51, I can drive a semi, but before I took some training for that I learned on a standard from my grandma.
Yes. 39 y/o male. But 99% of the people I know, don't know how. So now it's easy to guess what country I live in.
37, Switzerland, and I can drive a manual as much as I enjoy an automatic from time to time. The former is still the most common type of transmission even though the trend has been reversing over the years.
Yes, Italy, 36 (since I'm 18).
38 Ireland, yes, it's the main transmission type here, the same as most of Europe.
US, 40s. Gave up my manual a few years ago to get a bigger car when I became a single dad. The ol Mazda 3 wasn't cutting it
Yes, 46, my first car that was "mine" (my mom's old car) was a manual. The first car I ever bought had a shitty automatic (I think the seller may have pulled one over on young me). Since then I only buy stick shifts for myself. (My wife's is an automatic.)
Yes! I'm in my early 20s, and bought a manual transmission car just 2 weeks ago. It was also my first time driving alone, so it has been quite stressful
US, late 30s. The answer is "yes" but I've only spent a few hours behind the wheel of a manual car. I wouldn't feel comfortable with it without more practice. I don't prefer it as it's more thinking and stress for me in a commute that is already stop and go traffic. Automatic requires less work from me. Just my opinion and I know more people prefer manual because of the extra work it takes to drive. I'm just not interested in adding that to my driving experience.
Germany, 20s, yes (and up until recently exclusively drove manual transmission cars from like before 2010)
I only learned on a riding lawnmower but I can do it. I actually went looking for a car with a manual, figuring that it would be cheaper up front, cheaper to fix and cheaper to run. I couldn't really find one in any model of car I wanted, so I ended up having to go with a manumatic with paddle shifters, the worst of both worlds!
Yup. Learned from my dad. Actually, for a little bit, I taught folks in the military to drive stick as well. US mid 40s
I mostly use index trigger shifters, but I'm open to trying non-indexed friction shifters. Supposedly less maintenance due to cable stretch with them. I guess those are both considered manual though.
Oh you mean on automobiles?
I learned to drive stick in a very hilly and traffic congested city. It was pretty intense. Haven't driven a stick vehicle in a while though.
Scandinavian, mid-40's. The vast majority of cars in Europe have manual transmission, in my country you can't even get a driver's license if you can't handle it. I prefer manual, whenever I drive automatic I feel like there's something missing.
I drive an automatic but I learned with a manual and used it for years. I find manual impractical for daily use but I can use it if I need to.
32 years old, Italy
Don't answer these. They're attempts at pinning ur account with a specific demographic and or phishing attempts.
Yeah man. Australia. Mid 40s. My nieces have just started learning (we start here at 16). When I asked whether they were going to learn manual they said what's that?
In the UK it's pretty standard to learn in a manual. I currently have an automatic and honestly I don't want to go back. I like to think I'm a pretty good driver and gears were never an issue for me, but man is it nice to have one less thing to think about when driving.
Oh and I'm 39.
German, mid 20s, can and do
Here in Italy we only drive manual
Netherlands, thirties, own a manual transmission car. In fact, I have only ever driven manuals.
Yes, I even have a class A CDL. However, I don’t do it much so I’m not the greatest in a big truck and am competent in a regular vehicle
Late 30s, learned to drive in NL and now live in SE. Initially learned about transmissions by running around on four wheelers. I drive a manual car every day. There's a lot of fun and connection to driving manual, though I see the ease and efficiency of the automatic transmission as well as the general trend.
Mad respect for my 60+ aunt in the UK; when I visited she drove me around various hilly roads for sight seeing and some stop and go traffic uphill. She definetly mastered the handbrake, clutch, gas combo for uphill stops/starts. Meanwhile my mom has smashed into a few storefronts in an automatic in flat Canada.
UK, early 30s only ever driven manual, automatics are still more expensive here than manuals but are slowly becoming more common esp with the rise of electric cars. Although I doubt ill get one any time soon.
I'm from Mexico I'm 22 years old and I have been driving since 14 or so (rural Mexico). My family has not own a manual since I started driving and I gues we will not buy one soon lol
Yes. It’s my daily.
Canada.
31 — Learned how to drive manual at 18.
Yes, manuals are incredibly common here in Sweden.
No one I know owns an automatic.
I drive a manual transmission to work every day. [20, US]
Yup, I daily a 2021 MX-5 RF (Miata). Luckily I work from home most days so it's not too bad.
In the bay area, 26yo
I'm from the UK and after driving one about 100 metres I refuse to drive an automatic car, it's one of the main reasons why I don't want an electric car either. Automatic cars are horrible twitchy things that just aren't enjoyable to drive and you can't change gears to anticipate a change in the road before you're already on that bit of road.
I can operate manual gear shifters in other contexts (namely bikes), but I've never driven a car with one.
Yes, late 50's US and I drive a 6 speed Jeep daily. Taught my 23 year old son to drive a stick and he just bought a Tacoma stick shift.
I learned on my grandfather's 3 on the tree 1968 Dodge camper van. If you can drive a 3 on the tree, you can drive anything.
I'm in my late 40's and have been driving manual transmission since I got my license at 16. But I'm also one of those freaks that always loved driving manual cars in any situation, I used to drive one daily in downtown Chicago rush hour traffic.
Cars were always a passion of mine, my family had two cars when I was a teenager, one auto and one stick. I begged to be taught the stick as soon as I got my license. I definitely fall into the "enthusiast" category of car owners. In the last 25 years I've had 6 cars, all of them manual transmission, and all of them I take to the race track for HPDE events whenever I can.
First time I drove anything but a manual was driving the shitty trucks of the Swiss army. It felt weird and wrong, but then again driving with standard issue boots makes using the pedals a bit harder sometimes, so it's probably good I didn't have to use the clutch.
These days I mostly drive rented cars so it's whatever is available, who cares.
Yes. Learned to drive with one. Got my license with one.
Sadly, don't own one right now, but, will prob get one in the future again. Every 2nd or 3rd car I have picked up, has had a stick.
I'm from the mid-west USA.
Asklemmy
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- !lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~