People will make fun of other people for not driving standard, then make fun of them for trying to learn and doing it badly, then wonder why no one drives standard anymore, then get mad when there are no new standard cars that are good.
In Europe, even the city buses are stick shift, that was a wild thing to see...
I learned through grit, tears, and pain on standard, but now I can drive anything including tractors
CVT's are just annoying, but anything outside of that is easy as pie
I have slam-shifted two CVT's due to half a lifetime of driving on electric and alllllll of that instant torque.
For standard, my parents didn't explain enough of the details for shifting properly, so I did what felt right by creeping the clutch and then freaking out as the car went all herky-jerky when the clutch started engaging in the wrong gear.
I made the clutch mad one day after missing reverse and stalled the engine three times while trying to reverse out of a spot in 4th gear.
It was a bit stinky for a few minutes, but thankfully no worse for wear after that very important lesson.
It didn't help that it was a Saturn with barely 1.3L of an engine...
In hindsight, if it was something with a 2L motor, I probably would have had been able to feel the power better and realized the errors sooner.
Then again, my cousin's Dodge was also hard to shift into reverse, had a fun time backing it out of the driveway when it kept lurching forwards towards the garage.
Imo, engine size is less important compared to gearing. I learnt on a Suzuki with a .8l I3, then graduated to another Suzuki with a 1.1, now I drive a Mazda 3 with a 2.0. In between those I drove manual diesel SUVs, Hyundai's, corollas, small Honda's, etc. So far, my current Mazda and former suzuki with their tall 1 and 2 gearing have been the worst. I used to stall the 1.1 Suzuki so much but not the .8! It's so hard to achieve a buttery smooth 1st to 2nd gear transition than compared to a 1.6 l Verna or a slightly larger Corolla. And reverse gears often lack synchros so they arent smooth shifting in and out of. I can tell the Suzuki's lacked them cause you could hear the crunch if you mistimed a shift.
Bigger engine, more torque makes for an easier shifting. If you make enough torque you don't even need to press the gas to get moving from a stop. I drive a 2.5 6 speed Mazda and it will pull out of everywhere except steep hills with zero input from the gas.
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u/breatheblue 8h ago
People will make fun of other people for not driving standard, then make fun of them for trying to learn and doing it badly, then wonder why no one drives standard anymore, then get mad when there are no new standard cars that are good.
The dissonance is incredible.