Sometimes I think I'm one of the last people driving a car-it seems everyone is tooling around in SUVs these days. To really feel like a dinosaur, though, all I have to do is listen to many people when they find out a I drive a -gasp-car with a manual transmission! The looks of disbelief and shock are almost funny.
Let me explain-the first car my parents bought back in 1958 was one of the first VW bugs to be imported into the US; it had a stick shift, but back then manual transmissions were the norm. That car carried me in the womb and beyond, and even after my brother arrived and we moved on to station wagons, they all had manual transmissions, probably four speeds but always on the floor. Both my parents drove them and never thought anything of it, even after manual transmissions started to become more difficult to get; especially in American cars. Certain carmakers never stopped making them, however-witness my continued use of my left foot, even into the 21st century. (When test-driving some cars before my last purchase, I did actually drive something really strange-a car with a shifter but no clutch! I think they called it a "manual-assisted" transmission. This was a pretty fancy car and well out of even the high end of my price range, but I couldn't get out of it fast enough-what a fraud!)
I first learned to drive in my teen years in friend's automatics; but it never felt real until I got behind the wheel of my dad's stick shift (it was a Toyota by then) and mastered the art of keeping the car in one place using only the gas and clutch. Starting on a hill is never a problem when you can control the car without the brake.
The operative word there is control-driving a manual gives one as much control you can take from a car-the decisions are in your head, and by extension hands and feet. The automatic transmission takes into consideration the car's speed and not much else-there are other factors to consider when deciding what gear to be driving in. And please don't ask me what the tachometer does-mine is an integral part of the instrument panel!
Let me explain-the first car my parents bought back in 1958 was one of the first VW bugs to be imported into the US; it had a stick shift, but back then manual transmissions were the norm. That car carried me in the womb and beyond, and even after my brother arrived and we moved on to station wagons, they all had manual transmissions, probably four speeds but always on the floor. Both my parents drove them and never thought anything of it, even after manual transmissions started to become more difficult to get; especially in American cars. Certain carmakers never stopped making them, however-witness my continued use of my left foot, even into the 21st century. (When test-driving some cars before my last purchase, I did actually drive something really strange-a car with a shifter but no clutch! I think they called it a "manual-assisted" transmission. This was a pretty fancy car and well out of even the high end of my price range, but I couldn't get out of it fast enough-what a fraud!)
I first learned to drive in my teen years in friend's automatics; but it never felt real until I got behind the wheel of my dad's stick shift (it was a Toyota by then) and mastered the art of keeping the car in one place using only the gas and clutch. Starting on a hill is never a problem when you can control the car without the brake.
The operative word there is control-driving a manual gives one as much control you can take from a car-the decisions are in your head, and by extension hands and feet. The automatic transmission takes into consideration the car's speed and not much else-there are other factors to consider when deciding what gear to be driving in. And please don't ask me what the tachometer does-mine is an integral part of the instrument panel!
So-when faced with incredulous people who either find it hard to believe that a girl knows how to drive a stick shift, or find the thought of shifting through some rush hour traffic an indescribable hardship-I say-
Give me my five-speed!
Give me my five-speed!
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