Vroom!
I got a stickshift to drive to Los Osos this weekend! Yay! For a righteously carless person, I really do love to drive. And I especially love to drive a stickshift. I am already annoyed that it has arrows in the dashboard that light up when the car wants me to shift. Does it think I don't already know? Am I not a seamless extension of the engine, feeling the road beneath me, responding instinctively to every curve and slope?
Don't know whether I'll post much the next few days. Have a good weekend!
Don't know whether I'll post much the next few days. Have a good weekend!
posted by Megan at 9:53 AM
8 Comments:
Er...how do you know when to shift?
I saw Megan driving this morning, and yelled to her she looked good as "the babe in the red car." But I would have swooned more if she shouted that it was a stick-shift! That's hot!
I learned on a stick shift, which had all the advantages of being cheaper to buy, being easier to jump start, having more driving control, and (possibly) saving a little gas. Most of all, it was useful way to easily say "no" to high school friends who wanted to "borrow" the car. "Sorry, it's a stick..."
Now I have a hybrid, which you can't get a stick-shift version of. I guess you could engineer a stick-shift hybrid, but it would probably be a lot more expensive...
-A
I *love* manual transmissions. It really does make you feel more in tune with the car, or at least in more control over it.
Traffic congestion, though, often makes me pine for an automatic.
(And technically, you're supposed to shift based on the RPM reading, but I go by sound and feel-- both will have you shift at about the same moment, but this way I don't have to bother glancing at the gauge.)
Stick-shifts are weak. Real drivers use fixed gear cars. That's how you really get in touch with the road.
Awesome, Bob Vis.
Anonymous, the civic hybrid comes in stick, though it's a bit annoying to drive because the auto stop feature of the engine provides just enough hesitation that starting out from a light makes it tricky to learn to drive even for seasoned stick drivers.
if you don't have enough to do in los osos and want to interview some random people email me and I can e-introduce you to some.
Manual transmissions are way better than (ugh) slushboxes. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer cars come with them. When I bought my car, a Subaru Forester, 15 months ago, the dealership had about 50 Foresters on the lot and every last one of them was an automatic. I had to wait several days until they could get one from another dealership. And Subaru is one of the manufacturers most committed to selling manuals.
Peter
Iron Rails & Iron Weights
Post a Comment
<< Home