Did you learn how to drive with a stick shift or automatic?

[Shine]

:shrug:

I learned to drive with a stick shift in an orange 1970 VW SuperBeetle we called "Clementine".

Good times, good times...:D

I mostly drive automatic these days, but we'll teach the kids both. I think it's important to know both styles, personally. :hi:

How about you?

[Left Is Write]

1. Automatic.

My boyfriend tried to teach me to drive a manual (a Dodge Colt!), but I could not get the hang of driving with both feet.

[Hangingon]

20. VW named their orange color Clementine.

[Shine]

40. Cool, I didn't know that!

:hi:
I miss that bug. I had a lot of fun it it.

Too much, sometimes. :evilgrin:

[AlCzervik]

2. manual and i learned on a vw as well, my Dad had a Scirocco. Since then i've only

had one car with an automatic.

[billyskank]

3. Stick. Most people in Europe drive them.

We tend only to put automatics in luxury sedans; in lesser cars they're not very popular.

In the UK if you pass your test in an automatic, your licence only allows you to drive automatics.

[Shine]

11. Huh, that's interesting to know about the testing

:hi:

[FunkyLeprechaun]

49. In the US I passed my test in an automatic

But could drive ANY vehicle (Had one automatic car and then drove a manual for a while). When I moved to the UK, it was tricky learning how to drive on the other side!

After six tries, I finally passed my test and have a lovely pink licence!

By the way, the UK doesn't take US licences, but they can take Canadian, Continental European, and Australian licences... so I'm assuming that they have the same sort of testing like the UK does.

I really do think the US should follow the UK's example and toughen up their tests. That includes raising the driving age to 18 as well! I passed my test at 16 (I'm now 26) and I've seen CRAZY 16-year-olds behind the wheel!

[tigereye]

4. automatic

but I also learned a stick early on - also a yellow Beetle, which my brother later wrecked while he was looking at a young lady instead of at the road...

:hi:

I have owned nothing but stick shift cars since then, though...

[JVS]

5. I learned to pass the test in an auto, the car that I had access to after the test was a stick

Learned quickly

[Myrina]

6. Learned w/ automatic, but I won't drive anything BUT a stick...

:)

[bicentennial_baby]

7. Automatic on a GMC Conversion Van

:D

I can drive most anything now, even if I am only 5'2"

I haven't learned stick...I've tried, but haven't gotten the hang of it yet... x(

[AlCzervik]

9. you have to learn, when the zombies rise you have to be able to get out of town

and a manual transmission car might be the only available. Next summer when i come back, i'll teach you.

[bicentennial_baby]

13. That thought has actually crossed my mind...

:D

That, and the possibility of having to drive a drunk person home from a party with only a manual available...

Please? The people that tried to teach me were men, and I think a woman would be far better at this. Less yelling about what an idiot I am :P

:pals:

[AlCzervik]

15. i've taught 6 people, one them being my husband the engineer that thinks he

can work everything out on his own---bah! I don't yell and i don't name call so you won't be hearing "Dummy!" from me.
:D

[billyskank]

18. Let the clutch out gently. That's the only piece of advice you need.

Everything else just takes care of itself. :)

[Shine]

41. I concur with billy.

:thumbsup:

:hi:

[Oeditpus Rex]

8. Actual driving, an automatic

But I knew how to shift gears when I was about 8 because my dad would let me work the Rambler's three-on-the-tree while he clutched. So when I actually drove a stick, it wasn't that big of a deal.

Dad let me sit next to him and steer, too. He was really cool that way. :)

[AggieGal]

10. Teach them the stick shift first, if possible.

I learned on an automatic and it is very hard for me to drive a stick shift. I think my brain just gets confused with having to pay attention to many things that are handled by the automatic.

[Shine]

42. Yeah, that's definitely my plan. I learned first on a stick

and when I eventually learned automatic, it seemed SO EASY!! It reminded me of the rides at Disneyland....

:hi:

[fizzgig]

12. learned on an auto

but started driving a stick not long after i got my license (wrecked the first car...eeek!)

first stick i drove was a 1977 lime green vw rabbit...damn, i miss that car

eta: i still drive a stick and i love it

[laylah]

35. Your mama

was anal...rabbit = deathtrap. Sorry you miss it. I have MANY good memories of it. A lot of camping, Telluride, good vibes. I just didn't want my girls in a "tin can". That said, your dad found that for me and my "green weenie" statement (you will have to ask him). We did have fun at the 4 Corners tho', huh? :loveya:

[fizzgig]

36. four corners?

when did we go to the four corners? and i thought we took the van to telluride...

please tell me i'm not losing it

[laylah]

39. I WILL tell you

you are losing it...'cuz I am. We did take the van; however, I remember something about the rabbit, no tags, ice, ... oh never mind. That was the year (10 months later) I found out I had not tagged the rabbit. Got home, took care of it, then Hana pulled the tags off of the Volvo. I am SOOOO glad my life was never dull with my "prizes"...especially "door #2" :rofl:

[Fenris]

14. Learned to maneuver the car with an automatic to get my license.

Learned to drive in a 5 speed Integra.

I desperately want a manual again (RIP Integra) but the hilly terrain here doesn't lend itself to ease, and my fiancée doesn't know how to drive a stick and hasn't indicated that she would like to learn anytime soon.

[Ptah]

16. OK, so I'm a farmboy. Stick.

Minneapolis Moline

[YellowRubberDuckie]

17. Automatic...

Yeah, there is no way I could ever drive having to think enough to drive a manual.
Duckie

[Flaxbee]

19. stick shift, but rented an automatic for a day to take the test...

I like driving stick shifts, though I haven't had one in over 10 years....

