Happy National Stick Shift Day! May your throws be short and your stall-outs few!
It’s that magical time of year again, folks; this July 16, Cars.com is celebrating the holiday we created to honor manual transmissions and just how fun they are to drive.
Related: For National Stick Shift Day, Polaris Slingshot Offers Free Driving Lesson
How should one observe such a day? Well, seeing how we made it up only last year, we’re still figuring that out ourselves. I’m proposing a few holiday traditions:
1. Learn How to Drive Stick
Now, if you’re like me (and a lot of other people, it turns out), you don’t know how to drive a manual. Those of us in the automatic-only camp might find it hard to imagine that actual fun could arise from such an involved driving experience, but maybe that’s because we’ve never had the chance to really try it out or we’re scared of the insurmountable challenge it seems to be.
Not to worry. Cars.com reviewer Joe Wiesenfelder will bust that myth for you — as well as many others — and he makes it seem like a whole lot of fun in the process. Check out his full course on how to drive a manual in the video below.
2. Get Your Hands on a Manual
After you’ve conquered the clutch, you’re going to need to give back the car you borrowed to learn in and get your own manual to drive. It’s true that some cars with manual transmissions drive better than others, but a lot of newer models are actually pretty beginner-friendly. Find a list of our favorite three-pedal cars here.
3. Take Yours Out for a Spin
Whether it’s a peppy little Toyota Corolla Hatchback or a performance-tuned Mustang Shelby GT350 — and whether you’re just taking it to the grocery store or out for a few turns around the track — take National Stick Shift Day 2019 as an opportunity to get back in control (of driving that is; we can’t promise it’ll get you in control of anything else).
Maybe take your family out for a drive, or sacrifice your own car to teach the joys of driving stick to someone who doesn’t know how. This holiday is all about spreading the stick-shift love.
Cars.com’s Editorial department is your source for automotive news and reviews. In line with Cars.com’s long-standing ethics policy, editors and reviewers don’t accept gifts or free trips from automakers. The Editorial department is independent of Cars.com’s advertising, sales and sponsored content departments.
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