I am a car enthusiast and it is not my fault I cannot drive a manual

"Alternate Apex" (alternateapex) 04/22/2015 at 17:43 • Filed to: drive

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You’re a car enthusiast and cannot drive a manual?! (You are currently asking.)

Yes. You will read why.

Your parents cars are usually the cars you learned driving in right? Well let us hit the checklist on that. My mothers cars since my birth were ‘92 Chevy Cavalier, ‘04 Chevy Impala, ‘07 Chevy Impala, all automatic. My dads cars were ‘94 Dodge Dakota, ‘98 Dodge Dakota, ‘04 Chevy S10, all automatic. So no option to learn manual from my parents there.

I have driven a good bit of cars in my life. I go to car shows, traveling track days, and have a relatively large family through marriage. None of their cars are manuals, all automatic are cars. I track the cars I have driven via spreadsheet like a nerd. As of this article, 36 cars, 8 of which are performance/drivers cars, one of which is my first ever car which I purchased, I will touch on some of the performance/drivers cars then mention my personal car.

First exotic I ever drove was through Xtreme Xperience at Summit Point Motorsports Park, WV, it was a yellow Ferrari F430 (pictured). This car had a Ferrari F1 gearbox. No chance of manual there as it would not be cost effective for this traveling track day to have a set of manual cars as many weekend cannot drive auto either.

Next exotic I drove was a Lamborghini Gallardo LP-560-4 Spyder (pictured) through Gotham Dream Cars in an autocross format. No manual there either only Lamborghini E-Gear.

Next exotic/race car I drove many would be jealous of as the rare ability to drive one. It was again through Gotham Dream Cars, this time a Ferrari F430 Challenge (pictured) meaning RACE CAR. This one is significant, because it was paddle shift only, no auto option, but still no manual.

Even further I will be driving a Porsche 991/911 GT3 (PDK transmission), a Ferrari 458 Italia (paddles), Lamborghini Huracan (paddles) and maybe not definite a Nissan GT-R (paddles) all at the track.

I drove a lot of these cars then it came time for my to purchase my first car. As a car enthusiast it was going to be a performance/drivers car. I love V8s. I hate Mustangs and the Challenger is too big for even me (I am over 6 feet tall, so that is bad). So I purchased a Camaro SS (pictured). Spend more than $35k to “learn” to drive manual? I do not think so, so I got the auto/paddle shift version and I drive it in manual mode 75% of the time. Being an enthusiast, I wanted the 1LE performance package from the factory but it is not possible on the auto. So I have been upgrading it slowly to a SS 1LE. Currently it has the suede wheel and suede auto shifter from the ZL1, the 1LE strut tower brace, 1LE sway bars, and the 1LE front splitter.

So as you read, the reason I cannot drive manual not because I suck at driving. I go to the track days. I drive 400 hp car on in my opinion an amazing drivers road daily to and from work. I just was given ZERO chance to learn in my driving career.

When auto journalists gawk at cars that do not come in manual it makes no difference to me.

You’re going to think oh there had to be someones car to borrow, nope.

Fun Fact to end on, my dream car is a manual. The Ferrari F40.

Matthew Phillips > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 17:47

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I’m always shamed for not knowing how to drive stick, but it all comes down to the parents.mmy dad grew up driving farm equipment so he knows how to drive stick, my mom on the other hand refuses to drive and learn to drive stick.

The reason I don't have a stick is that I put into consideration that if my parents car goes down my mom can take my car out. As much as I want to learn stick and I will, it's not happening anytime soon.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 17:48

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I bought a 1993 Ford ranger with a brand new clutch (Only 1000 miles on it when I bought it) to learn stick. I didnt even have a license when I bought it. My parents cars were all autos, so I learned how to drive on an auto. I daily drive my truck and as of now I have 95% more driving time in a stick than an auto. Just buy a cheap car, my truck cost me $3000.

