Driving Manual: what's the trick?

Midnight blue, it's funny your friends think that driving a manual is distracting. IMO driving a manual leaves you LESS distracted than with an automatic. Since you actually have to pay attention to the gear you are in to maintain speed , or to not stall, you actually pay attention to road conditions more since slowing down without depressing the clutch will cause you stall or speeding up without shifting will cause you to bounce off the rev limiter, when you are stopped at a light you have to the clutch depressed and do your little clutch-gas dance to get moving again. Because your environment constantly dictates what you must do in the car, you absolutely MUST pay more attention.

Manual transmissions make you feel much more in control of the car, especially during slowing. Once you learn, you won't like automatics so much (except for really, really long cross-country dealies. Like, longer than you're likely to get in the UK).

Sort of a companion idea to the zen approach: when the gears are aligned just right, you can actually shift without the clutch. I don't recommend that you do that, but that you think along the lines of the natural shifting point for each gear. My stepfather used to shift without the clutch occasionally, then shoot me a sly look.

But, yeah. Practice, practice, practice. One foot's going up while the other's going down.

Of course, I haven't driven in the UK yet. I have a feeling shifting with my left hand is going to make me want to cry for a while.

Midnight blue, it's funny your friends think that driving a manual is distracting. IMO driving a manual leaves you LESS distracted than with an automatic. Since you actually have to pay attention to the gear you are in to maintain speed , or to not stall, you actually pay attention to road conditions more since slowing down without depressing the clutch will cause you stall or speeding up without shifting will cause you to bounce off the rev limiter, when you are stopped at a light you have to the clutch depressed and do your little clutch-gas dance to get moving again. Because your environment constantly dictates what you must do in the car, you absolutely MUST pay more attention.

Yep! But try telling them that, lol!

I imagine they must have believed that having to physically attend to the gear stick with one hand and the clutch with your foot takes your attention away from the road/other traffic/your surroundings and whatever hazzard might crop up, but I couldn't convince them that those physical movements became actually unconscious, like breathing, and didn't take away from your attention to the surroundings and hazzards at all.

I must say, I sing the praises of both manual and automatic driving at this stage. I'm one of those people who have loved both for different reasons. But yes, it's a pity to write them off or to have never driven one -- not that it's vital to life to have learned how to drive manual (again to each their own) but it is nice and much easier to get into your skin than people think.

Thats what I love about driving a manual, you really have to pay attention to the road, to the road conditions, the traffic conditions, you don't get complacent and plod along like you do driving an automatic. I drive my parents cars when I go home, and when I go on holiday and I always think its a bit like driving in a coma...

Thats what I love about driving a manual, you really have to pay attention to the road, to the road conditions, the traffic conditions, you don't get complacent and plod along like you do driving an automatic. I drive my parents cars when I go home, and when I go on holiday and I always think its a bit like driving in a coma...

Hmm...I now currently drive automatics and I wouldn't say I drive complacently and plod along not paying attention to the traffic conditions....

It doesn't matter which you are driving, you still have a duty to drive with attention to safety. I don't think drivers of either car are necessarily not doing that.

For personal reasons I prefer to drive automatic. For LONDON reasons I prefer to take my test in an automatic. Like I say, to each his own. I'm a fan of manuals, and one who learned on a manual and drove one for half the years I've been driving at all, but who isn't a "disser" of automatics or their drivers....to use a colloquialism that though slangy seems to match the, uh, road conditions. 

To the OP, if you're really interested in the manual, give it a try if you have one handy.  It may be simple for you.

I decided in my early 20's that my next car would be a manual transmission.  My (then) husband made me drive the car we had picked out off the lot when we took it for a test drive.  20 minutes later, on our return, I felt I had it down fairly well and bought the car.  Loved it!

However, I have not been successful at making the switch over to shifting with my left hand and so don't drive in the UK, as we don't intend to get a second car and the one we have is a manual...

But, I agree with the others - I always felt more in control of the car and much, much more aware of road conditions when I was driving a car with a manual transmission...

If, however, we're ever in a position to have a second car here in the UK, mine will be an automatic.

x-posted with MB...

I just don't get this. I have driven both, LOVE both, and I find that I'm NO less "aware of road conditions" nor less in control of the car in an automatic than I am in a manual.

Being aware of road conditions is a deliberate mental act you should be engaging in no matter what you are doing physically, changing gears or not.

Are there NO people like me who have good things to say about both? 

I don't have anything bad to say about automatics. Just learning to drive manuals has served me well, that's all.

It's great you drive both. You, and others like you, can be more flexible. When my daughter starts to drive, she will be learning on a manual, regardless of where we live.

The argument that drivers of automatics are less aware isn't something I've noticed personally. But I do feel more in control when driving a manual, but maybe that's because I've driven only like two automatics in my life.

Are there NO people like me who have good things to say about both? 

I've never driven a manual, but have nothing bad to say about them ... except that it might be difficult for someone taking their test in the UK to have to learn that as well. Not to say it hasn't been done, but it is an extra challenge that you might not want or need.

Well, if you read my post, you'll see that when and if I get a chance to drive in the UK, I'll be driving an automatic!

I should also qualify what I said about being more in control of the car in a manual - for me, I'm really talking about driving in Wisconsin winters!  I lived way out in the country on a road that rarely got plowed - I drove 30 miles one way to work, and rarely missed a day due to snowy road.  I always felt safer and more confident in those driving conditions in a car with a manual transmission.  Maybe it's just a perception, my own perception and my own experience, but that's how I felt about it.

As far as driving in a city, I know that that has been part of my problem with driving a manual in the UK...I can't deal with all the shifting involved in city driving.  So, for me, as long as I live in a city, it will be an automatic.

x-posted with lhoward

Driving an automatic in a congested city makes good sense, but are you aware if you take a test on an automatic you can then only drive an automatic?

Have any of you with automatic only licenses gone to rent a car in Britain, only to find the company has no car to offer you? I'm just curious about that.

Hmm...I now currently drive automatics and I wouldn't say I drive complacently and plod along not paying attention to the traffic conditions....

It doesn't matter which you are driving, you still have a duty to drive with attention to safety. I don't think drivers of either car are necessarily not doing that.

For personal reasons I prefer to drive automatic. For LONDON reasons I prefer to take my test in an automatic. Like I say, to each his own. I'm a fan of manuals, and one who learned on a manual and drove one for half the years I've been driving at all, but who isn't a "disser" of automatics or their drivers....to use a colloquialism that though slangy seems to match the, uh, road conditions. 

I can assure you that I was not talking about you and your driving when I made a comment about plodding along, and I can't imagine what gave you the impression that I was making a comment about your driving. I was talking about my own experiences of driving an automatic. I drove in New York City for 10 years, I know what driving in a big city is like, and I thought this was a discussion, not a diss-cussion.

Have any of you with automatic only licenses gone to rent a car in Britain, only to find the company has no car to offer you? I'm just curious about that.

I've never tried to hire a car in the UK, but I know others who have had no problems hiring automatics. It's true that there are far fewer automatic cars here than in the US, but I've still never had any issues driving or buying cars. It's really not a problem.

Thanks Chary. That's good to know.

Are there NO people like me who have good things to say about both?   

Count me in.   Some people are adamant that one or the other is better, and a substantial number of British drivers seem to have an almost obsessive aversion to automatic transmission, but for me each has its merits and I'm quite happy driving either. 

I look upon it in the same way as comparing a two-seater sport car with a station wagon.  Neither one is inherently "better" than the other; they're just different and each has its own set of advantages and disadvantages.