Roll Call! Who drives a MANUAL transmission?

I'll jump in too, my last 5 cars (+/- 20 years) have been manuals. When the drunk woman totaled my Suzuki in December '15, I told my wife that whatever I picked as a replacement HAD!!!!! to be a stick. I only had 3 requirements in the new car: STICK SHIFT, at LEAST as much horsepower as the Suzuki and a 6-disc CD player ... well the Camaro only has a single disc CD, BUT it has 168 MORE HP that the 'zuki ... 323 VS 155, a 6th gear and a clutch pedal, so I call that a fair trade.
 
I would if my car had it as an option.

Problem is I want a V8 RWD sedan with a stick, that's reliable..... Its hard to find.

My son picked up a 96 Bru Outback stick. Cool thing on the Outback's with stick's, they get a sweet full time 50/50 torque split. But a slushbox gets a 90/10 until there is slippage.
 
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EyesofThunder said:
I would if my car had it as an option.

Problem is I want a V8 sedan with a stick, that's reliable..... Its hard to find.
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Very. That limits to to, what, the Chevy SS, Cadillac CTS-V, and possibly the rare Pontiac G-8 GXP with a manual? The way things are going V-8s in cars are vanishing as fast as manual transmissions...even cars are vanishing and being replaced by big soggy SUVs and trucks. Secondary to the "save the manuals" campaigns, we should start a "save the cars" campaign too!

My son picked up a 96 Bru Outback stick. Cool thing on the Outback's with stick's, they get a sweet full time 50/50 torque split. But a slushbox gets a 90/10 until there is slippage.
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I think this is standard across the Subi line. It's part of what makes the WRX and WRX STI so much fun to drive. Combine what you mentioned with the fact Subaru uses CVT's instead of traditional automatics in their vehicles, there is no way I'd ever get Subi without a manual transmission.
 
Kudos to whoever found this older thread! I've been daily driving a manual transmission continuously for 6 yrs and off and on before that since 2003. First time driving a vehicle period was my father's manual trans Nissan pick-up when I was 12-13yrs old. Also, I have never owned a vehicle with ABS or Traction Control, and I don't care to either. So, it will be sad day if i have to have a car new enough to where either of those were government regulated.
 
I searched for tree sap and found this thread, bizarre but that's ok!

The previous owner of my car was selling it to me because he wanted to row his own gears. I have to admit, this trans does a GREAT job, but I still like to be the transmission brain.

I like a manual in the snow because you FEEL the traction slippage and can take much faster control of the situation.
 
2004 Acura TSX 6 Speed manual, driven since 2008. My wife says my next car can’t be a manual, so I refuse to get rid of my current car.
 
Blast from the past!

Last June I celebrated 11 years of rowing my own gears. :righton:

Since creating this thread nearly 3 years ago, I've since sold my WRX and purchased a new Civic Si. Honda makes the best manual transmissions (Uhhh Subaru doesn't ;) ). The moment I slid into the bucket seats of my Si and engaged first gear, I was sold!

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Within a week of taking delivery of the new Si, I had a Ktuner installed with a stage 1 tune.

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Since then I've added a PRL Cobra Intake, Magnaflow Catback Exhaust, and upgraded the clutch to a Clutch Masters FX350. :)
 
I drive a 6 speed manual on my 2017 GTI. I've owned 6 cars since getting my license and 4 of those were manual, 2 automatic (one I had the option to get manual - a 2008 TSX - but chose automatic because I lived in center city Philadelphia and there was a ton of traffic). I get bored driving an automatic because my left leg has nothing to do. But if I lived in an area with lots of traffic again I'd prefer auto because it sucks to drive a stick using just 1st and 2nd gear for miles at a time.
 
I have driven manuals most of my life and feel much more in control with them when driving at the limit(not the speed limit)

My first car I bought with cash from my summer job was a manual. My mother took care of the paperwork and when I got home from work my mom sent me to pick up my sister from a ball game. Absolutely no experience with one other than my KX80 I figured it out pretty quick.

Soon after I was doing one wheel(open diff) burnouts and chipping into second. Oh that poor old Ford Escort.

I’ve killed a few clutches in my day.

Dumbest was what I called clutch braking that I did with a rear wheel drive car. While coming to a hard stop, I would drop it in 1st and release it while I was breaking to help make the rear wheels skid. A $6-700 clutch job was a good learning experience when your broke and in college.

I have on 02 WRX now that still has its original clutch at 300,000 miles. The credit has to go to my wife there, I know she’s never launched it or jammed 2nd to kick it sideways through an intersection like feel I have to do occasionally
 
All the cars but one has had manual transmission that I have owned. And it's not an uncommon thing in Sweden. Here it's standard with manual transmission. When you buy a new car it's an extra thing to ad the automatic transmission. If you do your driver test with an automatic transmission when you take your drivers licens. You can not drive a manual car legaly. So only drive the automatic transmission is to if you decide to do a new drivers test with a manual transmission car.
 
