[E90-4life]

judge for yourself:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2463257

No offense to the 6MT owners here whatsoever. Through reading page after page in this thread I garnered what I felt I already knew about many car enthusiast already who are predominantly male; "stick or die". In all truth and honesty, there are only a handfull of drivers out there who can actually "shift", while many would be boy racers would tell you that they "can" when they really suck at shifting. Such a transmission such as "DSG" or whatever you'd like to call it, shifts for itself at your beckon call faster than you ever could, but yet there are many who detest such an invention and demand the party be spoiled for everyone else. I learned how to drive stick, somewhat got the hang of it, and I'm most certaintly not eager to be the slickest shifter out on the road. It's painstaking and annoying, on top of that I live in a city that really does make any sense of driving a MT to begin w/. I don't need to drive a stick so that girls think I'm cool when they learn what kind of car I drive, or so that I'll get accepted into the club at the local grocery store parking lot that meets up every sunday. A pointless argument many will say, but an argument made by a true and real car enthusiast none the less.

[shimshimhada]

I am a better driver than Ayrton Senna, Juan Manuel Fangio, and Tazio Nuvolari combined. My shifts are always perfect, and no machine ever will be able to outshift me.

[Ghunger]

If the step and manual on the E90 would have both been a no cost option (I think it's that way on the 5series) It would have been a very hard choice for me but with the step costing more it wasn't a hard choice.

[ward]

Originally Posted by Ghunger

If the step and manual on the E90 would have both been a no cost option (I think it's that way on the 5series) It would have been a very hard choice for me but with the step costing more it wasn't a hard choice.

they did that on the X3 3.0 (no cost auto) last year

upon closer inspection they were just charging everyone for the auto whether they took it or not.......

I can't shift like a racer, or heel toe but I still prefer being in charge of what gear the car's in


also having a stick drastically reduces the number of people who ask to drive your car.

[BellasBmw]

To tell you the truth, i think its a plus if a guy drives a stick. But it depends on the car.

[E90-4life]

Originally Posted by ward

also having a stick drastically reduces the number of people who ask to drive your car.

Haha, stingy. You must be a pushover!!! j/k

[E90-4life]

Originally Posted by BellasBmw

To tell you the truth, i think its a plus if a guy drives a stick. But it depends on the car.

I think from here on out we will hear more guys in favor of stick. Boooo!!!

[shimshimhada]

Originally Posted by ward

also having a stick drastically reduces the number of people who ask to drive your car.

There are some people who ask to drive, and I ask them, "Do you know how to drive stick?" and they're like, "Yeah, I read how on the internet."

[ase2dais]

IMHO
I'd say if a man doesn't know how to use a "stick", theres something wrong with him.

[BellasBmw]

Originally Posted by ase2dais

IMHO
I'd say if a man doesn't know how to use a "stick", theres something wrong with him.

Daaaaayum jake is so fine.. thanks for posting his pic. however, its a lil killed by the gay embrace.

[E90-4life]

Originally Posted by BellasBmw

Daaaaayum jake is so fine.. thanks for posting his pic. however, its a lil killed by the gay embrace.

gross.

[ase2dais]

Originally Posted by E90-4life

gross.

okayyy!
I've separated them.
Better?

[E90-4life]

Originally Posted by ase2dais

okayyy!
I've separated them.
Better?

even worse.

[maq]

I don't drive a manual car because I think I shift faster. It's about having total control of the vehicle. Sometimes I want the shifts to be fast, sometimes nice and slow, only a real manual 'box with a real clutch pedal can give you that kind of control, not even SMG or DSG. It's also more fun, and I get to hear the awsome noise my Eurosport CAI and Eisenmann Race make when I rev-match downshift.

As for driving stick in bumper to bumper traffic, it doesn't bother me at all. If you drive stick for long enough, shifting will become a second nature of yours. You become so used to shifting that your left leg and right arm will just do the gear shifts without any thinking.

