Ever seen someone driving a manual transmission who probably shouldn't have?

The CX-5 was purchased to teach the boys how to drive a standard. The older one has been driving it for almost two years and he's got it down. The younger one will drive it once he has passed his driving test (learning and test will be taken on the sienna). Both were eager to take a semester of mechanics in school. At least they can change fluids and a flat tire.
 
I remember what it was like learning how to drive a manual transmission. I'd stall a bunch of times and be apologetic about it. Once I couldn't figure out how to back up in a parking lot with a slight incline, although now I know how to feather/slip the clutch (when previously I was worried about wearing it out) to not just lurch. Heck - I bought my first manual transmission car after only driving a manual about 3 or 4 times in test drives. I stalled all the way home, although I didn't grind the gears.

However, I've seen drivers looking like Richard Gere in Pretty Woman in Lotus Turbo Esprit grinding gears, stalling, and overall just looking like they shouldn't be driving it at all. Once I saw someone in a Ferrari F355 Spider, and it was clearly a manual transmission (I think the F1 was an option and had an automatic mode). The guy was with a hot woman he was apparently trying to impress. Not sure if it was his car, borrowed, or rented. However, he was just lurching forward like he didn't know how to drive it. I'm pretty sure that he was trying to look cool, but frankly he looked really silly.
My favorite is when I had 2 volvo 240's. I was selling my good one and gunna scrap my junk one. When the buyer asked if I could train him how to drive it, then he would buy it, I was foolish enough to let him try (thankfully on the junker). We got to the 1 hour mark and I honestly thought I would need hernia surgery from the hysterics. He was unable to get the hang of it and at the time I found it hilarious.

The car no joke compression stalled across a major highway and each time it would inertia start back up, lunge and stall back out. Over and over.
 
My neighbor bought his mother a new stick shift Civic several years ago because he saved about a $1000. Doing so.

Big deal 👍👍👍 right?

Truth.....she was 98 years old at the time and lived to be 101.
She was very active and sprightly but cancer got her at the end. Great lady though.
 
Yes. We were at the mall trying to leave and the guy in front of us thought it’d be a good idea to have who I would assume his significant other try to destroy his clutch.

3 tries later and she let him drive. Best part is that it was a little Fiat no bigger than my dog’s droppings.
 
My neighbor bought his mother a new stick shift Civic several years ago because he saved about a $1000. Doing so.

Big deal 👍👍👍 right?

Truth.....she was 98 years old at the time and lived to be 101.
She was very active and sprightly but cancer got her at the end. Great lady though.
When I worked at my last job during my residential electric days, we worked at a lady’s house who owned a company that had Amazon as a customer.

Poor lady could hardly talk or walk, but she backed her manual 911 out of the garage like a pro. I was impressed.
 
a coworker persistently lugged his manual C-RV and also slammed all his gears like he was batting for a home run. All it did was impress me the durability of a Honda transmission.

Not only that, but he didn’t know the clutch cylinders had any fluid, thought they were cable. So one day his pedal went to the floor. After looking for his cable, he found the seeping brown tar. Luckily with new fluid the car limped home. What a mess!
 
12 years ago or so my ex-wife had a friend who owned a 5 speed scion tc. Girl was in between retail jobs and as luck would have it, her clutch gives out. I had it towed to my work and a coworker and I worked on it after work each day till the clutch job was done.

I rode with her for the first time after it was done. She could shift ok, but when we stopped at a red light that had a slight incline, she doesn’t use her brakes…. She would engage the clutch just enough to hold the car still and not touch the brakes at all. She said it was easier that way!
 
My 16 yo daughter came home in friends Jeep Wrangler without a top or doors with that AMC 4.2 L. The low end torque saved her from stalling it as she lurched and jerked it. She was so happy and proud she learned.
 
12 years ago or so my ex-wife had a friend who owned a 5 speed scion tc. Girl was in between retail jobs and as luck would have it, her clutch gives out. I had it towed to my work and a coworker and I worked on it after work each day till the clutch job was done.

