Millennial Anti-Theft Device

[Kogarashi]

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I'm 47 and never learned to drive a stick. I could probably figure it out if I had to, but it'd be like typing on a non-QWERTY keyboard.

I'm 33 and also never learned. My dad's stick-shift car and I had a disagreement on my first attempt when I was 16, it led to a shouting match with my dad (he and I have tempers to match and mom wasn't there to defuse us), and I haven't been behind the wheel of one since.

[KuariKaydrith]

I'm 43 and I learned how to drive a stick-shift about 15 years ago or so when I borrowed a friend's car to go job hunting and then had to pick her up after she was off work. I didn't realize the car wasn't an automatic until I sat in the driver's seat...I figured it out in a hurry though.

My last car (I haven't owned a car in about 8.5 years...can't afford it right now) was a 5-speed 1985 charger. I loved that piece of shit car - it looked awful but ran like a dream until near the end when it finally gave out. I couldn't afford to fix it up enough to drive it across the country when I moved so I gave it to a friend to do whatever he wanted with it. I would probably still have it if I could have afforded the repairs.

[Racket_Man]

I LOVE stick shifts.

The only problem is that my job does not like stick-shifts. Doing pizza delivery will tear up a clutch much much faster than normal. Hey even an automatic transmission will need service at more frequent intervals with this job.

[Kittish]

I wouldn't want to drive an automatic semi. Going up mountains is bad enough, an automatic transmission just seems like it'd slow to an absolute crawl pretty quickly. And then there's the downside. You generally want to keep your truck in as low a gear as you can manage going down to help regulate the truck's speed. Seems to me an automatic transmission would kind of bollix that.

I learned how to drive on a manual, by the get in and figure it out as I (tried to the first couple of times) go method. Took me maybe an hour or so to get used to the whole clutch thing, and then another week to be able to coordinate clutch and accelerator to start moving smoothly with no roll back from stops.

[Chromatix]

The recommended method for hill starts involves juggling the accelerator, clutch *and* handbrake. You need your fourth hand on the steering wheel. But it's not as hard as it sounds.

Declutch and select first gear.

Use the handbrake to avoid rolling backwards. Release the catch, but hold it up.

Open the throttle slightly for a fast idle. Let in the clutch slowly, until the vehicle tries to move forwards instead of back. You should at least feel the strain come off the brakes.

That's when you let the handbrake go. All that remains is to continue letting the clutch in until it's fully engaged, then drive normally.

[mjr]

The recommended method for hill starts involves juggling the accelerator, clutch *and* handbrake. You need your fourth hand on the steering wheel. But it's not as hard as it sounds.

I'm assuming you're talking about 18-wheelers here.

When I had my S-10 (where I learned to drive a stick), the emergency brake was on the floor by the clutch.

I had a situation once where I was on a small hill (couldn't tell you the grade). I was still relatively new to driving a manual, so every time I'd let off the brake to try to go through the stop sign I was at I'd roll backward a little. That's where I sort of picked up the "two feet on three pedals" trick. Especially since I kept stalling my truck, and then when a car pulled up behind me, I was afraid I'd roll back into them.

What I had to end up doing was pressing the clutch and brake with my left hand, and basically "dumping" the clutch at the same time I let off the brake and pushed the gas.

[RealUnimportant]

The recommended method for hill starts involves juggling the accelerator, clutch *and* handbrake. You need your fourth hand on the steering wheel. But it's not as hard as it sounds.

You use hand controls for the accelerator & clutch?

I love my hand brakes, and I loathe people who sit at junctions with their foot jammed on the brake pedal, their overbright brake lights burning holes in my retina...

[crazylegs]

Heh. My car has two gear sticks. Should flummox those auto only drivers

[wolfie]

The recommended method for hill starts involves juggling the accelerator, clutch *and* handbrake. You need your fourth hand on the steering wheel.

I'm assuming you're talking about 18-wheelers here.

Nope. On a semi, the parking brake has only 2 settings - applied and released (with tractor and trailer brakes done separately). Parking brake (even if you use the tractor brake only) releases too slowly to use it in this manner, but the multiplied torque in "granny low" is enough that slipping the clutch at idle will keep you from rolling back for the fraction of a second it takes to get your foot onto the accelerator.

Heh. My car has two gear sticks. Should flummox those auto only drivers

Is the second stick for the 4WD transfer case (2WD/4WD high/4WD low)? If not, what kind of car would have a main and an auxillary transmission? On trucks, those went out a LONG time ago, replaced by the Fuller/Eaton RoadRanger transmissions (high/low selector on the front of the knob where you can get it with your fingertips, splitter under your thumb on transmissions that have one).

[AccountingDrone]

Deux Chevaux? Oh, my, I think I may love you!!
<IH Scout>
Beware--that might be getting really "in" with the hipster crowd now!!
<TVR Vixen>
OK, I know I love you now!!

(Don't let my wife hear me say that!!!)

.

My husband might be a bit peeved too ...

[Ophbalance]

Some international Scouts had three. 4wd high. 4wd low. Regular gears.

[Nunavut Pants]

... That's where I sort of picked up the "two feet on three pedals" trick.

That's also called "heel and toe". Used on track for downshifting while braking; you use part of your foot on the brake pedal and part on the throttle. You "blip" the throttle to raise the RPMs to roughly where they should be for the lower gear, which helps the gear engage without lurching or upsetting the balance of the car. Which is a bad thing while racing...

[crazylegs]

Is the second stick for the 4WD transfer case (2WD/4WD high/4WD low)?

It engages diff lock and high/low ranges

[wolfie]

Spotted in Feb 3rd edition of the Syracuse New Times:

Couple steal a car, owner sees it and calls police. Couple abandon car and call a cab, are caught when police arrive before the cab does.

Guy in couple couldn't drive stick. Girlfriend who could drive stick was giving him directions, but he still didn't "get it". Why not let his girlfriend drive the car?

Criminals are stupid.

[mathnerd]

A couple times a year, you hear about carjackers who abandon the vehicle less than a block from where they steal it, because they can't drive stick.

Years ago, around 2008, I think, I was walking out of Best Buy in my hometown. I looked up and noticed that my car was moving, without me in it. In my shock, I said to the guy next to me, "Hey! My car is being stolen!" The next minute is kind of a blur. The guy next to me asked which one and I said the green Civic, while at the same time grabbing my phone to call the cops. Then the thief abandoned my car and the giant dude who I'd exclaimed to ran and tackled him to the ground. I called 911 because now the giant dude was sitting on the thief in the middle of the parking lot, and I ran over to the car because it had stalled and begun to roll (slowly, this is Florida, which is primarily flat) and I wanted to engage the emergency brake to avoid further damage.

So the cops get there and cuff the guy, then ask the store to watch the parking lot footage. It clearly shows the thief jimmying the lock on my car and getting in. The cops look at him with a quizzical look and said "you got it out of the spot and were on your way. What made you abandon it?" The idiot thief replied only "I can't drive a stick".