Ask HN: Do you drive stick shift?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25200083

by jelliclesfarm • 6 years ago

2 12 6 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

P.S: how can I conduct a poll here?

ddingus2• 6 years ago

I saw someone make comments others can upvote. Maybe edit your text while you can, and drop the vote choices, one line each, and capture the upvotes.

"Yes, I drive stick shift."

"Nope, all automatic."

Etc...

FWIW, I do drive stick, however current cars are automatic.

jelliclesfarm4• 6 years ago

Oh! Can I edit this post to make it a poll? Or should I make a separate post just for the poll?

Newbie w/HN polls here.

ddingus2• 6 years ago

Total noob here too. I just saw someone clever do it.

Sadly, I didn't keep a link. Was a week or maybe two ago.

mtmail• 6 years ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/newpoll

Is this a US specific question? In Germany 92% of cars sold are stick shift so driving automatic (usually means paying extra for the feature) would be the exception.

jelliclesfarm4• 6 years ago

Thanks for link.

If it’s a US specific question..not necessarily! Altho I think there is a sandwich generation here too who grew up learning stick and now used to automatic.

Tenhundfeld2• 6 years ago

I drive automatic now, but I miss stick sometimes. One of our family cars was a manual when I was a teen, 20 years ago.

I feel driving manual encourages a deeper focus on the road ahead and deeper connection with how your vehicle operates. You tend to plan ahead a bit more, be more aware of hills and curves, cars slowing down ahead, etc. – anything that'll make you need to switch gears. You could still have distracted driving, especially on highways, but driving stick lessens it, I think, though I have zero evidence to support that feeling.

jelliclesfarm4• 6 years ago

Is it easy to switch from manual to automatic ..on an everyday basis...or is it like muscle memory?

Tenhundfeld2• 6 years ago

Very easy to switch, in my experience. It is like muscle memory. It might take a few weeks to get comfortable with manual, but once you do, it doesn't require much thought to switch gears.

It's a sequence that just happens, similar to typing. You still need to think about what you're saying, etc., but you don't have to consciously think, "now I'm typing an S."

new23d• 6 years ago

I drive a manual for the simple reason I enjoy driving like one enjoys a sport. I am much more in control with the ability to shift into any gear just as I've thought about it, and keep it in that gear for as long as I deem necessary.

That brief moment in an automatic where the car figures out you wanted a change kills the experience of the machine being an extension of me.

simonblack• 6 years ago

I prefer to use gears, but the older I get, the lazier I get, so now it's an automatic.

No matter how good the automatic transmission is, it just can't anticipate.

Am I slowing down because there's a slow car in front of me temporarily, or will I actually come to a stop because of a red light?

I can see there's a sharp corner coming up, so I would have shifted down before it. That would both slow me down and give me torque to accelerate around the corner. The transmission can't see. So I will have to brake quite solidly to burn off my speed, wasting energy.

And so on. I used to love those twisty mountain roads when I had my SAAB and 5 gears. Now my automatic Merc isn't anywhere near as much fun.

Ask HN: Do you drive stick shift?

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