[flvegan]

21. Stick, in a Mustang.

I have a tiptronic-type automatic now, but it's always in the shift-it-yourself sport mode.

[RevolutionaryActs]

22. Auto... I can't drive stick

Clutch? Wassat?

[Eurobabe]

23. Stick baby, and it SUCKED, hills all over my city

I freaked and waited until I was 19 to get my license on an automatic car in Arizona.

But then I went back to stick in 1979, just went automatic due to laziness in 2005.

Sports cars are required to be stick, not automatic or those weenie paddle shifters.

:hi:

[Shine]

43. LOL, I have lots of memories of stalling out on hills when I was learning

one time I was sooo freaked out, I just totally froze up and had to change places with my Dad, who was with me in the car. Picture this: we're on a hill, I've stalled out and put the emergency brake on, I'm frozen in fear and I have to change places with my dad, by getting OUT of the car, in front of all the cars that were waiting behind us. It was soooo humiliating.

Gawd, I was completely mortified. I still remember it vividly. :eyes:

[Eurobabe]

46. Oh I hear you, at 16 trying to drive the family VW, Dasher wagon

around upstate NY was a life-threatening experience. One time my dad decided to take me to the parking lots behind the local college, mind you these puppies were stacked up a hill. We practiced going from first to reverse, until I forgot to take it out of reverse and almost put us through a the guard rail and down a little cliff. :scared:

After that we went home. Talk about humiliation!!

I waited until I was 18 and my boyfriend and I left for Arizona, he took his mom's old orange Dodge Dart Swinger (humilation part 2!!!) Old Betsy was good to me though, she was easy to drive automatic (until her air filter kept continually cloggine and you had to drive her 2 footed!) but for the longest time in Tucson, I just drove to work without a license. I think I finally got my DL about 3 months after we arrived, exam consisted of driving around the block once and parking in a head first space (no parallel). Who was more ecstatic than me??

Gawd, the memories of 1979. :rofl:

[NewWaveChick1981]

24. I learned on an automatic but learned stick shift later.

In 1987, I bought my first car, and all I could afford was a stick shift. I had to learn quickly, but I picked it up right away. To this day, I prefer a 5-speed over an automatic any day. :) I still have one too.

[Arkansas Granny]

25. I learned to drive a "three on the tree". It was a 1949 Chevy coupe.

[Callalily]

26. I learned on an automatic,

but I always drive a stick!

[Xipe Totec]

27. Still drive a stick shift nt

[kwassa]

28. 1965 Opel Kadett 5-speed

I was hell on that car. Wrecked it twice, once a roll-over.

My children will never know.

[Bzzzz]

29. I learned to drive with an automatic...

but I absolutely love driving a stick.

[dropkickpa]

30. Stick

1990 VW Jetta. I LIKE driving stick, but some of the hills around here make it pretty difficult at times. Pulling out of a parking space facing up on a cobblestone street that has a roughly 45 degree incline sucks, as does getting stopped in traffic on a similar hill, especially considering a lot of the people around here are RIGHT on your ass most of the time.

Of course, I don't drive anything at the moment, so it's really a moot point.

[Crabby Appleton]

31. Stick - VW Beatle. Have both type now, Miata - stick, jeep - auto nt

[BrotherBuzz]

32. 1941 Chevy coupe - "Three on the tree"

[JTG of the PRB]

33. Stick shift, all the way.

I've only ever driven an automatic twice, and that was when I was out on the road with a driving instructor for two lessons. The rest of my life, I will probably have a stick shift. Automatic felt so... Weird. My left foot didn't know what to do, and my right hand kept reaching for nothing.

[Paladin]

34. "Three On The Tree" Shift, On My Grandfather's Old 56 Chevy

Took me the better part of a day to get the hang of it, but I finally prevailed.

That was better than 40 years ago. I couldn't negotiate a stick shift now to save my life......

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

37. Automatic and I'll never get the hang of driving stick.

Mr. Wonderful has tried to teach me how to drive a stick forever, but I just cannot do it. Put in D and go is my take on it...

[Deja Q]

38. Automatic. Never got a chance to get manual with my stick...

[greatauntoftriplets]

44. Automatic....

I've never really learned to drive stick. And don't want to in the traffic I habitually drive in.

[LeftyMom]

45. I only know how to drive an auto

I want to learn to drive a stick but we don't have one in the household, so it hardly seems worth it to try to track down a rental with a manual to practice driving one.

[NMDemDist2]

47. '59 volvo, 4 speed 'extended H' on the column

then a '63 Mustang taught me the 'finer points'

:rofl:

[pokerfan]

48. I learned on a stick

I was driving this at age 12:


Took my exam with this:


Went to college with this:

[Skittles]

50. stick at school, auto with my dad

yes INDEED

[terrya]

51. Automatic

I don't know how to drive a stick shift.

[IntravenousDemilo]

52. Automatic

And I had a devil of a time learning to drive stick until someone explained to me exactly what a clutch does, and once I understood that, then there was no problem. And the next car I bought had a standard transmission. I liked it a lot because it made me feel like the machine was a part of me. Even now, whenever I drive automatic, it feels more like I'm riding than driving -- not as much fun.

[Heidi]

53. Stick.

My dad taught me to drive before I was in driver's ed, and he always said, "If you can drive a standard, you can drive anything." He was right. :hi:

[Rhythm]

54. Learned in a automatic at 15... stick at 23...

I prefer a standard now, but i have an automatic currently.

[Maine-ah]

55. stick.

learned on a ford escort. Which was way better than what my sister got to learn it in, a VW bus. The guy that gave her the drivers test said "if you can even drive this thing I'm giving you your license"....keep in mind, my whole family is like 5 feet tall....she drove about a mile up the road and back and got her license...:)