<p>Opinions on a manual transmission for a new driver.</p>
<p>It is a great skill to have and after a week of driving it will be no different than an automatic. Just make sure your child gets in some practice stopping and starting on a hill. It should put a stop to texting while driving…though I used to somehow feed my baby a bottle while driving a stick shift to day car.</p>
<p>My son is 26 and is getting a new car next week; his only requirement was that it have manual transmission and 4 doors! His first car was a manual as my husband, a car kind of guy, drives a stick. I was concerned with my son at 16 driving a manual transmission has he is very ADHD and I had a concern of his ability to focus and shift gears. We were told by his very experienced drivers ed instructor that there was documented literature that ADHD people actual did better with manual as it forced them to focus. I was given an article able it, but I do not have it any more.</p>
<p>It is said that only 6% of cars sold in the US are manual transmission. When looking for my son’s new car, we had a very hard time finding a car with stick and 4 doors; he was tired of driving a coupe and was ready to drive a more adult friendly car. My son is the only one of his friends to drive a manual transmission. While my daughter had lessons with manual, I don’t think she could actual drive one now 7 years later.</p>
<p>One plus, or maybe it isn’t, if your new driver does have a car with stick, most of his or her friends will not be borrowing the car as they will not know how to drive it!</p>
<p>Kajon- Unfortunately it hasn’t stopped either my husband or my son from texting while driving :-(</p>
<p>Funny she is ADHD. H has come across a few low priced used cars that are manual transmission. H’s first car was a manual. I have always had an automatic. D would be game for any car. One of my first thoughts was that she would have few friends asking to drive her car.</p>
<p>My son is just amazed that none of his friends, high school or college knew how to drive a stick. It really was nice when he didn’t have to tell his frat brothers his parents wouldn’t let anyone drive his car as no one every ask to borrow it!!</p>
<p>I had several people said he would be tired of driving a stick and how hard it was on the legs, but he doesn’t seem bothered by that. As I said, my husband still drives manual and would never think of getting a car with automatic; of course, he drive my car with automatic when we go out a good bit or when he takes the dogs with him.</p>
<p>I like a manual but don’t own one at the moment. I need a 2 seater sports car - manual of course.</p>
<ul>
<li>Advantages</li>
<li>fun to drive (for me anyway). Makes even an less than average powered car feel more like a performance car.</li>
<li>your point of fewer friends asking to borrow the car but that can be stopped anyway as long as the parents are paying for any of the insurance - i.e. have a rule - no friends drive the car.</li>
<li>I like the extra control of a manual when going 4-wheeling. A lot of people don’t do this though.</li>
<li>When something breaks, it’s usually less expensive than an automatic.</li>
<li>When driving a manual I feel ‘more connected’ to the car - more involved in the operation of it, which I think is a good thing.</li>
<li><p>If the battery dies because a light was left on or something, one can sometimes push start the car.</p></li>
<li><p>Disadvantages</p></li>
<li><p>if you’re driving in San Francisco it can be interesting when you’re stopped at a light on a steep incline.</p></li>
<li><p>if you drive from San Diego to LA and back on a super nice holiday weekend when everyone else seems to want to drive it as well, as I did today, it would be a giant pain (literally - in your left leg) in the stop and go traffic for hours. If she would be normally commuting in heavy traffic, this should be seriously considered.</p></li>
<li><p>it has a clutch that can wear out and need to be replaced - unlike an automatic.</p></li>
<li><p>it’s possible to get lower gas mileage with a manual than an automatic since the automatics are so optimized nowadays. This is reverse of what it used to be in the old days. The difference would be negligible though.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The ideal would be for her to learn to drive a stick before getting her own car. She can gain some experience with it under varying conditions and also drive an automatic and then see which one she likes best. There’s a lot of driver preference and subjectiveness in this question. If she hasn’t actually driven one then she doesn’t really know how open she’d be to owning one.</p>
<p>I learned to drive on a manual transmission - my brother’s VW Beetle. He let me take his MG sports car to college freshman year - what was he thinking - so my love of the manual transmission continued. All of my cars had manual transmissions until a few years ago when a knee injury made it painful. Getting accustomed to the automatic was difficult. I jammed my left leg to the floorboard and reached for the gear shift many times before I adjusted. </p>
<p>Bottom line - absolutely no reason not to get a manual transmission, unless you live in San Francisco.</p>
<p>Hah - cross posted with uscd- dad on the San Francisco thing. Also, do not use the clutch to gear down to a stop or you’ll ruin the clutch. I drove that way with my Subaru and ruined it. I should have used the brake instead.</p>
<p>Both of my kids learned to drive a manual transmission pick-up truck (lightweight) at 16. We did teach them the basics of driving first on an automatic, but they quickly switched to a manual. (They took the exam on an automatic, though, because parallel parking is easier.)</p>
<p>My son now has a smaller car, also a manual transmission. When he was still driving the truck, he used it to teach several of his friends how to drive a stick shift–which may explain why it needed a new clutch when his younger sister inherited it.</p>
<p>I like that it is difficult to handle a cell phone when driving a manual in city traffic, which is where my daughter is driving.</p>
<p>I guess it is becoming a someone obsolete skill, but it does give one more options when looking for a used car. I like to drive a manual myself, although my clunky minivan is an automatic.</p>
