<p>Our kids’ cars have all been manuals. They all learned to drive on an automatic and then learned to operate a manual just after getting their licenses. They had no problems and, yes, it does keep friends from driving their cars.;)</p>
<p>She is learning on an automatic. Her driving instructor uses a Honda Civic but 90% of her driving has been in a Toyota Land Cruiser. She handles the Land Cruiser well. She is the most natural driver of my kids. H has a 1975 old beat up Fiat that is a stick. She wants to take that out and at least try it.
Her EC and her school require a lot of driving on my part. We would like to get another car that is under $5000 for her to drive. My H has come across a couple of cars that are below $5000 but are manual transmissions. One is a Hyundai Accent and the two are a Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. My D would like to get a big truck that would be able to pull a horse trailer!
We aren’t ready to buy yet but if something good came along we would get it.</p>
<p>My criteria for buying D’s car was number of airbags. The side torso and side curtain airbags have cut back on injuries and fatalities but require lots of shopping around when buying used.</p>
<p>We got D1’s first car with manual transmission. We got a good deal because an older guy got it for his wife as a birthday present, he put in every single feature (premium sound system, leather…). The wife took one look and said, “What were you thinking of? At my age I don’t need to learn to drive a stick.” It never left the showroom.</p>
<p>Most guys think D1 is very cool to drive a stick, and no one ever asks to borrow the car either. Now D2 is a different matter. She wants to learn how to drive a stick also. But with only a permit, she’s already caused over 10k damage to 2 of our cars, while out with her dad. I am scared to have her drive a stick. She seems to be doing well with H’s BMW right now. Maybe a Honda automatic would be better for her.</p>
<p>One dilemma I am finding is that H’s Land Cruiser has 130,000 miles on it. She would love to drive that car. H is not yet ready to part with his car but it would be simpler if he would get himself something newer and let her drive his old car. The Land Cruiser is not quite old enough to pass along to her. Plus her drive to school takes a lot of gas and the MPG in the Land Cruiser is not good.
My D’s both love trucks and any type of SUV. Both hate driving sedans. My son on the other hand has no desire to be high off the ground. He loves to drive his sedan.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why driving a stick is considered dangerous. Once you’re up to cruising speed, they don’t take any more concentration than automatics. I would think that this is when the most serious accidents would occur. When you’re getting up to cruising speed, maybe they actually force the teen to pay more attention.</p>
<p>I learned to drive a stick on my first new car while on the way back home from the dealership. My wife and I both drive sticks, and our son had to learn or walk. His learning process was frustrating for both of us, but now, one burnt-out clutch later, he wouldn’t think of driving anything else. Funny thing is is that he took the driver’s test twice on the drivers-ed car with the auto transmission and flunked both times, but the third time did it on the stick and performed flawlessly.</p>
<p>Other than the dismal minivan years I’ve always driven a manual. My (2005) Subaru Forester has something called “hill-hold” that prevents it from rolling when I stop on hills. (No more watching the rearview with dread as someone pulls up within an inch of my bumper.)</p>
<p>I would not let D take the Fiat in any kind of traffic. We have a '73 Karmann Ghia and between the lack of air bags and the weight of most other cars on the road these days I feel very vulnerable in it.</p>
<p>I had a manual Subaru Forester and it didn’t have that feature, or I didn’t know it did. Mine was older though.</p>
<p>[Ask</a> Technical: Subaru Hill-Holder](<a href=“http://www.drive.subaru.com/Spr03_HillHolder.htm]Ask”>http://www.drive.subaru.com/Spr03_HillHolder.htm)</p>
<p>1moremom- I don’t let H take the Fiat in traffic. It is used for the 2 minute drive to the beach, the 3 minute drive to the tennis court and the 6 minute drive to the gas station.</p>
<p>My Subaru was several years older than that. I never really had trouble with hills though. Of course, there was always the idiot who pulled up behind you within an inch of the bumper so that no matter how good you are with the clutch, it was hard to not tap. Driving the manual taught me to never pull up so close to the vehicle in front that I can’t see the tires meet the road in front of me.</p>
<p>mom60, that is how we use the ghia (and only when the weather is nice).</p>
<p>My 2 sons and I are manual transmission snobs (an automatic, is well, just so boring). Anyways, I taught both boys to drive a stick shift. It was a humbling experience for S2 as he didn’t just ‘get it’ in 5 minutes. S1 just bought his first car - a used 5-speed mitsubishi eclipse. </p>
<p>I have a 2003 subaru wrx, and the hill-holder feature has saved my b**t in San Francisco on several occasions.</p>
<p>ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad, have you considered a mini? Very fun to drive and good mileage. Another option is the new Honda Civic SI coupe? ( [2010</a> Honda Civic Si Coupe - Official Honda Web Site](<a href=“Honda Civic Family: Models & Price | Honda”>Honda Civic Family: Models & Price | Honda)).</p>
<p>In our house the stick shifts out number the automatics 2:1. Both of the manual transmissions are in Honda Accords ('98 & '09). I honestly believe the transmission is the main reason those cars haven’t lived up to the “most stolen car” statistics.</p>
<p>Driving stick rules!
As posted above, no one can ask to borrow your car.
Dads of friends are stoked when they find out you drive a standard.
It’s a skill few teens have.
My grandpa taught me-good times.</p>
<p>It’s illegal to drive with a cell phone in NY so I don’t need a third hand. I learned to drive a manual, and my first car was a manual. We still have a manual in the driveway. If you rent a car in Europe you are much better off if you know how to use a stick shift. I agree manuals are not so much fun in San Francisco or rush hour traffic, but I’ve learned to live with both. (Using the parking brake to prevent slide backs on steep hills works well.)</p>
<p>I learned to drive on a stick shift car. First, easy to learn if you don’t know any other way. Second, for some reason guys were impressed. Third, you never know when that skill will come in handy. I was middle management at a union plant preparing for a workers strike. In case of stike, I was assigned the cushy job of driving a pickup truck since very few other workers knew how to drive the stick shift.</p>
<p>
The mini would probably be fun (a colleague of mine loved his) but I had more in mind something like - Porsche Boxster, BMW Z4, Nissan 370Z, Corvette, maybe Audi TT. It’d have to be a convertible too of course.</p>
<p>I learned to drive on a manual, back in the 70s, when I had no choice - the family car was a manual. I hated learning on it, but I actually became quite a good shifter and when I met my husband, he was incredibly impressed that I drove a stick better than he did. Come to think of it, all of my dates were rather bowled over by this fact. Nowadays, I can’t imagine my 17 year old daughter driving a manual - it seems that she has enough to do with all the traffic on the road and her iphone. My boys will probably want to learn to drive a manual because my husband has an Italian two seater stick shift in the garage, although I can’t imagine him giving up the keys to his baby. We’ll have a few car issues to deal with in the next few years.</p>