Stick or Automatic?

[AndyG43]

I used to own a Mini (proper one, not a little BMW) when I lived in a city in East Anglia. Driving those country roads you had to be in a manual, made them real fun, bit like a rally stage some times - did have to resist the temptation to wind the window down and shout "you're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off" sometimes!!

 

[deKoven]

Hmm, well; I learned on a stick shift, way back in 1958. Would have been earlier 'cept I din't move to the farm until I was 14. I worked with many a farm kid of 8/9 who could drive that ol' tractor very well. By the time most farm kids got to age 16, at that time the legal age, they were proficient in the use of a stick (at least the boys were, girls were the most uncoordinated ijits there ever wuz). Drove a stick until I left the farm country for the big city where I soon learned to change my tune.

And I think that's the crux of this discussion; if you're living in the city and do most of your driving there then you should prolly drive an autoshift. If you're living in the country and do most of your driving there then a stick is the way to go.

Course, if you're trying to drive like Mario Andretti all the time then you'll need a stick.