Why did you get a manual

[thunderstrike]

when I learned how to drive a manual, I did dry practice by practicing clutch release and slight gas'ing in my living room. Once you get the rhythm down, you'll get to drive it in an hour. I taught my wife one afternoon.

If you live in a heavy trafficked city, it may be rough getting started, but it's more fun and and enjoyable driving experience. If you have more than one car in the family, then makes a perfect sense to have a stick.

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[WildHorse]

Automatics = It's not you running 'the number', it's the tune.
Manual = It's not the tune running 'the number', it's all you.

Change my mind haha.

 

[Vlad Soare]

"Show a man a gun, and if he has anything at all in his underpants, he will start to play with it. He will hold it to his shoulder and look down the barrel. He will want to take the safety catch off, and if it’s loaded, he will want to pull the trigger.

A gun is designed for one purpose: to kill things. We should find it abhorrent. We should shy away and cower. And yet we don’t. Because beneath the cashmere outer layers and the frontal lobes and the ability to make a lovely supper, there is the root of our brain, the old bit. And that is consumed by two things. Sex and violence.
It’s the bit that draws us to the gun and makes us want to fire it. Because it knows that when we have an AK-47 in our hands, we are better at hunting and killing than someone who doesn’t. And that makes us more attractive. Which means more sex.

I’m not making any of that up. I once made a television programme about the history of the gun and I was stumped for a conclusion. I simply couldn’t explain why I liked guns and why, on the shoot, the all-male crew liked them too. So I spoke to some brain experts and they told me.
It’s because, deep down, we are all penises and teeth. It’s fight, flight, eat and shag. And we know that given the choice of an unarmed George Clooney or Nicholas Witchell with an Uzi, every woman in the world is going to ignore the Hollywood superstar and tear off the royal correspondent’s trousers.

But, of course, today you can’t go about your daily business with a machinegun slung casually over your left shoulder. Which means that you need a substitute. Some say it’s regular trips to the gym. Others say it’s wit, or money, or a kitchen full of cookbooks. But, actually, it’s a manual gearbox.

If you have an automatic, you are telling the world that you are too lazy to change gear yourself. Which means you’ll be hopeless at killing antelopes. You’re the sort of person who watches a lot of television and has warts.
And it’s the same story with the new-fangled flappy-paddle gearboxes. In essence, these are the left and right keys on a laptop. They’re switches. You are just asking a computer to do something, and half the time it will say no. Which means you are a slave to software. A journeyman. An epsilon.

A manual is different because you can’t just sit there while the car drives along. You have to wrestle with it, tame it. You have to take charge, be the boss. Taking a car to the red line and then pulling back on a big metal lever is exactly the same as sprinting across the Serengeti and wrestling a wildebeest to the ground. A manual gearbox makes you a man.
It’s a thing of joy too. Charging up to a corner, braking and downshifting with a smooth double declutch. This is poetry for the petrolhead. And unlike with flappy-paddle systems, you can change down when you feel like it. There are no fail-safe systems on hand to suggest that the shift into second will over-rev the engine. It knows that it’s your engine and they are your valves and if you want to ping them through the bonnet, that’s up to you. In a manual, you are master of your own destiny."

- Jeremy Clarkson, What Could Possibly Wrong

 

[Adamone92]

"Show a man a gun, and if he has anything at all in his underpants, he will start to play with it. He will hold it to his shoulder and look down the barrel. He will want to take the safety catch off, and if it’s loaded, he will want to pull the trigger.

A gun is designed for one purpose: to kill things. We should find it abhorrent. We should shy away and cower. And yet we don’t. Because beneath the cashmere outer layers and the frontal lobes and the ability to make a lovely supper, there is the root of our brain, the old bit. And that is consumed by two things. Sex and violence.
It’s the bit that draws us to the gun and makes us want to fire it. Because it knows that when we have an AK-47 in our hands, we are better at hunting and killing than someone who doesn’t. And that makes us more attractive. Which means more sex.

I’m not making any of that up. I once made a television programme about the history of the gun and I was stumped for a conclusion. I simply couldn’t explain why I liked guns and why, on the shoot, the all-male crew liked them too. So I spoke to some brain experts and they told me.
It’s because, deep down, we are all penises and teeth. It’s fight, flight, eat and shag. And we know that given the choice of an unarmed George Clooney or Nicholas Witchell with an Uzi, every woman in the world is going to ignore the Hollywood superstar and tear off the royal correspondent’s trousers.

But, of course, today you can’t go about your daily business with a machinegun slung casually over your left shoulder. Which means that you need a substitute. Some say it’s regular trips to the gym. Others say it’s wit, or money, or a kitchen full of cookbooks. But, actually, it’s a manual gearbox.

