Finally learning how to drive stick!!

On 25 Oct 2005 20:03:49 -0700, "Shant M" waffled on about something:

Pssst... You really should keep quiet about this, or keep it to a US based forum only... Over here in the UK pretty much every teenager learns how to drive in a Manual (stick to you). The only teenagers you hear of taking an automatic only driving test are physically/mentally unable to use a manual and therefore subject to much mickey/piss taking (I think that's busting your chops in American).

An automatic is either something you move on to as you learn that start stop traffic jams are a pain in the left leg or something you borrow off your dad!

And before I get chewed up by the auto brigade, I've got a auto specifically to deal with the M25 traffic!

Good luck anyway Shant M, just remember not to ride the clutch or you'll be going through them faster than brake pads.

Dodgy.

why limit yourself to the six speed... the new m5 has a 7 speed smg... not quite as connected as the actual clutch pedal... but wow... 7 speeds... what fun I could have....

Personally, I prefer the fun of driving the car myself.

Then wait a year until the fully manual version is available - supposedly

Floyd

But that's an auto. ;-)

Posts like these are only going to get more and more common. The conventional manual transmission's days are numbered. The writing is well and truly on the wall.

I went to a tyre shop to get some new rubber fitted and needed a lift to work just down the road from the shop. I asked if someone from the workshop could come with me and take the car back to the shop with them to fit the tyres. "Sure" said the helpful guy behind the counter and got one of the most junior kids in the workshop to come with me.

When we got to the car, he looked in through the window and sheepishly said "sorry, I can't drive this car". I didn't twig the reason why so he had to tell me he'd never driven a car with a clutch before.

A guy gets a job in a business doing work on customer's cars and he doesn't know how to drive a manual!! Sadly not that unusual believe it or not and only going to get more common.

..or you don't like 4 gear changes to get to 30mph in a 6-speed.

You can always skip gears if not in a hurry.

On 27 Oct 2005 05:12:41 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk waffled on about something:

What kind of truck do you drive adder?!

Dodgy.

So you normally drive your BMW in 5th gear at 30 mph. How does it cruise at

Tom

I learned to drive a stick with a 3-on-the-tree, a 3 speed that had the shifter on the side of the steering column.

Hell-yeah...

My first car was a '63 Ford Falcon ragtop w/ the 260cu.in. V8 & 3 on the tree. I couldn't stick with the column shifter though (too granny for me) so I put a Hurst floor shifter in it.

That was back in what, 1973? I paid $250 for it with ~35 k miles on the clock. But I think it was only around a $2k car when it was new and I remember buying gas then at ~ .35/gal.

DRP535 wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I had to drive a buddies car back for him the other week -- imagine my dread when I saw the automatic shifter!

After figuring out you hit the brake to shift into go and then hitting the brake about 20 times looking for the clutch it wasn't too bad.

It certainly didn't feel like driving, more like holding on while the damn car decided what to do.

Not fun at all.. i'll never own one of those dang things

One of my early ones was a '62 or '63 Ford Cortina - pre-crossflow, unfortunately - with a *four* speed column shifter. The shifter actually wasn't too bad at all - quite positive. At that time Ford definitely had the better gearboxes. The only other column shift that I had that came close to being good was a Renault 16 TS. But that car rusted even faster than the Cortina did.

The Mercedes column 4-speed of that era on my old 190 was quite good as well.

-- Larry

Your 16 TS' shifter must have been better than the 4 on the floor in my '78 Renault 5 (Le Car). My poor daughter learned to shift on that car; with the usual technique involving a lunge forward and towards the steering wheel for

I was lucky to have a '52 Dodge 6 as my first car. Due to the fluid coupling in concert with a column shift 3-speed & conventional clutch, I learned how to shift and manipulate the clutch without the worry of stalling the engine. Of course, after a year or so, I had the stator blades welded together which improved the fuel mileage from about 9 to 14 mpg.

Tom

I bow to your experience with your Renault 5. However, the 16 was a different beastie, and mechanically it was pretty good. That it was also a tinworm magnet probably explains why none are left, though I'm sure someone will chip in with a tale of how their Uncle Norman has one that's still as good as the day he drove it off the showroom floor.

ISTR that Lotus used the 16's engine, gearbox & transaxle in the first versions of the Europa, the only change being a crown wheel side-switch mod. to avoid having four reverse gears and one forward one.

What does all this have to do with BMWs? Damned if I know. Except that I'd *love* to see BMW selling a decent, mid-engine sports car.

I caught the mid-engine bug years ago. Once you've got it, there's no going back. It's all about polar moments of inertia, turn-in and corner speed.

Should have said 3 changes from 1st (or four in total from neutral.)

That's what I was thinking - I am only in 1st or 2nd depending how much a I pushing the car.