Renting a manual transmission car — what to know

The major national rental chains — Enterprise, Hertz, Avis, Budget, National — have almost entirely eliminated manual transmission vehicles from their fleets. The reasons are practical: a significant and growing portion of US drivers haven't learned to drive a stick shift, rental companies lose money when renters damage clutches, automatics require less driver skill management at the counter, and the automotive industry's shift toward CVTs and dual-clutch automatics has reduced manual availability across the board.

As of 2024, fewer than 2% of new cars sold in the US are manuals. The rental fleets mirror the market with a lag. What was once common in a rental lot — stick-shift economy cars — is now functionally unavailable from any major US airport rental operator.

Drive865 runs the opposite approach deliberately. Five of our ten cars are manuals. The reason is simple: the roads we send people on — Tail of the Dragon, Cherohala Skyway, Foothills Parkway — are fundamentally better in a car you're actively driving. A paddle-shift automatic is fine. A proper 6-speed manual is the experience. We keep them in the fleet because the people who want them are exactly the people who know what to do with East Tennessee roads.

The 2023 Honda Civic Sport Touring is the gateway car. It's a modern hatchback with a standard 6-speed manual — the most new-car-feeling manual in the fleet. Light clutch, short-throw shifter, forgiving engagement zone. If you can drive any manual, you can drive this one. It's also the only manual in the fleet that doesn't feel like a commitment to go fast — you could drive it to Publix and not feel odd about it. This is the car to rent if you haven't driven a manual recently and want to shake off the rust before you book the BRZ.

The 1995 Mazda Miata Base is the other easy manual in the fleet. The clutch is light, the shift throws are short, and the car is so well-balanced that stalls on hills are more embarrassing than dangerous. The Miata is famous in driving circles for making new manual drivers feel capable — the engagement is intuitive, the feedback is immediate, and the weight is low enough that you're not fighting the car if you miss a shift. This is the consensus first-time manual rental pick.

The 2020 Subaru BRZ Limited is a step up in engagement. The clutch is heavier than the Miata's, the power delivery is more abrupt on lift-throttle, and the car rewards proper technique more visibly. The BRZ is the Dragon car. On a technical road with many corners and many shifts, the BRZ's manual is in its element. It's not difficult if you're comfortable with a manual — it's demanding if you're rusty.

The 2021 Subaru WRX STI Limited has the heaviest clutch in the fleet. Noticeably heavier than the BRZ. It's not punishing, but it requires deliberate, full-travel engagement — especially on hill starts. The WRX STI is a serious car with a serious clutch. Renters who haven't driven a high-performance AWD manual before should spend a few minutes in a parking lot or on a quiet road before heading to the Dragon.

The 1994 Toyota MR2 GTS is the oldest and most analog car in the fleet. 5-speed manual, binary turbo power delivery, mid-engine balance. The clutch is medium-weight but the engagement zone is narrower than a modern car. The MR2 is for experienced manual drivers who want the analog experience specifically — it's a time capsule and an excellent road car, but it requires respect.

The honest test: can you do a hill start from a dead stop without rolling back, stalling, or burning the clutch? If the answer is yes, you're ready to rent a manual. Hill starts are the single most revealing test of manual competence because they force you to coordinate clutch engagement, throttle input, and hand brake release simultaneously — no tricks, no shortcuts.

If you're uncertain, there's a spectrum between 'confident driver' and 'someone who learned to drive stick in a parking lot once.' Before booking a manual from Drive865, assess honestly where you are on that spectrum. If you're in the middle — you can do it but you're not smooth — the Civic or Miata is the right call. Both forgive a rough shift. Neither will punish a slightly slow engagement on a hill start the way an MR2 will.

We don't test you at pickup, and we don't require any manual driving certification. We do rely on your honesty with yourself. A renter who over-estimated their manual skills and burned a clutch on I-75 is a bad day for both of us. The roads in East Tennessee are technically demanding. Know your actual skill level, not your aspirational skill level.

If you're renting a manual for a Dragon day and you haven't driven stick in a year or two, do this: before you drive to the Dragon, spend 20–30 minutes on a quiet flat road — a parking lot, a side street — just running through the gears. First to second, second to third, third back to second, a few hill starts if you can find a gentle grade. Get the muscle memory back. You're not trying to go fast; you're reminding your left foot and left hand how to talk to each other again.

The Foothills Parkway is an excellent warm-up road for the Dragon. It's 35–45 mph, low stress, no traffic pressure, and gives you 11 miles of easy gear changes before you hit the Dragon's tight technical corners. If the Foothills Parkway drive feels smooth and natural, you're ready. If you're still hunting for gears or stalling on inclines, the Dragon is not the next stop.

Heel-toe downshifting is a technique for simultaneously braking and rev-matching while downshifting into a corner. It's the right technique for track days and advanced driving. It is not required on the Dragon, not required for Tail of the Dragon driving, and actively discouraged if you're not already smooth at it. The Dragon will be more enjoyable if you brake early, shift down while braking in a straight line, then carry the right gear through the corner — no heel-toe required.

Normal clutch wear — the expected degradation from ordinary driving — is not charged to renters. What is charged is abusive wear: burning the clutch on a prolonged hill start, riding the clutch as a brake, slipping the clutch excessively on launch. These are distinguishable from normal wear on inspection and in feel.

On steep hill starts, don't use clutch slip to hold position — use the handbrake. Hold the car with the handbrake, engage the clutch, release the handbrake as the clutch catches. Clean, controlled, no clutch heat. On the Dragon specifically: many corners have uphill exits where you're restarting from slow or near-stopped. Practice this before you get to the road.

Don't ride the clutch pedal. If your foot is resting on the clutch pedal without depressing it, you're adding pressure to the throwout bearing and potentially slipping the clutch slightly without realizing it. Left foot flat on the floor when you're not actively shifting.

Tail of the Dragon, Cherohala Skyway, Foothills Parkway, Cades Cove loop road — these roads reward driver engagement in a way that a commuter corridor simply doesn't. A manual transmission is most alive when you're using it actively: downshifting into corners, holding a gear through a sequence, sensing the engine load through the gearstick. On a road that asks for 50 gear changes in 11 miles, the manual is the point.

Most of the country where you'd rent a car is flat, traffic-dense, and unsuited to manual driving as an experience. East Tennessee is the opposite: low traffic on the good roads, elevation change, technical corners, weather variation. You might drive three hours of genuinely engaging mountain road in a day. The manual turns that three hours from transportation into driving.

We're also one of the only places in the country where you can rent a manual sports car from a small operator who maintains the cars specifically for these roads. That's not an accident — it's the whole point of what Drive865 does.