mpath

I travel Europe for work quite extensively, and car rentals have manual options, even in mid-size sedans like Audi's. My wife and I are planning to do a road trip to Spain and Portugal this fall and looking for a manual 911 Targa or Cab (991 / 992), but so far they're PDK's.

Busta Rib

I am going to Portugal next month and my car rental is manual only. Most if not all of the econo options for a rental are manual only. Granted, it is the equivalent of a Toyota Corolla, not a 911, but still. Stark contrast to the rental market in the US.

ADias

The Dying Art of Driving a Stick Shift... and the dying art of horseback riding... and on and on.

The only reason the clutched tranny exists is that there was no early on technology for a mechanized transmission.

And this comes from someone with 50 years of 3-pedal vehicle driving. Nostalgia is what it is.

Elliotw44

I'm finally a 1%er! woohoo I've made it.

qikqbn

A neighbor of mine passed away from cancer many years ago. His wife and young son of 7 at the time remained in the house. Over the years the boy would stop by when I was in the garage to say hi and bring his school friends to look at my Porsches. His father left behind a pristine 1985 Toyota Celica stick shift. It was kept in the garage for almost 10 years and I offered to teach the boy how to drive stick when he was ready to drive. A few years ago I had the privilege of teaching him how to drive his father's stick shift Toyota Celica. I do not have children of my own, but I felt honored to be able to teach him the lost art of driving a manual car. Unfortunately after a year the Celica gave up the ghost and the engine threw a rod. The very next car he, the now 20 year old young man, purchased was a manual stick shift Jeep. I was so proud of him. To this day he thanks me for teaching him how to drive stick. I will continue displaying this unique art until my knees blow out and even then I won't give it up easily.

sandwedge

Which is one of the reasons I never used valet parking. Other obvious reasons too but I've heard your story from others.

TommyV44

Got goosebumps reading your story! Good for you and good for all of us stick shift warriors we still have working these magical cars!

Petza914

Any skill someone can acquire whether it's the ability to drive e a manual, use a scroll saw, weld, operate a multi-meter, hit a golf ball, surf....any skill... makes them a more complete and more interesting person. Using an app that drops things at your feet or hiring someone who actually has the skill to do what you can't is certainly the direction the world is heading, which is kind of sad. I think this was ingrained in me early on and one reason I enjoy working on my own vehicles - it's the sense of accomplishment.

I grew up riding dirt bikes so learned how gears, throttle, and a clutch work together even if in a different form factor, so it was not difficult for me to transition that knowledge to a car and I picked up driving a MT vehicle very early on in in life (bought a 914 at 15) and have owned at least one ever since for 35 years. It's the involvement with the vehicle and driving experience that I like about it, not that it makes the car faster (because in most cases it doesn't).

My son is growing up the same way and picked up parking lot driving of my Dad's Saab 900 Turbo manual very quickly one day before we shipped it off to my nephew as his first car, probably because of the same dirt bike experience.





I'm also lucky to have a wife that feels the same way and a father-in-law that believed it was an important skill for any driver to have. After teaching her how to drive a stick, he took her to a hill in their Jeep and said, when you can start off from a stop using the parking brake, the gas, and the throttle without stalling the car, smoking the clutch, or it jerking violently, we'll go get your permit, and so far, we've never replaced a clutch in her 997 - 65k miles and counting and I'm lucky that I don't have to worry about my vehicles whenever she leaves the garage in one of them.

My son gets his permit this year and will get his own vehicle within 6 months from them as I like the kids to learn to drive supervised in the vehicle they'll be driving once they're on their own. We did this same thing with my daughter a few years ago since she's older and it has worked out well. My son has specifically requested that his SUV be a manual transmission, so he really is a chip off the old block. My wife wants him to have an SUV so he'll be getting either a Jeep or Hummer H3 with a MT.

I also agree with the article that driving a manual does make the driver more engaged with the driving process and potentially safer. The more electronic aids that go into cars, the less skilled and the less focused drivers feel they need to be. Land departure warnings, auto-distancing cruise control, automatic braking for collision avoidance, etc all make the problem of distracted driving worse and the roadways more dangerous, not less.

I'll leave you with this Saturday Night Live car thief spoof too, as I found it pretty funny -

campbesl

When my daughter turned 16 last fall and got her driver's license, I bought a cream puff 2008 BMW with manual transmission from a gentleman here on Rennlist. It took a few lessons and a few tears but she got the hang of it and is now very proficient. My son is starting to drive and insistent that we get him a car with a stick shift. Our best logic was that a manual transmission eliminates or at least reduces the amount of texting they can do while driving!

Jack667

Since we're telling stories...
I do some instructing for track events and through that, was invited to instruct for the BMW/TireRack teen Street Survival schools. I did it once 'solo' and twice with a son - each of my two older boys went through it as students - with different instructors. At the most recent one last year, I was paired with a female student driving a stock shift. Besides the classroom instruction, there's a series of cone courses - hard braking, slalom, skid-pad, braking while turning...
We get in the car, in the parking lot, and she's backing up out of the spot, and about to head over to the other side of the facility where all the cone courses are set up. As she backs up out of the spot, she jerks the clutch, chirps the tires, the car jumps back, and then she slams on the brakes as a car honks it's horn and brakes to avoid a collision - he was driving down the lane and she didn't see him due to the cars next to us.

