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50 years ago my girlfriend at the time bought a little MG Midget and she taught me on that....many harrowing moments for her and me! Later owned an MG Midget along with a TR-6, Fiat, Porsche 944 and Jeep CJs, Saab, Boxster and 4 911s...all sticks....never went back to an auto although when I was married we had a few SUVs that were officially her car LOL!
On my last 911/stick and it's been a fun ride that has many years left to go I hope!
Back in the day, the parents of a close high school friend offered to buy him a prelude - he wanted a blue automatic.
If it was the 3rd gen Prelude (1987-1990), that was the high-water mark for that car. The hood was lower then the Ferrari 328 of its day. Great looker and handled great. Obvious low in the HP and front wheel drive but they were great cars.
My dad always had cars with a manual transmission and was a car guy, but couldn't afford anything like a 911. He did have some fun stuff though - '91 CRX Si was probably the highlight when I was 10-11, and later a '96 Miata. After I was out of college he had a 2.5L Z3, a post-facelift 350Z, a MK VI then MK VII GTI, and now has a '19 Bullitt Mustang. Anyhow, when I was growing up, he had a 4-door '87 VW Golf GT (not a GTI). He drove a lot for work back in those days and when he got rid of it, it was reading 34x,xxx miles - on the original clutch. No kidding; not that it had more than 100-110hp I'm guessing. Growing up he would let me shift gears from the passenger seat to get me used to the rhythm and feeling of doing so. When I was 12 or so, before basketball practice on weekends, we would get there a little early so I could make a few laps around the parking lot and the private road behind the school where we held practices, occasionally getting to 3rd gear momentarily. At that time he had a '93 Altima - not exciting but slightly more so with a 5-speed. I'll always appreciate his patience and help with appreciating the feel of the friction point, and as noted above by one poster, the practice of starting, first on small hills and later larger. When I was 16 I somehow convinced him to get me a '83 944 that was kind of rough. Looking back I was really not deserving - particularly after a couple of 1k bills...thanks dad for the memories and teaching me this lifelong skill that I still enjoy today!
I'm a millennial and learned how to drive manual on a 500hp Shelby GT500 I purchased about 16 years ago. Pretty sure I could out drive most these Boomers I see - that was pretty evident when I showed up to my local PCA event at Nola Motorsport with a Boss 302 Laguna Seca and ran circles around quite a few Porsche drivers. You're correct though - it's a great anti-theft device, and it's quite a bit more fun than any automatic - even my PDK while great - isn't as fun as my manual 997. Keeping them for life along with my manual Corvette Grand Sport.
In Europe, 80% of cars sold have manual transmissions. In the U.S., it’s only 1%.
Firstly, idk their sources on that. Secondly, heavily skewed numbers.
Europe (as broad of a term as that is) has got a lot more smaller vehicles, or vehicles with smaller engines. Those are the most popular. And because of that, they are almost exclusively paired with a manual gearbox purely due to lower costs. Nothing else.
A regular Joe from rural Spain in his one-litre, three-cylinder Dacia Sandero isn't choosing the manual because he's a petrolhead. Automatics in Europe still carry a hefty premium, especially in cheaper cars and commercial vans - even in rental fleets. Your regular Joe from rural CT drives an F-150 which is from factory a huge three-point-something V6 with an auto. Postal services, delivery drivers, most drive a two-litre diesel van with a manual box. Again, 'cos those are the most affordable.
If you look at used Caymans, 911s, BMW M cars, what have you, you will find that manual transmission cars are very hard to come by in the category of sports cars. Virtually impossible to find a manual Carrera. Production statistics of the BMW M2 and M3/4 say that the take rate of 6MT in the US was the biggest of ANY market around the world. Golf R manual? Only for America.
Europeans have started preferring automatics in recent years.
Firstly, idk their sources on that. Secondly, heavily skewed numbers.
Europe (as broad of a term as that is) has got a lot more smaller vehicles, or vehicles with smaller engines. Those are the most popular. And because of that, they are almost exclusively paired with a manual gearbox purely due to lower costs. Nothing else.
A regular Joe from rural Spain in his one-litre, three-cylinder Dacia Sandero isn't choosing the manual because he's a petrolhead. Automatics in Europe still carry a hefty premium, especially in cheaper cars and commercial vans - even in rental fleets. Your regular Joe from rural CT drives an F-150 which is from factory a huge three-point-something V6 with an auto. Postal services, delivery drivers, most drive a two-litre diesel van with a manual box. Again, 'cos those are the most affordable.
If you look at used Caymans, 911s, BMW M cars, what have you, you will find that manual transmission cars are very hard to come by in the category of sports cars. Virtually impossible to find a manual Carrera. Production statistics of the BMW M2 and M3/4 say that the take rate of 6MT in the US was the biggest of ANY market around the world. Golf R manual? Only for America.
Europeans have started preferring automatics in recent years.
Neither I nor my wife has ever owned a vehicle with less than 3 pedals. We’ve been together for 36 years! She’s also my scuba dive buddy and has logged > 1,000 dives. And she puts up with me! She’s the greatest.
I have one of these on each of my cars (except my Spyder because there isn’t a place). At least a dozen people have asked us why we have a 4 H logo on our cars.
04-01-2022, 10:58 AM
