I Just Learned To Drive Stick With A Broken BMW 

"MichaelGauby" (michaelgauby) 01/04/2018 at 10:00 • Filed to: Manual, BMW, Stick Shift, 325xi

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I’m 21 and never learned to drive stick; a tragedy, I know. But bare with me, I just never had the opportunity. The only vehicle my family has continually had over the course of my life with a manual was a Volkswagen Thing, and try learning stick with a vehicle that is barely safe for highway speeds.

There are almost too many quirks and features

Thus I was left with a dilemma. I wanted to learn stick at this old age to continue exploring automobiles, but didn’t have a vehicle to learn with. Right then I got a text from my dad, who bought a 2004 BMW 325xi- with a 5 speed manual. I was ready.

I began learning in a church parking lot. I could barely get the 325 moving without stalling it. Eventually I caught on but hills were my kryptonite. You better believe I rolled backwards. It wasn’t but an hour after that I was bored of the parking lot and I had to wait until another day. But there was a problem...

See while BMW’s are known for the “ultimate driving experience”, they aren’t known for the least expensive driving experience and my dad’s car was no exception. In only a few months of ownership he had forked over a significant amount of money for repairs; leading my mother, very sensibly, to deny me the pleasure of rowing through the gears.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

The next time I drove it, we actually drove on the street. Backroads in northeast Kansas. Wow what a time to be alive! I was feeling pretty confident and had even crossed a highway, so I was looking for a challenge worthy of my skills.

There it was, the biggest hill I had ever ( not ever ) seen. And I was going to start the car in the middle of the incline and drive right up! Easy enough. It wasn’t so simple though. I tried and tried again, either revving it too high with my foot on the clutch, or rolling all the way back down to the bottom. I wasn’t quick enough to avoid going backwards a ways, making it near impossible to gain forward momentum. After happening over and over, with a burnt clutch looming in the not-so-distant future, we decided to call it quits. Maybe another day.

And that day came. I didn’t try that hill again, but got the chance to actually go to a store...in traffic... at night.  

I did it all without stalling the vehicle or hitting anyone. I was a bit slow from a stop, but that’s because I was granny shifting, not double clutching like I should.

Or maybe I needed more tuna sandwiches

“What a success!”, I exclaimed, having just done something that millions of people do everyday; but I was proud.

Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection > MichaelGauby 01/04/2018 at 10:07

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Congratulations! Learning to drive a stickshift is an important and valuable lesson. It makes you a safer driver, in fact. (assuming you’re a late-adolescent or young-adult male)

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > MichaelGauby 01/04/2018 at 10:21

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Congrats on mastering the manual!

Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle > MichaelGauby 01/04/2018 at 10:23

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Congrats, I didn’t learn til I was 31 and had no one around to teach me so you are ahead of the game to me. Modern cars make Hills easier with hill start assist. I have it on my DD and it’s a nice feature but learning to move from hills is indeed the sign that you are getting the hang of a manual.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle 01/04/2018 at 10:45

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You can also use the handbrake to hold yourself steady on a hill as well when starting off! :)

Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle 01/04/2018 at 11:23

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I learned at 17. I actually don’t like the hill-hold. It feels weird to me - I turned hill-hold off on the Renegade because I kept stalling it...

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > MichaelGauby 01/04/2018 at 11:33

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Nice! Don’t feel bad, I’m about to teach a new friend of mine how to drive stick. He’s 28 and told me he really wished he knew how to drive a manual transmission car. My eyes lit yup and I started signing “I can show you the world” from Aladdin.

LOREM IPSUM > MichaelGauby 01/04/2018 at 11:47

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I learned to drive on one of these:

Manual transmission, and more surprisingly, a manual choke.

My uncle owned one which he kept in immaculate condition. At any given time it looked like the one pictured above. My Aunt taught me how to drive it in a church parking lot at 12 or 13 years old. Probably the only decent thing she’s done in her life.

At 15, I was dating an 18 year old HS senior who owned one of these with a 5MT:

I honed my skills on that thing until she got broad-sided and traded it for an automatic Cavalier. We broke up not long after.

My first car was one of these, with a 5MT:

I really wish I still had it.

Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle > Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection 01/04/2018 at 15:24

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I did not like it at all at first but I read the manual to find out more about how it works. I figured out it only holds for two seconds and if you are braking too lightly it will be inconsistent. So I usually press the Brake a little harder than needed but give a little pause before trying to go. It sounds like more trouble than it’s worth typed it out but it was one of those things where understanding exactly what it does made it more useful.