TheOnelectronic > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 17:48

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My solution in your situation would be, and was, to get a manual when it was time to get my first car. I’m not sure I follow your reasoning for not doing so.

dogisbadob > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 17:49

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it’s ok, at least you still got to drive some awesome cars.

nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 17:51

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Been driving 12 years and driven stick maybe 10 times. Odds are my next will be stick, not because #ManualMasterRace but because thatll be the only option.

If I HAD to I could, the understanding is there and I have enough coordination (plus I’m halfway there since I converted the Stringbean to autostick). What’s really bizarre is I’ll quite literally have dreams where I’m driving a full stick easy as could be.

Brian Silvestro > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 17:53

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/says he was given zero chance to learn

/has opportunity to buy new manual car but doesn’t

/buys new automatic car for unknown reason

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 17:56

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Find friend with manual. Learn.

Find a manual shitbox rental. Learn.

Purchase beater shitbox on CL. Learn.

I learned when I was 14. It took me 5-10 minutes to pick up on it. That was on a ‘78 Subaru, and that was far from the easiest thing I’ve ever driven. I am not saying you have to, or need to have a manual daily, but it is an injustice to yourself for not learning. You never know when the opportunity to drive a F40 might arise, and it would be a shame to have to say no.

Jonathan Harper > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 17:57

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You’d be a better driver if you learned to drive manual.

I don’t doubt your enthusiasm, it is obvious from this post. But if you learned to drive stick you’d have a more holistic understanding of the car, and would likely have a better understanding of the things that are going on “behind the scenes” when you pull for an upshift or push for a downshift.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 17:58

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If you buy a car and make excuses (excuses other than being disabled or an amputee) for not buying a manual version... it IS your fault.

So I purchased a Camaro SS (pictured). Spend more than $35k to “learn” to drive manual? I do not think so, so I got the auto/paddle shift version and I drive it in manual mode 75% of the time. Being an enthusiast, I wanted the 1LE performance package from the factory but it is not possible on the auto. So I have been upgrading it slowly to a SS 1LE. Currently it has the suede wheel and suede auto shifter from the ZL1, the 1LE strut tower brace, 1LE sway bars, and the 1LE front splitter.

Sorry... but if you want to learn how to drive a stick, and you want a car that is only available with a stick...

that is 35,000+ reasons to learn how to drive a stick properly, and quickly.

And if you can afford that, then you could likely afford to buy a 1000$ beater with a manual gearbox, and teach yourself how to coordinate your feet and your right hand. And then sell it on for likely the same money a few months later.

It isn’t that difficult, and millions of people before now have taught themselves, usually with minimal instruction from other people, how to manipulate a transmission.

shifting an electronic fake-stick does not qualify. That is merely making suggestions to a transmission control computer.

I don’t really mean for this to sound as harsh as it likely does... but this seems like a long series of excuse-making, not reasoning.

For someone who owns a brand new Camaro, with modding money left over, and has had opportunities to drive other people’s exotic cars....

You get no sympathy from me.

If you wanted to drive a stick, you would, and it would probably only have taken days to learn the fundamentals and weeks/months to be quite proficient at it.

If you don’t want to drive a stick... that is your business, and other people’s opinions of that implication are theirs... but admit it to yourself, at least. Don’t hide behind excuses.

Textured Soy Protein > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 17:59

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This explanation feels like a cop out to me. If you really want to learn to drive stick, it’s pretty simple:

Find a friend who drives stick and beg them to give you lessons.

Buy a stick shift car and figure it out for yourself. Hell, I’m sure there’s youtube videos that show how to do it. Even if you’re buying a brand new car, you’re not going to fry the clutch just figuring out how to drive stick. These things require a little bit of practice but there’s no black art to it.

I learned to drive only on automatic cars because that’s all my family had. One of my friends had an old ‘87 Sentra with a manual transmission and he gave me a couple lessons on it but I was hardly very proficient at it.

A few years later I bought a stick shift car, and barely made it home with the thing, but I did halfway decent enough thanks to those lessons from my friend. I kept driving it and I figured it out fine enough.

