[bceagles05]

I have heard that manual is incredible...my first car was a auto, and that is all I have driven. Is it hard to learn manual? I hear that manual is "the real way to drive" and I would like to get my tC in manual, but I am afraid I would goof it up...is it hard to learn?

 

[wolo]

Nope. Just takes time and patience.

I don't know that the manual is "incredible" but I like it much more than the auto.

 

[zoltiz]

Well, tC was my first 5-speed - it's still good, I'm still alive. Took me a while to learn, though and I'm still (after a year / 15K miles) don't think I'm anywhere close to perfect, but I'm learning and loving every minute of it.

Edit: well, not exactly every minute. 10 seconds of "snap oversteer" and it's consequences were pretty rough.

 

[lo bux racer]

Yeah, I love that term. I still wonder which magazine thought that one up. It's not a snap anything, it's compression braking on a FWD with a manual gearbox.

You really need a different attitude about driving to daily drive a manual. If you are annoyed by having to constantly think about what you are doing and why, stick with the auto. If you don't like the car slowing very quickly and possibly dramatically when you just lift off the gas, don't get a manual.

If you're a control freak and feel that no automated system created so far can accurately anticipate your needs, then you are the ideal fit for a manual.

 

[hamster]

Originally posted by lo bux racer@Oct 4 2005, 04:27 PM
Yeah, I love that term. I still wonder which magazine thought that one up. It's not a snap anything, it's compression braking on a FWD with a manual gearbox.

You really need a different attitude about driving to daily drive a manual. If you are annoyed by having to constantly think about what you are doing and why, stick with the auto. If you don't like the car slowing very quickly and possibly dramatically when you just lift off the gas, don't get a manual.

If you're a control freak and feel that no automated system created so far can accurately anticipate your needs, then you are the ideal fit for a manual.

lol... the gear boxes can tell a lot about their drivers.

i am phillip, and i have a problem. i am a control freak.

 

[bceagles05]

thanks for the responses, I think i will go auto though...later in life, when I am not going to be eating/driving friends/talking on phone i will consider manual (and probably never go back) but not now

 

[serith]

lol @ talking on the phone & driving a stick. I've tried that.. once? Not to mention that it's illegal in NY to do that, but i've tried it.. and it's not fun. To start, it's almost impossible to craddle my phone in my ear and hold the wheel with the left hand and shift with the right. I really should get a hands free devi.. no. I just wont talk on the phone in the car. I think it's very distracting. You're reaction time suffers, and so do other drivers.

 

[lo bux racer]

I drive stick with a phone without issues. But I've been driving manuals since I was 6, and that was 39 years ago. The only time it's a problem is when I have Starbucks in my left hand and the phone rings while I'm at a light. Then it gets dicey. Still I usually have my BT headset on anyway, so I don't have to waste a hand holding my phone. With the headset, the phone is no more distracting than having a conversation with someone in the car.

 

[Plissken]

Originally posted by lo bux racer@Oct 7 2005, 12:09 PM
With the headset, the phone is no more distracting than having a conversation with someone in the car.

Not that I have a stick, but a headset is so much of a convenience for me. My eytes never leave the road for even a second to answer or end a call.

 

[nY1018]

Originally posted by lo bux racer@Oct 7 2005, 09:09 AM
I drive stick with a phone without issues. But I've been driving manuals since I was 6, and that was 39 years ago. The only time it's a problem is when I have Starbucks in my left hand and the phone rings while I'm at a light. Then it gets dicey. Still I usually have my BT headset on anyway, so I don't have to waste a hand holding my phone. With the headset, the phone is no more distracting than having a conversation with someone in the car.

6?!?!!? you beat my record of 9. damn,, were you even tall enough Lance?

 

[lo bux racer]

Here's a pic of my first ride.

 

[Zygote55]

I only have a problem talking on the phone and driving a stick if I find myself making a left turn through an intersection (after being stopped at a red light).

 

[buiboy88]

nice ride lo bux

i dont think its hard to go from auto to manual, maybe the other way around

ive been driving stick for about 6 months now and whenever i drive my moms car, which is an auto, i get really bored and start zoning out and i have to actually try to stay concentrated

once, my bro was taking the tc to the shop because a honda element rear ended it and on the way back he was driving my old car (an auto '91 toyota land cruiser) and as we pulled up to a red light he slammed on the brakes with his left foot because he wanted to press a clutch

 

[bluesciontc]

Originally posted by buiboy88@Oct 9 2005, 01:04 AM
slammed on the brakes with his left foot because he wanted to press a clutch.

Been there done that lol.

 

[gottc?]

it's also interesting when your hand starts trying to find a shifter that isn't there. i've done that a few times

 

[lo bux racer]

I have yet to have a woman believe that one...

 

[easyrider]

Yeah, Lo Bux, but which hand do you apply your mascara with?

I must have anticipated needs I don't even know about, because I have happily driven an automatic my whole life. Nevertheless, I asked my BF to teach me how to drive his stick truck. He was not successful in that endeavor. I think he just had zero patience with me and never let me practice at all before throwing me out in traffic.

I am very athletic but found it harder than I thought, esp. coupled with my fear of either 1. destroying his new truck, 2. crashing his new truck, 3. killing us both and others on the road. In the end, not worth it.

He had the gall to say he had never known anyone who, 1. had driven their whole life and never learned a stick, or 2. had any trouble learning a stick. He said it was because it was a truck (I have driven trucks), I am a woman, I am dense. Needless to say, he is an EX. He is a man, he is dense because he no longer has me, and I have an automatic tC. So, what do I need with his manual Ford truck? I am perfectly happy.

 

[lo bux racer]

Everyone knows women aren't dense. They float much better than men do. How could he be so wrong?

My wife has no real desire to learn to drive a manual. She's tried it, but it just doesn't make sense to her, and for her attitude toward driving, she's better off with an automatic. If she had the choice, she'd be chauffeur driven everywhere. Her comment to me was, "I don't want to think that much about my driving." That isn't because she's female. There are plenty of men with the same attitude.

If it ever becomes important, you'll learn. If it doesn't you won't. Just like anything else in life...

 

[96redformula]

I am getting my first Manual Car here in a couple weeks, on order. I don't mean to offened anybody here but 4cylinder's just dont have the power to be automatics in general. I am looking forward to the tc and the manual shifting. I drive other people's manual's as well as my ATV and love it.

NOW, here is the acception to the rule. I had an AUTOMATIC Trans Am with almost every bolt on available, a LT1 running 12's with the motor itself untouched. WOW, what a rush to drive. Now give me a car with that much power and I probably would not mind it a bit. Especially being able to consistantly get .5xx at the track including one perfect .500 reaction time and always pulling away at the launch.

Whoops back to the story. I highly reccomend manual for smaller engine cars so you can control the power band and choose how you would like it to drive, not how the computer chooses for you.

 

[MustangJolly]

if I can do it.. you can do it!