Norway is the same as the UK and the Netherlands. I think the main reason is the peculiarities of our import taxes, which causes a substantial increase in the price difference between automatic and manual transmission.

Having driven stick shifts for almost 20 years I do agree with Haertig: Driving outside city traffic is much more fun with a stick shift. Also, when the road is slippery I like to have the option of disconnecting the engine with an automated, gross motor movement: If you need all your grip for steering, you step on the clutch (an automated movement since you do it all the time when driving). Putting the automatic gear in "Neutral" is a) not automated, b) requires that you remove one hand from the steering wheel. Your car has just turned into a skidding 1.5 ton monster, you do NOT want to take your hands off the steering wheel...


That being said, driving stick shift with a stiff, painful knee is not fun. Been there, done that.

I drive a stick shift. Went back & forth between autos & manuals, but, since I drive a Wrangler, it was a no brainer for me .
I actually didnt get my license until after I left the army, when I was 21 (the first time I got out). I had a learners permit while in HS, and a motorcycle permit, which was my only mode of transportation for those high school years (other than bumming rides). I took several driving courses in the Army, for both HMMWVs & the older dune buggys-which was my first experience with a stick shift.
Now, I am more comfy with a stick shift than an auto transmission. I like knowing I can control the gears.

For a while, like up until a few years ago, auto transmissions were the MORE expensive choice. It seems lately though that a standard is more expensive than an auto...like you belong to some sort of exclusive driving clu or something....lol. a 5 year old could drive an automatic car...it takes a little skill to drive a standard though. Of course, you may have to put your cell phone down to shift...

I got my first driving license in Texas. You had to come with a manual transmission, or your license was stamped "auto trans only," a hideous blot on your manhood.

No longer the case today. It is hard to even purchase a manual tranny....

I learned both as soon as I got my learner's permit. We had a '48 Chevy truck with manual (and a foot-pedal starter!) and a '68(?) Rambler wagon with push-button automatic. (Man, that was fun to drive!)

Because I've mostly had manuals, I plant my left foot firmly on the firewall when I'm driving an automatic. "Clutching" the brake pedal is Double-Plus Not Good.

In my neck of the woods manual shifting is quite common. So everyone I know know how to drive them.
I even learned how to drive with unsynchronised gear and the legendary Unimog (there is an extra lever for reverse).

I taught my wife to use a manual many years ago. She didn't warm up to them until she had to rock the truck out of an ice rut in the parking lot - lots easier when you use the clutch. Since then, she's a convert, almost as bad as ex-smokers are against smoking...

I love manuals for many reasons, some of them going through the mountains here in Colorado. On many steep downhills, I can keep my truck in 4th gear, and get down the hill without touching the brakes. Gotta love it.

When driving long distances with our only auto, whenever it's on cruise control and we go up a hill, the stupid thing downshifts 1 or 2 gears to keep speed up, and sounds like it's going to blow up the engine...

Ford Ranger, 4.0 V-6 with a 5 Speed manual. I've been driving manual transmissions since my '64 VW bug (RIP) in 1970.

Also learned how to drive a stick in a Mustang. Started me down the path of cars should only have two doors and three pedals.

Currently have both, truck is an auto, sports cars are stick. Have converted a few friends and family to driving a stick shift. The last was one of my collage age cousins, made sure that the first stick shift she drove was a 6 speed Z06. With the active handling on she wasn't able to do a smoking burnout though an intersection and she only managed to stall it a few times. Since then she has been borrowing her older sisters Jeep to stay in practice.

That's how I learned to drive a stick - drunk buddy one night. Whatever, it was fine. A couple false starts, then I figured to push in the clutch when the engine goes bonkers. The hardest part was starting the darned car.

Now though, I've owned a manual for about 7 years. Back in an automatic currently, but a stick is cake.

If you only rock it "one way" I agree, but that that aint nescessarily so if you need to rock "both ways" (shift between forward and reverse gear as you rock). Auto or manual, which one is easiest would depend on how smooth the gear shift lever is and how complicated that movement is. All other things being equal, the clutch in - change into reverse - clutch out procedure is more complicated than just push the auto from "D" to "R".

The by far easiest car I've ever rocked this way was a Dodge minivan (grand caravan) with gear level on the steering wheel column. If you pull the gear level towards you, the locking disengages and it is the simplest "two-bumps" movement. One hand on the gear level, one hand steering and no foot movement to syncronize except the tiniest up-and-down motion of the accelerator. Sweet as a breeze... Autos with the level between the seats are usually more complicated, you have to move in a zig-zag pattern to go from "D" to "R".

Althoug I love stick shifts, most autos are very good at providing the softest, slowest possible start with no wheel spinning at slippery roads. Just pretend you've got a rotten grape between your foot and the accelerator, anything but the softest push will crush that grape...

Once, I failed miserably to rock out a manual transmission car because the oil in the gear box was rather stiff at -20 celsius (-4F). Having started the car just one minute ago I was turning into the driveway to pick up someone. As I stopped I felt the front wheel were digging into the snow. If I had slammed immediately into reverse I would have rocked out of there before the wheels had time to crush themself deeper into the snow, no problem at all. Because of the sluggish gearbox oil changing gears took about 5 seconds... bummer! Stuck!