I’m not a driving god. If I can do it, you can do it.

(I have also been that friend who drives stick and happily gives lessons to non-stick-driving friends who want to learn. Except right now I have 2 cars and neither one has a clutch pedal.)

472CID > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 18:22

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If you don’t want to learn, then whatever. But if you do you can rent a manual econobox for like $30, there’s really no excuse.

Jonathan Harper > 472CID 04/22/2015 at 18:24

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Well said.

Flat Six > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 18:25

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You keep saying you cannot drive manual. That is probably incorrect - you can drive manual, just have not tried it yet. I bet you could learn in one day.

yamahog > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 18:30

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I just bought an SS 1LE. It’s the first car I’ve ever owned with a manual transmission. Just gotta swallow your pride and learn to drive. ¯\(°_o)/¯

Also, and I don’t know how to put this nicely.... but why did you bother spending money for the 1LE splitter if you’re going to completely ruin any downforce improvements by TACKING A LICENSE PLATE ONTO THE LEADING EDGE???

Opposite Locksmith > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 18:30

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I dropped 17 grand on a MT equipped WRX before I could drive one man!

Cop out!

Axial > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 04/22/2015 at 18:40

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Fun part is that the torquier car will be easier to learn stick on. Short of doing something utterly moronic like dropping the clutch at high RPMs and roasting it, it’s really hard to fuck it up. The car can take a couple hundred rough miles from a new stick driver no problem. Just gotta bite the bullet and, as the kids say, “duuu eeet!”

yamahog > Brian Silvestro 04/22/2015 at 18:41

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They have to be trolling. This can’t be for real. It’s totally OK to have no desire to learn how to drive manual, but to be like “LOOK AT ALL THE MEANS I HAVE BUT IT’S NOT MY FAULT I CAN’T” just seems.... weak.

Brian Silvestro > yamahog 04/22/2015 at 18:42

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Yeah, I just don’t get it. He literally said he wanted a 1LE, but “couldn’t” get one.

WRXerFish - WRX-Wing pilot > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 18:54

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I learned to drive stick in a brand new car I purchased last year for around 35k.

Best decision for me. I had very little manual experience. I love it and have suggested this method to friends.

yamahog > Brian Silvestro 04/22/2015 at 18:56

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Right?? As Travis will surely mention in his review of my car (coming soon!), I was sooooo scared of messing anything up during the break-in cycle, stalled out all over the place for the first few days... and then I got over it! Three weeks later: creeping through traffic on slight hills, no sweat. Granted, I’ve been rowing (toe-ing?) my own way on 2 wheels since age 12, but it was still intimidating as hell driving off with a brand new 426HP $41k bright yellow cop magnet and a tricky clutch.

Brian Silvestro > yamahog 04/22/2015 at 19:05

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Clearly he just doesn’t want to learn.

yamahog > Brian Silvestro 04/22/2015 at 19:07

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but yea.

desertdog5051 > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 19:33

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Yeah, I could not drive a manual...until I taught myself to drive it. My first and second cars were manuals. Parents cars were all auto’s. I learned. You are only offering weak excuses. Go back to Lambo School and ask again.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 20:04

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If you’ve bought a car, you’ve had a chance to learn, you just chose not to.

I learned by playing Hard Drivin in arcades when I was probably 8. Had no idea what I was doing, sometimes I didn't make it to the first turn before my time ran out, but I pumped in quarters until I figured out what the clutch did and how to use it. If you want it badly enough, you'll find a way to learn.

Frenchlicker > Brian Silvestro 04/22/2015 at 20:18

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So it's cool to buy a manual when you do not know how to drive a manual? How do you test drive it?

Brian Silvestro > Frenchlicker 04/22/2015 at 20:20

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you don’t?

Michael Maguire > 472CID 04/22/2015 at 20:24

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Just wanted to jump in here and say that is literally IMPOSSIBLE! I am from St. Louis and called every rental place in the area and I mean all of them. None of them carried manual transmission vehicles anymore.

