Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The Ups and Downs of Driving a Stick Shift

I got a good laugh the other day when I saw a comedy skit about a robber who tried to take someone's car but was unable to drive it because it had a manual transmission. He ended up making the carjacking victim drive his own car while the robber sat in the passenger seat.

I wasn't laughing during a slow drive in rush hour traffic today. First, second, third, stop. First, second, stop. Those are the times when it would be nice to drive an automatic. The rest of the time, I really don't mind driving a stick shift. In fact, I think it gives me better control of the car, especially in snow.

I realize that I'm part of a shrinking number of people who use both hands and both feet to drive. Yes, that means I can't do anything else while driving. What a concept. Even with all that, I still manage to use the turn signal too, which is apparently an optional feature on some vehicles here in northeast Ohio.

3 comments:

  1. I learned to drive on a manual transmission at age 16, because my dad was a big proponent of that at the time. It does come in handy nowadays for those occasions when I get to drive his Porsche!

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  2. Being able to drive a car like that is the best reason for knowing how to drive a manual transmission.

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  3. Yes, driving a Porsche with automatic transmission would be like riding the ski lift back down the hill instead of skiing down!

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