If you have an automatic, you are telling the world that you are too lazy to change gear yourself. Which means you’ll be hopeless at killing antelopes. You’re the sort of person who watches a lot of television and has warts.
And it’s the same story with the new-fangled flappy-paddle gearboxes. In essence, these are the left and right keys on a laptop. They’re switches. You are just asking a computer to do something, and half the time it will say no. Which means you are a slave to software. A journeyman. An epsilon.

A manual is different because you can’t just sit there while the car drives along. You have to wrestle with it, tame it. You have to take charge, be the boss. Taking a car to the red line and then pulling back on a big metal lever is exactly the same as sprinting across the Serengeti and wrestling a wildebeest to the ground. A manual gearbox makes you a man.
It’s a thing of joy too. Charging up to a corner, braking and downshifting with a smooth double declutch. This is poetry for the petrolhead. And unlike with flappy-paddle systems, you can change down when you feel like it. There are no fail-safe systems on hand to suggest that the shift into second will over-rev the engine. It knows that it’s your engine and they are your valves and if you want to ping them through the bonnet, that’s up to you. In a manual, you are master of your own destiny."

- Jeremy Clarkson, What Could Possibly Wrong

reminds me of an old spice commercial

 

[TexasRebel]

Agree with second part.

Anti theft has always been a weird argument to me. You think someone that can break into and start your car, and most likely has done it before...cant drive manual?

I too prefer the manual though

https://www.autoblog.com/2019/02/01/manual-transmission-thwarts-car-thieves-alabama/

https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/l...theft/67-b53b804f-d7f4-49eb-97ca-e77522d90a87

 

[Adamone92]

https://www.autoblog.com/2019/02/01/manual-transmission-thwarts-car-thieves-alabama/

https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/l...theft/67-b53b804f-d7f4-49eb-97ca-e77522d90a87

The second one is a good example if you give your keys to the person. I meant the people that can hotwire your car or whatever. A good example nonetheless though. Hadnt thought of people giving them the keys in a home invasion.

The first one..if you are stupid enough to leave your keys in your car..let alone leave it running..you almost deserve to have it stolen. Lol

 

[Sivi70980]

In 2015 I was driving a manual and here for the next 9 or 10 years I will be as well. My first few cars were autos and learned to drive manual on a friends car. Took all of about 10 minutes to figure everything out. Been driving manuals ever since. As to why? I really don't know. My dad drove manuals when I was growing up and all the coolest cars came with them. To that end though, why have I not smoked a cigarette or owned many other things actors and magazine models say I should? I prefer shifting my own gears now but I'm still wondering why did it win and pull me in to try it when so many other lures in life have failed? Manuals and boobs, keeping me straight and happy as long as I can remember.

 

[Elp_jc]

If you do that you won't even feel anything when you shift.

As an FYI, rev-match does that too (it works both ways) . And does it perfectly up or down. Some folks confuse that with 'rev-hang', but it's not. Look at the tach, and the needle doesn't move after an up-shift. But yes, you have to shift normally; a gorilla shift might not give the engine a chance to drop enough. Pretty neat system.

 

[oneheadlite]

when I learned how to drive a manual, I did dry practice by practicing clutch release and slight gas'ing in my living room. Once you get the rhythm down, you'll get to drive it in an hour. I taught my wife one afternoon.

If you live in a heavy trafficked city, it may be rough getting started, but it's more fun and and enjoyable driving experience. If you have more than one car in the family, then makes a perfect sense to have a stick.

...excuse me thunderstrike;
In your avatar, behind the Jeep, the black oily looking marks, are those
from where Chevrolets have been driving???????
....just curious.....

 

[Balr14]

I have owned many manual transmissions and the one in the current Mustang is among the worst I've driven... Chinese junk!

 

[Stang55]

Its really easy...when I was test driving the auto the salesman was fine. When I test drove the manual he grabbed on to the roof handle real good. That's what sold me on the manual! Haha

Really though I was looking for an excuse to get out of a manual but when I test drove both transmissions back to back I remembered why I drive a manual in the first place. The A10 though is another story...lol

 

[pyrophilus]

Hey Guys

I want to get a GT and can't decide if I should get a manual. I have never driven a manual car but getting a GT without a manual seems be just wrong, just wrong I say. Sad thing is that the wife can drive stick, I guess I could let her teach me, oh the embarrassment.

I'm guessing with 400 pounds of torque it can be that hard to learn.

I know this is old thread, but I am going to post this for those who are still thinking about getting manuals.

My wife also taught me how to drive manual.

This is not embarrassing at all, in fact when I say that to other men, they are all luke, "wow... that's awesome..."

When I had to return my '17 EB 6MT lease, I couldn't find another '20 EB 6Mt prem (with 12" cluster) for lease, so wife told me to buy a used '18-'20 GT with 6MT. I found one in VA 4.5 hours away. I drove down to test drive it (I think there is a slight hint of rear body work inside the trunk (no one seems to know except me and when I point it out, they are like, "hmm, I dont see it), but nothing recorded in carfax history, and since i plan on keeping this and get buried in it, i was okay with it). My justification was if it was a large repair, they would have had to go through insurance...?

