Manual transmissions are more common outside of North America, where automatics dominate the market. Driving a manual transmission requires more skill and engagement as the driver must coordinate the clutch, gears, and throttle. While manuals can be more fuel efficient when driven correctly, many young drivers in North America are no longer learning due to the popularity of automatics. However, knowing how to drive a manual is useful if renting a car abroad or for better vehicle control.

1. Manual Vs Automatic: A Skill Worth Mastering?
By Lauren Kramer
Try to rent a car anywhere but North America and you’ll notice manual transmissions
everywhere. For those drivers who’ve never driven standard, this can present a dilemma. While
automatic transmissions are the easiest ones to find in Canada and the US, that’s not so in the
rest of the world. Many Canadians opt for the easy way out, driving automatics all their lives.
When stuck in a situation where a manual transmission is the only car available, or where
choosing an automatic transmission means paying a premium, they’re stuck.
Manual transmissions constitute only 10 percent of North American vehicles, says John
Jacobsen at the Mercedes Benz Driving Academy in Pitt Meadows. “It’s a thing of the past here,
but we work really closely with Mercedes Benz worldwide training headquarters in London,
England, and they’re all manual transmission over there.”
Ask most manual transmission drivers and they’ll tell you - driving a manual
transmission is way more engaging and fun than driving an automatic, where ‘stop’ and ‘go’ are
the only two controls. “Manual transmission means you have to involve both hands and both
feet, with no room for a computer, latte or cell phone,” says Marly Zell, owner of Shifting Gears
Driving School in Vancouver. “You have to listen to the engine, which will tell you what it wants
and if it’s about to stall. There’s more to learn to control the vehicle, which keeps you definitely
more focused on the task at hand.”
But as manual transmissions become harder to find on this continent, so too do
instructors equipped to teach this driving skill. Young Drivers of Canada has reduced its manual
transmission instructors from four to two over the past 22 years because the demand for this
kind of instruction has dropped. “It’s not as popular as it used to be,” says Kurtis Strelau,
regional education manager for the Burnaby-based company. “Automatic transmission is so
common now that many people aren’t interested in learning on a manual.”
What people might not know, though, is that if driven correctly, manual transmissions
are more fuel efficient. “If you’re running on high RPMs and not shifting at the right times or
exceeding speed limits, you’ll eat up any fuel savings, but if well driven, they can be
economically advantageous,” Strelau says.
Zell says her clients love driving a manual. “When they’re on the highway their eyes light
up, they get such joy out of learning this skill and applying it to the vehicle,” she muses. “It’s
true, manual transmission driving is a dying art in North America, but the thing is, everywhere
else in the world manual transmission is what’s in vogue. You’ll control your car much better if
you can drive a manual, and if you ever want to drive outside of North America you need to
know standard shift.”