As someone who learned driving using a manual transmission car, automatic transmission is much better for city driving, I hated having to be careful with the clutch in stop and go city traffic, my left leg would get so sore after a while, plus I’ve stalled the engine more than once by letting the clutch go too fast.
Learned with and still using stick.
I think it was a Renault Megane. Hopeless car. Left it outside in the cold one night. Every bit of wiring had shorted and if i turned on the wipers, the lights would flicker and the radio turned on.
I forget what the cat is even called, but it was an old Subaru hatchback. I wanna say GT? Maybe there’s a number… I dunno but it was a tiny lil thing.
Haven’t given one since then, though. And I didn’t do too well with it either, but I am not a car guy, and I don’t drive in crazy road situations that would make it useful.
I’m still glad I learned that way though, as my cars since then made more sense to me. At least until now, since I have a hybrid with a CVT.
Nissan vanette and ford focus. Don’t miss either of those and have an automatic now. I still drive a friend’s van from time to time which has a clutch, whoch is good so I don’t forget how to drive it. Although it still feels completely natural since I drove manual for 2 decades.
I learned on a 1st gen Saturn. That’s before GM ruined the brand. It had a good deal of pickup to it, and was a lot of fun in the snow.
I don’t miss it though. If I lived somewhere I could joyride with zero hills, traffic or parallel parking, sure. Otherwise? It’s not worth it.
OG Mini. So, yes, had a manual clutch. Now, 40-something years later I’m driving an automatic for the first time because they don’t make the car I wanted at the spec. I wanted in a manual.
When I was 15 in the 90s, every adult in the family, and adult friends of the family, said “You’re 15? Let’s go drive for an hour or two!” I’m pretty sure that, legally, a parent was supposed to be with me, but I guess any random adult was close enough.
I just added up 14 different vehicles I “learned on,” including an old pickup with “three on the tree”, a Corvette, a 280z turbo, a 68 Chevelle, an International Scout. The rest were boring vehicles. If I remember correctly, 9 were manuals.
1982 SAAB 900. No turbo, no sunroof. No frills. Still a fun car to drive. Drove it till the motor gave out just shy of 1,500,000 miles on the ODO
I didn’t learn to drive in a vehicle with a clutch, but I did learn to drive vehicles with clutches! I love manual transmission cars. Been fighting the urge to make a poor financial decision and scoop one up before they’re gone.
Suzuki Samurai FTW
Learned to drive on this bad boy:
Then my first car was this beauty:
It has hydrologic suspensions, it’s cool AF. Got it 10yo and 230000km and drove it until it died into a cloud of smoke 😢 RIP
Oh, these “let’s get people to reveal their password reset question” Facebook campaigns again…
My first car was a 1972 Toyota Corolla! I fondly remember driving my first pet, Max, on good ol’ Pine Lane, where I grew up, to go see my mother Joan Hart, who retook her maiden name after divorcing my father!
I learned to drive in a big ass truck, but I did recently get my first manual transmission car. It’s not that hard to learn I don’t think.
I have my commercial driver’s license. Driving an 18 wheeler is an order of magnitude harder, but even that is not too hard once you know the constraining rules. I think it is harder to stay in a minimum width lane than it is to shift an 8 speed with 3 splitters and no synchromesh. The rev band is only around 2k RPM, and you only have around a 200 RPM window, with a 50 RPM sweet spot, where the gears will engage without grinding or shutting out the gate entirely. Cars are quite easy by comparison. Driving a tractor trailer, then getting into a regular manual car makes the car seem laughable. It really isn’t hard at all.
My first car was a '73 VW Super Beetle.
Yep. Still have two stick cars. They’re not dead yet.
