B6G Poll: can you drive a manual or not?

[Nobody]

Hey Matt, fancy meeting you here!

Hi Paul!

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[level3looper]

I learned how to swim by my pops throwing me off a dock and saying 'good luck'. At least I think that's what he said as I was under water!

He did the same thing teaching me how to drive a stick. He took me to the steepest road he could find with a cliff and no guardrails. I learned.

 

[DryYourTears]

Knowing how to drive a MT is definitely a useful skill to have if you ever travel internationally and want to rent a car. Depending on the country, autos may be available, but the majority will be sticks. I had a lot of fun driving a MT around when we went down to Costa Rica a few years ago.

This. You can save a ton of money because the only rental automatics tend to be larger luxury cars (which can also be a huge pain on some narrow European roads). The last manual I owned was an '07 Ranger (and before that, I only drove manuals). In August of '19 I went to the Azores and got to drive a Fiat Punto (underpowered with a cooked clutch) and a new Ford EcoSport SES with a equally new clutch. That thing was surprisingly FUN, and perfect for the roads there. Also, as it turns out, it's like riding a bike. I had zero issue going back to a manual after a ~9 year break.

 

[Sean D]

I haven't driven a manual in a while, but I learned to drive on one. My dad was a truck driver and insisted I learn. My first car was a five-speed, and when I joined the Navy, I drove that car back and forth from Chicago to Washinton State, where I was stationed many times. My wife knows how to drive a manual so that's not an issue.

My oldest daughter, who never learned to drive a manual while living at home, learned to drive one while living in Australia. On the wrong side of the freakin' road, shifting with her left hand. Yeah, she won't be driving the Bronco. I'll be teaching my youngest daughter.

 

[Stroopaloop]

Quick poll of you awesome members.

So I am guessing that most (more than 50%) of B6G members can drive a manual and @Drex thinks it’s less than 50%. Made me curious but yes or no, can you drive a manual?

I definitely enjoy Manual, definitely fun. Not so much in Boston traffic. Auto it is

 

[Lowcountry Bronco]

Hope so, drove one to work this morning.

 

[ohvrider]

Most people lie. I have a Chevey SS (Holden Commadore) with Tremac 6060, and had several people tell me how great they were at driving a manual. One time a Taxi parked on my drivers mirror and my 5'2" coworker said he'd back it up for me being an expert. Stalled it 6 times in 5 feet.

I've had 2 cars since 90's and always had 1 manual since 80's. Bronco will be first time I've had 2 autos (bronco and raptor).

Two reasons. 1) I'll never own a Getrag tranmission. 2) My wife can't drive a manual and I really don't want to teach her in my car.

The 10 spd in Raptor has been the first auto that I have enjoyed driving. Also i'm over 50 now so I can't drive 1500 miles in a day so wife doesn't need to drive.

 

[WCP-82]

For me it was pretty much manual transmissions from the age of 16 to 25. Then bumper to bumper traffic became a thing in my life and I hated it. Fast forward 18 years later and I am looking for a car for my 16 year old daughter. VW had great leases on the Jetta with manual. I think it was $209 a month with no money down. I went to test drive it and was worried about my ability to drive a stick again. No problems at all. Picked it right back up.

You can skip the rest. Just a story about me getting my daughter a manual as her first vehicle.

So I lease the Jetta. I was divorced and my daughter did not live with me. I needed to get her something under warranty because it wasn't going to be in my garage to make repairs. Alimony and child support were killing me so I didn't have much cash on hand. I tell her I got the Jetta and she was excited until she found out it was a manual. She was not real happy to say the least.

So I go about teaching her how to drive it. Between her patience and mine it did not go well. Stalling, popping, grinding. So she decided she would rather drive my truck. A rusted up, 17 year old F150. Crank windows, manual locks, no connectivity, bench seat, you get the idea. In the meantime I'm loving the new Jetta. She stops by one day about 2 months into driving my truck and says she just can't stand my truck anymore. I said, well there's the Jetta. She wasn't proficient yet on the manual but I let her take it. You can't teach that girl much of anything. She has to find out on her own. I waited a couple of days to get a call that she couldn't get the hang of it. Never got the call. I called her to see how it was going. No problems. Loving it. She said it actually gives her something to do while driving and helps with her ADHD. She then drove a manual for the next 5 years. Jetta, Civic, old BMW. She had enough for the same reason I did. Bumper to bumper college commute. She is now 24 years old. She taught several guy friends how to drive stick. She taught her younger brother too. Even though she now has a manual she thinks herself quite the expert and never fails to critique shoddy manual shifting and hill holds of other manual drivers we see on the road.

 

[Yukon65006]

Learned to drive a manual at 13-14years old diving a dump truck in Columbus Oh in the early 80's. Worked for my uncle in the summers hauling gravel, topsoil and cleaning up construction sites. He got behind on orders and one day he sent me out by myself to haul some gravel and from that day on I pretty much was on my own for the rest of the summer doing deliveries. How no one at the gravel yard or customers did not call the cops on me I will never understand.

 

[Tyrober]

Having many bronco enthusiasts on the website makes me think the # is a lot higher than 50%. I recently sold my 6speed wrangler a few months ago but it wasn't my daily driver. It kinda was but I also had my f150. The bronco I plan on getting is going to be my daily driver and my wife is going to drive it a fair amount as well so I am getting an automatic.

 

[rkj__]

I never really got the chance to learn. I started driving about 16 years ago.

My family always owned automatics when I was growing up, and learning to drive. When I took driving school, I requested a manual for in-car lessons, but their entire fleet was automatics.

When it was time to buy my own vehicle, I chose an automatic. Though I would have liked to learn to drive a manual, I did not want to shift my own gears every day. My first vehicle was a midsize 4x4 pickup, that I used for everything, from highway commuting, to off roading, to towing a travel trailer through stop-and-go traffic on weekends, to get out of the city. When I got my second vehicle, it was a half ton 4x4 pickup, and a manual was not even an option.

The only time I ever got the chance to press a clutch pedal, was on a friend's parent's CRV in highschool. Of course, I stalled it a handful of times trying to get it to move the first time. After a few attempts, I was able to get it rolling. Given that we were in a mall parking lot, I never went beyond third gear.

If it were a life or death situation, I believe I could get a manual from A to B, but it would not be smooth. Thus, I voted No.

 

[AKBronc49]

Real question, how many can drive 3 on the tree?

I took this car to both my HS proms, voted best car both times.

 

[NCOBX]

Most people lie. I have a Chevey SS (Holden Commadore) with Tremac 6060, and had several people tell me how great they were at driving a manual. One time a Taxi parked on my drivers mirror and my 5'2" coworker said he'd back it up for me being an expert. Stalled it 6 times in 5 feet.

I've had 2 cars since 90's and always had 1 manual since 80's. Bronco will be first time I've had 2 autos (bronco and raptor).

Two reasons. 1) I'll never own a Getrag tranmission. 2) My wife can't drive a manual and I really don't want to teach her in my car.

The 10 spd in Raptor has been the first auto that I have enjoyed driving. Also i'm over 50 now so I can't drive 1500 miles in a day so wife doesn't need to drive.

I have the same car, a ‘17 Tremec - I have drove a lot of manuals but - to their benefit the SS has one of the more difficult to use manuals

 

[SevenT]

If I want to row the gears, I take the 1970 out. The 2021 is CFO ready with the auto.

 

[gonyr]

I put no.
The truth is yes, but poorly

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