I feel it. This one of the greatest duels of my life. Me in a bright lime manual Dodge Challenger R/T Swinger versus a black Jeep Renegade driven by a Quebecois pensioner. A race to the freer side of the U.S.-Canadian border. Of course, it’s the day after the Canadian F1 Grand Prix, so we were only going about 1 MPH.
By conventional standards, the Challenger is probably one of the worst cars to get stuck driving while mired in a territorial traffic jam. It’s loud. It’s bright. It’s inefficient. The clutch is skip-leg-day heavy and the gearbox is so off-brand-PS2-controller clicky that each shift takes work.
Frankly, the Challenger was not my first choice for this trip for this very reason. I’d lined up a comfy German electric crossover, but it became unavailable at the last minute. Jumping from a luxury EV to a rip snortin’ Challenger is a bit like trying to buy a kale smoothie and being given a deep dish pizza instead.
Oh well, I love a good deep dish pizza.
When people complain that they can’t get a manual sports car, or sedan, or whatever because they have a congested commute, the situation I’m in is exactly the one they’re picturing. At one point my wife looks over and asks if my leg hurts.
I’m fine, I insist. I’m pushing a little pedal in with my foot and then moving my arm a a few inches. Even with the high resistance level of the clutch, this isn’t that taxing. The hardest part is not tossing the Challenger into the car in front of me with the 475 lb-ft of torque begging to be unleashed (I may, in boredom, may have been tempted to make the Shaker hood shimmy a bit)
Allow me to clarify: While I do take care of myself I’m not some muscle-bound gym rat. I am not trying to pretend to be tough. I’m as 8-ply as a Texan is allowed to be. If I can do it, anyone can do it. A little shifting doesn’t bother me.
What’s bugging me more than anything at this moment is that this older gentleman in the stripper Jeep insists on letting in every single car that sidles up to us. Most of these cars are, pretty clearly, jumping out of the lane they were in to try and cut in front of everyone else. The rules of the zipper merge are clear: one car per car. This Canadian dude, in between puffs of his cigarette, is handing out slots in line like they’re free healthcare.
Eventually, I tire of his nonsense and squeeze my way into another lane that’s lining up in front of a border patrol both that feels a million miles away. I have to beat him, of course, because the only thing worse would be to have him let all those people cut the line and then watch him saunter away ahead of me.
I mention all of this because I saw this exchange on Twitter this week with Matt Farah, talking about the new Acura Integra Type S:
Same. Driving in Austin is no fun. My commute is literally the worst part of my day. There’s nowhere within an hour of the city where you could even begin to enjoy this car these days due to sprawl and traffic.
— MikeMcKinnon75 (@MikeMcK1975) June 20, 2023
Assuming you don’t have some sort of pre-condition that makes driving a manual difficult (and, if you do, buy whatever the hell you want), I’m just not persuaded by this argument. I’ve daily driven multiple manual vehicles in traffic and it’s just not that big of a deal. I even regularly drove a manual in Austin traffic, which is the particular gripe here.
Is, as Farah points out, an EV with one-pedal driving the best car for traffic jams? Absolutely. If all you’re doing is driving in traffic jams all the time, maybe don’t get a manual if it bothers you. But don’t use it as an excuse not to get a car that’s otherwise excellent.
I haven’t driven the Type S yet, but I did drive the A-Spec with the stick and it was delightful. If it was my only car and the choice was between a stick in an automatic but I had to commute I’d still get the manual.
Why? The upsides are too great. It’s more fun to drive a manual, even in traffic, as it gives you something to do. I’m not one of those people who thinks it’s a great idea to futz around on your phone whilst driving, even in slow-moving traffic, so trying to perfectly nail a smooth take off without disturbing my passengers was a fun activity (and my pitch for a very bad sequel to Drive My Car).
Manuals are also easier to work on and cheaper to fix. For the kind of cars we generally write about here they’re better and a little effort shouldn’t be an excuse not to buy one.
Seriously, people act like driving in traffic with a manual-equipped vehicle will result in that tennis-player phenomena where one limb is clearly more Thor-like than the other. It doesn’t work that way. Biking or walking. That’s work. Driving a car with a shifter isn’t going to get you swole.
I know this because I did an hour racing this Renegade guy, which involved what felt like hundreds of shifts and my leg still works fine. I eventually beat him, by the way. Not by much. And not for long. Because that dude eventually whipped by me on our way south past Plattsburgh, another cigarette dangling from his lips.
The next day I drove the Challenger R/T to swap for my E39 daily driver, which has a five-speed manual. I almost put my foot through the firewall on the first shift. It was like swimming 1000 meters in a pool full of cherry Jello and then jumping in a pool full of Astroglide.
It felt so good. I could have done three hours in George Washington Bridge traffic.
