Guess I'm now a member of the manual car transmission club. :3
My wife and I bought a used 2011 Ford Ranger XLT last night and I had to drive it home since my wife was too skittish with the transmission. It was a "trial by fire" for me since I'd never driven stick before, but we got home without any incidents aside from a small number of stalls.
It's kind of wild that even a "normal" car with stick feels better to drive than an automatic one. You don't need a sports car! Compared to automatic, the throttle feels much more "connected" to the wheels. The salesperson (who mainly drives stick) said it was the lack of the "torque converter bounce".
Just like when I learned to ride a motorcycle, there was a learning curve, but the rewards are so gratifying! :D Honestly, after getting the muscle memory from driving home, the only thing that really jumps out to me as being different is the behavior of the synchronizers.
For those who don't know, motorcycles most often use a sequential non-synchronous transmission, but some companies have automatic offerings now. Oh, and the vast majority of motorscooters use a CVT.
#ManualTransmission #StickShift