Driving A Stick Shift Is A Lost Art
I recently purchased a used car – and it is a stick shift. At a time when cars are driving themselves there is something enjoyable about having to do some work. If you are like many people you may think that a manual car is like an old chariot from the era of the “Ten Commandments” movie. Perhaps many people do think of manually cars this way since most drive automatic cars these days. If you have only driven an automatic car, then you have missed out on a subtle known art form.
It Is Not Easy To Drive Manually
It will not be easy at first, but a whole world of exciting opportunities will open up to you if you do. Most of your buddies, if they are the average types, will only know how to drive automatics. You will standout if you know how to drive a manual. You may even be escalated to higher car rank status if you are the only one in your group who knows how to drive stick shift. Ok that might be pushing it.
There is a bit of an art to driving stick shift. If you put the keys into the ignition, you might be able to start the engine. But that’s the only thing that the car will do – run the engine but not the whole car. The engine will keep idoling unless you put it in gear, or stall if you take your foot off the clutch.
And that is the art of driving stick shift – knowing how and when to push the right buttons – so to speak. It goes to say that driving a car with manual transmission takes more time to learn than a car with an automatic transmission. But manual is far more exciting.
A Lot More Exciting Than Automatics
A car with manual shift is a lot more exciting to drive than a car with automatic shift. Ever wonder why those cars racing in Lemans, Fl racing, NASCAR and many other car racing circuits are equipped with sticks and not automatic shift? The reason is very simple they are more intuitive allow for greater control and adaptation to driving conditions.
There is no way you can develop driving skills in an automatic car because the car’s automatic shift system does the thinking for you. How can you expect to develop any art or skill in driving if you let the machine do it for you?
Why Driving Became A Lost Art
Oldsmobile introduced the automatic transmission in the 1940s and we lovingly embraced this new technological development, not knowing that this automatic shift will spell the doom of an important skill. And now, driving has already become a lost art making the need to re-learn the art a necessity at this time.
Why Do You Need To Drive A Stick Shift Car?
There are many reasons why manually driving a car is better than driving a car with automatic transmission. The only real good reason for driving an automatic is for convenience. But the downsides to that are many, increased fuel consumption, and high initial cost. Some advantages to driving a manual care include:
- Greater fuel economy
- Greater control of the car
- Lower initial cost
- Lower maintenance cost, and
- The perfection of the lost art of driving
How do you drive a stick shift?
A famous race driver once said: you need to step on the brakes as if it is a thin-shelled egg that will instantly break if you do it carelessly – not really his words but words to that effect. That could sum up the idea about the art of driving.
There are essentially four parts of a manually driven car that will make it move: the engine, the clutch, the brake pedal, the gas pedal and the stick. The car’s engine is its power source while the clutch is what you will step on or step off each time you shift gears. It is obvious what the gas pedal does but you will need to coordinate it with the clutch.
That means your left foot must be on the clutch while your right foot is on the gas pedal. And you need to coordinate your use of the stick with the gas, the brake and the clutch pedals if you are to move the car smoothly through the gears.
So, all of these steps have to be coordinated with each other if you are driving a car with manual transmission.
Ever wonder why this is now considered a lost art with most people wanting to drive automatic cars? With an automatic, your mind is in limbo, while with sticks; your mind is forced to be active – even if you are already a pro-driver. Just ask the professional racers.
If you really want to develop the art of driving skill shift, please visit this webpage. It will show you the basics of driving a manual transmission car. You will need a lot of practice before you can consider yourself someone who practices the art of skillful stick shift driving.
Happy Driving!
