Trucks

[Leo M]

In addition to the immense pleasure of operating a manual transmission, it is probably the most effective automotive anti-theft device on the market.

[David A. Rowe]

Manuals are my favorite, but I never traded a car off so quickly as when I had to sit in DC area traffic during my commute while stationed there. Impossible to overstate how annoying it is to ride a clutch pedal and first gear for an hour and a half straight.

I'd love to trade my 2019 Tundra for a low mileage Dodge Cummins like Rip suggests. They do sell kits where you can control how the diesel runs. The top setting performs almost identically to the new diesels with all of the extra crap on them, but with the flick of a switch you can get whatever you need for serious towing or overlanding.

That's the tyranny with living in the South, though. All the good trucks are taken.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Autotrader.com

[Marc Brainich]

I used to drive a Toyota Tacoma in San Francisco (live a bit south of there thank God). I’d stop at a stop sign or light on a steep hill and watch my rear view mirror praying the car coming up behind gave me sufficient room.

I had two solutions - use the hand brake in first for a quick second until I got to the point that it wouldn’t role back much when I released the brake. Or, better, and more fun, just keep it in first at the stop and roll up and down a few inches until time to go.

Better solutions?

My 1997 Tahoe is an automatic - it’s like cooking with gas, no fun at all.

[gadders]

You have to pass your driver’s test on a stick. An automatic transmission is usually a paid extra, unless we are talking about the top tier models. But like, we drive cars in Europe that most Americans would not even consider cars. I drive a VW Golf, the most popular car in Europe, which would at best be considered a lawnmower in the States.

Yeah. If you pass on a manual gearbox, you can drive a manual and an automatic so nobody learns on automatics.

4 years ago I got my first ever automatic, a 3l VW Touarag diesel. I don't think I'd go back to getting a manual. Drive anywhere urban or main motorway in the UK now during a peak time and you're guaranteed a few miles of stop/start traffic that is a pain in the arse to do on a manual (at least in the South East of the UK).

It has a paddle shift as well but I don't think I've ever used that except by accident.