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.

 

Reasons To Drive Stick Shift

Benefits Of Driving Stick Shift

What's more boring than driving stick shift? A lot of things. One of these things is: driving an automatic car. How many Fast & Furious movies show cool scenes done with an automatic car? Although I don't expect you to drive like the people in those movies, I can assure you that driving stick shift has its benefits.

Fuel Economy:

In an automatic transmission, your car's gears will shift on their own. All you have to do is step on the pedal. This means that your car is in control of what gear you're in, not you. Let's say your car is in third gear, approaching fourth gear. If it's on the verge of switching to the fourth gear, but it's not there yet, your engine is actually at higher RPM (revolutions per minute). This means that you're wasting more fuel, as the engine is more active.

  

In a stick shift car, you can manually change the gear to fourth gear, which will bring you RPM lower, resulting in less fuel consumption.

Interaction:

A lot of us consider driving to be "fun". It gets more fun with stick shift as you use all four limbs, making it a completely interactive experience. Both of your legs are in use, as the left leg controls the clutch pedal (left) and your right leg controls both the brake and gas pedal (right).

Your left hand is then used for the steering wheel, while your right hand shifts through the gears using the shift knob.

The engagement needed to drive stick shift is very engaging and therefore it allows you to focus on the actual act of driving, rather than looking at your phone. Being more attentive at the wheel can also help your chances of not being in an accident. If you're being more active, it is less likely that you'll fall asleep or get distracted with something else.

 

 It's More Fun

Plain and simple, it's more fun. Manual transmissions tend to put out faster acceleration than their automatic counterparts. With that being said, if you're at a red light next to the exact same car, and you guys both take off, you'd most likely win the race (assuming that you know what you're doing). 

When you're putting that gas pedal on the floor, it's always fun to feel the car interact. You feel the car's torque with every shift's kickback. It's great to know that there is some skill involved. Think in terms of racing an automatic car, all they have to do is step on a pedal. That's it. In the case of a stick shift car, you're letting go of the clutch pedal, pressing the gas pedal, shifting, then pressing down on the clutch again and repeating the experience. The skill element adds to the experience of racing.

Hidden Benefits:

-Overall, being able to drive stick shift is more rewarding. Some of the benefits include, on average, being lower in price when purchasing a new car. 

-With a stick shift car, it is also said that the transmission is more durable, due to the fact that its system has less components than an automatic transmission. A less complex structure means that there are less parts that can break.

-If done properly, you can actually push start your own car (if your battery) has died, WITHOUT sourcing energy from another car through jumping cables.

-There is a sense of pride within the car community in being able to drive stick shift. Something I always found disappointing was to see an awesome car, then find out that it's automatic. People take pride owning a stick shift car or even in knowing how to drive one.