My driving school had 2002 Corollas. Had a lot of problems to get the „feel“ for the clutch and after I mastered that the most challenging thing for me was starting on a hill using the handbrake. Auto-Hold these days is truly a blessing :)
Yeah I learned with a clutch, its very useful to have that skill in many countries where automatic is not available or much cheaper to rent.
Most people not in the US. We just call it ‘driving’
It’s slowly starting to become a lost art though, there’s definitely more and more automatics around, starting with all electric cars.
Good
It’s not just automatics anymore, but also
- CVTs, especially forneconoboxes that used to be manual
- electronic shifters, sort of automatic
- automatic, with more and more gears
- EVs don’t need a transmission
The thing is there’s no longer much of a price difference and manual is no longer the efficient choice
The change is coming for you guys as well. I’ve travelled to Colombia on a regular basis over the past 20 years or so, and transmisión mecánica has gone from nearly ubiquitous to almost exclusively an econobox option. Maybe performance cars as well I guess? Wouldn’t know about those
Every car has a clutch. Not all of them are manual.
Most automatics use a torque converter instead of a clutch.
Torque converters (at least nowadays) have a clutch
Show me you’re old without telling me you’re old.
My HEV Corolla does not
What is this, some kind of poll to get the average age of Lemmy?
I remember when it was absurd to pay $10 for a banana.
It’s a good way to get answers to Password Recovery questions that people forgot they used when signing up to some website or email service 15 years ago but are still active on
Right. Most of you are from the US. Argentinian here, everybody drives manual. I even wanted to buy an automatic last time but my mechanic was like " Don’t even look at it. There is none in this city who can fix those. It might be a great value, but if it breaks, its done for"
My grandfather had a rule for his kids, and my mom passed it down to me.
You can’t have a license until you can:
- Check and fill all the vehicle fluids
- Perform an oil change
- Change a tire
- Drive a manual transmission
- Change belts and hoses
I learned on a stick. I even did some learning on my uncle’s beetle with a broken clutch (they were reasonably optional on the OG Bug). And I have not been behind of the wheel of one since. Still glad I learned all that stuff.
Now, dismantle this car and put it back together, you have one hour!
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!
Hello my friend! I have some great job opportunities for you in Myanmar!
Here in Spain it’s estimated that automatic transmission is between 30 and 50% of cars. No official numbers have been released.
So most people have learnt with a clutch. Definitely everyone who has had their license for more than 10 years.
Common password recovery question…
Still do.
Me too, I like having full control of the car. Plus it’s fun to go down slopes in neutral. Wheeeeeee
Yeah, don’t do that.
What? Why not?
Because you’re not in full control of the car, which makes the comment I replied to rather ironic.
You get a bit of engine braking when you keep it in gear, which reduces wear on the brakes. Modern engines use basically zero fuel when they’re under compression, whereas an idling engine uses some fuel. On loose or wet surfaces especially, you’re also less likely to lock up the brakes and get into a skid. To name a few reasons.
Thanks for the info, I really didn’t know that, I used to do it because I intuited I’d save more gas by doing so, especially because I see the RPM hand go down when I’m not in gear. But I now I know that’s completely unrelated because as you say, the engine still spins, but it’s not using fuel. I just watched a couple of videos explaining in more detail. Thanks!
Happy to help. Driving a manual properly is kind of my thing.
Lot of people searching “clutch” right now
if we do our test on a manual we’re allowed to drive automatics too. But not the other way round. So i learned on a manual. I now drive an electric without any gears to switch, much less a clutch (but still have a classic mini too)
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.
Sounds like your car was possessed
That’s just French cars
I mean the only reason French cars are still made is to make Italian cars look good.
Renault of that era are complet garbage, but still sold a tonne. This badly damaged their reputation and they took a long time to recover.
Everyone? How else are you going to change gear?
I think a more interesting question would be:
How many people learned to drive in a car with a manual Choke?
I’m currently learning to drive in a car without a clutch (an EV)
Had a dirtbike with one, that counts right?
I had an old Series era Landrover as a paddock basher when I was a kid, that had a manual choke. It also had a backup crank handle for starting the engine which I had to use occasionally as I was using starter batteries which had been retired from usage in the family cars, a gearbox with no synchro on first/second, and the foot brake didn’t work. Would recommend, I definitely had fun.
Lawnmowers count? lol
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.
Yeah I finally went over to the dark side because of bostons horrendous stop and go traffic
Of course I’d use transit whenever I could. However I lived to the east and had to drive through Boston to get home from anywhere else. There were times when it took hours to drive just a couple miles: I couldn’t deal with manual transmission for that
