Manual Transmisson: not Female Friendly?
 

This is really random, but whatever...

I realized something the other day: I don't know any girls who can drive a manual transmission car. Has anyone else noticed this, or is it just me?

I personally hate automatics, and I'm worried that in the comming years they won't make stick-shift cars anymore. Seems fewer and fewer people bother to learn how to drive them...

I sure hope I'm wrong about all this...

I don't know a single girl who drives an automatic, they all have manuals... :edgartpg:

My aunt learned to drive in a manual transmission car, and that's all she drove for years - an issue that was rehashed when she tried to teach me to drive... but eventually we both gave up and went for automatic.

I don't really see why anyone would have a big issue with a manual transmission: it's not much harder than automatic, unless you count the fact that you're making more motions while driving.

I learned to drive in a car with a manual transmission, but then again so did most people I grew up with - male and female. Maybe it's a southern thing, but people around here really love to change gears.

I've had a couple of cars with manual transmissions since, but I hated them. I'm a multi-tasker and it's really hard to put on makeup, change the radio station, eat lunch and slap at your kids in the backseat while simultaneously changing gears. I prefer an automatic.

Why do you have to put on make-up while driving? Seems like something James Bond would do, was he female.

I don't know Aardark. There may be many things here we don't yet know about James Bond. He is a man of mystery afterall.

In which case most women in the James Bond world are lesbians.

I don't have a good excuse and it's dangerous, I'm sure. But I do it every day. I have a 45-minute drive to work, and just driving seems like a waste of time, being the multi-tasker that I am. I'm always doing a million things while I drive. =/

And only one thing when the husband is driving.

I don't know many people around here with manual transmissions. I don't have one, nor would I want to.

I vastly prefer manual transmission. Heck, I wish everyone drove one SPECIFICALLY so they couldn't talk on cell phones, put on makeup, eat, etc. while driving.

I can drive a manual, but only minimally. I've never OWNED one, but I was taught how to DRIVE one because I felt it was really important.

All members of my family, both male and female, know how to drive stick. My sister owns a stick, and she loves it.

I really want to own one at points. They say it makes driving feel more like "driving." But I also like taht when I drive my automatic Chevy Blazer, I don't have to worry about always having one hand free. God forbid I couldn't smoke while driving. ^_^

Both myself and my sister learned to drive on stick and my sister still drives stick to this day. She sucks at downshifting, but she gets the job done.

I'm actually saving for an automatic to manual swap here pretty soon. I get so bored driving around in an automatic having learned on a stick :(

Am I the only one who finds that female drivers are, in general, far worse drivers than men?

I was thinking about this topic. Women seem to want to take "the easy way out," maybe because they just don't want to know how the fucking shift gear works. Its just TOO MUCH WORK for them while they're talking on the phone or telling the kids in the back to SIT THE FUCK DOWN.

And they drive really badly. I am almost ALWAYS behind one who doesn't know what a goddamned signal light is for. And I end up screaming at her.

Or maybe its because minivans are almost all made with automatic transmissions. WHO KNOWS.

I learned how to drive on with a manual transmission. I really enjoyed it myself. I drove my stick shift truck for close to 7 years before it finally died and I ended up with an automatic. I'm very much tired of the automatic though.

I'm looking to buy a new Civic Si, which is only available with a 6 speed manual transmission, which will be 100% awesome and cool.

Double Post:
Yeah it does seem like women are not as good at driving as men, on average. Maybe it was because they spent their teen years, instead of driving themselves around, having their boyfriend drive them everywhere.

{:rock: @ generalizations}

Everyone in my family is required by my father to know how to drive a stick.
He has been holding onto an old (98?) Plymouth Neon with a stick just for the purpose of teaching my younger sister how to work a stick shift, when she got old enough.
I honestly love driving stick shifts, and interestingly enough, so does my sister... but then again she is a rather sporty and agressive individual.
My mom on the other hand is not too fond of them.

I've never learned how to drive manual but my sister has driven only manuals. (I think...I'm not sure if her Civic is a manual or not.)

Well they are, I thought this was a given? I especially have a beef against soccer moms in rediculous SUV's after a lady in a hummer ran me off the road on I-10 while she was on her cell phone =/

First off, I am very jealous. Second, make sure you get the Limited-Slip Differential so you can put all that mad power to the wheels yo. Seriously though, the LSD is a god-send for a car like a Civic.

I've got a handful of female cousins who have no problems with manual transmission, but outside my family, I know a grand total of two girls who can drive stick, and one of them just bought a new automatic.

It's come to the point that it's actually sexy to see a girl drive stick. It's like watching a girl kick ass in Street Fighter. We all know how often that happens.

You mean this?

I know that I can get the 18 inch alloy wheels, the front, side, and rear bottom moulding {they call them bottom spoilers on the site}, and the ipod link for like $23,000. If I just get the 18 alloys and ipod link, that will drop the price under $22,000, which wouldn't be bad at all, if I can sell my current car and put together a couple grand down payment. And then if I get a decent finance rate, I'll be looking at like $350 a month which is like no problem. I probably don't need to get the moulding since I have a deep water drainage gutter between the highway and my apartment and I'd just end up tearing the car up.

I've never met a female besides my Mum who could drive stick, and my Mum hated it. Recently I had to learn because the vehicles I drive at work are stick shift, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun they are. It makes you feel more powerful, and there's just something magic about getting onto the highway and shifting into fifth.

Stick shift cars are funner. More power and control. I am going to start learning stick since the new Camaro will be out and I want it in stick. Currently have an automatic, but would prefer stick.

As for women, well, it just really depends. Around here most like automatics, very very few drive stick.

I would rather drive a stick, because of that whole quicker acceleration thing, and it would also mean that I could finally drive my dad's s2000 and my boyfriend's camero, and there's nothing I love better than fast cars. Also better gas milage would be awesome. Unfortunately, since my mom can't drive stick, nothing at my house but the convertible is manual and no way am I learning on that. Joe promised he'd teach me on his truck at some point, but hasn't delivered yet.

Alot of girls I know CAN drive stick, but choose not to. Which is probably a good thing, cause driving while on a cell phone is dangerous enough without adding a manual into the mix as well.

It's called running late. I don't put on anything but lipstick in the car, but my boyfriend still gets annoyed at me for doing it.

I used to own a manual transmission car. I loved it! I don't like automatic cars because it's boring, just sitting there and hitting the gas and the brakes ocassionally. From here on out, every car I buy is going to be manual.