It’s America. Buy what you want. If you don’t want a manual, don’t buy a manual, but if you have functioning limbs also maybe don’t use traffic as an excuse.
[Editor’s Note: I just want to add some support here, because I daily drove manuals exclusively during the nearly 20 years I lived in Los Angeles, arguably the worst traffic city in America. And not modern manuals with clutches so light it’s like dunking your foot into a mound of sour cream – I lived with agricultural-grade cable-operated clutches on my VW Beetle, and then heavy-ass hydraulic clutches on my ’68 Volvo 1800S and then my ’73 Reliant Scimitar.Â
It just wasn’t that bad. You get used to it. Sure, there were times when I was creeping along at the pace of a baby dragging a sack of hiking boots on the 5 North at 5:15 pm in the middle of summer and yeah, that sucked. But it sucked more because I had no A/C than the fact I had to use a clutch occasionally. In fact, there were times when it actually felt kinda good to use that clutch leg, stuck as I was for hours sitting in traffic. I’m just saying, if you want a manual, don’t let traffic talk you out of it. It’s taken enough from us as it is. – JT]
Couldn’t agree more, I have never found it taxing to drive a manual. I just like having the vehicle in the right goddamn gear! I can’t stand accelerating out of a corner and having to wait for the car to drop a gear or two.
After 30 years of DD nothing but Manuals (gold star!), 25 of those years in Chicago, my sciatic nerve begs to differ. I am jacked up because of that poor choice.
I like a manual in my 240Z but I do not want one to commute into SF, I have a tough job and the last thing I want is a manual in those tired moments. People are fucking assholes and nobody thinks about manuals, they creep right up on your ass. I had paddles in my Acura so I can shift it however I want.
As a Brit* I’ve always driven manuals, and even in London it’s fine. I guess I’m moving my left leg a bunch, but I don’t really notice, the same way you don’t notice moving your legs when you’re walking. Changing gears manually is so automatic for me, I rarely think about it.
*We have two kinds of car license in the UK, either an automatic-only, or a ‘full license’ which means you have to take the test driving a manual. The majority of people get a full license.
Hear hear! Shifting in traffic keeps me from falling asleep. The only time it’s an issue is when you’re in traffic on a San-Francisco-steep hill, or, my personal nemesis, people are creeping along at just below your first gear stall speed. I HATE having to repeatedly feather the clutch without letting it out.
Long Live the Manual Transmission!
Choice is good.
My urban household has had a fair number of manual-transmission cars over the years, including two Jeep Wranglers and a Eclipse turbo convertible, and I miss having one. I’d like to teach my fiancé to drive a stick, and I think the best solution for that would be to buy one. Anyone got a lead on a cheap GTI in Chicagoland?
I’m old and cranky and drive every day in that “terrible” Austin traffic in my manual cars.
“It’s America. Buy what you want. If you don’t want a manual, don’t buy a manual, but if you have functioning limbs also maybe don’t use traffic as an excuse.”
I haven’t chosen to buy an automatic car since 1993. My millennial daughter lives with me and her car is a manual. Three cars parked at my house and not an automatic transmission to be found.
I drove only manuals from 2006-2016 in some pretty trafficky places- Los Angeles, Dallas, and Houston.
In LA in 2006 I was doing an early morning slog down the 405 in a manual Accord. The stick shift was an improvement over my earlier auto as it kept my brain awake at 5am.
The only time it ever got to me was in 2015-2016 when I was commuting in Houston from Katy to Memorial City on I-10 in a 320i.
Shortly thereafter I went automatic for my daily. And shortly after that I moved so I didn’t have such a punishing commute. I’ve still got a stick shift XJ as a toy when I want to play with a manual, but lately I’ve been considering going back to it for my daily. I can handle 30 min in moderate traffic every day with it- its an hour plus in heavy where it starts to outweigh the fun factor for me.
Totally agreed with manual in traffic helping to stay awake. I had one automatic in my life (not counting current EV), and had to go back to driving stick so I didn’t fall asleep in commute.
I don’t understand all the “you must drive a stick to be a man” crap that goes with these articles, any more than the “a manual is the only way to truly enjoy driving a car” nonsense either. I mean, you all do you, but modern automatics are truly good stuff……and I own both manual and automatic cars…..always have, probably always will. But I don’t feel somehow deprived (or less of a man) if I’m driving one with an automatic. I have had my 6 speed automatic MINI Cooper S on numerous track days and I’m as quick or quicker with it than a whole host of “bros” with their must have manuals. The difference being when I’m in traffic or on a long cross country drive I’m not stabbing the clutch pedal a million times…..and when I want to shift for myself, I can, using the flappy paddles or the lever, so I’m doing the same actions as a manual driver does – save the clutch pedal shenanigans.
Likewise I don’t feel superior to other drivers when I’m in my manual cars.