I rode with her for the first time after it was done. She could shift ok, but when we stopped at a red light that had a slight incline, she doesn’t use her brakes…. She would engage the clutch just enough to hold the car still and not touch the brakes at all. She said it was easier that way!

My dad still uses the gas to hill hold in an automatic. I keep on telling him it's a bad idea but he learned that and has never stopped. With a manual that sounds like a sure way to shorten clutch life.
 
When I was in high school a cute girl that I had a crush on got a Dodge Daytona from her dad that was a manual. I told her I could teach her how to drive it. I had a basic idea of what to do because I understood the mechanics of it from auto shop class but I'd never actually driven one. I don't think it took her long to realize that I had embellished a bit about knowing what I was doing. That was a fun memory. She didn't keep the car (or me) around for all that long but it was fun while it lasted!
 
I think it’s important when you’re teaching someone to drive stick that they understand mechanically what is happening. Once they have a grasp of that it makes more sense why they’re having to do this or that at what particular time. Some people have absolutely no idea what’s going on and so they just get frustrated and go back to a car with a go pedal and stop pedal.
 
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Commercial truck drivers at my former employer who, for whatever reason...continued to purchase manual transmissions for intra state use (class B stuff boom trucks etc.)
 
I remember what it was like learning how to drive a manual transmission. I'd stall a bunch of times and be apologetic about it. Once I couldn't figure out how to back up in a parking lot with a slight incline, although now I know how to feather/slip the clutch (when previously I was worried about wearing it out) to not just lurch. Heck - I bought my first manual transmission car after only driving a manual about 3 or 4 times in test drives. I stalled all the way home, although I didn't grind the gears.

However, I've seen drivers looking like Richard Gere in Pretty Woman in Lotus Turbo Esprit grinding gears, stalling, and overall just looking like they shouldn't be driving it at all. Once I saw someone in a Ferrari F355 Spider, and it was clearly a manual transmission (I think the F1 was an option and had an automatic mode). The guy was with a hot woman he was apparently trying to impress. Not sure if it was his car, borrowed, or rented. However, he was just lurching forward like he didn't know how to drive it. I'm pretty sure that he was trying to look cool, but frankly he looked really silly.

My sisters are terrible, they should never be allowed to do it. F

My first and second wife are amazing - great in snow. (both from quebec). B+

Moms good B+ Dad was Ok C (sorry dad)

Grandpa was the shinto master of all things mechanical. A++

I'd give myself an A-, or B+ (I've driven more things than most guys)

I had a buddy (Jim Stobie) that could do things Ive never been able to A+
 
Dad and I rebuilt a cool English Ford Cortina GT when I was a teenager, 4-speed manual. He gifted it to my older sister for her 16th birthday. She fried the clutch in about 4 months and then let it rot in the back yard for 12 years before we found a Cortina collector to haul it away, they were very excited to have it.
 
My dad!

He insisted on having them for the longest time.

He special ordered a 1980 Ford Fairmont with the thriftmaster six and a 4 speed manual transmission "with overdrive." The gears weren't matched to the power band of the engine, so it was either wound up in 2nd at 25 or lugging in 3rd. We had a lot of 25 MPH speed limit roads that he just had to get up to 4th gear on. Sometimes he'd put it in fourth as he approached a stop sign, never letting off the clutch pedal, then he'd put the stick back in neutral.

The transmission itself had a hard life, with plastic shift forks breaking. He'd have his mechanic open the box up and change the one defective fork out for a metal "problem solver" replacement. Over and over until they were all done. He also had perennial problems with the parking brake, which must not have been intended for actual usage. He warned us kids not to play behind his car when it was parked on our hilly driveway. :rolleyes: Sometimes he used a wheel chock instead of the e-brake. He thought he was clever by putting it behind the left front wheel, then pulling the car forward three feet, opening his door, and picking it up off the pavement. Once he spaced out and tried backing up over it, with the front of the car lifting up. "The chock, the chock" I yelled from the back seat. "The what?"

