Reasons Not To Get A Stick Shift Car

Cons Of Having A Stick Shift Car

I prefer driving a car with a stick shift transmission over driving a car with an automatic transmission. However, since I stated some reasons as to why stick shift is better in my last blog post, I am now going to state some reasons that appeal to those who are against stick shift cars.

Purchasing Or Selling:

If you're looking into purchasing a stick shift car, it can be troublesome. When I was on a car hunt, there were countless times where I thought I had found the perfect car, upon looking at the car's details, I'd often find that the car actually has an automatic transmission (not what I was looking for). Which in turn had me feeling something like this:

 

On top of that, having a stick shift car may make your car harder to sell. Given our short attention span society, people are lazy and prefer what comes easiest. If people could have a car that drives itself, they probably would... Oh, wait. You know how it goes; if it requires effort, many won't head in that direction.

Interaction:

This point was used as a positive in my last blog post, as people tend to enjoy the interaction with the stick shift transmission. As there are those who enjoy this interaction, there are those that do not. I have heard people say that they get irritated with the stick shift transmission in particular cases. One of these cases is during city driving. Let's amplify the situation and apply traffic to the city driving scenario. You can see how the constant need to shift from first gear, back to neutral, back to first gear, back to neutral can be annoying. Not to mention that as you're doing that, you're also required to press and let go of the clutch pedal. If you're trying to enjoy your drive, stick shift can be tedious.

I imagine their frustration to look something like this:

 

Hills And Learning:

With a stick shift car, there is no natural resistance moving you forward the way automatic cars do. This means that when your car is sitting on a hill waiting for the light to turn green, it is in neutral. The car being in neutral means that it can roll back at any moment, unless you either hold the brake down or start accelerating. Starting the accelerating motion is somewhat tedious when driving stick shift, therefore failing to do so while on a hill can have you rolling back into the car behind you. In the given video, we see how a minor accident almost occurs because of the way stick shift cars can roll back.

Learning stick shift can also lead to frustration. Since it is more tedious than an automatic transmission, people lose their patience. Not to mention that it is also more dangerous. Think about a person who is learning how to drive stick shift being out on the road. Stick shift cars can actually turn off on you if the pedals and shift knob are not used properly.