Poll: Manual Trans Drivers: How Old Are You?

I voted but I have a second gen...

 

Haha, perfect.
She can drive stick, she just can't offroad for crap. I just know that ONE time she'd have to drive for me, she'd get stuck somewhere.

 

39 years old. Every one of the 18 cars I have owned is manual including the PRO arriving in two weeks. The only automatics I drive is are 70 foot, 60,000 pound ladder truck and my wife's Honda Element.

 

I have never owned an automatic vehicle. This is my first truck and the availability of the manual was a big reason I bought the Tacoma. I have owned all Honda vehicles before this and still have a 6MT TSX.

 

My truck is auto but 7 of my previous 8 vehicles were manual transmission and my first car was a '75 Mercury Comet with a 302 boss engine and 3 on the tree

 

All of the above reasons, but also a personal one: my dad always had a manual transmission, and before I learned to drive he would let me shift from the passenger seat while he worked the clutch. Later, he taught me to drive on a manual. Driving a manual always makes me think fondly of him.

Edited to add, I'm 40. And not wearing pants.

 

62 yrs old. Learned to drive on a manual. Heck!! That's all we had back then. Seems like only the rich folk had autos!! The last 16 yrs, our vehicles have been autos. So nice to be back driving a stick. I think the Tacoma shifts just fine. My only complaint is the stub of a gas pedal. It is so short, bottom edge sits higher than the brake pedal. Can't do a proper heel-toe. And the pedals are too far apart so I can't do ball of foot on brake, right edge of foot on gas, either. Other than that, I love it!!!

 

35 yrs old and have had manuals since I started driving at 16. My last car had a CVT which wasn't the worst thing to have since I spent most my time in traffic (almost 50K miles in 2 years), but I quit that job, moved to the mountains and got back into a M/T truck! Couldn't be happier! Good to feel in control again!!

 

i thought i was the only one who had that complaint about the go pedal. well, not really a proper complaint but at least I'm not the only one!

 

Have you explored any options to make HT possible? I wonder if you could bend the gas pedal to position it closer to the brake?

 

i have not and probably won't, because i have a bit if a commitment to not do any mods that can't be fully reversed. this is the first vehicle I've not gone nuts on. so I'm just adapting to what i have now. saving heel toe for the weekend nowadays.

 

Thanks. I guess I'll have to learn Ricky Rudd's HT method. Looks awkward, but you can't argue against success!

 

My first car was a 5 speed 1984 Mazda glc. Yes, it was a great little car. That was in 1993.
Transitioned into a brand new 1999 ford escort that was a very dependable car as well. 5 speed. Amazing on gas!
I drove a dodge neon for a while that was a stick too.
I had a 2004 acess cab Tacoma that was an automatic.
Now driving a 2016 double cab trd sport which is the 6 speed and I like it.
I feel like I am in more control. I had a squeaky clutch all summer in it, but in the fall and winter it has been silent.

I came from a family of manual transmission drivers.... we had a mid 80s sr5 pick up that was a stick, and a Mazda 626 which was a shifter too....

 

26-35.

1990 Honda Accord LX - 5MT
2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STi - 6MT
1993 Toyota 4WD Xtracab - 5MT
2013 Toyota Tacoma TRD OR AccessCab - 5AT
1999 Chevrolet Corvette - 6MT
2016 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road DoubleCab - 6MT

Wife still can't drive manual...I figured I'd get the 4-door as a family friendly hauler and at least then I can take the future small humans if her Jeep is in the shop. The 5AT in the 1st Tacoma made sense at the time, but I always regretted not going 6MT then, and when the opportunity presented itself to back to a MT, I jumped.

My funny MT vs AT story involves my 1st car, my 1990 Honda Accord. I had done pretty much everything you could do to a car outside of swapping the motor/transmission to something better and learned everything on that car, how to drive, how to drive stick, how to wrench poorly, etc, etc. At one point my Mom briefly had a 1990 Honda Accord EX 4AT and I'd borrow it everyone once and awhile (it had a sunroof, I did like it on warm nights) and since it was the identical car, I can't tell you how many times I used the imaginary clutch. I definitely shifted it into park one time coming up to a stop and would regularly shut it off in drive after I pulled into a parking space.

I had a probably 3 year period where I hardly drove manual after about 10 years of driving solely manuals as the Tacoma was my DD and I drove my STi probably 200-300 miles in two years, if I had to guess, so after I got the Vette and new Tacoma I was rustier than I'd like to admit. It's amazing how it's back to being second nature though, I can't tell you the last time I had to think about anything involving shifting.

 

29 and I will keep driving manuals as long as possible. I learned to drive in a manual and I hope to teach my future kids how to drive a manual.

'93 V6 Z24 Cavalier 3AT (got it as a cheap first car)
'95 Ranger 4.0 V6 5MT
'86 VW Rabbitt Convertible 5MT (project/summer/money-pitt car)
'11 WRX 5MT
'17 TRD OR Taco 6MT

It is quite funny to see people so shocked when they find out my new truck is a manual. Even funnier when I tell them I had to order it.

 

39

All but one of mine have been manuals. My first was a 3 on the tree in a 73 Ford Bronco. Put a shifter on the column and people get really confused. I just like the way the vehicles with MT drive. It was a pain in the ass when I had knee surgery though...

 

Why would someone vote more than once? Question seems pretty cut and dry

 

No pants!

 

You make a good point

 

Any UPSers over the age of 55 can operate those transmissions.