This is really bugging me

[rjundi]

My wife and her four sisters but 1 all(has minivan) drive manual transmission vehicles and seek them out. They all beat to death a 1982 Sentra in high school. I think their dad purposely got them a stick as their parents only had them even in a Subarban for the family of 7.

I remember a Subaru dealer looking at her like she was crazy when she was 8 months pregnant car shopping and asking if they had the 2005 Legacy GT(turbo) wagon in manual transmission. They did not and tried to convince her otherwise to buy their automatic she test drove. They knew she loved the car and ended up located one from upstate NY(250 miles away) for us. I love the car.

Sadly the 2005 model was the first and last year of manual transmission in the current generation Legacy wagon.

I won't tell you manages to do while driving a stick shift while on the cell phone.

 

[MarkC]

I've never had a car that had had automatic, and I hope I never do.
I think most people here, men and women, prefer them because it's easier and they're basically lazy and can't be bothered.

 

[sciphi]

American women have been raised on making everything faster and more convenient, aka less work. An auto makes driving much simpler than "gasp" needing to think about what is happening down the road! Stop at the red, go on the green, don't hit anything. Let the traffic signals dictate your progress. Easier than having to decide which gear to get up the next hill.

Laziness wins.

My fiancee's next car will be a manual, she has decided. For price, and we test-drove an auto version of the car which we did not like.

 

[paulo57509]

My aunt used to drive and old Karmann Ghia (stick, naturally). When the new fastback Mustangs came out (when, 1965?) my uncle went out and bought her one. V8, silver with red interior.

Auntie Bette never drove it. She hated that automatic transmission.

 

[kd5byb]

Originally Posted By: sprintman
what keeps coming up is that American women don't drive stick (manual) even though the male partner wants to buy one.


You need to meet my wife. She far prefers a stick shift and her car is a 5-speed. What's more, she's very, very good at driving one. You should see her when she drives the 5-speed GT Mustang - she's like a race-car driver. (She enjoys schooling teen-age boys in cars with weed-wacker exhausts that chicks can drive and drive well. When she kicks their cans, she even slows down, let's them catch up, and calls them demeaning, man-hood threatening names. It's a fantastic education for these teenagers that 40-year-old women are to be respected.)

In fact, when we were looking at replacing my Ranger with a Tundra, she was upset to learn you couldn't get them in a 5-speed.

later,
b

 

[oilyriser]

Stick shift is a good anti-theft measure, in USA and Canada.

 

[IndyIan]

I can see why automatics are popular, they are idiot proof!
I think many women and men these days have no mechanical "sympathy" so giving them a manual transmission is asking for trouble.
My wife prefers manual transmissions but when I first met her she hadn't really heard of lugging the engine... So going up some hills it was 5th gear WO at 1600 rpm in an Accord... Didn't seem to wreck anything but it wasn't good.
I carpooled with a guy who had an old Ranger and he would shock load tranny and drivetrain on almost every shift... He sort of popped the clutch and gave it gas just at the right(wrong) time. It had 200,000 miles on it though and the original clutch but it made me cringe to drive with him.
Ian

 

[Camu Mahubah]

Originally Posted By: kd5byb
[. (She enjoys schooling teen-age boys in cars with weed-wacker exhausts that chicks can drive and drive well. When she kicks their cans, she even slows down, let's them catch up, and calls them demeaning, man-hood threatening names. It's a fantastic education for these teenagers that 40-year-old women are to be respected.)


And this year's Woman Of The Year award goes to Mrs. Kd5yb! No seriously, I mean that!

 

[DrinkDuff77]

When I met my wife in college in 2003, she was driving an '87 325i 5-speed. A drunk driver side-swiped it while it was parked in the steet, totalling it, and she still misses it. Now that we have a kid and one on the way she wants to get a Mazda5 because it's the only three row vehicle available that you can get in a stick. They're a rare breed here in the U.S. but you can find them.

 

[Gary Allan]

The points mori suggested are all too valid, imo. There's a need to cope with various levels of neurosis that appears to be integrated in American women ..maybe from pubescence on forward. Pending things take the forefront ..while means need to be seamless. So, one will rush to the mall ..but one needs to be unencumbered in executing the intermediate steps. Manual transmissions would put one more thing "in the way".

