nocones wrote: Interesting that so many people took this as a crusade for/against the Auto.
Eh, I didn't mean to make it sound like that. I couldn't imagine towing with anything else. And if I had a stop-and-go commute every day, I'd probably go looking for one in a DD. I was doing shift work, but every time I got stuck in a jam for wrecks/construction, a manual was a real pain to live with.
Yesterday.
About 3 months ago. Drove 2 different ones at the BMW car control course and the weekend before I shuttled the in-laws around town in their car. Before that it was about 2 years. Don't currently possess any vehicles with autotragics.
Drove the auto Saturn today. Next week I'm taking delivery of a DD Ur S6, and combined with the 944, I'll never have to drive auto again.
It's been awhile. The 850 wagon is an automatic but I don't drive it much. The last might have been the Crown Vic I rented for work. The rental this Wed will also be an auto. None of my cars/truck are auto's.
After years of stop and go traffic in my old Toyota 4x4 and then my Integra after that, the light clutch and low end torque in the TDi makes traffic almost fun.
Sunday - I ended up with a nasty infection in my left leg and had to get 6 sessions of IV antibiotics.
I couldn't push the clutch the leg was so sore.
Had to drive my wife's wagon.
I drive both almost every day. A well tuned/set up auto can be fun to drive. If you've ever driven a turbo with an auto, you know the excitement of shifting at full boost!
A month ago, when I test-drove my dad's new-to-him CX-7. I very rarely drive automatics now (even though everyone in the house but me drives a slushbox), and I find myself sometimes trying to push a phantom clutch pedal, or reaching for a gearshift that's already in gear or not even there. I've even once tried to shift my dad's old Rendezvous like an old-fashioned column-shift manual- and I've never driven one of those!
Last auto I recall driving was my father's truck, back in January.
I didn't plan it this way, but I ended up with an all-manual, all-rwd fleet. I prefer a manual day-to-day, but I don't mind an auto every now and then, and I'd really like to have at least one, even though I don't commute in traffic much anymore. The only hangups are that I don't really need another vehicle and that I'm deadly afraid of the maintenance/repairs/rebuilds on autos as old as the cars I drive.
I signed up to test drive the FRS later this month at a "driving experience," and the cars for this are evidently all autos. Perhaps the experience will reinforce the itch to have an auto for those days when a clutch seems like a needless chore.
Last weekend. My dad bought a new Fit, and I drove it.
It doesn't have a temperature gauge, either 
Unfortunately in my case, the better question is "When was the last time you drove a manual." I'm sad to report that it was September of last year when my friend stopped by with his EVO IX MR on the return leg of his fly and drive to pick up the car. Selling our old house and buying a new one has been priority #1 over the last year, and at least the new house comes with my first-ever, permanent garage. I'm sure another manual will follow in due time...
There have been two stretches since I bought my first car (actually a truck with a manual) when I haven't had a manual to drive. The first lasted two months and ended in the purchase of the E36 because I was driving my wife crazy looking at cars, and the second is the stretch I'm currently in. It's been driving me nuts, but having your money tied up in bigger priorities is an effective way to prevent car purchases 
Once a week or so when I end up driving the Wife's car when we go out together.
this morning, when i drove to work, before that was yesterday...
while xterras with a manual trans do exist, there weren't any within 500 miles, and it would've been 5-6 months to order one new, so i have an automatic. believe it or not, it is not a lifestyle choice.
Yesterday, I drove the minivan. Today? Neither. No gears to shift on the Fuji, it's a single speed
Yesterday, my wife has a R350. My DD is a stick and unless I get to a point where I can not drive a 3 pedal car I will stay with one. I do not hate autos but my commute is boring enough as it is.
To me, if you are going a long time without ever driving one, it just means you aren't driving a wide variety of vehicles.
Yes, and No. When you do a bunch of autocross instruction, you can get into a lot of different cars, and they'll all be manuals.
Myself? No automatics in the family, but the autocross van is, so it's only been a month or two. That rig makes driving an automatic interesting. crappy shocks, ~20,000lbs, hydroboost brakes that at times are marginal.
My commute never changed how boring it was with a stick or an auto. I measured the actual amount of time that I spent in the act of shifting on my commute and out of a 20 minute commute, the act of shifting used up approx 2 minutes, and none of them were any fun, just straight shifting.
I guess that's why I didn't mind dailying the 740iL or the Jag when I had it. The Mustang's actually kind of annoying on the commute with the manual, as first gear is a PITA when behind someone who is accelleratiing slowly. I tend to use second to start out with and go straight to 4th...
ransom wrote: Weekly in the van.
This......
otherwise, it has been awhile.....but wednesday will break that. The sho goes in for retint, and have to drive the family's fukus
A few months ago. I got a. Brand new f150 rental it was fun for the few days I had it.
The scoot is an computer clutched CVT, so about an hour and a half ago. The Miata is a 5 speed manual, drove that home just shy of fourteen hours ago. Haven't driven the truck (auto) in about a week and a half, drove the wife's car (four speed auto) in the middle of the week. Big bike (six speed manual) is still down from the fire a year ago :(
The only car I've ever owned that was an Automatic was my first car, a Nissan Stanza. Loved that little box until a girl came around a hairpin turn at 40mph in the rain :/ Still, it took the impact well. She wasn't so lucky, spun in the lane and the other idiot behind her (and also going far too fast) T-boned her.
It took a while to hunt down my 2012 forester in a manual, it was rather obnoxious. What, you want a manual ? NO OPTIONS FOR YOUR (in the US that is...)!
Oh! Back on topic, last time I drove an auto-tragic was my grandmother's Toyota Minivan (200X?) last week while on vacation. And let me tell you, when you only have 1-2 passengers that thing flat flies. Good auto-transmission too!
About 10 minutes ago. In my world, trucks need to have their torque converted.
first time was drivers ed ( 1965 ) .. we were the first class to have an a/t instead of a manual .... had 3 a/t over the yrs .. all short time ownership .. then bought a winter beater ( '95 Suby ) with an a/t .. I've been driving it off and on for the last 6 yrs ( the other driver is a manual + the TT car is manual .. of course ) selling it and have bought a tow vehicle ( '97 F150 ) it's an a/t .. so pretty much off and on for the last 6 yrs
Yesterday, my GF's Civic is an auto. The only good reasons to get an auto are towing and rock crawling. Doubly true if you are towing your rock crawler.
every time I drive... I miss driving a manual :(... my in-laws cars are all slush box and same with mine... even the "toy" i'm building has a slush box... unfortuantly while volvo knew how to make a car and engine that would last the manual gearbox they used in the states isn't very strong for anything beyond stock HP levels... and the cost to go to something stronger costs more then i've got into the entire build :-/...
that being said... every time I get in a manual car it's smooth sailing... although the last thing I drove with one was a small bus while I was just outside London on the wrong side... that was fun :)...
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