Call me the car whisperer, then! π
this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2026
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Unpopular Opinion
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Not an unpopular opinion, just gatekeeping.
I never drove a vehicle with automatic transmission, so I'd like struggle with it until I could finally make sense of how it works... But when it comes to manual transmission, every vehicle I once drove and am currently driving had/have manual transmission, with some brands having different ways to actuate the backward movement.
Also, besides two cars I once rented, practically all the vehicles I'm experienced at are old (before 2010, including having driven a very old VW Beetle sometimes). The two, "modern" cars I rented (Renault Kwid and Citroen C3) were awful to me, even though I'm quite young and accustomed to tech, those cars felt more like toys than actual cars (clutch isn't connected to the transmission and accelerator/gas isn't connected to the carburetor , pedals felt like a frickin joystick, car's starting engine isn't connected to the key system like in old cars, panel looks like a damn Christmas tree with all the blinking LEDs, every command is "decided" by the embedded computer).
Given how I'm totally unaware of how exactly an automatic transmission vehicle is supposed to be operated, am I also someone who "can't drive, only suggest/point a car"?
Just for kicks I'll throw in my unpopular opinion: "If you have to use 1st gear then you don't know how to drive manual"
If you donβt push your vehicle with your own physical strength, you can only suggest/βpointβ a car
Fred Flintstone may have been an asshole.....but he sure knew how to drive!
I like you :)
Look at this amateur with power steering, automatic choke, and an electric starter.
and doors
Plenty of motorycles in this world with none of those things. You're telling me you need a roof, too? I used to ride mine to school in the snow and the rain. Uphill, both ways!
You kids and your horseless carriages
If youβve never used a hand crank to turn the engine over, youβve never really started a car.
I mean- technically this is 100% true and I'm on board
This is kind of, by-definition, wrong, not just unpopular.
For the simple reason that even though I only tried to learn manual once, I can drive any electric car without issue.
Hell even before that, some people could drive trucks or buses or motorcycles, but not all people with driver's licenses could.
If we came up with a different word for driving other types of cars, then it would make sense. But we didn't, so driving just refers to the broad concept of operating various types of motor vehicles, usually at relatively high speed, but not exclusively.
And that's quite frankly because even without manually operating a clutch, driving is still a huge skillset that most people struggle to excel at.
I'm about as big a car enthusiast as a person can be. I've built everything, rock crawlers, drag cars, drift cars, and road race cars. I've had lowriders and lifted trucks. I've owned automatics, 4, 5, and 6 speed manuals, 3-speed column shift manuals, cvts, an electric car, and a push button shifted Chrysler imperial. I've driven cars, heavy machinery, boats, planes, and even a hovercraft one time.
While I love my manual cars, to say a person can't drive until they learn to operate a manual is one of the dumbest opinions I've ever heard.
You know it was posted to "unpopular opinions", yes?
It's not that it's unpopular, it's that it's objectively dumb.
Its actually not that unpopular of an opinion in car communities, it's just a really stupid one held by stupid people.
Oh, weβre gatekeeping driving?
Pfft, amateur.
If you can't manually adjust ignition timing and air:fuel ratios you can't really drive a car.
Are we talking points, HEI, or injection? I don't often have my laptop with me for the latter.
Early cars had controls for ignition timing, sometimes on the steering column.
Yes, they did! My grandfather's Ford did. I thought it was throttle when I was young because it made the engine sound change!
If you can't shift gears faster than 120ms you're inferior to the automatic already.
You think f1 drivers are fucking around with a clutch? Get off your horse and realize everyone and their half siblings have moved on.
This is from a crusty guy who taught many a fine lady how to drive the ol stick shift. That was such a great pickup line.
F1 doesn't use torque converted automatics or CVTs. They use much faster transmissions.
I don't see where that was stated at all, just automatic.
And DCTs are definitely automatics.
There are other forms of automatic besides torque-converter based systems, even in the 50's.
I thought F1 used sequential transmissions.
Driving has to involve a clutch? I'm very confused by this. Manual driver btw.
Gatekeepers be keepin gates.
You are absolutely allowed to money shift, rev-match "slot" your gears, anything you like. If you can handle the stick you have my respect.
Up voted because it's definitely against my opinion.
I can drive manual, have done for over twenty years. I now own an EV which doesn't have "gears". It's just a single clean line from standstill to top speed, no shifting necessary, manual nor automatic. Just press the gas and it goes.
I'm still driving. And I know how to drive manual, as I mentioned.
I'm just using other means now:
- press pedal to go forward
- release pedal to go slower/brake (*)
- press buttons to (de)activate cruise control (CC)
- press buttons to adjust CC speed
- press buttons to adjust CC front car distance
- keep track of CC deactivating if at a standstill for too long
- keep track of CC not being able to activate until over 16 km/h
- remember that using brake pedal deactivates CC so it needs to reactivate or you need to take control of the throttle manually
- button to reactivate CC at old speed rather than setting new speed
- button to activate CC at new speed rather than old speed after deactivation, if desired
- button to switch between CC lane keeping assist and manual steering
(*): this is actually harder and requires more feeling and control, because you're not really brute-force braking as with the brake pedal β it's more akin to motor braking with a combustion engine. That's the feeling. So you have to know the timing to release the pedal, and how far to release it for braking as smooth as possible. And the muscle memory of "okay motor braking isn't enough here, gotta use the actual brake pedal". And this happens very rarely so it requires more cognitive overhead with these cars.
So it's actually a lot more shit to worry about and understand than in my previous, manual shift car.
Shifting is just a product of the engine. This new engine doesn't need it, so I'm not driving now?
Bullshit. π
When driving stick I engine brake for most of the time Iβm decelerating. If I need more brake I downshift, less brake up shift.
Actually I do the same in my automatic. My drive to work isnβt prone to random traffic jams so I have enough time to engine brake for most of the drive. Just sub 15mph when I have to actually brake. Iβve actually learned how much I need to press the brake pedal to turn on the lights without actually braking.
Is it as satisfying as dropping to 3rd on the highway though? Iono, man. Feels pretty good!
If you've only ever operated fuel-injected vehicles then you don't really know how to start a car
Thumps pedal three times, turns key with 10% throttle
Your view is outdated, and will increasingly become entirely irrelevant as electric and hybrid vehicles continue to vastly outpace ICE production, if only because it entirely eliminates this silly elitism.
And a lot of the fun.
Sure pedal vroom (silently) go fast, but that wears out so quickly. The coordination to perfectly rev match, or pick the right gear is just so much fun. If Toyota actually brings that manual EV transmission to market then Iβm in. But it needs the mechanical element to it.
I haven't driven the newest vehicles, but you can have control over an automatic and where it shifts. And I'm not even talking about the shifting selector, but how you give it gas at certain points to trigger the shifting pattern. Do many people drive like that, probably not, but it's not the machine that determines the driver.
If you think shifting gears is an important part of driving you are, most likely, a shitty driver. I put as much attention on the stick as I put on my pinky toe when I'm walking, I do use it but my attention is in not tripping with any obstacle, not bumping into someone, not stepping on a dog shit... I barely notice what I do with them unless something's wrong, the toe's hurting or the transmission acting up.
Driving manual isn't that special, over here in Europe everybody do it, literal children, grandmas over a hundred years old, people with mental disabilities...
I think that manual transmissions still have some advantages in some cases, but I have an automatic since half a year ago (my only prior experience was one week in the States with a rented car) and I prefer it, the same car in manual was also available and it was cheaper. Zero regrets. After a hard day of work, not having to do leg series with the clutch in the traffic jams is just objectively better.