<p>In England nearly everyone learns to drive in a manual. It is the opposite to here as the majority of cars produced are manuals. Back in the stone ages when I learned to drive if you took your test in an automatic you were only licensed to drive a manual. I learned to drive in a manual but I am lazy and much prefer driving an automatic.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>In the UK we learn to do hill starts in manuals using the hand break. It is part of the drivers test (along with other maneuvers like 3 point turns, reversing around a corner close to but without touching the kerb, emergency stops). WHen I took my much easier test here in the US the police officer told me to stop and I did an emergency stop. After he peeled himself off the windshield he rather tersely told me he had just wanted me to stop, not do an emergency stop. Oops.</p>
<p>I have changed my mind on sticks. It’s good to learn how to drive one but the reality is that you now need 3 hands and God only provides two. I drove a stick from 1982 to last month and the last few years have seen a real “shift” because people will call you in the car now all the time. I can’t drive with one hand, shift with the other and answer the phone with the non-existent third hand. And I’m careful. Most people are less careful and they’ll try to talk on the phone while shifting and that can be freaky dangerous.</p>
<p>I learned to drive on a manual in San Francisco, and both of my kids learned to drive on a manual (but in the suburbs). I’ve grown rusty on how to handle stops on very steep hills that used to seem easy. I recently drove my son down the twisty section of Lombard and my heart was beating a little too fast by the end of it. Teaching kids on a manual transmission does limit the behind the wheel driving programs you can use, at least in my area.</p>
<p>My first car (16)…manual (4 speed) Ford Pinto</p>
<p>Next (17)…had a job requiring me to drive a 3 speed shift on the column (anybody remember those?) pickup truck. Even DH has never done that.</p>
<p>Next car(19) post Pinto death…manual 5 spd. Ford Escort</p>
<p>Then (23) got maybe the world’s only 5 speed Ford Taurus Station wagon. Brought S1 home from the hospital in that sweet ride. </p>
<p>Finally, after S2 also took his inaugual car ride from the hospital in the Taurus, we traded for…a mini van…my first ever automatic. I felt so uncool,lol.</p>
<p>DH had a manual truck up until 5 years ago so I maintained my manual skills!
Both my kids have automatic trucks but did learn to drive DH’s old manual beast before he got rid of it. </p>
<p>It’s a great skill to have…also just kinda cool for a girl to drive a stick.</p>
<p>I learned to drive a tractor before I drove a car so driving a manual was not too hard for me. My dad would not let me get my license until I demonstrated proficiency on driving our 4-speed Pinto. Packmom - what color was yours? Ours was lime green.</p>
<p>I think it might actually be better to teach a beginning driver a manual - they go into it with no habits or pre-conceived ideas.</p>
<p>
I hear you, although I kind of like having an excuse not to answer calls when I’m driving. Maybe if I was a doctor or something like that I’d feel differently.</p>
<p>Having driven a stick now for thirty years, I can’t imagine going back. Driving with an automatic doesn’t feel like driving to me; it’s like a video game where action is oddly detached from result. It feels downright unsafe at times. You have so much more control of the car with a stick, because everything you do with your hands and feet has a direct effect on the car’s performance. As somebody said, even a clunky little Ford wagon feels like a sports car.</p>
<p>My second daughter bought her own car when she was just shy of getting her license. It was a VW Cabriolet , sick shift…I don’t know how we survived the driving lessons…me the nervous mother and she the frustrated, " I know MOM ! " student.
Once she got the hang of it, all went well.
She got her license on a holiday weekend that brings thousands of out of state drivers to our area ( several of whom drive through our town )
I made her take a right hand turn out of our street because I was really scared of her stalling out and being hit by another car. It was safer to just turn around at the community center until she was no longer stalling</p>
<p>This question came up on “Car Talk” a while back and I liked their answer. To paraphrase: driving a manual is fine once you’ve gotten a couple years driving under your belt. To start out with a manual transmission is too much sensory overload. (The driver under discussion was 16 or so.) It depends on where you live. If you’re in the middle of Wyoming, go ahead and start out with a manual (you’ve probably been driving some kind of heavy machinery since you were 11 anyway). If you’re learning to drive in a congested area, work out the kinks with an automatic transmission.</p>
<p>I learned to drive an automatic, then bought a manual (in Wyoming) and learned in half a day. D can drive an automatic, but has not taken to the manual transmission. I learned on a 3 speed and the one we have now is 6 speed. Don’t know if that’s the problem.</p>
<p>I agree with lefthandofdog, it’s easier to learn on an automatic. There are so many things to learn when you are first driving that shifting should not be one of them. Now which car to buy for a new driver that knows how to use a manual shift is another question. Hmmm, maybe that was the original question…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Ah, you’ve been talking to my daughter (hs senior). I swear the main reason she likes to drive her truck is because boys are impressed she can handle a stick shift.</p>
<p>It may have helped that I grew up on a farm and had been driving two different tractors since I was about 8. Driving a manual car was a piece of cake as I had to stand up on the clutch of the tractor to shift gears.</p>
<p>I learned to drive on a manual at 15. I didn’t notice I was any worse of a driver than friends who learned on an automatic. In fact, I was one of the few I knew who never even had so much as a fender bender. I think it’s an individual thing.</p>