Anyway, i told the Chevy salesperson that I have a lease return, and don't want to return it in NY, and have to find a way to get down to VA to pick up the GT. He said, oh! That's easy! Just come down with your wife, and after you pick up the GT, she can drive the EB and you guys can go drop it off at the Ford dealer 6 min away from here. He then stopped and said, "oh... but it's a manual and she can't drive it... hmm".

I told him that it's fine and that will work as she is the one that taught me how to drive a manual. He said, "oh wow... that's... that's... so awesome!" When I was test driving the GT with him, he kept saying how it's cool that she can drive stick because not many people know anymore let alone women.

following weekend, when we got to the dealership, I had to walk over to the GT which was parked at the other end of the very large parking lot,. I called my wife and asked her to bring over the '17, and when she drove it over, the salesperson (and the tech) marveled at how cool it is that my wife can drive a stick.

In regards to the question of 6MT or an A10, the A10 is compelling, and I respect anyone who chooses it over 6MT, but I am not going to be racing every muscle car I run into at red lights, and while going to race park and drag racing it sounds fun, I don't see myself doing that as there aren't ones around where I live and I don't have the time. I plan on working on the car, not upgrading but doing 100% of the maintenance myself, which was something I couldn't do with my leased cars.

I feel like manuals are so much more fun to drive. You really need to know what you are doing to drive it smooth like an auto. But the best thing about newer GT's is that it rev matches on downshifts, which i feel makes it just one step more work than using paddle shifters in terms of ease of use.

If you have never driven a manual before, THERE IS NO SHAME on making one's wife drive the car from the dealer to the nearest empty parkinglot to teach you. I am willing to bet that all the men at the dealership will be jealous that the wife can drive a stick.

As for learning, they say learning stick on a weak HP engine is the easiest, and while I agree, I disagree with that on the mustang GT. The upshift rev matching nanny makes it sooo easy to learn.

Also, the mustang has "creeping" mode, where unlike all other manuals if you raise your clutch pedal to friction point and the car engine starts to feel like it's going to cut off, the car will start to rev the engine FOR YOU.

So to start rolling on a mustang, you just SLOWLY raise your pedal to the friction point, and when you feel/hear the difference in engine tone/rpm, just hold it there for a sec and even more slowly go up on the pedal like 1/2-1/4" inch. All this without even touch the gas pedal. The car will start to roll. Then just bring the clutch out all the way while you depress the gas pedal.

I did not know this until 2 years into my '15 ownership, a few months before i returned my lease, I read about it on this forum. I tried it out and lo and behold, yes, it does have this 'creeping" mode.

Even if I get to a track and drag it, I would guess that real car guys would respect that I am trying to drag a 6MT, and not laugh or rub it into my face that their automatic car beat me. I am sure there will be some, but then I wouldn't call them real car guys. I think real car guys will respect that you have a V8, stick or auto, if you are trying to learn how to drag it.

 

[Norm Peterson]

Also, the mustang has "creeping" mode, where unlike all other manuals if you raise your clutch pedal to friction point and the car engine starts to feel like it's going to cut off, the car will start to rev the engine FOR YOU.

Otherwise known as a "stall-saver". Most EFI systems should have it as a built-in function. Even the aftermarket EFI systems of 25 years ago had it.


Every car that we've bought since the very early 1970's has had a manual transmission. At this point having a clutch pedal and a manual shift lever is just the way some cars work, it's the way we want them work, and a big part of why we've still enjoyed every car since then from the time we drove it home all the way to the very last time before selling it. Which covered anywhere from 9 to well over 25 years. I'll save you some guessing and math; we're both in our early 70's, and neither of us is the least bit ready to drive a car with only two pedals or has gear positions identified with the letters 'P', 'N', or 'D".


Norm

 

[EmCel]

The other gt I had was an auto but I always wanted a manual. When I went to test drive this one the sales person was a woman and couldn't drive a manual to move the car to bring it to me. So she was like can you bring it I'm like ok. She hopped in and said I love manual cars my boyfriend has a 370z manual. She also said you can go as fast as you can, I don't care. Needles to say, we had fun on the test drive. It's just more fun driving a manual vs an auto imo. All comes down to preference.

 

[CoyoteAntz]

Hey Guys

I want to get a GT and can't decide if I should get a manual. I have never driven a manual car but getting a GT without a manual seems be just wrong, just wrong I say. Sad thing is that the wife can drive stick, I guess I could let her teach me, oh the embarrassment.

I'm guessing with 400 pounds of torque it can be that hard to learn.

Because I got tired of boring auto's. I dont care how good the 10 spd is, I dont drag anyway.

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