Driving a manual transmission

[Manual Mac]

This is one of my manual transmission vehicles.
A Dodge 4 speed with Hi & Low range 4 WD.
I bought it when the U.S. Forest Service put it out to pasture about 25 yrs ago.
i don’t drive it much, but can’t bear to part with it.
besides, not too many people would know how to shift it.
Notice it has chains on the front wheels.
A long & muddy story…..

 

[pdentrem]

Manual transmissions will completely die off as hybrid and all electric vehicles take over. My last two cars were MT, 88 Beretta GT and 2007 Cobalt SS, both bought new. My lady’s 2015 Corolla is a MT, and it was hard to get one. My Camry being a hybrid has a CVT as that is how they come. Even motorcycles are going AT as well!
Pierre

 

[Aaron_W]

Strongly prefer manual, but it is becoming almost impossible to get anymore, particularly if buying used because so few people buy a manual anymore. I always drove a car or truck with a manual until the past few years, my wife can drive one but prefers an automatic so her car has been an auto since 2000. I finally gave in in 2018 and now both of our primary vehicles are automatics.

This is one of my manual transmission vehicles.
A Dodge 4 speed with Hi & Low range 4 WD.
I bought it when the U.S. Forest Service put it out to pasture about 25 yrs ago.
i don’t drive it much, but can’t bear to part with it.
besides, not too many people would know how to shift it.
Notice it has chains on the front wheels.
A long & muddy story…..

We had a station utility truck of that body style in 2000, and had a pair of brush trucks (a 92 and 93) when I got hired permanent in Arizona 1998. Those were good trucks.
The USFS stayed with manual transmissions in the larger trucks until 2001 when most medium duty truck makers stopped offering them. Usually a 5 speed with a split rear axle. On the smaller trucks the manuals stuck around until about 2010. In the later years it started to become a problem as knowing how to drive a stick started to become a specialized skill.

 

[Gnpenning]

I greatly prefer a manual transmission. Learned to drive on an old International pickup that was so loose the only time I needed the clutch was to get started. The heavy trucks I drove were all either 5 & 3s or 5 & 4s. Macks had the easiest shifting 18 speed boxes. Flick through the gears w/o ever needing the clutch. Way faster than using a clutch. Learning to split shift the two sticks takes a bit of practice.

I can relate. I currently have 2 medium duty ranch trucks with 5x4 trans. Steer with my belly and use both hands to shift it seems like. Huge fan of 18 spds. Didn't care for the reverse 9 in a Ford dump truck. 10, 13,15 spds in heavy trucks were fine, I had a job at one point that had me in and out of several different trucks and pieces of equipment in the same day. It got old after awhile. Currently have a 3 on the tree as well. I have a mixture of manuals and automatics, depends on what I'm doing. My hot rod is a manual which is part of the fun along with my diesel pickup I use for hauling. Regular driving I'm happy just to put it in gear and go.

So the answer is, it depends.

 

[rwm]

 

[westerner]

Sitting at a light in downtown. Pushed the pedal in to get second in my 71 f-250 with the 460 I transplanted. Linkage snapped and dumped the clutch like I was at the races. Lucky I didn't climb into the trunk of the car ahead of me.
Starter was a bit miffed, but once I was rolling I never used the clutch anyway.

Both my kids, ages 30 and 27, can double clutch with the best of us. Absolutely NONE of their peers have any notion of what we are talking about.

 

[homebrewed]

All our current vehicles are manual. 2000 6-cylinder Toyota Tacoma, '96 VW golf and '98 VW jetta. Oh, and the tractor. And a couple of currently undriveable VW bugs, a '63 and a '68. The '63 still is a 6-volt job. The tractor sometimes needs to be double-clutched to change gears but that's par for the course. We view all of them as being pretty much theft-proof because thieves these days don't know how to use a manual transmission.

That said, options for replacements don't seem to include manual transmissions unless you want to buy a $ports car.

 

[Dhal22]

Sitting at a light in downtown. Pushed the pedal in to get second in my 71 f-250 with the 460 I transplanted. Linkage snapped and dumped the clutch like I was at the races. Lucky I didn't climb into the trunk of the car ahead of me.
Starter was a bit miffed, but once I was rolling I never used the clutch anyway.

Both my kids, ages 30 and 27, can double clutch with the best of us. Absolutely NONE of their peers have any notion of what we are talking about.

Agree on clutch not being used. It's just for starting and stopping, after that not really needed.

 

[Aukai]

My wife had a 454 5spd for her DD late 90s-2000s, the toys are 5 spds, DDs are auto.

 

[gonzo]

Now I have a six speed tranny but i have to admit that six speeds are pretty much overkill as I often skip a unneeded gear or two .
However it makes me ill to consider that someday I may have to switch to automatic.
Time may keep me from that indignity however. I wonder if I could have a clutch installed on my tombs stone?