re: Driving a manual

I drive a manual everyday

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A lot less wear on your brakes.

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The reduction in brake pad/rotor wear is at the expense of increased piston ring wear.

I tried just for giggles and failed miserably.

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What do you get out of this?

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I don't have to try to downshift or ride the clutch at any point. Once I begin slowing down for the turn, I'm in neutral until the end of the turn

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I make a lot of turns in neutral once I have a feel for what gear to throw it back into as I come out of the turn.

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Going through a turn without the transmission in gear gives up a potentially important amount of car control.

Or, just slow down enough to be under power and plow through the corner...guess it depends on what speeds you’re trying to carry.

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It's just easier

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I think downshifting like a normal person and keeping your car in gear is actually easier, and objectively safer. But you go ahead and do you.

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More just bragging rights that nobody cares to hear about.

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I just enjoy driving a standard particularly off road.

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Ok you're in 6th going 65. You need to slow to a rolling turn. You're riding the clutch, downshifting to the correct gear, easing off the clutch all while in the middle of making the turn. frick all that. Just take it out of gear, roll through your turn and throw it back in at as you come out. It's just easier. If I need power I can put it back in gear at any time

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This is really dumb

Smh...agreed. My .02 cents on why I like manual transmissions and why I think they're "better", and then I'm done. Maybe some Google searcher years out will find the thread and take something away from it (which is how I found this dump and why I really do love it like a hobo loves dumpster diving).

When you drive a manual every day for NOT very long, you easily and subconsciously guage how fast to go before shifting into neutral AND you do so without losing forward momentum while turning. It, nor any other traffic maneuver performed by a manual operator (e.g. rolling stops while in neutral) can be effectively explained to a concise point: It must be demonstrated, but once so, whether in heavy traffic, wide open streets, flat land or steep hills, it comes naturally. (And starting on hills and compensating for them ought not have any bearing on a driver of a manual vehicle; if it does, he is still learning).

The purpose for doing that (and other techniques like it) is simple: It reduces wear and tear on your clutch and its components because those are the weakest links in a manual transmission, and/or it also increases fuel mileage. If you do it all the time (which indicates proper technique and also experience), then all of those maneuvers build up to a sum total that can- and will- drastically increase clutch life, as well as fuel mileage. An example: Put your vehicle in neutral and let off the gas and watch your fuel mileage readout: it goes up to, basically, infinity. Now think: a manual transmission operator can (and does) do this dozens and dozens of times a day- but subconsciously. A basic premise of driving a manual transmission on any machine is that you do not ride the clutch.


Again, the reactions become subconscious, BUT, if an action causes your brain to say, "Hey we need gearing again here." then you simply put the damned thing back into gear, AND you are going to do it before your mind has time to ponder the thought: there is no thinking about the reaction to the action causing it, and that is the difference between driving and operating, and it is why my children will learn to drive a manual when starting off.

A manual transmission is better bc it turns a driver, especially a novice, into an operator, and good operating saves lives and property: they learn to think before they act so that later on they can act before they think. E.g., how fast will he need to go through gears (and can he do it) if he were to pull out "now": That time alone could save his life by delaying the decision altogether when it would've been disastrous. In due time, he lives to learn what the prudent decision is.

As a driver of a manual vehicle, you are literally compelled to be aware of what you're doing, because it won't "go" without you telling it when/where and how- that alone is an inherent safeguard for an activity that is incredibly dangerous. A good heavy machinery operator can save his life many times over by reacting without thinking; whereas a driver died while thinking (or not thinking).

The fact that you're having to justify these incredibly common and accepted methods (and completely natural to an experienced person operating a manual transmission) against the downvoting novice-yet-expert-manual-drivers is proof enough that the OP's question has been answered: It's a dying skillset, but by no means is it rendered obsolete, that is nonsense.

Manual vehicles aren't any better or worse than autos, nor do they indicate your manliness or lack of common sense, or how much pussy you get, or that they're superior in performance- or any of that but the fact alone that there's contention one way or the other is proof enough that it is an acquired skill. Taking a chit is easy, universal, and hopefully it comes naturally. There are no OT debates on the acquired skill of greasing the bowl with a Havana Omelet. But learning to drive a manual does require some dedication, but it's super easy. Get it out of first gear and the rest comes easy, and you're a better operator of a vehicle because of it.

I for one will never go without a manual truck and at least one playtime car. Manuals are fun, and in NoN-sUpEr CaRs, they put you in the driver's seat of a vehicle that would otherwise be as fun to drive as watching piss melt a snowpack.