Driving a car with a stick shift

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Raptor
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11 May 2013, 9:56 pm

1000Knives wrote:

kx250rider wrote:

eric76 wrote:

If you really want fun, drive a truck with a stick shift and with a non-synchronized transmission. You have to double clutch every gear change.

That's a nuisance! I've driven many antique cars with non-synchro transmissions and old cable-style clutch, and it's nearly impossible to avoid at least some grinding. Even a lot of later model vehicles only have synchros in 2nd gear, so you have to go to 2nd before trying to go into reverse or 1st from neutral. Toyotas were like that all the way through the 90s, and maybe even today. My ex-GF has a 1993 Toyota truck with 4WD manual 5-speed, and she drive it for 10 years without knowing that she could do the trick of going into 2nd before reverse, and avoid the grind. She didn't believe me until I had her try it!

I prefer manual shift for about 99% of driving, but I have to admit that stop & go traffic in the city is a drag with a clutch. But I HATE automatic transmissions when it's time to make a 3-point turn, or to parallel park on a busy street. There is a delay in shifting to reverse, and that's enough to get you in trouble when every microsecond counts. The only automatic that doesn't seem to do that, is my wife's truck (2005 Chevy 4x4 Duramax diesel with the Allison 6-speed automatic). That one is just about instant into reverse, and no sudden jerk and bang of the gears like in most other automatics when you go in reverse and need to give it gas quickly.

Charles

My Supra would always grind going into reverse unless I waited a few seconds for the trans to slow down. Maybe if I gave it a little gas, actually I might have figured that out before I sold the car.

That seems to be fairly common in my experience. I've had an older Nissan and Toyota that did that at least once in a while when going into reverse.
Not so much a sharp grinding but sort of a coarse purr and you could feel it though the shifter. I've experienced this with other stick shift vehicles, too.

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gratin
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12 May 2013, 4:14 am

Spent years trying to learn to drive a manual / stick shift and never got anywhere. Eventually passed my test in an automatic.

OliveOilMom
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12 May 2013, 11:23 am

Yep, I have. My pro stock Mustang was a stick. I used to run it in the quarter mile. I also drove it everywhere because it was the only car I had.

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Chrisicus
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12 May 2013, 11:45 am

Only ever driven a manual, I drive karts in motorsport so I guess driving an automatic will be like driving a big kart for me .

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kx250rider
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12 May 2013, 11:50 am

OliveOilMom wrote:

Yep, I have. My pro stock Mustang was a stick. I used to run it in the quarter mile. I also drove it everywhere because it was the only car I had.

American stick shifts, and especially some of the high-performance ones in the Mustangs of the 60s & 70s (and 80s?), were VERY hard to shift. I had an '85 GT 5.0 for a short time, and it gave me leg cramps. Later I drove (didn't own, but had in my possession for awhile) a 1966 Ford K-T5; the German version of the Mustang GT. It was like driving a 5-ton military transport truck to shift. I don't think the clutch was adjusted quite right, but still it was hard to find gears, and easy to start to shift into the wrong gear :oops:

.

Charles

OliveOilMom
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12 May 2013, 12:00 pm

kx250rider wrote:

OliveOilMom wrote:

Yep, I have. My pro stock Mustang was a stick. I used to run it in the quarter mile. I also drove it everywhere because it was the only car I had.

.

Charles

This wasn't the stock tranny. I also had a metallic clutch and blowproof bellhousing in it and after driving it for a couple years my left leg was slightly bigger than my right.

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OddButWhy
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16 May 2013, 7:56 pm

Partly learned to drive on a manual Mercury Zephyr. Gave the neighbors hours of entertainment as I drove it round and round the cul-de-sac grinding gears and lurching forward & back. Ahh, memories!

I've come to prefer manual transmissions for better control (especially in snow) and gas mileage. I get irritated with automatic transmissions that don't shft when I think thy should shift.

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