[3pedal]

Wherever I turn on this forum or others I find that females loathe stick shifts with a passion. Go to Craigslist and I bet you find a guy selling his beloved manual because he met a gal (or is married to one) who demands he sell it and get an automatic.

Don't these women realize that the sooner they learn to master the stick they will be in a position to one day take control of the TV remote!

 

[chittychittybangbang]

TDI are different. You'll find that most drivers, men or women, who are interested in a TDI don't mind manual. I've definitely seen way more manual TDI vs. the average car.

 

[Wav99]

One more method of control...

 

[danham]

VW could have sold us a new Passat wagon a year or more ago to replace my wife's 120,000-mile 2003, but she refuses to drive an automatic. It all turned out for the best, however, as it put us in a position this time for me to get the JSW.

But be careful about generalizations such as "women hate manuals." VW has made this mistake numerous times -- my wife loved her Eurovan but refused to replace it with a newer one once they dropped the 5-speed stick.

-dan

 

[studhilo]

If it is a woman thing....

If it is a woman thing to go for automatics, I think it is more an American thing. Lazy American don't like to shift gears. I have many friends (women) in the UK and Holland that tell me that "they don't know how to drive an automatic" and who would only buy a manual.

 

[chittychittybangbang]

In the automatic transmission's defense, going back-forth to NYC can sometimes be stop-go for 2 solid hours. I've also driven around the DC beltway and I understand traffic is pretty bad there too. I try to avoid traveling during rush hour but sometimes you can't avoid it. Those are the times when I wish I had an auto.

 

[danham]

Stall-n-crawl traffic is the big reason I even considered a DSG for my JSW.

But along with cost and complexity, what sent me scurrying back to a good old stick is that the DSG still uses a clutch (actually two) and has no torque converter, so stall-n-crawl puts a bigger strain on it than an equivalent wet hydraulic clutch system in a conventional fully-automatic trans.

Put another way, the clutch packs in a traditional auto trans stay engaged in traffic and the torque converter takes up the shock of creeping forward. In the DSG, the first-gear clutch engages/disengages frequently as you stop-n-go.

-dan

 

[anowlan]

Not my wife

Wherever I turn on this forum or others I find that females loathe stick shifts with a passion. Go to Craigslist and I bet you find a guy selling his beloved manual because he met a gal (or is married to one) who demands he sell it and get an automatic.

Don't these women realize that the sooner they learn to master the stick they will be in a position to one day take control of the TV remote!

My wife insisted on a manual. Otherwise, she'd be driving a 2010 A3 TDI instead of the 2010 GTI we "settled" for after coming to terms with the abysmal TDI Golf availability.

 

[quailallstar]

My girlfriend loves stick (don't think dirty) and says its a turn on to see a man driving a real car with a stick. I got a winner

 

[balocco211]

It is all in the up bringing

Wife drives the new 6 speed manual 2010 JSW. She even double clutches up and down the gates to save the syncros.

Nice thing about the TDI manual is the extra torque makes driving in stop and go traffic not as troublesome as a gasser motor.

 

[kardar]

Manual Transmission

On the contrary, my wife insisted that we buy a standard transmission TDI Wagon.

 

[tomo366]

Wife drives it better than I do jaw drops

 

[Webers1]

Women who want a TDI are different.

 

[tadurkee]

I don't think it's as much about "women" disliking manual transmissions, but rather a generational issue. How many younger men these days (under 40?) drive sticks? As a "middle aged" woman (I'm almost 50), I always drove a stick until I started doing delivery/courier work 12 years ago and found it very tiring (even painful) to be constantly shifting 10-12 hours a day. But if I were not in this line of work, I would definitely be driving a manual.

 

[frazil]

Disagree!

Don't stereotype us! This topic prompted me to make my first ever post to the forum.

I am an under-40 female and greatly prefer manual transmission (current car '10 6-spd JSW.) In fact my husband had to be persuaded this time, although he is a capable stick-shift driver he prefers automatic. My first car (a real piece of junk, in hindsight) I bought in college I chose a stickshift just so I would have to learn to drive it! My boyfriend at the time wouldn't let me practice on his (also piece of junk) car, so that seemed like the next best way to learn.

My greatest manual transmission driving feat was probably driving a minibus (my first diesel!) full of rowdy college kids around Ireland (so driving on the "wrong side" ) for a summer gig about 10 years ago. Wouldn't have even had the opportunity for that if I couldn't drive stick.

 

[fstjetta]

My greatest manual transmission driving feat was probably driving a minibus (my first diesel!) full of rowdy college kids around Ireland (so driving on the "wrong side" ) for a summer gig about 10 years ago. Wouldn't have even had the opportunity for that if I couldn't drive stick.

You probably have more interesting stories involving that...:eek