Can you drive a stick shift vehicle?

[Sherrypooh]

stick is all I will drive (unless rental car). Sorry, at 42 still like to shift like my car is a sports car.

 

[GoofyDad869]

You bet!! Here I am on the Tail Of The Dragon (Hwy 129 out of Deal's Gap NC)

Cool! I live 5 minutes from the Head of the Dragon! Awesome road, as long as the crotch rocket riders aren't out trying to kill themselves.

I like how the right rear tire is oh-so-off the pavement - good times.

 

[Pdowning98]

Yup, learned to drive on a stick and first car was a stick. I didn't buy my first automatic until we had DS and now believe it or not I am back to driving a stick.

 

[binny]

yep I can drive a stick. Worked a car rental agency had to drive the same as OP. Anything from hot little cars to the big trucks ( not Semis though would NEVER do that!)


I prefer an automatic now though easier on me knees.

My first car was a stick too. My brother drove me a couple of blocks from home and after showing me the basics got out of the car and left me there. Told me to figure it out. Oddly this is the same way I learned to Ice Skate and swim.

 

[icebrat001]

I learned on a stick, my first car was a stick. If you can drive a stick, you can drive anything.

Poor dear partner cannot drive a stick.

 

[WDWguru]

I'm a convertible roadster girl - Kharmann Ghia, Miata, Mercedes SLK, and now a VW Beetle. It would just be flat out WRONG to have an automatic!

I learned from my crazy stepsister in her 1985(?) Fiero. She taught me around our small town one afternoon, and once I passed the "test" of stopping on a notoriously steep hill with a light, then going again without killing it on green, she let me take my friends out cruising that night! As it turns out, it was a great way to learn b/c the car was crapola and it was REALLY difficult to figure out the clutch timing. Makes every car since super easy to learn.

 

[Todd&Copper]

I learned on an automatic and can't drive a stick. And I really don't care to learn. I hate driving and I avoid it whenever I can.
DH can drive either.

 

[cryssi]

I can! I haven't driven one in awhile, but my first 2 cars were stick. I remember my mom didn't want me to learn b/c then I would have to drive what I affectionately (?!) called the "brown bomb" (it was a 1980 toyota celica hatchback with auto nothing). As it turned out, that was the only car available to me so I had to know how to drive stick. I actually learned stick by driving a variety of vehicles around the ranch prior to getting my permit.

I drive an automatic now b/c I commute so far. DH is considering getting a stick for his next car so that will be fun!

 

[PenskeSth1]

Yep I can drive stick, I grew up on a farm and my dad felt my brother and I should be able to drive the truck. I think I was like 8 or 9 when I started driving around the farm. When I turned 20 I was driving the semi with DH. I Love being up in the Semi the most.

 

[Cindy B]

My old college boyfriend taught me how to drive stick. My dad didn't teach me or my sister. My sister never learned and is dependent on her boyfriend to drive if they take his car.

My mom doesn't know how to either. Its actually not that hard.


My dad (who was never big on encouragement) told me that I could never do it. Well, I went out and bought a stick car and learned how to drive it.

 

[Cthia]

Yes I can.

That was the first type of car I learned how to drive with. But I drive an automatic now, easier for long trips while sitting in traffic.

 

[lbgraves]

I learned how to drive with a stick...73 Chevy Nova. I had to learn how to drive an automatic & shifted the stick a couple times when I first drove it.

 

[Serena]

I did way back when. I haven't done it though in about 20 years.

 

[HugsForEeyore]

I will drive only stick. I owned three cars in my life, and all were Hondas with a stick shift. Automatics bore me. I love having control, and you feel more cool driving a stick! I recently got a new car, and decided ahead of time that I only wanted a stick. So when I was car shopping, everything I saw was an automatic, or some sort of "fake" stick (with no clutch?) . But when I found a Honda with a true stick shift in my price range (and the very particular color I wanted), I moved pretty quick to buy that car!! I wasn't sure if I would ever find another! I had the car for a couple months now, and I love it!

I am really surprised that so many here on the DIS know how to drive stick! I know very few people who can drive stick. Most I know drive SUVs or minivans, and they are almost always automatics. And many people I know have no desire to learn, and consider sticks a nuisance and almost "beneath" them to learn.

The only way I would buy an automatic is if I wanted a hybrid, as I believe they are solely automatics.

 

[je m'ennuie]

No I don't know how to drive a stick. And it doens't make me any less of a person for it.

 

[shortbun]

I can and do. Control freaks LOVE stick shifts!!!!

 

[tribus121]

I drive bus for a living and the company that i drive for has all standards and when I was younger i tought every kid on my block ( My 16 year old brother included )How to drive a stick in my 1979 ford farmont wagon ( with 300.000 mi )But I now only own auto's because I am lazy .

 

[georgina]

Yes! All of my cars have had manual transmissions. DD is learning on an automatic, but once she has gotten enough experience driving the automatic, I want to teach her to drive a stick. I am a bit of a control freak too.

Driving a stick is on my list of things I want my kids to know how to do - like swimming and riding a bike, and cooking amd doing laundry!

 

[oogieboogie]

yes, drove stick exclusively from 88-97, then drove automatic until this year when I got a Chevy Aveo which has a stick. Love my sticks shifts.

 

[snowwhitesmom]

of course!