Truly Depressing. The other thing that sucks in all my friends that do have sticks wouldn’t let their own mothers drive them to the hospital if they were having a heart attack in their car.

Frenchlicker > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 20:36

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Give me a break, I'm going to buy a car that is $10k less with no money left to mod on hand and I am making room to buy a beater stick to learn on. I used to make excuses too but there's a time where you have to reevaluate and say fuck it and quit being afraid of fucking up.

Officer Jim Lahey is not a real cop > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 21:37

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I got a quick lesson from my girlfriend’s aunt (in a car with a sticky clutch where I had to stick my toe under the pedal and pull it up the last couple inches).

Then I went and bought a Focus ST. Sales guy was super patient during the test drive and even gave me some pointers.

I’ve stalled it a handful of times over the past year, but it’s been so much fun learning, and so rewarding.

FrankAtlanta > 472CID 04/22/2015 at 21:42

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That's how my dad taught me...and how I've taught others...

Clown Shoe Pilot > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 22:11

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You’re not going to destroy a brand new manual transmission in the 15 minutes it takes to learn to drive one, or in the several weeks after that where you’re getting used to driving it.

So basically, you’re made of weak sauce. Man the fuck up.

Frenchlicker > Brian Silvestro 04/22/2015 at 22:13

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Isn’t it part of the mantra to test drive the hell out of a car beforehand around here? But let’s be honest, if you can buy a brand new car you could also drop $500-$1000 on a beater to learn on beforehand. So the point is invalid.

Brian Silvestro > Frenchlicker 04/22/2015 at 22:18

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Either way the original poster is not a good car enthusiast.

Frenchlicker > Brian Silvestro 04/22/2015 at 22:51

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I’ll agree especially if he thinks paddle shifters are a solid middle ground. I tried them out and kept forgetting about them, I’ve always driven old fashioned automatics, and they did the work if I forgot to.

Sweet Trav > Frenchlicker 04/22/2015 at 22:53

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I test drove the piss out of a Camaro SS with a stick to show her what it could do.

She’s a quick learner.

Sweet Trav > Axial 04/22/2015 at 22:54

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Actually the clutch in the Camaro is a tricky one, and despite a 3.70 gearset and lots of torque it is quite easy to stall.

Frenchlicker > Sweet Trav 04/22/2015 at 22:57

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Who is she? Do I have to read other comments to understand the context?

yamahog > Frenchlicker 04/22/2015 at 23:05

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To clarify, I knew how to drive manual and I was able to test drive one (hell finding a dealer with a 6spd Camaro SS on the lot though) before ordering my car. Just hadn’t owned one.

85reliantk > Alternate Apex 04/22/2015 at 23:17

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Ok mines more viable I can not drive stick however I’m only 16 none of my Family has sticks and I have anxiety issues and don’t like driving other people’s cars.

Frenchlicker > yamahog 04/22/2015 at 23:42

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I wasn't saying anything against you. It was kind of an honest question

yamahog > Frenchlicker 04/23/2015 at 06:11

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No worries, I wasn’t too clear on mine.

But I know of other people who had a manual-driving friend do the actual driving part of the test drive with the prospective buyer riding shotgun and asking their opinions.

Frenchlicker > yamahog 04/23/2015 at 09:22

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I don't trust other people's opinion on that stuff myself. One person could love something and another hate it. Car reviews are sometimes just like movies reviews. The other people are stupid and you are right type of thing.

yamahog > Frenchlicker 04/23/2015 at 12:09

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I’m the she :) I test drove it to see if I could live with the clutch, then let him take the wheel to flog it a bit.

Jonathan Harper > Brian Silvestro 04/24/2015 at 12:42

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Also clearly not interested in having a conversation. He replied to like, one of these comments?

Brian Silvestro > Jonathan Harper 04/24/2015 at 14:00

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dick