I like VW's push in shift lever then left and up. I have yet to drive a six speed (soon though), but it works for me on a five speed so I have no reason to believe it will be different on a six.
this post was submitted on 25 May 2025
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Have a six speed, can confirm it works the exact same.
The unnamed International transmission in my dad's old dump truck has reverse completely to the left and down. Conveniently placing it right in the middle of your goddamn leg.
It might not have been located quite that far over when new but now you basically have to scooch over and hug the driver door whenever you're backing up at all.
Honorable mention to the 6sp ZF trans in my dad's F550 flatbed, where reverse is left-and-up, also putting it near your knees and also in nice range of the hanging keys out of the ignition to whack against it randomly.
I like 3 but I had an e30 and I was always worried when someone else had to drive it that they'd fuck it up. To be fair there's like a notch and it requires real force to go into R but people manhandle things. 4 is more idiot resistant.
When I worked as dealership valet without my own road experience, I always made sure to read the shift knob if I didn't know the car. So there's hope. But not everyone I worked with gave a shit
4 for sure. 1 is a pain in the ass when you get in a 5 speed and you’re used to something else. I subconsciously double-clutched once and almost released the clutch in reverse gear at 70 once with that.
It's usually hard/impossible to pull a 6-speed shift on a 5-speed and go 5>R. I acknowledge there's improvements over time, but, what I know from my sample is: no synchro on reverse, so it'd take much more force to engage. I know my miata has a lockout plate so you must go N>R as it blocks 5>R, and still requiring a massive yank to get the transmission to agree to spool up the dogs to a negative 20,000rpm.
Were you double clutching on an upshift?
This is the shift pattern of the army deuce and a half trucks we had when I was in the army. Reverse was in kind of a weird place, until you got stuck in the mud and needed to rock back and forth, then it was nice.
My mind is changed.
The US Amry is good at designing things for my level of idiot.
Right and down is my favorite and I hate everything else. Had a five speed Honda and Toyota for a couple of decades and loved that setup.
Left and up is first gear, so I don't want anything to the left of that. To start moving I want the stick to be going the same direction as the car, so up to the left for forward and down to the right for reverse just makes sense to me. I think I drove a really old farm truck that had the pull up to put it in reverse and it was fine for that setting, but would have been annoying for a daily driver.
My old transporter (and bug before that) had depress the stick then left then back.
Right and down
VW you push down and under 1St gear
Every car I have ever owned has been right and down. I am definitely accustomed to it now.
Once I drove a rental truck that was up and left. Just awful.
Why do you care?
Been driving manual for 30 years plus. Also trained people to drive manual professionally. Don't care.
what happen if I yank too hard and damage the shifter?
It's literally designed that way. You even answered it yourself:
The idea is to really push to the left so you engage reverse and not 1st.
I have a newer Honda and the manual transmission is a dream but 6th gear is in exactly the same position as reverse, so the first time I threw it into reverse I nearly shit myself. Terrifying.
My 8th gen Accord V6 6MT had the same pattern, I generally liked it a lot. The reverse gear is gated in some way such that it should not be possible to shift into reverse when traveling at speed. I don't ever remember accidentally going into 6th when I wanted to reverse. My muscle memory says that to shift into either I always just pushed as far to the right and down and trusted the car to put it into the correct gear.
I trust it now, it was just the first couple of times that really freaked me out. My first car was a 3 speed, and not even hydraulic. The next a 4 speed, then a 5 speed (said 4 and "overdrive"), this is a 2014 I bought new and the first time I've had a 6 speed, first time there wasn't a dedicated spot for reverse.
Overall this one is perfect though, so forgiving and easy to drive. Love it. All the tech I want and none of the tech I don't.
That Accord was my first manual and as you said very forgiving. I actually think it's an almost prefect car to teach someone driving a manual in. Because of how much torque it has you could just let the clutch out somewhat slowly and you would start going without stalling or touching the gas at all, which means the person doesn't have to learn how to operate the gas and clutch at the same time.
My last 6 speed was a combo of 1 and 4 sorta. All the way right and down position, but only accessible by pulling the collar on the shifter up. Maybe that's the same as the knob pull you're mentioning though.
I liked it though. Kept 1-6 in places that made sense, and never had an "oh fuck" moment going from 5-6 since reverse required the collar pull. It was a 2006 Tiburon Tuscani trim (US if that matters). RIP good buddy.
I believe my Mazda speed3 was like this too.
Speed3 is push down and all the way left then forward. Probably the most annoying option
I might have confused it with the rx7 I had cause I swear one of my cars had the collar.
Mazda RX8 was my first car, so that's knob down, left, forward
I’ve gotten used to 4 because it was the manual car I had driven the longest time.
164 Ford Econoline
in and then up
Ford transit - pull up the collar and shift left - so I guess that’s number 4?
I've only ever experienced right and down and the same but with pulling the knob.