BSoares said:
I drive a 6 speed manual on my 2017 GTI. I've owned 6 cars since getting my license and 4 of those were manual, 2 automatic (one I had the option to get manual - a 2008 TSX - but chose automatic because I lived in center city Philadelphia and there was a ton of traffic). I get bored driving an automatic because my left leg has nothing to do. But if I lived in an area with lots of traffic again I'd prefer auto because it sucks to drive a stick using just 1st and 2nd gear for miles at a time.
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Over the years the majority of my cars were manuals (11 manual, 3 auto). If I had a secondary fun car again, I wouldn’t hesitate to make it a manual. Like you ran into, my daily commute involves a lot of slow traffic, and I just lost my enthusiasm for rowing the first couple gears so much. Went Auto with my current avant (no choice for this model), and have been super happy with it. It’s just a conventional 6 speed auto, but the programming/gearing is great. Sport mode actually shifts it where you would have, and it does it’s own little throttle blips to soften the decel downshifts. For a 4,000 lb wagon, it’s way more fun than it should be (Eibachs, a hotchkis rear bar, and some Pilot Super Sports don’t hurt... :) ).

My job probably helps make it so I don’t miss having a 3rd pedal - I drive plenty of other people's manuals, so I don’t ever even get the itch to go back.

Mantilgh said:
I have driven manuals most of my life and feel much more in control with them when driving at the limit(not the speed limit)
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Soon after I was doing one wheel(open diff) burnouts and chipping into second. Oh that poor old Ford Escort.

I’ve killed a few clutches in my day.

Dumbest was what I called clutch braking that I did with a rear wheel drive car. While coming to a hard stop, I would drop it in 1st and release it while I was breaking to help make the rear wheels skid. A $6-700 clutch job was a good learning experience when your broke and in college.

I have on 02 WRX now that still has its original clutch at 300,000 miles. The credit has to go to my wife there, I know she’s never launched it or jammed 2nd to kick it sideways through an intersection like feel I have to do occasionally
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Reminds me of my Chevette (oh yeah!) I had when I was 16. It was an automatic (but RWD), so it was painfully slow. But, I figured out if you manually shifted into L when you went speeding into a corner, it’d lock the rear up briefly and let you hang the tail. God, the things we did before mechanical sympathy... I remember watching my rear seat passenger relocate from the back right seat to the back left during one of those maneuvers since he wasn’t belted in (which I had noticed) and he didn’t have any warning (which I didn’t give him)...
 
oneheadlite said:
Over the years the majority of my cars were manuals (11 manual, 3 auto). If I had a secondary fun car again, I wouldn’t hesitate to make it a manual. Like you ran into, my daily commute involves a lot of slow traffic, and I just lost my enthusiasm for rowing the first couple gears so much. Went Auto with my current avant (no choice for this model), and have been super happy with it. It’s just a conventional 6 speed auto, but the programming/gearing is great. Sport mode actually shifts it where you would have, and it does it’s own little throttle blips to soften the decel downshifts. For a 4,000 lb wagon, it’s way more fun than it should be (Eibachs, a hotchkis rear bar, and some Pilot Super Sports don’t hurt... :) ).

My job probably helps make it so I don’t miss having a 3rd pedal - I drive plenty of other people's manuals, so I don’t ever even get the itch to go back.



Reminds me of my Chevette (oh yeah!) I had when I was 16. It was an automatic (but RWD), so it was painfully slow. But, I figured out if you manually shifted into L when you went speeding into a corner, it’d lock the rear up briefly and let you hang the tail. God, the things we did before mechanical sympathy... I remember watching my rear seat passenger relocate from the back right seat to the back left during one of those maneuvers since he wasn’t belted in (which I had noticed) and he didn’t have any warning (which I didn’t give him)...
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I drove my Dad's Chevette in highschool too, but ours had a 4-speed manual! That little car with RWD and a manual was a hoot in the snow. I could steer with the throttle when making tight turns and it was the perfect vehicle for doing donuts in a snow covered parking lot.
 
Been driving stick shifts since my early days. Just turned 67 last week. Started with VW bugs, then a Carmen Gia or two and a few Fastbacks. They were all Volkswagens. Still driving my Tacoma 03 which is a manual as well. Have a Jeep Wrangler which is an auto but my next truck will be a manual.



Is there a Mr. Gump......Mrs. Gump
 
Desertnate said:
I drove my Dad's Chevette in highschool too, but ours had a 4-speed manual! That little car with RWD and a manual was a hoot in the snow. I could steer with the throttle when making tight turns and it was the perfect vehicle for doing donuts in a snow covered parking lot.
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Even with an auto, it was a riot in the winter. Little 155mm wide 13" tires. :laughing: . Every time it'd snow I'd load up 3 buddies and go hooning around (long before that was the phrase :) ).
 
I miss driving a standard and I've had all kinds from sports cars to 1 ton trucks but it's so dang hard to find them when I am in the mood to buy a car,,I usually buy trade ins like my Accord was,,for 3 grand under book I didn't care :)

I never drove a Chevette in the snow but I did drive a little pinto wagon with a stick when my buddy was too drunk to drive,,,,whatta hoot!
 
In my life ab i got 43 never drive automatic trabsmision beleve or not iam scerd even to try..

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We had a Mustang Steeda in today. 2007. Trade in for a Raptor.

Guy said he had 20K of upgrades.

Pretty nice drive. I got to push her a bit on the highway. IMO, I'd of kept the Mustang...................
 
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