It’s just a car. They’re all just cars. They’re all fun. Enjoy them while you can!
I think you may have missed the point of this article specifically, which is that driving in traffic doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get a manual. Its not saying you need a manual to be a manly man or a womanly woman or a manly woman or whichever permutation you aspire to be.
The point as I read it is: you do you, just don’t use driving in traffic as an excuse not to get a manual if you choose an automatic.
I don’t know why everyone who doesn’t drive a stick is so sensitive anytime someone talks about how driving a manual is fun. Drive what you enjoy driving and don’t let anything stand in the way of you doing that. That’s the point of this article.
Everybody’s wired differently. I’ve never spent a single second in an automatic car that I didn’t feel would have been better spent in a manual. I don’t see any “less of a man” aspect to it..after all, plenty of women enjoy driving manuals, too. It’s not a gender thing, it’s a driving thing. I appreciate and enjoy every mile I drive, and a mile driven in an automatic just feels wasted compared to one driven in a manual. I’ve had lots of fun in automatic cars. They would have been more fun if they were manual. I’m just wired that way, I guess.
The only time that a manual transmission is a pain is when traffic is moving too slow to idle in 1st gear. Too bad more cars don’t have a granny gear, so that idling at 2mph with the clutch engaged would be possible. I used 4 low once for this back in college, approaching an entrance station to Yosemite so I knew I’d have a chance to stop and return to high range- it was great just idling along at a walking pace, and I was even able to get out and walk next to the car for a bit as it sort of drove itself along.
That said, 1 pedal EV driving is infinitely better in traffic than anything else I’ve driven.
This would probably happen less if everyone drove manuals. When I got stuck in traffic on the Autobahn I discovered that since so many cars are manual there traffic tended to crawl along at approximately first gear speed instead of the constant accordion action you tend to get in the US.
Just don’t move if its that slow. Manual or auto. Wait until a big enough gap opens to drive for at least a few seconds. Dragging your brakes in an auto when its that slow is not good too.
Around here, that’s a recipe to never move at all because people will just cut into the space as fast as it opens up. Also, whoever is stuck behind you is gonna start honking. I do my best, but often traffic is just too slow for 1st gear. It sucks. I still drive a stick, though.
I’m a delivery driver, drove a manual car for about 25 years. My knee finally started to hurt more and more at the end of each shift, so I made the decision to go automatic from here out. Knee feels much better now. I do still have a MT car (e46 convertible) that I drive from time to time.
I’m fortunate that my commute (mit stick) on I-80 from Rockaway, NJ to Hackensack, NJ – hellscape that it is, full of amazingly horrible drivers performing idiotic maneuvers with no regard to blinker use or safety – apparently isn’t nearly as bad or as painfully slow as driving across the GWB, or in NYC, or any other myriad urban areas with too many people and cars.
Regardless of the fact that I once got stuck on the Cross Bronx at the worst time of day, causing my left leg to scream in pain due to taking an hour to go the scant few miles from the Whitestone to the GWB, I’ll still drive a manual until my sciatica-riddled left leg no longer allows it.
I´m not original here. Manuals in traffic are fine. If you want an auto, that’s a respectable preference, but not a need. Unless it is a need because of physical reasons, in which case it is more than fine.
No need to find an excuse like a lazy sissy.
I’ve been daily driving manual transmissions in the most congested city on two of the most congested highways in the country for the past twenty years and it’s fine. I’ve never gotten out of the car after a one and half hour commute and hated it because I had to drive stick. I hated it because I was stuck in traffic.
That said, driving the Polestar 2 is the best car I’ve ever driven in traffic. One pedal drive means I hardly have to touch the brake unless I need to come to a complete stop. Unfortunately, that allows my mind to wander just enough to think about how much traffic sucks.
Preach.
My wife pointed out yesterday was the 9 year anniversary of buying my ‘commuter car’, the 2013 Mustang, 6MT. Heavy clutch, notchy shifter and all, I’ve logged 135,000-odd mostly commuting miles in that car, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Manuals don’t make commutes worse, they make them *fun*. As Matt said, it gives you something to do. I double clutch and rev-match downshifts not because I have to (the synchros are just fine, thanks) but because I can and it is a fun skill to practice.
Driving a fun car on your commute makes so much more sense to me than buying a fun car as a ‘weekend car’ – how often do those honestly, actually get used? I spend my weekends doing chores like cleaning the house and mowing the lawn and fixing broken stuff. I’m very glad I chose to get my driving fun out of all those little endorphin hits whenever I nail a downshift *just so* spread out over nine years and six-digit miles.
I do it every day. Not a big deal at all but it is hard on the clutch plate. My clutch is fine unless I spend significant time in stop start traffic and then it can get a little twitchy and bumpy.
I don’t mind driving in traffic with a stick. I’ve basically been doing so for nearly 14 years now… but… I found my match a few weeks ago and wrecked my clutch trying to get through it.
