Heh heh, starting on a hill reminds me. First gear on my Morris was pretty well stripped and wouldn’t stay in gear. Driving four of us home after work late one night and having to start on a hill made a lot of noise grinding the gears but made it. Wish I would have known then what I know now.
Do you ever eat at restaurants with valet parking? That could be problematic. A few years ago I took my 1960 Chrysler out for it’s annual exercise and wound up at a restaurant I like. The valet was a kid and couldn’t figure out that you pushed a button to put it in drive.
Screw the valet problem, Stop and go traffic just left it in whatever gear needed and kept enough space to avoid using the clutch, only the gas pedal. Sure a gap might form but it was not long to catch up, little baby pickup truck, 93? Toyota? Never had any road rage.
Of my previous 7 cars 5 were stickshifts, two automatics.
Both automatics were stolen.
My current 2017 Tucson is the first automatic I’ve owned since my (stolen) 1985 Accord.
Got an automatic this time because my left leg can’t take extended stop-and-go anymore.
Respectfully, this isn’t entirely true. Paying attention to the sound and feel of the engine, I often get an automatic transmission to upshift at slightly lower rpms by a momentary fractional easing off the throttle. I get what are smooth shifts without engine strain and usually match or exceed the EPA estimates in heavy stop and go congested urban driving and also on the highway. It gets back to being taught to treat an automatic with the same respect and attention as is needed driving a manual.
1 Like
In terms of cost of repairs and ease of maintenance, driving a manual is very practical. I’ve been driving one for 315,000 miles and 20 years. When I recently found myself driving one in stop-and-go rush hour traffic, I found I didn’t mind at all.
1 Like
No matter what you drive, if your car gets jacked, you shouldn’t hang around in one spot waiting for the thief to drive off with your car; you should put as much distance between you and the thief as possible.
If the thief can’t figure out how to drive your car for any reason, you don’t want to still be there.
1 Like
He didn’t hang around, he didn’t have time to get away.
Not all valets are car people. Even I would probably not be able to figure it out right away.
Though I am surprised no one is trying to bring that back in any form these days due to the nature of vehicles these days. They might be able to put it on the steering wheel, but even that is getting loaded down with radio controls and whatnot. put it on the steering wheel; so maybe the center console/infotainment screen area.
The Lincoln mkz has push button transmission control, located on the console.
Commercial trucks with Allison automatic transmissions have had push button controls for years now
It’s really quite foolproof, in my opinion
I think I’ve used a valet about three times in my life. I don’t like any strange people driving my cars. About 1967 though I had my manual trans VW and a date at a very exclusive restaurant that only had valet parking. He had no trouble driving my manual VW. In fact he said I needed to get my muffler fixed because it could wreck the valves. Yeah I had a hole in the muffler and I really can’t remember if I tipped the guy or not but he seemed to know a little about cars.
Its been 10 years since I sold my manual truck. Still to this day, I still catch myself reaching for the clutch and shifter. I am considering getting another manual transmission for commuter car.
4 Likes
Don’t folks who make use valet parking worry that the valet will leave something illegal in the car, later to be found by the police, who think the car owner put it there? Or the valet will use the car in the commission of a crime? Or does stuff like that just never happen, only a worry-wart thinks like that?
I’d be more worried the valet damages my car somehow . . . or steals something from my glovebox or trunk
it’s never happened to me yet, but I’d be more worried about that, versus worrying that the valet left “the smoking gun” in my car
I say get the manual and enjoy it as you surely will. Its good to know how to drive properly and then if for some reason it annoys you then you can go to an automatic. But we are talking a long long time before it becomes annoying enough to want to kick back and relax and let an automatic do the work for you. All of the people who know how to drive a manual are grateful they know how and all of them enjoyed it for a long time. So I say get it, and enjoy it.
If all of us were able to get rid of things that we decided annoyed us there would be far fewer people in the world…so don’t concern yourself with things that don’t annoy you presently.
Knowing how to clutch opens the possibility in the future to try out some very interesting vehicles; not necessarily exotic or expensive.
For instance I’ll never own a MG, but know people who have, and can tell you they are fun in their own special way.
Maybe if you use Valet parking at some downtown Boston restaurant. But when ever I’ve used Valet parking it was at a resort, or some very swanky place. Never an issue. The problem I have with Valet parking in Boston is where they park the car. They basically think some side streets are their own personal parking lot. They are jammed with cars from 6 - 9. You can NOT get through.
I don’t worry about any of that.
One word of caution though: It can be harder to sell a car with a manual transmission than one with an automatic, so if you’re going to buy one, be sure you want to keep it for a long time. I’m getting ready to sell mine, and I’m lucky that this particular model (the 6th generation Honda Civic) had a weak and unreliable automatic transmission, so I stand a chance of convincing a buyer it’s worth looking at.
1 Like