Was it actually a Bronco? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Bronco
@ucbalumnus LOL! It might very well have been as there were a lot of Broncos in our vehicle fleet! We’d have rotating contracts with vehicle manufacturers, so one year we might get a few new Fords and the next year we’d get Chevys, etc. 
These last few weeks, I was shopping for a new crossover/SUV for my wife. While at the Mazda dealership, I also test-drove the Miata with a stick. Now, I hadn’t driven a stick in over 10 years, but everything came back right away, and I was smooth from the first shift. Just like riding a bike, you don’t forget. Now I just need to convince my wife that I need a couple of stick-shift sports cars as soon as S leaves for college in a few years.
BTW, I just ordered the 2018 Volvo XC60 (automatic obviously). Anyone shopping for a premium SUV should absolutely look at one of these.
@hebegebe Congrats! The new XC60 looks beautiful. I want to go test drive one soon.
I learned to drive a standard of a VW van when I was in college and have driven many different standards since but now, not for many years. My H, who I’ve mentioned before here as being a car guy, has four cars currently, and all are standards. The cars he loves are becoming increasingly unavailable with a true standard transmission, i.e., without paddle shifters. He mourns that loss. My car continues to be the only one of ours that is an automatic. 
I’ve always driven stick and, like alwaysamom, my first was a VW van, which my parents loved since it couldn’t go over 50 mph downhill. I was driving a stick when I went into labor and had to drive myself to the hospital (do NOT try to push the clutch in during a contraction!). Sadly, my next car will have to be automatic. Arthritic knees do not like clutching.
I tried to go back to automatic when I bought my most recent car, but hated the (lack of) performance on the test drive. Sticking with manual as long as I can, and happy that my commute rarely involves traffic backups.
I taught DH and all my kids to drive stick - none of them do so regularly but at least the seed has been planted.
My cousin got her driver’s license on an automatic. She was practicing driving with her Dad’s stick shift car in front of her house and a policeman stopped to question her. That was decades ago when stick shift cars were common.
The upscale cars with automatic have plenty of power to easily get up to speed et al.
Best aspect of driving a stick shift - you can jump start the car when your battery or your starter dies.
I did that with an automatic when the battery died. If the starter goes how will being able to shift help??? With an automatic you don’t risk shifting problems and stalling while you are driving to get the new battery/service.
“I did that with an automatic when the battery died. If the starter goes how will being able to shift help???”
Quite so - shoulda said alternator…
I learned stick so I could borrow my Dad’s car in high school. When I bought my first car, it was stick. I drive an automatic now, just because that’s what the car had when we found it for sale at a good deal.
I don’t have a strong preference for one over the other, truth be told. I’m not much of a “car person”.
Back in college, I drove for 3 months with a dead battery by making sure I always parked on a hill with the car facing down. When it was time to start the car, I would let the car coast until about 15 miles per hour, pop the clutch to get the car to start, and be on my way. Nothing improves your manual transmission skills like the knowledge that you would be dead in the water if you ever stalled the engine.
I learned to drive a stick in Europe. Family vacation and dad was really tired. Stopped at the side of the road and said…you drive. It was near Salzburg. Yup, I know how to drive a stick :^o
Our last stick was a problematic vehicle, I’m convinced it was possessed by gremlins. We parked it nose downward so it could be ‘pop started’ if needed. We’ve had automatics for the past 20- years.
S kind’a knows…he can drive the tractor. D has tried a few times but isn’t really interested.
The skill comes back pretty quickly. We still rent manuals in Europe. I tend to kill it a few times before leaving the rental lot and then all the muscle memory is back in place.
I wouldn’t want one as our main vehicle. Way to much traffic. Love the radar cruise control.
@ucbalumnus wrote “The first generation Insight did have outstanding fuel economy, but it was also a very lightweight (by the standards of the time) small car.”
Very lightweight indeed, due to its aluminum (as opposed to steel) exterior and its 3 cylinder engine. It’s relatively gutless compared to my old Acuras or my current VW TDI, but it if I push it hard it gets up to freeway speed just fine.
One thing is for sure: it’s a head turner. Yesterday someone asked me if it was the new Tesla. Interesting for a 16 year old car. George Jetson would feel at home in it.
I like driving a stick. I have more control and it is not so boring. I hate somebody else deciding what gear I should be in. Maybe I have a reason for staying in 2nd! I know the newer cars have shifting possibilities, they’ve just taken away the clutch, but it’s just not the same.
Ten years ago I bought an automatic because that’s how that model came and I was getting older (still am!) and thought I might have trouble one day with the stick. I once had to drive myself 40 miles to urgent care with my right shoulder in absolute muscular crisis and it took everything I had, to do it. Somehow if I have a problem it’s always my right arm/wrist/shoulder or left foot/ankle/leg.
I hated the automatic and since have gone back to stick, joints be damned.
One thing I hated about the automatic, besides being boring, was that automatics want to GO. If you’re on ice and you take your foot off the brake, off you go, faster than you may want. You can control your speed better with stick shift.
I have never had to replace a clutch and I generally run my cars up to 130,000 miles or more including in-town driving.
A couple of years ago I was in a rush to baptize a dying baby so I decided to use valet parking at the hospital entrance. The valet parker did not know how to drive stick! One would think it was a job requirement.
I paid a driving school just last week for a lesson on a manual. To my delight, the muscle memory kicked in and shortly we were off on major trafficked multi-lane suburban streets. I hadn’t driven a stick for over 40 years and back then, had only driven manuals a handful of times. I will still be paying the premiums for European automatic car rentals, but at least now I feel that if my reserved automatic car is not available, I can manage the manual.
I have to ask if all those who prefer manuals have regular rush hour stop and go expressway commutes or heavy city traffic?
I learned on a stick, and that’s what I drove for 25 years. I loved it. After a few years of driving in New York City, I switched to automatic, and will never go back, unless we get a sports car or a Jeep or something. Every once in a while, I still instinctively reach for the clutch. But I also sometimes ask for “unleaded” at the pump. Maybe I should be re-tested for my license :))
One interesting feature the dealer pointed out to us on our manual Jeep is that there is a little feature built in that helps you “cheat” when on a hill. When you release the clutch, the car will not roll backward right away, there is a slight lag time. I don’t know if this technology is in use with most new manual transmission cars these days, but I thought that was pretty cool and will certainly be handy for my kids when they are learning.
@KKmama, we just had to use valet the other night when we went out for our anniversary. We happened to take my husband’s Jeep and the first thing he asked the (young) valet b/f we got out of the car was whether he could drive stick. He could fortunately but yes, I thought the same thing - shouldn’t that be a job requirement?