I do however appreciate a nice and smooth auto tranny in something like an X5 or 750i.

[selm]

Driving a stick is more enjoyable for me, and I feel safer. Today, I had to pass someone in my passat auto, and it just felt like a million years to downshift from 5th to 3rd to give me the torque needed to get around a slow vehicle. If I were in the 3, I would have been in 6th cruising, imediately dropped it to 4th, pass effortlessly, and then go back to 6th. In reality, did I do anything faster, maybe not, but the confidence that the 3 has installed in me is just awesome.

[england1987]

I haven't driven many years, and I never owned a manual. I decided to buy a 3er in January. I ordered a 335i, and my Client Advisor suggested I get a manual. I said I'd never driven a manual. He said that they had a Z3 manual they had taken as a trade in, and he said he could teach me in that. I agreed, I'll normally try something at least once. He spent two hours driving around with me one night, and I became very accustomed to it very quickly. I thought that driving a MT would be harder than I found it. I changed my order to a manual. I have been driving one of my parents employees PT cruiser with MT. The shifter is in a silly place, and so is the handbrake. But it will make the transition to a 3er very easy. I would get a SMG transmission if they would offer it with the 335i. Maybe they will yet. But as of now, MT is the way for me.

[JO3]

Its like having sex with a woman. You can either do it manually or you could just stick a vibrator in her. Sure the vibrator can be more efficient at bringing her to orgasm, but it lacks that sense of involvement.


I know DSG (dual clutch) type transmissions shift faster than i ever could, but when I'm driving down my favorite curvy roads, I'm not timing myself. I'm enjoying the feeling, celebrating every perfectly executed shift that I made.

Driving in traffic is cake. It's become so second nature, that I find it easier than driving an auto in stop and go. Every time I drive my girl friends auto in traffic, I'm annoyed that I have to fight the torque converter to come to a stop, and then I have to wait for the torque converter to kick in when I want to accellerate.

I guess it's all personal preference. But to answer your question, no, I don't feel less macho when I drive an auto. I just feel annoyed that I have to fight the car to get it to do what I want.

[E90-4life]

My first experience driving a stick shift was w/ my neighbor that lives up the street from me, a very techy ex-Oxford professor w/ an old Honda CRX 5 spd. beater. First time off the gas I was trying to wrap my head around depressing the clutch first and putting the gearshift into first then on gas and out, when I've been driving auto's since I first learned how to drive @ 16(21 now). I ended up stalling the car and burning the clutch. I felt like poo, not because I didn't get it the first time out, I burnt the damm clutch. LoL, so we just kept on down hill starts that way it would be easier for me to get the car moving w/ out having to put so much emphaisis on gasing up the hill where I originally started. It's one thing to have a thick British accent and use brit jargon, but to start teaching me how to blip the throttle on downshifts my first time out the gate!?!?!?! A nightmare Perhaps going and trying to find someone else to teach me how to drive stick in a less complicated manor would put me on a different train of thought. As for now it's obnoxious and overbearing, hopefully I'll be typing words of praise... someday.. but NO ONE wants to teach you on their car in fear that you will do what I did on my first time out, rightfully so.

[KevinC]

Originally Posted by JO3

Its like having sex with a woman. You can either do it manually or you could just stick a vibrator in her. Sure the vibrator can be more efficient at bringing her to orgasm, but it lacks that sense of involvement.

[ksfrogman]

i'd feel like less of a man without my stick.

[BMW0]

Originally Posted by shimshimhada

I am a better driver than Ayrton Senna, Juan Manuel Fangio, and Tazio Nuvolari combined. My shifts are always perfect, and no machine ever will be able to outshift me.

here we go again, shim shim on you Stick it to the man, cause the mans trying to take you down.

[Nikki]

They do if they're going out with me because I do.



Only went out with one person who drove an auto but he knew how to drive stick. I taught one boyfriend how to drive stick, and the others already knew.