My wife and I both have manuals and we sit in stop and go traffic every day. Having to shift in traffic doesn't even register with my brain that it's really anything at all. I simply don't notice.
Yeah, I don't at all understand this mentality that stick shift is a burden in stop and go traffic. I've since switched to a motorcycle, but when I used to drive stick I can't say I ever really noticed or paid attention to the fact that I was having to shift, even in stop and go traffic. After you've gotten comfortable with shifting it just fades completely into the background.
> Yeah, I don't at all understand this mentality that stick shift is a burden in stop and go traffic.
It's a burden if you're stuck in bad traffic, if you've got a heavy clutch, or if you're crawling up a hill. Worse if you've got more than one of those compounding factors.
My Mazda 6 manual has a very smooth and light clutch and “hill assist” where the car will brake for you on hills as you ease into gear. It’s an awesome combo and I get virtually no fatigue from driving in stop and go traffic trough hilly areas. My old manual though was another story- you’d have a sore leg after a long drive in bad traffic, and getting stopped on a steep hill with the automatic drivers crawling right up to your rear was nerve wracking.
I do think the clutch is a factor. I've driven more "pure" sports cars and often their clutches require a lot of force. But I've never owned a car with a clutch like this. So yeah, maybe my comment was a bit naive.
For me, motorcycles in traffic has been painful due to having to hold a heavy clutch in with your hand.
Just an aside, you shouldn't be holding the clutch in much. Only when coming to a stop in first gear (hold until the vehicle behind you stops so you know you won't get rear ended) and when starting to move (i.e. a few seconds before a light changes, or once traffic clears and you're planning to start moving again). You should be in neutral while stopped otherwise.
Same. Started driving a manual when I was 15. Been daily driving a motorcycle for commuting the past 8 years (not one of those weird automatic ones that Honda makes now either). I never have once wished for an automatic motorcycle. I commute in Boston traffic, and have also done so in NYC, with significant travel through Chicago, SF, San Diego, LA, DC, etc
I really don't get what the issue is. Maybe my ADHD benefits focus-wise from having another thing to do? I rarely even use the cruise control unless I'm on a 3+ hour trip.
After training for some time, the handling of stickshift is not processed consciously by the brain, it's more like walking, which is actually quite impossible to do consciously.
The same applies to pretty much everything in driving, of course. Initially, when learning to drive, the information flow overwhelms people, because the brain tries to understand and process everything. Eventually, routines take over and the low-level things like how to turn the steering wheel, or how to handle brakes or shifting, is done unconsciously.
