This troper has been driving since 1990 and has ''never'' owned an automatic car, or, until this January, a new one. The test drive of a Toyota Yaris went quite well; the clutch of the 13-mile car was a little sharper than his 169,000 mile existing whip, but that's to be expected, the others were too, and I settled on it. While the paperwork was going through, I read on an Internet forum that the Yaris is supremely easy to stall when brand-new, smiled to myself and thought, "''I'' didn't stall it". I stalled it twice in one mile on the way home from the dealership and dozens of times over the next 1000 miles until the clutch was broken in. No tach, my first drive-by-wire throttle and a much quieter engine than I was used to were also contributing factors. No regrets, though...once it's broken in, it's a nice piece of machinery. But man, that first thousand miles...

My parents, who are going through their third Yaris (change car every two years deal) could probably throw a few pointers.

This Troper prefers putting a performance Intake to hear the sound of the engine for just this reason. This Troper also has a car with a Carbon Kevlar clutch that bites with greater sensitivity and ferocity than a stock clutch.

This Troper heard a story about a friends father who, having recently received his driver's license, was given his father's sparkling new Mercedes, with automatic transmission. Having learned driving on a manual car, at autobahn speed he went through the motions of depressing the clutch and shifting into a higher gear. What actually happened was that he pressed the brake and shifted into reverse. Hilarity ensued.

This Troper was taught to drive stick, but first day I got the licence, my mom had me drive a long way to a factory via motorway, and had me pass cars and all other stuff you don't really learn at drivers ed. Her screaming at bad transitions and freezing at traffic lights left a trauma, and This Troper prefers driving automatic when possible.

My truck is a manual transmission model. When driving an automatic vehicle, I tend to grab for the shifter when stopping, only to find it not there. Reverse that, after months of using an automatic a few years ago, I had to switch. I would grab the windshield wiper control to put the manual car in "park".

Everything about switching to automatic is true for This Troper as well. Also, I find my left foot twitches around looking for the clutch a lot.

The boss of one of ThisTroper's friends was in the US for some months. After he returned, he went to the company's garage, started the car...and just nearly slammed it into the wall in front. On the next day, his reaction wasn't that good unfortunately. Result: 1 totally crashed car, which my friend just washed two hours before.

Four words: Clutch Pedal Interlock Switch.

Four more words: Engage Brain Before Ignition!

On a less smartass note, stalling a manual transmission car because you forgot to step on the clutch at a stoplight is a more common and less destructive result of the same sort of "brain fade".

ThisTroper's mother purposely buys cars with manual transmission because they're easier to drive in the snow (and because ThisTroper's mother is a sadist and can't wait to teach ThisTroper stick).

ThisTroper is European, and had to drive an automatic once due to work. It was exactly this trope yet reversed - it would probably have been funny as hell to watch, but just hell to be there.

This troper would like to one day learn how to drive manual. For now, he'll have to settle with picking manual in every racing game he plays.

This troper has been driving stick ever since he was four years old. Cue driver's ed with an automatic. The car doesn't automatically shift until 3K rpm. Frustration ensues.

This troper has driven both a manual Eclipse and a semi-truck. The semi-truck is far eaiser, which may or may not be due to the fact that you don't have the balance the clutch and throttle, they just idle forward like an automatic.

ThisTroper has an old Mustang GT V8 with a 5-speed stick. Which doesn't do you much good in California city traffic. clutch-stick-clutch-gas-clutch-brake-clutch-hold-hold-stick-gas-clutch-BRAKE!

And any time I have to drive an automatic, I have to keep my left foot ''firmly'' planted to the floor to keep from pounding the gas and brake simultaneously and go fishtailing across the highway.

My mother drove stick for years and years. Her new car is an automatic. When we ended up taking my stickshift for a long trip, it turned out she had ''forgotten'' how to drive stick (or nearly). I thought I was going to die (but then I often get that feeling when she's driving).

I learned how to drive on a stick shift (I learned on a 1987 Yugo and a 1968 VW Beetle. Go ahead and laugh) and the first time I drove an automatic I was ''constantly'' reaching for a clutch pedal. My first car had the "Y" pattern, with reverse beside first, and fifth beside third; the bushing was worn down so that I could rarely tell if I was in the right gear. More than once I took off from a stop sign in second just to keep from stalling.

