"Maxi Cooper ¯\_()_/¯" (maxicooper)
07/07/2015 at 03:45 • Filed to: Volvo, Datsun, Save the manuals, Noob, Camaro, Mustang, Odyssey, Learning to drive
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"Maxi Cooper ¯\_()_/¯" (maxicooper)
07/07/2015 at 03:45 • Filed to: Volvo, Datsun, Save the manuals, Noob, Camaro, Mustang, Odyssey, Learning to drive | 6
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Automotively, I suppose you could say I’m a bit of a late bloomer. Living in a relatively walkable part of the San Francisco Bay Area, and having nothing more appealing to drive than my parents’ pair of ugly 1990 Volvo 760s, a matched set of gold sedan and gold wagon, I didn’t bother with getting my driver’s license in high school. Dad’s refusal to add me to the insurance, citing the astronomical cost of insuring a young, male driver didn’t help. Heck, I didn’t even have my learner’s permit until last summer, after freshman year of college! The one nice thing about waiting this long was that I didn’t have to pay for the ten hours of professional behind-the-wheel driving lessons that are mandated for those who are under 18 when they receive their permit. Anyway, I came home from school over this past winter break and passed the license test, driving Dad’s automatic 760. The only area in which I lost points was for driving too slowly; perhaps I was secretly intent on becoming the American answer to James May. Regardless, I had a license proving that I probably wasn’t a menace to society, although the jury is still out on that one. Still, I knew I wouldn’t feel like a real driver until I could row my own gears.
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I’m going to take a step back here and say that, while it took me longer than most to kick my ass into gear and get my license, I’ve been a huge car person from a young age. My dad and I used to read his Road & Track magazines together, and he’d always complain that they’d rave about a car’s 0-60 time or handling, but conveniently omit companies’ reliability records for past models or projected costs of ownership. (You listening, Okulski?) Couple that skepticism of performance brands’ durability with the man’s healthy distrust for domestics after a nightmarish two-year stint in college with a Mustang II that couldn’t be convinced to engage reverse, and it’s easy to understand the reasoning behind his automotive proclivities. The breadbox-shaped Volvos and the Honda Odyssey parked in the driveway during my childhood were certainly safe, reliable transportation, though they didn’t quite compare with the Mustangs and Camaros on my wall. The point is, while I never had the Corolla buyer’s mentality that cars are A-to-B appliances, I also wasn’t chomping at the bit to just go for a drive when my choices of transportation were three stodgy slushboxmobiles. (Is that even a word? It should be.)
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Once I actually climbed behind the wheel of the ‘Vo, however, I was pleasantly surprised. For those of you who have made it this far and are mentally berating me for describing a turbo Swede as being boring and ugly, you’re absolutely right to object—at least about the “boring” part. By the time I had my license, the 760 wagon had passed on to the great highway in the sky (actually, the local Pick ‘N’ Pull lot), but the sedan was still going strong, with the exception of some minor electrical gremlins that, I kid you not, caused the controls for the front and rear power windows to be swapped, prevented the car from starting if the driver’s seatbelt is buckled, and enabled the radio to switch itself on and off at random, sort of like a Scandinavian Bumblebee, but without the cool transforming part. Between these quirks and the drama of old-school turbo lag, though, the car was anything but a boring appliance. Mashing the gas to merge onto the freeway, waiting for the turbo to spool up, feeling the vibration and thrust from all 2.3 liters of angry force-fed displacement, and all the while hearing intermittent bits of radio chatter through the broken antenna made for an engaging if somewhat mystifying driving experience. Still, the call of the manual beckoned.
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The first time my dad tried to teach me the ways of the mystical third pedal, things didn’t go well. The only manual car we owned was his 1967 Datsun 1600 Roadster, a beautiful car but a bit finicky for a first-time stick learner. I managed little in that first session than stalling repeatedly in an empty parking lot, due to a combination of inexperience, a rather hungry and therefore impatient instructor (hi Dad!), a sticky gas pedal that seemed to function like an on-off switch, and a cramped cockpit in which I had to maneuver my legs around rather than under the steering wheel to reach the pedals. While the first of these was certainly most at fault, I needed all the excuses I could get to put that initial failure behind me.
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Today was our second try. I’ve been blowing smoke to my dad for a while about picking up a rust bucket and fixing her up, but he and I both knew I’d want a beater with a stick, and I’d need to know how to actually drive one first. So, this afternoon, we took the little Datsun out to the cemetery down the street and practiced. I must say, I’m pretty shocked at how well it went. I learned how to successfully start from a stop, reverse, upshift, downshift, and all that good stuff in just about half an hour, and then made the hilly two mile drive to the grocery store with no issues once my dad was reasonably certain I could handle public roads. I’ve still got to nail down some of the details, like parallel parking with a manual car and minimizing rollback on hills, but overall I’m more excited about driving than I’ve ever been. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I’m looking at buying a running but somewhat neglected Volvo 122s from a local mechanic who’s had it sitting in his back lot for a while; after another day or two of practice, I’ll be confident enough in my abilities to finally give it a test drive and bring it back in one piece. While I’m still improving as a driver, and I especially need to ingrain the muscle memory of driving a car with three pedals, I feel like I’m finally through most of the heavy lifting. Stay tuned for upcoming misadventures as I try to find and buy my first car. Onward and upward!
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P.S. I want to thank the Oppo and Jalopnik community for being great sources of advice and super supportive through my somewhat belated journey towards becoming a real car guy. Cheers, folks!
