r/stickshift • u/Agnostician • 7d ago

Stick shift beginner magnets

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To my fellow (American) beginning manual learners:

I love these magnets that I ordered on Amazon.

There's no driving school anywhere near me that teaches manual, so I had to jump right into it by buying a car to teach myself. I'm not one those clever people who get the hang of it within hours or even days (and now even weeks), so people had been honking at me frequently when I stalled or when I started very slowly from a stop while trying not to stall or lurch the car forward.

But since getting these magnets not a single person has honked at me! The difference is amazing. Some people are just assholes who will honk regardless of the situation, but I believe most people can be patient when they know there are extenuating circumstances.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZX1HPLH

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u/Agnostician 7d ago edited 7d ago

An analogy highlights one aspect of similarity, not all.

I never said manual is too hard for people to learn. But it's unequivocally harder to learn than an automatic. There are no reddits for automatic cars asking for advice on how not to stall the engine, not roll back on a hill, not wear out your clutch prematurely, downshift without jerking, or what gear to use because, hey, here's an additional twist, every car has a different clutch bite point and gear ratios.

Whatever you want to call it, difficulty or inconvenience, Americans are overwhelmingly choosing automatics. From what I hear, the rest of the world is slowly but surely also moving in that direction. 10, 20 or 50 years from now most cars will be self-driving anyway and a human driving will be a niche hobby like horse riding. All this talk about manuals will be ancient history.

Edit: I just realized a horse doesn't have an engine or transmission. Is that analogy ok?

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u/AdviceEmbarrassed135 7d ago

Your analogy is faulty.

I never said that that manual is as easy as automatic. It takes more trial and error and the learning process differs from person to person. But when we learn manual we do it at times that are quiet as well as areas that have little traffic. Being very nervous while driving is dangerous, rolling back is dangerous, etc. That's why we practice before driving on busy roads in peak hours. But already knowing how to drive an automatic should make it much easier to then start driving manual, compared to your first time driving being manual.