Mom drove a stick all the time my brother and I were growing up. Among that car's little quirks was that the gearshift knob kept twisting around so the diagram was upside down. Mom never paid any attention to it, because she knew the shift pattern. But then there was the day she took it to the shop, and the teenager working in front was going to pull it into the bay. After about five minutes of "car just sitting there", long enough that she was worried something major had gone wrong, cue one humiliated teenage boy having to walk up to a middle-aged woman driver and ask if she would mind pulling the car in for him. Seems he was trying to shift according to that upside-down diagram.

This troper has had the rare privilege of driving a 1967 MCI-9 coach bus: Imagine shifting a unsynchronized manual transmission through a ''40 foot'' linkage with an air-actuated clutch and throttle. Even someone with nearly a million miles of driving experience had difficulty downshifting without a little gear grinding.

One of my friends owns a stick-shift ''motorcycle''. The guy's getting pretty old, and all of his kids and grandkids have specifically stated they DON'T want it. He's bequeathing it to a museum.

They weren't called "suicide shifters" for nothing, though to be honest they rarely killed you. They tore your balls off, instead.

I drive an automatic, but can drive stick just fine (my brother drives the stick shift car).

Almost everyone I know can drive and my whole family prefers it, stop and go traffic or no. Why does no one want stick shift cars anymore? I drive an automatic because it was a steal, but in future considerations will want nothing to do with any automatics--even flappy paddles or "manumatics."

Good luck even finding one. This Troper once spent a whole day searching 7 dealerships selling 11 brands and found exactly three cars with manual transmissions, one of which was a Dodge Viper. Which I might have bought if it only had room for a baby seat.

This troper always uses a manual transmission in arcade racing games, just because it feels cooler. In real life, though, he drives an automatic.

Mira-chan does the same thing as the above troper when the option is available. But she's not for automatic transmission in real life; her mother prefers the opposite.

This Troper has noticed that many people try to engage reverse in a car with no reverse gear synchronizer, and instead of going into a synchronized forward gear first they spend 5 minutes trying to grind it into Reverse. If you can't find it, try another gear first!

As a temp worker in high school, this Troper was hired one summer to help out a couple who had just bought a country house and were cleaning it up. I and another guy were asked to drive a truckload of trash to the dump in a manual shift pickup. I got to be the one driving since I'd spent an hour in a parking lot with a stick once. Needless to say I burnt out the clutch in the middle of nowhere, ending up stuck in a valley unable to drive out in forward or reverse.

This Troper has not had the burning up a clutch problem, but rather the "rough upshift" problem, favoring a quick release to a smooth delivery. I can only imagine what the drive axles and the crankcase bearings are thinking by now...

For added fun, not all manuals are created equal. This troper has driven a Mitsubishi Express ute (pickup) and took a while to figure out that to get into reverse, you have to push the gear stick ''in''.

My Dad's 1968 VW Beetle was the same way: Down, Left, Forward.

Some vehicles have a lockout ring; Ford Focuses for instance.

Oh, and speaking of farm vehicles, I remember driving a tractor which has ''three'' gear sticks. And that's not getting into other heavy vehicles and equipment. The UniversalDriversLicense is a requirement on a farm.

This lefty troper has no problem driving stick. The movement is not something you need to learn how to do well; it's the pedal-work that's (only slightly) challenging.

Heck, this other lefty had more trouble driving an automatic than driving stick! Not using her left foot felt (and still feels) very wrong.

this right handed troper drives in Australia, where the cars are right hand drive, so she is used to using her left foot and left hand - took a while to get used to, since I only use my left hand for things like knitting, typing and now driving. I don't even use it for eating!

This left handed troper from the UK had an epic fail whilst driving a right hand drive bus with a right hand selector stick (semi-automatic with a small selector stick and no clutch) yet can drive an unsynchronised manual with a left hand stick. Possibly it would take more getting used to.

This Eurpoean Troper both subverted this and played this straight : after years of stick driving, he bought an automatic Mercedes. In the early days, I used to hit the car in front of me at any stop, because I couldn't remember that I had to keep my foot on the brake. Fast forward, two years later, I had to drive a rented car, which was a manual. I almost smashed the gearbox trying to shift to Reverse without using the clutch...

This troper started driving with a manual stick from the start (25 years ago), and never drove an automatic until a few years ago, and somehow found it awkward, with his left leg slamming the brakes trying to find the clutch pedal! (though he got better after some practice).

His female cousin took advantage of this trope to stop her friends from habitually borrowing her car - she knows manual, her friends don't.

Even though I learned on a stick, after years of driving only automatics if anything at all, I had to relearn all over again, painfully and embarrassingly. Manual transmission in serious need of a FinaglesLaw overhaul; it's way too easy for someone to screw it up while trying to get the hang of it.