Hiroku
> Maxi Cooper ¯\_()_/¯
07/07/2015 at 05:15 |
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Nice write up!
I didn’t take a real interest in cars until my late teens, and only got my license when I was 22 years old. Growing up in a city center in Europe means there’s good quality public transport everywhere, so nobody in my family had or needed a car.
I live in a smaller village now and need a car to get anywhere, and I’d still much rather commute by bus if it was at all possible. It’s much cheaper (not only fuel, but also maintenance) and I would much rather use my time for something productive, like studying, rather than spending an hour every day behind the wheel.
In a perfect world I’d commute by public transport and keep one or two old Volvos in a garage to restore and take on the occasional drive into the city at night, or for a few blast on nearby B-roads on the weekends. That’s what I truly like about cars.
A good idea to learn to drive manual is to pick up an old cheap beater for like 200$ and tossing it around for a while, so you don’t burn out your father’s Datsun’s clutch. Once you’re perfectly comfortable with the basics, start learning more “advanced” stuff like rev-matching, double-clutching and heel-and-toeing. These are all techniques which will you help you stay more in control of your car and save wear and tear on components, not to mention the satisfaction of executing a perfectly timed shift.
This is all such a huge part of the driving experience to me that I couldn’t even fathom the thought of ever daily driving an automatic.
PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power
> Maxi Cooper ¯\_()_/¯
07/07/2015 at 06:27 |
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heyyy! welcome to the stick world! I did the exact opposite with learning, and developed knowledge of both the stick and the car at the age of 13. by the time I took my final drive test some 3 months before my 16th birthday, I had a solid 100 hours of wheel time.
I first learned in a 1966 bug, and then in a 1990 VW golf. both we’re slow, wallowed like drunk cows, and had brakes comparable to those found on the space shuttle (hint: the space shuttle doesn’t have brakes) but when I got a hold of a good car (my mom’s 2012 Jetta 2.5 5-speed) I was completely ready to drive it well, with no issues. Another thing is that a much ore powerful, new car allowed me to see how much fun driving can be. While puttering down country lanes in a beetle is nice; the exileration of nailing a 5-cylinder jetta in 2nd as it screams up to 6,200rpm while merging on to the highway is awesome.
driving manual is awesome, and I'm glad you joined the cult of maualism!
RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
> Maxi Cooper ¯\_()_/¯
07/07/2015 at 07:34 |
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I didn’t get my license until I was about 19-20 or so, even though I was also a HUGE car guy since I was a kid. (I still have my around 200 dinky cars in boxes...)
I also wanted a manual, and, come hell or high water, I was going to have one. I had a friend of mine teach me on his 2004 Hyundai Elantra with a broken 3rd gear syncro on 2 occasions for about 15 minutes each, and 2 other sessions with another friend in his 2005 Honda Accord also for 15 minutes each as mom’s car was a 2001 Honda Civic with an Auto at the time. Mom wasn’t too pleased and was incredibly worried I was going to crash or break something and that I was being foolish, but damnit, my first car would be a manual. Ended up picking up a 2002 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS wagon with a stick in December 2008 and “learned the rest” when I had to drive it home from the garage in the morning city rush-hour traffic :P
I will never go back. You have SO much more control with a stick, and it’s just a more enjoyable and encompassing driving experience even for short mundane trips when you know that you literally have to be a part of the car to make it function. It’s also a bit liberating for me in the sense that NOBODY else (other than a few of my friends) is able to drive MY car, except me - mom doesn’t know how, my brother doesn’t know how. I had to sell my beloved Impreza in April 2013 when the rear sub-frame rusted out....could’ve fixed it, but the car had high kms then and the body was starting to rust (again) in the rear wheel wells after having already been fixed once, so as much as I miss that car, it wasn’t the financially responsible thing to do.
I have a 2009 Hyundai Accent hatch now with a stick - decent little car - reliable and surprisingly peppy :). My next car when this one dies will hopefully be a FIAT 500 with a stick - call me girly if you want, but I’ve always loved small European cars and have loved that one since I saw it on Top Gear in 2007! :)
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Maxi Cooper ¯\_()_/¯
> Hiroku
07/07/2015 at 15:07 |
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Yeah, definitely with you on the beater thing. Problem is, we don’t have enough garage space for an extra car, and street parking is brutal around here, so whatever I buy has to be able to replace the Volvo and be reliable enough for my dad to use when I’m away at college. So for now, I’ll be learning on the Datsun, but if we get the go-ahead from our mechanic on this 122s, we may end up swapping an old Volvo for an even older one!
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Maxi Cooper ¯\_()_/¯
> RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
07/07/2015 at 15:10 |
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Very cool! I’ve always found those late 90s/early 2000s Subarus interesting. Sounds like you have an affinity for hatchbacks.
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RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
> Maxi Cooper ¯\_()_/¯
07/07/2015 at 15:17 |
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Definitely do! I’ve always liked hatchbacks...more practical, and they just seem to have a more “complete” look to them for me compared to sedans! :)
Nauraushaun
> Maxi Cooper ¯\_()_/¯
07/08/2015 at 05:58 |
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I managed little in that first session than stalling repeatedly in an empty parking lot
I find that, when someone struggles to learn manual, it’s the teacher’s fault. The learner isn’t at fault, they don’t know what they doing. There are a million things the instructor can tell them to try and teach them, I reckon they usually say the wrong thing.
Key to not stalling is listening to the revs and responding when they get low. If you don’t prioritize that, you’ll stall a heap until you figure it out.