It's like a family tradition that the first car is a cheap manual, I am definitely continuing that with my daughter.

If you go to take your drivers license test in a manual in the US, the moment they see the stick they completely relax and already know your going to pass and barely even pay attention.

Yes. 39 y/o male. But 99% of the people I know, don't know how. So now it's easy to guess what country I live in.

38 Ireland, yes, it's the main transmission type here, the same as most of Europe.

51, I can drive a semi, but before I took some training for that I learned on a standard from my grandma.

I'm in my late 40's and have been driving manual transmission since I got my license at 16. But I'm also one of those freaks that always loved driving manual cars in any situation, I used to drive one daily in downtown Chicago rush hour traffic.

Cars were always a passion of mine, my family had two cars when I was a teenager, one auto and one stick. I begged to be taught the stick as soon as I got my license. I definitely fall into the "enthusiast" category of car owners. In the last 25 years I've had 6 cars, all of them manual transmission, and all of them I take to the race track for HPDE events whenever I can.

Germany, 20s, yes (and up until recently exclusively drove manual transmission cars from like before 2010)

Yes and here in the UK if you fail your test enough times with a manual transmission you get to try with an automatic.

55M, Australia. I have a manual license, always drove a manual until my new-to-me car. I have osteo-arthritis and my knees hurt when I drive a lot, but I drive it like a manual with automatic clutch.

Yes, Italy, 36 (since I'm 18).

Mid-late twenties, US, I know how but have only ever done it on a motorcycle. I don't even know anyone who owns a manual car.

I think I'd like a manual sports car. Automatics are boring.

Yep, early 40's here. At 19 I lied about knowing how to drive stick to get a job as a (non CDL) flatbed lumber delivery driver. I'd ridden motorcycles and such before, so it wasn't to hard to get the hang of it. However, my first delivery I unknowingly drove with the e-brake on for 15 miles or so thinking "damn this is hard" luckily I realized wtf was up before I got back to the yard, kept that job for 2 years lol.

Mid 40s from the Midwest USA. Ever since my first car in the mid 90s every daily driver of mine has been a manual. I just flat out enjoy driving them.

Gonna miss it when I eventually go electric after my current car dies and needs replaced.

Yes, 46, my first car that was "mine" (my mom's old car) was a manual. The first car I ever bought had a shitty automatic (I think the seller may have pulled one over on young me). Since then I only buy stick shifts for myself. (My wife's is an automatic.)

I mostly use index trigger shifters, but I'm open to trying non-indexed friction shifters. Supposedly less maintenance due to cable stretch with them. I guess those are both considered manual though.

Oh you mean on automobiles?

I learned to drive stick in a very hilly and traffic congested city. It was pretty intense. Haven't driven a stick vehicle in a while though.

Yes, I even have a class A CDL. However, I don’t do it much so I’m not the greatest in a big truck and am competent in a regular vehicle

the great thing about manual transmission is it almost doesn't matter how big the motor is, or whether it's front/rear/AWD, as long as the platform is balanced you can have fun on it.. EVERY car nut appreciates a Golf with a stick, no matter how muscular a hot rod you drive..

I only learned on a riding lawnmower but I can do it. I actually went looking for a car with a manual, figuring that it would be cheaper up front, cheaper to fix and cheaper to run. I couldn't really find one in any model of car I wanted, so I ended up having to go with a manumatic with paddle shifters, the worst of both worlds!

US, 37, been driving a manual since I was 16.

I drive a manual transmission to work every day. [20, US]

Here in Italy we only drive manual

Mad respect for my 60+ aunt in the UK; when I visited she drove me around various hilly roads for sight seeing and some stop and go traffic uphill. She definetly mastered the handbrake, clutch, gas combo for uphill stops/starts. Meanwhile my mom has smashed into a few storefronts in an automatic in flat Canada.

Late 30s, learned to drive in NL and now live in SE. Initially learned about transmissions by running around on four wheelers. I drive a manual car every day. There's a lot of fun and connection to driving manual, though I see the ease and efficiency of the automatic transmission as well as the general trend.

I drive whichever vehicle doesn't get my data harvested.

Scandinavian, mid-40's. The vast majority of cars in Europe have manual transmission, in my country you can't even get a driver's license if you can't handle it. I prefer manual, whenever I drive automatic I feel like there's something missing.

Yeah man. Australia. Mid 40s. My nieces have just started learning (we start here at 16). When I asked whether they were going to learn manual they said what's that?

German, mid 20s, can and do

Yup. Learned from my dad. Actually, for a little bit, I taught folks in the military to drive stick as well. US mid 40s

I can operate manual gear shifters in other contexts (namely bikes), but I've never driven a car with one.

I'm from the UK and after driving one about 100 metres I refuse to drive an automatic car, it's one of the main reasons why I don't want an electric car either. Automatic cars are horrible twitchy things that just aren't enjoyable to drive and you can't change gears to anticipate a change in the road before you're already on that bit of road.

In the UK it's pretty standard to learn in a manual. I currently have an automatic and honestly I don't want to go back. I like to think I'm a pretty good driver and gears were never an issue for me, but man is it nice to have one less thing to think about when driving.

Oh and I'm 39.

Netherlands, thirties, own a manual transmission car. In fact, I have only ever driven manuals.

UK, early 30s only ever driven manual, automatics are still more expensive here than manuals but are slowly becoming more common esp with the rise of electric cars. Although I doubt ill get one any time soon.

First time I drove anything but a manual was driving the shitty trucks of the Swiss army. It felt weird and wrong, but then again driving with standard issue boots makes using the pedals a bit harder sometimes, so it's probably good I didn't have to use the clutch.

These days I mostly drive rented cars so it's whatever is available, who cares.

Currently learning, it's useful for a lot of the light industrial jobs here

30, german, yes I can, no I do not. I drive a hybrid, so no manual transmission.

I'm from Mexico I'm 22 years old and I have been driving since 14 or so (rural Mexico). My family has not own a manual since I started driving and I gues we will not buy one soon lol

Yup, I daily a 2021 MX-5 RF (Miata). Luckily I work from home most days so it's not too bad.

In the bay area, 26yo

Yes, manuals are incredibly common here in Sweden.

No one I know owns an automatic.

I have had only manual transmission cars for the passed 19 years except for 4 years, at which time I had a manual transmission motorcycle. I don't know what I'm going to do once internal combustion cars are phased out. I need a manual tranny. Luckily, my new car only has ~12k miles on it, and it's a make that is typically known for lasting over 200k miles. My only threat is accidental damage.

Edit: I live in the USA