I can't drive a manual.

[Dirt Racer]

It's not something most people learn anymore.

In my 35 years I never ever had to once operate anything with a manual transmission. Everything in the Army is automatic, even the tractor trucks. Not one employer ever had a manual company vehicle. Everything I've ever owned has been automatic. In fact I've turned down a few good deals on personal cars because I didn't know how to drive a manual. Until recently I only knew one person in my whole life who even owned a manual truck. I asked him to teach me and he wanted the cost for a new clutch up-front.

So I start a new job last month...all but one of their company trucks are manual. I told my foreman up-front that I was willing to learn but didn't know how to drive a manual. He looked at me and said "you were born on Earth, right?". I get a lot of comments like that, but I laugh it off with them instead of getting frustrated and but-hurt in the hopes that someone would lend a hand.

No one wanted to help me learn, not because they're jerks but because we're busy.

Most of the trucks that I use are kept out on the right-of-way, so I rarely need to go above 2nd gear. I'm thinking "this is good practice for a newbie to manuals like me". And it was, imo. I got past a lot of newbie habits real quick, like riding the clutch or releasing the service brake to soon while facing up-hill.

Then the inevitable happened: I had to drive my truck on a freeway 40 miles back to the yard. There was no one else available who could drive it for me, or drive with me. I really don't understand what I did during those 40 miles that now caused the truck to refuse to go into 1st gear, and the clutch grinds constantly in and out of gear. Most of he crew thinks this one asshole broke it and blamed it on me, but it doesn't matter since the Super also thinks it's my fault and now I'm not allowed to operate anything.

I guess what I'm frustrated about is I told my foreman up front that I didn't know how to drive a manual and he put me on a manual anyway with no help. In a way I feel I was set up for failure. I have no problem at all just jumping into something and learning as I go, but don't then **** on me when something brakes due to my lack of knowledge.

When I trade in my car I may just buy a manual and be ready to buy a new clutch. Maybe that, and YouTube, is the best way to learn.

****
How did you learn to drive a manual? Do they even teach that in Driver's Training anymore?

Jerry it is highly unlikely you broke it. Sounds like someone has been driving around with their hand on the shifter for far too long. Doing so prematurely wears out the shift forks inside the trans. That causes it to not go into gear or only partially go in grinding and popping in and out of gear.

Since manufacturers really don't offer many vehicles with manuals anymore, it's pretty common for people to not know how to drive a manual. Personally I learned very early on since our old race cars were all three speed manuals. We have since gone to a full on racing trans that locks the trans 1 to 1 with no clutch.

I prefer a manual trans but few come with them anymore.

 

[Jerry]

Riding the clutch also can wear out the throwout bearing.

....Googles "throwout bearing" and pretends I knew what that was all along....

 

[Superfly]

I learned how to drive a stick when I was 19, and have loved it ever since - when I am doing some serious driving. The car seems to handle better, and you it just feels like you can get to your top speed faster than the glacial pace of waiting for an automatic to accelerate. It's just a lot more fun to drive. But not much is available in stick now, and when I'm driving for utility and not for fun (which is, alas, the way it usually is now) I prefer the automatic. Just because I don't have to think about anything - just do it. I don't know if that makes sense or not.

 

[cAPSLOCK]

My biggest thing right now is trying to get the damn thing to go into gear. That drives me mad. I get the theory and I'm trying to do it but a lot of times it's like the sifter just won't go into gear and I don't know why. I'll yell at the truck JUST ****ING DO IT!

And split gears. I get when to use them, but I keep fingering the damn switch and try to start moving in 7th when I think I'm in 1st lol. Then of course everyone notices me stall, sometimes 2 or 3 times in a row before I pull my head out of my ass and see what I did...then the comments come rolling in and I want to murder everyone lol.

Two things.

If its extremely difficult to get into first then there is a mechanical problem. Often the clutch hydrolics are faulty or need to be bled.

Secondly I think it would be much much easier to learn first in a 5 speed standard car before a rig with a splitter etc.

It really does sound like something is wrong with the transmission and it really might not be your fault.

 

[radcen]

I learned from my stepdad. It took me a couple of hours to get the basics down, and about a week for me to feel comfortable on my own in high traffic areas. It ain't rocket science. The key is to hit the clutch sweetspot. Once you've gotten a sense of where it is, it becomes intuitive fairly quickly. It's actually a much more fun and responsive way to drive once you get used to it.

Youtube is not the best way to learn. This is one of those things that you kind of have to feel for it to make sense. You must have some friends who drive manual. Get one of them to spend a few hours giving you the rundown, and offer to pay for any resultant maintenance.

This. This is how I learned, 30+ years ago. My present vehicle is a 2004 Toyota Camry manual... it wasn't easy to find, let me tell you.

The only thing I would add is that all clutches vary from vehicle to vehicle and have their own "personalities". I also have a 1997 Ford ranger that is a manual and switching back and forth between my vehicles takes a couple minutes to get used to each time.

 

[radcen]

I would add that I much prefer manuals, and the only way I would never refuse to have one is if I had a daily stop-and-go commute traffic.

I have owned automatics from time to time, too. Just depends.

 

[molten_dragon]

How did you learn to drive a manual? Do they even teach that in Driver's Training anymore?

My parents taught me to drive a manual. The car they were giving me when I turned 16 was a manual, so if I wanted it, I had to learn to drive one.

We started out in the country near my grandma's house where there wasn't much traffic and I could figure things out without much pressure.

I'd like to do the same when I have kids that are driving age, but I don't even know if I'll be able to find a car with a manual transmission (short of some sports cars probably) at that time.