The car finally died, of transmission problems.
Shocker.

I had my learner's permit and wanted to drive anything, but I knew better than to do this. He was turning the key off at every red light so he could jam it in first, and also skipping second gear.

So he marched right down to the local Ford dealer and demanded a Taurus wagon with a stick shift. Despite me tugging on his sleeve saying that Consumer Reports says there's no such thing. "Shut up and let me do the talking" he replied, and got nowhere quickly. So he backed down and got an uninspiring yet reliable Escort wagon with the desired pedal count. I think he thought his salesman would get on the phone with Henry Ford IV himself and get that thing special ordered!
 
My dad!

He insisted on having them for the longest time.

He special ordered a 1980 Ford Fairmont with the thriftmaster six and a 4 speed manual transmission "with overdrive." The gears weren't matched to the power band of the engine, so it was either wound up in 2nd at 25 or lugging in 3rd. We had a lot of 25 MPH speed limit roads that he just had to get up to 4th gear on. Sometimes he'd put it in fourth as he approached a stop sign, never letting off the clutch pedal, then he'd put the stick back in neutral.

The transmission itself had a hard life, with plastic shift forks breaking. He'd have his mechanic open the box up and change the one defective fork out for a metal "problem solver" replacement. Over and over until they were all done. He also had perennial problems with the parking brake, which must not have been intended for actual usage. He warned us kids not to play behind his car when it was parked on our hilly driveway. :rolleyes: Sometimes he used a wheel chock instead of the e-brake. He thought he was clever by putting it behind the left front wheel, then pulling the car forward three feet, opening his door, and picking it up off the pavement. Once he spaced out and tried backing up over it, with the front of the car lifting up. "The chock, the chock" I yelled from the back seat. "The what?"

The car finally died, of transmission problems.
Shocker.

I had my learner's permit and wanted to drive anything, but I knew better than to do this. He was turning the key off at every red light so he could jam it in first, and also skipping second gear.

So he marched right down to the local Ford dealer and demanded a Taurus wagon with a stick shift. Despite me tugging on his sleeve saying that Consumer Reports says there's no such thing. "Shut up and let me do the talking" he replied, and got nowhere quickly. So he backed down and got an uninspiring yet reliable Escort wagon with the desired pedal count. I think he thought his salesman would get on the phone with Henry Ford IV himself and get that thing special ordered!
We had a 1986 Taurus Sedan with a 4cyl engine and a 5 speed manual transmission (MT-5 model). No power, but great gas mileage. Fully loaded with a family of 4 and vacation luggage & gear over 30 mpg on the interstate.

I also special ordered a 1979 Olds Cutlas Salon with a 260 V8 and a 5 speed manual. Olds only sold 168 of those cars in 1979.
 
I live in a college town. There are a couple Fast and Furious wannabe’s that really don’t know how to drive them, even down shifting into first! I almost wanted to give advice from my open top manual Jeep, but minded my own business.

One was a Subaru, the others were Mustangs.
 
We had a 1986 Taurus Sedan with a 4cyl engine and a 5 speed manual transmission (MT-5 model). No power, but great gas mileage. Fully loaded with a family of 4 and vacation luggage & gear over 30 mpg on the interstate.

I also special ordered a 1979 Olds Cutlas Salon with a 260 V8 and a 5 speed manual. Olds only sold 168 of those cars in 1979.
That Taurus, with the 2.5... that was the stroked (and bored?) version of the OHV 4 from the Tempo/Topaz. Said engine was a very long-lived engine, treated right. Transaxle was a MTX III I believe, a Mazda design. Transaxle was a slightly lighter duty version of the one in the Taurus SHO, first version, and from the Tempo/Topaz version that had the Vulcan V6.
 
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