I've always liked cars and trucks with manual transmissions. Manual everything, in fact. One of the greatest trucks I've ever owned was a 1974 Bronco, with a pre-smog 302 V8, an interior that was all sheet metal and vinyl, a manual transmission, manual hubs, and crank windows; everything was manual, everything was unbreakable, and the dang thing would just about go up and down trees. I sold it in time because it would no longer accommodate our growing family, but boy, howdy, I wish I still had it.
Of course, aside from all the fun one can have off-roading with a truck like that, there's another great thing about them: The opportunity to teach your kids to drive a manual transmission. I haven't done so well on that score, as only one of our four daughters can drive a manual transmission. Turns out, though, that the other three have lots of company.
Recent research shows that this once-ubiquitous ability is increasingly becoming a lost art.
Only 18% of Americans know how to use a stick shift — with the number even lower among younger drivers.
In a survey of US drivers, Extreme Terrain found more than a third of Gen Z drivers (35%) never learned to drive stick, compared with just 9% of baby boomers.
Further, driving confidence is waning among younger drivers, with only half of those under 30 believing they could competently drive a manual.
I'm willing to bet that most of that 18 percent are Boomers and Gen X. Part of the problem, assuming it is a problem, is that the American auto market has a dearth of manual transmission offerings. If you have a stick-shift car or truck, it's likely pretty old. Like those of us who grew up driving them.
“People in their mid-40s and up are probably the only people left who really grew up with the stick shift; people now don’t know how to drive it unless their parents or grandparents teach them,” driving instructor Andy Nelson, owner of Safe Driver Solutions, told The Post.
To that end, and to Nelson’s point, more than half of manual drivers (56%) surveyed learned to drive a manual from a parent or older relative.
The reason for learning how to drive a stick has evolved over time; only 22% of Gen Z drivers learned out of necessity, compared with 55% of boomers.
It's kind of sad, but probably inevitable. I've always liked a manual transmission, especially when off-roading, as I prefer being able to manage the gear ratios myself to keep whatever I'm driving's engine RPMs in the power band. That's especially critical in a vehicle that doesn't develop a lot of torque, like the somewhat anemic 3-liter V-6 I had in the last manual transmission vehicle I owned, a 1999 Ford Ranger 4x4 that I drove around for 13 years. The fun part of that is that when we moved to Alaska, I sold the Ranger to my Colorado hunting partner and loyal sidekick Rat (yes, we really call him Rat), so when I'm down there to go hunting, we're in the same truck, just with different plates.
Now, I have an F-350 Super Duty, and yes, it has an automatic transmission - a 10-speed automatic transmission, no less. I don't doubt it's efficient, and it is convenient, but there's just a lot of fun in hitting the highway, putting the pedal to the metal, and running up through those gears. It's too bad that the youths of America are missing out on that, along with, it seems, many of the unadulterated joys of the open road.
There's a bright side to all this, though; if you want a car or truck that's very nearly theft-proof, get one with a manual transmission. Young goblins will be mystified.