing maintenance using a Cushman. That's 3-speed (left stick) manual transmission utility cart/vehicle. That's how I learned to drive stick, but admittedly every car I've owned/driven has been automatic and I've never had a desire to drive manual. In fact, I remember telling my parents when I was younger "I'd imagine before automatic transmissions were available, people driving stick shift probably thought 'I sure wish changing gears was automatic.'"

Keep it in neutral going down the 16th fairway, and your experiential speed is roughly 95 mph.

[89th]

Until you remember it's a 3-wheeler. No turns at speed!

[Copper]

@Doctor-Phibes said in The few, the proud,...:

British rental cars still generally have the stick - at least, they did when I rented one last year.

Just last Friday they retired the Odyssey rental car computer system that we built at Heathrow for Europcar 32 years ago.

It was also used by Alamo, National and others here is the US and around the world.

And back then, my recollection was that most rentals there at Heathrow had a manual transmission, although the number of automatics was growing.

[taiwan_girl]

On my recent trip to Vienna, rented a car for one day. When looking to reserve the rental car, the cheapest ones were all manual. Using an automatic added to the price quite a bit.

[Axtremus]

@taiwan_girl said in The few, the proud,...:

On my recent trip to Vienna, rented a car for one day. When looking to reserve the rental car, the cheapest ones were all manual. Using an automatic added to the price quite a bit.

What a sneaky way to impose an American tax.