The back entrance to Sonoma Raceway is absurd. It’s a steep dirt hill, slightly rutted, four+ lanes wide. During a race weekend, that hill turns into bumper-to-bumper traffic. And it’s not just slow traffic, it’s the WORST kind of traffic. The type that doesn’t stop for more than a second at a time, so you’re basically forced to ride your clutch 90% of the time because you don’t have time to shift from 1st-neutral-1st again before traffic starts moving again. Add in the steep incline, which forces you to use more throttle, and it’s basically designed to destroy clutches. Did I mention it’s LONG steep incline?
I had zero issues driving through the hills of San Francisco, but that one hill at the track…
Provided your vehicle has a good solid idle, I prefer a manual in creeping traffic to riding the brake on an automatic. It’s a game to see how long you can creep along in gear at idle, changing gears as necessary, and avoid using the breaks or coming to a complete stop. My mk4 gti seems to be particularly well suited to this. My poor man’s fox body cobra build with the lopy-ass idle not so much. To each their own, and as others have pointed out, hills can make a big difference too.
The clutch-up-creeping rubberband game never gets old and makes traffic much less boring.
I live in Seattle and own a manual trans BMW that used to be my main daily car. Traffic has gotten so bad since I moved here in 2009 that daily 0-10mph gridlock traffic is a daily thing. It routinely takes 45min+ to drive 6-8 miles here, often times on hills which are second only to San Francisco. After 12 years of dealing with a clutch in that mess, I recently bought a new Crosstrek with a CVT, AND I LOVE IT. I felt commuting here in my BMW had become too abusive on the clutch, and not fun for me. Now the BMW just gets used for spirited weekend drives and track days, as it should be.
One year of commuting from west Seattle to Kirkland in my beloved E30 stick, and I never wanted to drive a manual again! Thankfully I no longer have the commute, and have since regained my love of a good fun manual transmission car – but I also have a comfy automatic luxury sedan for traffic or interstate cruising.
Another Seattle Boy here and I will chime in saying a manual in traffic? No big deal. It’s the hills that are killer. Now I have been driving a manual since I learned to drive in a ’64 Impala with 3 on the Tree in the snow, so I am pretty comfortable with heel/toe/clutch hill driving, but now add a good dose or rain and people in front of you that need a 5 foot rollback on a hill in an automatic to get going again and it gets old fast. But even with that said, I 100% agree with the article. Get what you like and whatever makes you happy on the road.
I have never owned an automatic. I have less than 500 hours of driving (in my nearly 30 years of driving) in an automatic. I, frankly, feel less safe in an automatic. I find them very indeterministic until you learn them.
While, every manual is very deterministic, I have found. I have been stuck in miles and miles of traffic, and I’m fine. YES, it kinda sucks, but it’s not the end of the world.
My 3rd car, an ’85 Accord hatch, had a notoriously bad vacuum leak causing it to never idle. I drove it like that for 2 years, heal-toeing it at every stop light and through traffic, just to keep in running.
Damn, I had that problem in my ’88 Accord hatch with the carb’d A20A, but only for about a week. I can’t imagine two years..
Heh. Try driving a manual in San Francisco. I can do it ok but its definitely a challenge on some of the hills that are at 45 degrees.
I just did two weeks ago. It was fine. The hills surrounding Sonoma Raceway are what got me.
I daily-drove a manual Saturn Astra for 9 years and it was perfectly fine. My only issue with driving my MGB in stop and go traffic is that sometimes the idle gets a little low and I have to do the sideways right foot on the brake and gas at the same time to keep the revs up a bit. That can get annoying fast because it’s awkward and there’s not much more embarrassing than stalling the car. 99% of the time it’s fine, but it gets a little finicky in the stop and go traffic on certain days, usually only after it’s been idling for a while in the stop and go traffic. The needle adjustment screw on my carb is stuck really good and I haven’t been able to play with that adjustment, but I also need to play with the idle adjustment a little more and see if bumping up the idle helps this. I’m not the best with carb adjustment and I think it’s becoming a lost art. I’m always scared to mess much with it, because I often make it worse. It can also get pretty warm in the car when you aren’t moving, but that has nothing to do with the manual transmission.
My daily is an ’01 BMW 530i 5-speed (best daily ever, © Matt Hardigree). No real extra effort, but I definitely drive differently that people with automatics. I leave extra space in from of me in slow-moving traffic to try to avoid coming to a dead stop, and since I sit with the car in neutral and my foot aff the clutch, it takes me a second or two extra to get going from a full stop. Both of these habits probably piss off peope behind me. But hay, the world was a much better place when all there were were manuals.
I’m 100% a three pedal stan, but modern autos are so much better than they used to be; it doesn’t feel like giving up on life to drive one.