So, that ends up being her clutch strategy for every launch - to jerk the clutch, usually chirp the tires, launch the car - not as a high speed maneuver, but just horrible technique. Before the first cone course, I directed her to the side of the lot, out of the way, and I asked her to try and start off from a stop without using the gas pedal. She tried a couple of times and wasn't able to do it, even as I guided her to go slow and smoothly. She said it was impossible with her car to do that. So I told her to get out and switch seats (this is really not done at these schools) and I got behind the wheel and showed her. - several times - how to do it. We switched back and then I asked her to try and she started to get it. Then I suggested she try it in reverse - I explained that it's only a matter of time before she gets in an accident and maybe hurts someone if she doesn't learn how to creep out of a parking spot. She tried and then said it was impossible to do it in reverse in her car - and it's funny - she's calling me 'sir' in a really passive aggressive way. So - we swap seats again and I show her how to do it in reverse - being patient and super friendly.
She was really cold for the entire session, and it was tough getting through all the drills.

Then there was lunch and a classroom session, and then we went out for the afternoon driving session. She spoke to her mom and must have calmed down. She apologized for the way she acted and thanked me for taking the tim with her. By the end of the afternoon, we were like best friends, she was singing songs, and I had her doing the skid pad (dry corn) with really great throttle steering. She was killing it on all the drills and having a blast. Turns out that she did way better in the driving exercises than my kid, and I blame that on his instructor! Anyway - it was a great experience and I think I made a huge difference in her driving, but we didn't exchange contact info so I'll never really know...

antwon412

My son just got his license. His car is an older Sentra. In manual.
He had a little difficulty “getting it” but now he loves at. Already says he wants his next car to be a manual as well.

Busta Rib

I love all the manual stories. Keep them coming! The first manual car I bought was a 1980 VW Scirocco when I was 19. It was my second car, the first being a 1977 Datsun B210 auto. I lived in So CA at the time and the car was located about 20-min from where I lived in Irvine. Mind you, I did not get any formal training from anyone on how to drive a stick. I went to the library and read a couple books and magazines. WTF! This was back in 1987, way before the interwebs. I would practice in my mom's house in the living room sitting on the couch and simulating driving a manual, imagining pushing the clutch, change gear, transition to gas, etc. At the time, I thought it can't be that difficult! Oh, the exuberance of youth.

The car was priced at $3000 or so, which was A LOT of money back then, especially for me. But I wanted that car so I arranged for a time to go check it out, brought a good friend for support (he couldn't drive a stick), and an envelope of cash. As soon as I saw it in person, I knew I had to have it and paid full price without even negotiating, test driving, or thoroughly inspecting the car (dumbass). It looked exactly like this one, including the gold mesh wheels (car in photo is not mine):



When it came time to drive it home, I got into the driver seat, took a couple minutes to orient myself, and then proceeded to stall it 2-3 times, with the seller looking on with a perplexed look. I then stuttered off for the first 100 yds before resembling anything close to driving. It was about 15 miles back to my house and looking back, it was a miracle we made it back unscathed as I probably stalled it at least a dozen more times on the way back and frustrated everyone around me. But I quickly picked up driving a stick over the next couple weeks and basically have been driving manual cars ever since, especially every Porsche I've owned. That Scirocco turned out to be one of the most reliable and fun cars I've ever owned and driven. A good friend bought it from me when I went to grad school and proceeded to drive it into the ground with about 250K miles on it. One of the funnest things I loved to do in the Scirocco was to find a big empty parking lot, put it in reverse, and then floor it and do reverse donuts. I wasn't savvy enough at the time to appreciate and understand the dynamics of FWD vs RWD. It was simply just fun, and owning/driving that Scirocco helped spark my love of cars and driving.

I know you can have fond memories in any car, regardless of transmission. But it is great to read about some memorable moments we've all had with the manual transmission.

T Silnner

My wife's BMW and my 911 both have manual transmissions. We drove her BMW down to Los Angeles for a week and noticed that every resturant had valet parking,
several to a lot that was a few blocks away.The weather was bad, so we handed over the key. Anyway, one time we noticed a slight burning smell when we picked up the car and when we drove back she noticed that the clutch felt a bit soft and attributed it to the valet's inexperience with a stick.

So, we are driving back down next week and I have rented a sadan with an automatic transmission. No worries about the car-as far as I am concerned they can beat it like a rented mule...

tanger

I told my kids that they could have any car so long as it was a manual, 4 door, and used. Several options were thrown out like Jeep, BMW 3xx, Mazda3, Audi A4, but I was finally able to convince them on this:

2019 VW GTI Rabbit Edition in Urano Gray. Finally after like 30 years I have achieved getting my high school dream car.

Oh, I forgot to mention my oldest won't be able to drive for another year. I am proud of myself for thoughtfully planning ahead for them, and in the meantime will make sure it gets properly driven taken care of.

nwGTS

Story time!
My dad wasn't 'into cars' really (his dream car was a Volvo 850), but damn if he wasn't into manual transmissions. He turns 70 this year and has never owned an automatic.

His list of manual cars since I was born includes a few you may not have thought came in manual:
AMC Gremlin
Chrysler Minivan
Honda Accord Sedan
BMW 325 (exploded)
Ford Bronco II
Ford Explorer Sport
Saab 900 SE
BMW 335xi

I took my driver's test in the Explorer Sport 5 spd and, besides the new Bronco which my wife will also need to drive, I have also owned only manual cars. It's also interesting that almost all of my close friends know how to drive manual. Birds of a feather I suppose.