Just before the student takes his driving test he says to his

[kairos12]

instructor:

"I wanted to learn how to drive a stick shift, but I couldn't find the manual."

[brush]

1. Good one. I wonder if one can learn to drive a stick by the book?

I guess so...it would be by much trial and error though.

A parent or older sybling as instructor is how most used to learn. Now hardly anyone drives a stick anymore...only trucks and some sporting cars come with them.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. I drive a 2017 Honda Fit.

Stick shift.

They are harder and harder to find, sadly. I'm 75, have always and only driven a stick, and long ago decided that when I can no longer drive one it will clearly be time to give up driving.

Plus, I'm pretty sure I'll never be carjacked.

[peacebuzzard]

3. mine is a 2010.

considering the age, it is in good shape; only 110K. I don't drive automatics.
never a problem with this one; it's cheap transportation.

[hlthe2b]

5. My father was pissed at my decision to buy my first car. He dropped me off at the dealership but...

left it to me to figure out how to drive it home (and this was in a major Mid-Atlantic East Coast city with its share of steep grades and traffic). I'd not driven a stick before but had seen enough others do so and I knew the gist. I was 17 years old and working part-time while finishing high school.

Well, woe to anyone behind me that day but after stalling out (in a bit of a panic) at 4 or 5 stoplights but still managing not to lose control uphill or (worse) downhill, I learned what I needed to know by the time I did get home--at even better, managed not to burn out the clutch. LOL

Now, I am not infrequently amused and in wonder that the few times I've had to take a manual transmission vehicle into a dealership, I've had to drive it on the lift because the youngsters may know how to work on them, but they sure as hell don't know how to drive them. (And I live in 4WD off-road heaven in Colorado, so go figure...? )

[brush]

6. Good story. Trial and error and you learn. Amazing that you live in off-road Colo...

and the youngsters can't drive a stick. Don't tell me they're making off-road automatic shifts now?

That makes no sense.

[hlthe2b]

7. Yeah, apparently automatics are preferred for slow speed "rock-crawling" while manuals still

the pick for mud and ruts (or like that new Jeep commercial, sand dune driving)... So, manuals are still out there but seem to be few learning to drive them.

[AllaN01Bear]

4. ohh ooo hooo. lol

[JoseBalow]

8. I learned to drive a manual in a '70 Maverick with 3-on-the-tree

A three-speed with a steering column shifter. What fun!

[soldierant]

9. I drove a stick,

some on the wheel, most on the floor, until I was in my fifties, and arthritis hit my left knee (I'm sure it hit there early because I had sprained my left ankle at 30.) I still have the knowledge - when I was looking for my current car I test drove one), and the knee doesn't hurt that bad any more, but I've lost the millisecond reflexes (and who knows when the knee is fgoing to have a flare-up.)

[Niagara]

10. Manuals transmissions really grind my gears ....

[Marthe48]

11. I told my daughter

She tried not to laugh, but she did