My wife's jeep is a 5speed. Mine is an automatic. Perhaps this is why I'm no longer hypertensive and she's a task oriented bundle of wet noodles looking for a place to decompensate if something goes wrong in her agenda of the day/moment/whatever

 

[Mr Nice]

My wife drives a 2006 Accord EX (5 speed)

Most women really don't like to a manual trans.

 

[PandaBear]

Depends on where you are. In a large city with bad traffic (stop and go traffic for at least 40 mins per day's commute), you got to be insane to get a stick.

Wife said she don't mind stick, but prefer the convenience of an automatic so she can munch on snack when driving (important to her). I got her an automatic since it is her car, and she will be driving it for 10 years and I'm not getting her a new car when mine retire and take her car.

I learned stick over a 2 weeks worth of lessons from friend and love it, and like others said, you get better control of the car and you don't have to deal with that annoying up-shift right before you brake in automatic.

Automatic BMW, Corvette, WRX, Supra, AMG, G35, etc, etc, tell everyone in the world that you are trying to keep up with the Jones rather than buying a car because you like the way it drives.

 

[TallPaul]

My personal vehicle has always had a stick since 1976. Wife complains, but she has here automatic. My only regret is that the motorhome doesn't have a stick, as it then would be much more fun to drive. Wife's aerostar is a 3.0 V6 and the tranny is very finnicky, often double downshifting and other weird stuff that I could prevent with a stick. Must be the way I drive as wife has no trouble with it. Best camping trip I had was hauling a trailer on my stick shift F150 4.9L through Yellowstone, Teton and Rocky Mountian National Parks. With a manual transmission you become part of the machine, otherwise, you're just along for the ride more or less.

 

[sprintman]

Some interesting points, thanks for that. Mori it was the same here, if you learn't to drive in an auto your lic was endorsed. I think way back everybody had to leasrn in a manual.

 

[mechtech2]

Women make very good stick shift drivers [like with a trucking company, women are easier on the equipment], but it is not generally in their make up to desire that kind of control.
They don't get off on it like we do.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Camu Mahubah
Thing that gets me is why someone would buy a Corvette or Subaru WRX with an automatic. Some cars should only come with automatics for handicapped drivers.


+1000000


Not knowing how to drive a stick also prevents people from having a proper understanding of physics - as driving an MT gives a LOT of practical lessons in motion, momentum, etc. just inherent to the operation. Seriously... Given the lack of math and science skills in this country, it is really sad.

 

[JHZR2]

My wife has only ever driven MT cars. When she bought her recent car, having an MT was a required aspect of the setup of the vehicle.

Her parents, as mine, only drove MT vehicles for much of our child lives. My parents got rid of both of their MT cars in the name of a minivan and a family sedan, neither of which were available equipped with MT (otherwise they would have equiped them as such too).

I was embarassed that I could not drive MT in college, when friends of mine had vehicles that were MT. This caused me to buy a car simply to learn on (I learned a bit on friends' cars, but it was an embarassing process). My desire for MT vehicles was doubled as I learned about the complexity, cost and lack of fuel economy when using autos - I prefer the simpler, lower-cost and more economical solution.

Laziness and lack of understanding of physics are the main issues that I see.

 

[Kestas]

I taught my girlfriend to drive a stick. I swear she drove it better than I did.

 

[rpn453]

I don't think it's that uncommon for Canadian women to drive standard. Three of the four significant girlfriends I've had drove manuals. My mother and sister have owned manuals. Most of the girlfriends of my friends own or have owned manuals. However, I don't think I have any male friends who aren't able to drive standard, while I do know a couple of females who absolutely refuse to even try to learn it.

 

[rpn453]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I was embarassed that I could not drive MT in college, when friends of mine had vehicles that were MT. This caused me to buy a car simply to learn on (I learned a bit on friends' cars, but it was an embarassing process).


You think you were embarrassed? You should have seen me trying to learn how to drive standard in college with my girlfriend's Miata 5-speed, her mother's Talon TSi 5-speed, and her father's Stealth R/T Turbo 6-speed! Those were the first standards I drove. I knew the basic functions, but had trouble with the clutch (especially the Stealth) and never felt comfortable enough to be able to actually enjoy the cars. I can remember stalling the Stealth about five times in a row at the drive-in, doing an accidental 5-2 shift in the Talon at 60 mph, . . . Her best friend drove an MR2 5-speed and that girl's boyfriend had a Civic 5-speed. So I felt like an idiot anytime we drove anywhere.