 

[Manc Skipper]

In the UK there's a separate driving test. A manual shift test allows you to drive any car, but if you take the test in an automatic, then you are restricted to automatics only. Most cars here are manual transmission, automatics are seen as old people's cars or executive limos. There's another followup test for heavy goods vehicles (trucks) which is more exhaustive than the car test.
Nothing personal, but the idea of driving along the highway and coming across a truck not under full control of the driver while he tries to figure out how the gearshift works is terrifying! Your boss put you in an impossible situation which would actually have been illegal here, under employment and driving laws!

 

[The Man]

Automatics are for old people and people with an amputated leg. Buy a manual transmission car and teach yourself to drive it. It's really not difficult, and you don't need youtube or another person to show you how to do it. If I could teach myself when I was 16 years old, you can certainly do the same thing now.

 

[Jerry]

Automatics are for old people and people with an amputated leg. Buy a manual transmission car and teach yourself to drive it. It's really not difficult, and you don't need youtube or another person to show you how to do it. If I could teach myself when I was 16 years old, you can certainly do the same thing now.

The new car will happen, but probably not for a few months.

 

[Gipper]

I learned on a stick. I prefer manuals.

 

[radcen]

I don't get where people are saying manuals are so hard to find. Granted, they're not as common as they used to be, but they're not impossible to find, either.

 

[the_recruit]

In the UK there's a separate driving test. A manual shift test allows you to drive any car, but if you take the test in an automatic, then you are restricted to automatics only. Most cars here are manual transmission, automatics are seen as old people's cars or executive limos. There's another followup test for heavy goods vehicles (trucks) which is more exhaustive than the car test.
Nothing personal, but the idea of driving along the highway and coming across a truck not under full control of the driver while he tries to figure out how the gearshift works is terrifying! Your boss put you in an impossible situation which would actually have been illegal here, under employment and driving laws!

The thing I loved about driving in the UK is that the gear stick is on the opposite side. You shift with your left hand and steer with your right - a much better arrangement if you're right handed. Especially when you're driving in "rally mode". :2razz:

 

[Jerry]

The thing I loved about driving in the UK is that the gear stick is on the opposite side. You shift with your left hand and steer with your right - a much better arrangement if you're right handed. Especially when you're driving in "rally mode". :2razz:

Being left-handed, I guess I never thought about that. Finally something in the right-handed world was made for us southpaws eace

 

[The Man]

I don't get where people are saying manuals are so hard to find. Granted, they're not as common as they used to be, but they're not impossible to find, either.

Not impossible to find, but they are hard to find in brand new cars. For example, I recently bought a 2013 Ford Focus from a large Ford dealer with A LOT of them in stock (over 100 in stock), the one that I bought was the only manual transmission that they had, and none of the other 4 dealerships that I checked had any. I wanted a Fusion originally, but they're no longer available with a manual transmission at all, so that changed my mind.

 

[The Man]

Besides being much more fun to drive and being a useful skill to have, a manual transmission in a vehicle is the best protection against auto theft available, as most car thieves cannot drive a stick.

 

[Gipper]

I'm led to understand that newer cars are almost universally automatic transmission. At one point, a stick was the standard and automatic transmission is the accessory. Now it's the other way around.

 

[The Man]

I'm led to understand that newer cars are almost universally automatic transmission. At one point, a stick was the standard and automatic transmission is the accessory. Now it's the other way around.

Yep, also in newer cars, most automatics now get better gas mileage compared to their manual counterparts. It used to be the other way around.

 

[wolfie]

i've only driven a manual car a couple tim

I could drive an automatic..but I prefer gears..

That's real driving!!

 

[Gipper]

Yep, also in newer cars, most automatics now get better gas mileage compared to their manual counterparts. It used to be the other way around.

Yup, that's why I learned on sticks. I was told that they always got 2-4 MPG more than automatics.

I was cheap at 16.

 

[The Man]

Yup, that's why I learned on sticks. I was told that they always got 2-4 MPG more than automatics.

I was cheap at 16.

I learned on a manual because I was lucky that my dad bought me a $900 1983 Chevy Cavalier hatchback with a 4 speed manual when I was 16 in 1994. I wasn't picky, I was just grateful that I had a car to drive and would have taken anything, manual or automatic. I'm glad it was a manual though.

 

[Gipper]

I learned on a manual because I was lucky that my dad bought me a $900 1983 Chevy Cavalier hatchback with a 4 speed manual when I was 16 in 1994. I wasn't picky, I was just grateful that I had a car to drive and would have taken anything, manual or automatic. I'm glad it was a manual though.

I had a Chevy Celebrity.

 

[TheGirlNextDoor]

I'm led to understand that newer cars are almost universally automatic transmission. At one point, a stick was the standard and automatic transmission is the accessory. Now it's the other way around.

That sucks, too. I much prefer driving a stick shift, especially in snowy weather. I hate automatics.

I used to have a '94 Chevy shortbed 4x4 that I absolutely LOVED.

I miss that truck.

 

[Jerry]

That sucks, too. I much prefer driving a stick shift, especially in snowy weather. I hate automatics.

I used to have a '94 Chevy shortbed 4x4 that I absolutely LOVED.

I miss that truck.

In snowy weather you down shift to 2 or 1, take overdrive off, if you have it, and that's all there is to it. How is a manual better for snow if it's just a car/truck your driving?

 

[Gipper]

That sucks, too. I much prefer driving a stick shift, especially in snowy weather. I hate automatics.

I used to have a '94 Chevy shortbed 4x4 that I absolutely LOVED.

I miss that truck.

I owned a truck once. I hated it.

My mother loved it. I had to haul a ton of crap for her.