I have made a convert!

"for Michigan" (formichigan) 08/15/2016 at 10:14 • Filed to: save the manuals, Story Time

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Pool ball-style shift knobs are the bomb.

My brother-in-law is not what I would consider a gear head. When I go on about cars, he listens politely and tries to stay engaged, but it’s apparent that it’s not a subject that he is invested in. Despite that fact, I have gotten him hooked on rowing his own gears!

( Bit of a story, TL;DR below. )

Shortly after my sister started dating him, he bought himself a dirt cheap Suzuki Verona from a local buy-here-pay-here lot. The thing was never right. Over the course of his ownership, I don’t even remember a time that is was running properly.

When I replaced my Civic with my Mazda, the Suzuki was overheating regularly, not shifting properly, stalling randomly, and the throttle was surging inconsistently. By comparison, the Civic’s problems seemed inconsequential, so I offered to help him get rid of the Suzuki, teach him to drive stick, and sell him the Civic dirt cheap. He was game.

He actually took to operating a manual really well. I like to think it was my instruction, but really it seems he just had a knack for it.

Shortly after their wedding, the Civic started leaking oil like a sieve and soon after that the throwout bearing decided to give up. Setting everything right would’ve cost more than the car was worth and my sister wanted something automatic, so the Civic was replaced for a Buick Park Avenue.

They’ve had the Buick for a while now and I assumed that was the end of my brother-in-law’s manual-owning experience because normal people generally want a car that shifts its own gears. Then yesterday, while we were out playing Pokemon Go, he says to me, “I’ve been thinking, now that I have a job that pays well, we could use a second car. I haven’t run it by my wife yet, but I’d really like it to be something manual because I really miss driving stick.”

I could not have been more proud.

TL;DR My bro-in-law got hooked on driving stick after I sold him a 5-speed Civic.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > for Michigan 08/15/2016 at 10:37

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The world needs more stories like this! :P

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > for Michigan 08/15/2016 at 11:02

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[slow clap]

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > for Michigan 08/15/2016 at 11:07

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I don’t really understand why people end up preferring an automatic over a manual. I could see being indifferent and choosing whichever is faster/more economic/cheaper. But it just never seems any less convenient to shift yourself. Having driven some automatics that weren’t terrible, I could see being okay with it but definitely not preferring it when both options are available.

DynamicWeight > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 08/15/2016 at 11:36

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I really like driving stick. My weekend miata is stick and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But my truck is automatic. I could have gotten it manual but I didn’t want to. I like driving with the seat pretty far back and that makes it nearly impossible to reach the clutch. Therefore, even though I enjoy driving stick, and have dd’ed stick nearly my entire driving career, I bought an automatic on purpose. I really like it.

for Michigan > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 08/15/2016 at 11:52

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It is absolutely more convenient if you eat or make/take phone calls while driving. I’ve reached the point where I can make due if I need to eat or talk on the phone, but I won’t pretend it wouldn’t be easier if I could let the car shift itself.

But I enjoy driving stick enough that I don’t mind making concessions like that.

GolfR Guy > for Michigan 08/15/2016 at 12:23

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I see your point; but living in LA I’ve began to not like driving my Golf Tdi 6spd. Stop and go traffic is too much of a hassle to use a manual, hence why I leased an automatic.
Also, that civic shift gate looks really narrow! Almost NSX like.

Textured Soy Protein > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 08/15/2016 at 12:30

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Driving an automatic car requires (mostly) 1 hand, driving stick frequently requires 2. What’s so hard to understand?

As an example, my fiancee is a pretty typical beige car consumer, and she loooooves her fully-loaded Impreza hatchback. My 335xi is stick, and even though she had a stick shift car many moons ago, she’s completely uninterested in driving my car. Whenever I offer to give her a stick shift refresher course, she refuses and says she doesn’t want to deal with that stress.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > for Michigan 08/15/2016 at 12:39

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Well yeah I could never imagine trying to do any of that in an automatic anyways. So to me, the only advantage of an auto is stop and go traffic. But I hate that either way, its like picking between Hilary and Trump lol.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Textured Soy Protein 08/15/2016 at 12:47

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Well that’s the trouble, I have found that shifting is really not that frequent in a manual, so you are really using one hand to drive most of the time in either case going down the highway or cruising around town. Only difference is I cant really eat or drink stuff with the manual if I am in traffic but that is really something I would rather not do in either case. Once on the highway though, I really have no difference from an auto, I don’t need to downshift for at speed passing generally.

I understand and accept that people prefer automatics, but I never quite get it.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > DynamicWeight 08/15/2016 at 12:50

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That’s an interesting point. I always get it when the manual is hard to find, you have to choose a base package and give up options, or its just not as fuel efficient. But yeah what you are saying might make sense to me too. I haven’t had a truck before so I could imagine that being different.

Textured Soy Protein > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 08/15/2016 at 13:27

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How much you shift depends on how many traffic lights, stop signs, and turns there are in your typical driving environment. Around where I live, those things are all pretty common, so I find myself shifting pretty frequently when not on the highway.

I totally get that shifting is not that difficult. I’ve been driving stick for 15 years with a few years along the way where I didn’t have a manual car so it’s very much second nature for me. But at the same time, for most people who are used to driving nothing but automatic transmissions, a stick shift is something outside their comfort zone.