Monday, June 29, 2015

Is Age An Important Factor When Learning To Drive A Manual Transmission Automobile?

After the water pump in our car decided to quit on our vacation, my husband was on the search for a new car. Now mind you, I had a specific car that I wanted and over the past couple of years, my husband would search the internet for this specific car. Last month, he found the car I had my heart set on. So, we went and gave it a test drive. I did not drive the car because...

The car had a manual transmission.



My husband has had cars that he drove to work with "stick shifts." Maybe, I needed to move said car in the driveway, but that was the extent of my driving manual transmission abilities. So, needless to say, I was required to learn to drive a stick shift car on the actual road.

Mind you, I have never, ever heard that someone could not learn to drive a stick shift and everyone has said you will get this, no problem.

Let's just say, not as easy as I thought...I could not get this car to drive in first gear. On my first attempts to turn left onto a main street when the light turned green, I "killed" it. Plus another green light after that. The poor drivers behind me had to wait through two green lights before I could cross through traffic. Bless their hearts, no one honked at me. 

Word to the wise, when shifting to third gear do not shift into first gear instead. Not recommended. 

Learning to drive the car stressed me to the point that I became a nervous wreck. Made myself sick, nervous wreck. But, it has been a month since we purchased the car and everyday I find it easier and more fun to drive.



So the reason I am writing this post is because when I researched how to drive a stack shift, I watched many wonderful You Tube videos. I also Googled how to drive a stick and read blog posts for any and all pointers and tips for assistance.

One sentence in a post stated that people over the age of 50 need not learn how to drive a manual transmission. I read this sentence to my husband and we had a chuckle. Update: when I searched for this statement to link to it, I was not able to find this statement in the post. Deleted maybe? I wonder.

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young." Henry Ford

I do think that with my age I had a disadvantage. Driving an automatic was easy. Just get in and go. But just because I am a little older, does not mean that I can not learn how to drive a standard car. Everyone learns in their own way. Maybe I did take a bit longer to start in first gear, but heavens that does not mean I need to be put out to pasture.

Learning to drive a "stick" has taught me patience. I do not drive as fast as I once did. Honestly, I drove too fast and I seriously wonder why I did not have more speeding tickets. Yes, it was that bad. 

Is age really an important factor?


When I researched how old is too old to drive a manual transmission, no articles displayed with this information. In fact, many articles discuss the advantages of driving a stick versus an automatic. According to Google, age is not an important factor.

Now I ask you, 

Can you drive a stick? Would age factor in to learning to drive a car with a manual transmission?




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9 comments:

  1. Hey Kathy! Congratulations on your new car and driving success. That is awesome! I learned on a stick shift at age 15 and it was hard. The only advantage I can think of as to learning while young is I didn't have anywhere to go so I practiced on the back roads for a long while. At age 16 I accidentally hit a pole in the school parking lot (no injuries other than my pride). lol
    xo Sally

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    1. Thank you so much for commenting that it was hard, even at your young age. That helps me to feel better because it is hard. Maybe because I am older and also I have that type A personality and I want to be perfect at it right away. Not gonna happen. Lol ;)
      Thanks for stopping by Sally. Good to hear you are feeling better!

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  2. Hey Kathy! Congratulations on your new car and driving success. That is awesome! I learned on a stick shift at age 15 and it was hard. The only advantage I can think of as to learning while young is I didn't have anywhere to go so I practiced on the back roads for a long while. At age 16 I accidentally hit a pole in the school parking lot (no injuries other than my pride). lol
    xo Sally

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  3. Well, congratulations! I bet it's a gorgeous car. My husband had a "stick" when we started dating and kept it well into our marriage. Try as I might, I could not get it down. I was in my early twenties at the time, a pretty mechanical girl, but still, I was just no good at it. It's fun to ride in though, nothing like the changing of gears and the way it holds the road! Ps- love your nails! ;-)

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    1. I wish I would have written this post a couple of weeks ago. Your comments are making me feel better. Sticks are hard to learn and I felt I was alone in the world. I read in comments on those websites that it took someone three months to get the gears down and six months before it became instinctive. Woohoo I have a learning curve. Lol That picture is from Pixabay. My hands would be covered in tears. Or trembling so bad that the picture would be blurry. Oh my!!

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  4. My first two cars were stick shifts and I personally prefer them. I learned in my first car when I was 15 with my learner's permit. The hardest part is getting the timing of the clutch and gas pedal right going into first from a complete stop. Once you've got that, you're golden. When we got a four door car for me to drive with the kids, my husband insisted on getting an automatic because he didn't want to learn to drive a stick. I miss my stick shift cars, but I'm glad to know that I will be able to drive pretty much anything because I can drive a stick.

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    1. Great comment, Holly. I agree with you. Once you learn to drive a stick, you can drive pretty much anything. In fact, a friend on Instragram said that her mother made her learn to drive on a stick. I know in driver's ed class we did not have an option, it was automatic only. I am glad I did not give up because I seriously thought about it. But as you said once you get first shift from a stop, you are golden!

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  5. Yeah age is important. A mature man don't take risk like over speed and rush driving. young blood do all that things.

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  6. In this present age that technology is the great step for growth. Just advantage I can think of as to learning while young guys is I didn't have anywhere to go so I online root guards practiced on the back roads for a long while. At age 16 I accidentally hit a pole in the school parking lot (no injuries other than my pride).

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