Down side to manual trans

Toyman01 wrote: 300 miles driven today, most of that time spent in traffic. You couldn't pay me to DD a manual. I certainly wouldn't want to drive one with a sprained ankle. Anecdotal story: My grandmother once had to drive herself to the hospital with a broken clutch ankle. This was in her 3 on a tree 1970 Chevelle. No wimpy hydraulic clutch in those. She was 78 at the time. She also drove herself to the hospital with a dislocated shoulder, after being electrocuted by her hedge trimmer and falling down. So all of you can turn in your "man" cards. She was stronger than any of us.

To be fair, her sensitivity to pain is probably dulled or easier to deal with after 78 years of going through the facts of life.

In reply to yupididit:

She was a tough old bird. Hard headed, strict, and very set in her ways.

She drove that Chevelle from 1970 till she quit driving in 2005 or so. The only option it had was power steering. She would speed shift it and jam the linkages, coast to the side of the road, pull a screwdriver out from under the seat to un-jamb everything, and down the road we would go. Usually to visit family or go fishing.

She loved to fish, loved to cook, and loved Little Debbie Oatmeal Cookies. She was 2 weeks shy of 100 when she passed away. A great woman, missed by all of us.

My Mother is just like her.

Toyman that story lets you FEEL the Love,Thanks for Shareing. I do use auto's but they have manual valve body's, and I'm considering eliminating the Torque converter and puttin in a pedal on the Vette ( PowerGlide).

mad_machine wrote: I drove myself to the hospital with a dislocated right shoulder. Shifting with your left hand takes practice

I will often shift the RX-7 lefthanded while turning.

I also usually shift clutchless in traffic because there's something going on with my left knee where a leg extension hurts like a total mofo. This has a lot to do with why the car usually just sit in the garage even on nice days.

I checked my man card, and it says "User may drive whatever transmission he damn well feels like and anybody who thinks otherwise can piss off." It's in the fine print

It's kinda hard to use a clutch with a cast.

I've had to drive manuals with sprained ankles many times. If you can use your heel it helps a lot. I've never really had to drive in heavy traffic either though. And yes, I can float gears like a son-of-a-bitch.

I got trampled by a horse in an accident* that ended up with me on the ground and the horse on top of me. I hurt "something" in my left knee something serious and drove 90 miles before I got home. However, not until after getting back on the horse and riding for another 20 mins then going to work for 2 hours before I was crying too bad to continue.

That was pretty stupid, and too recent to blame on youth.

*That mother berkeleyer knew exactly what he was doing!

After reading through all the posts in this thread, I have nothing.

My sister had a stroke when she was four, and has limited use of her right hand and foot.

She drove a manual car I had once, just to prove that she could, though NYS said she couldn't legally.

She was super impressive.

Toyman01 wrote: In reply to yupididit: She was a tough old bird. Hard headed, strict, and very set in her ways. She drove that Chevelle from 1970 till she quit driving in 2005 or so. The only option it had was power steering. She would speed shift it and jam the linkages, coast to the side of the road, pull a screwdriver out from under the seat to un-jamb everything, and down the road we would go. Usually to visit family or go fishing. She loved to fish, loved to cook, and loved Little Debbie Oatmeal Cookies. She was 2 weeks shy of 100 when she passed away. A great woman, missed by all of us. My Mother is just like her.

She's got a Woman card, we aren't even allowed to compete for one of those. Man card is a notch or two down. Jenner tried, even got voted woman of the year...by a bunch of dudes-no card for herm!

There are cars that are dead easy to shift clutchless. My old Imps, my Manta etc. When I autocrossed my 1.6L NA Miata seriously I got stunningly good at 2nd down to 1st clutchless changes while left foot braking into tight corners. Trying to keep up with those big block high torque 1.8 cars made it a necessity!

My current C30 with a big heavy flyweel and modern engine management is magnitudes harder to shift clutchless. First you need to be operating at higher revs than normal stop and go traffic demands. Secondly if downshifting you need a mother berklying blip of revs to catch it correctly. No of that relaxing or easy in heavy traffic and it makes you stand out like a sore thumb as a tool. So if preferring two pedals for stop and go traffic after back surgery makes me a lesser man, fine, confiscate my man card. New tires are being fitted this week to the Boxster, I can't wait to put the Volvo back in the garage and get my girly two pedal tiptronic torque converter Porshe back out for the nice weather.

In the early days of HMO's, I managed to have my retina detached playing racquetball. (Stupid, young and forgot my goggles). My wife didn't drive a stick so with blood coming out of my face and in intense pain I drove my Healey to the hospital, where they wouldn't accept my insurance and had me drive across Baltimore to another hospital, after which I was immobilized for a couple of days. Not exactly the sprained ankle theme, but it conjured up that memory. 35 years later and my wife still won't buy into an hmo.

mad_machine wrote: I drove myself to the hospital with a dislocated right shoulder. Shifting with your left hand takes practice

Not for me it doesn't! Shifting with my right hand is a bit different but no big deal.

I measured the average speed on my morning commute today: 20kph.

Joe Gearin wrote: Although I'm a manual trans kinda guy---- it's always nice to have an auto in the fleet in case of injury.

My ex's back would go out without warning, which was the main reason she bought her '96 850 wagon and current Grand Cherokee beater. Her other 4 cars are all manuals.

I have similar thoughts about making sure my bike-vehicle stays an automatic (as much as I'd love a van with a stick). When I wrecked during a race event in WV a couple of years ago, I could barely walk. Operating a clutch pedal for the drive back to Philly would have likely been impossible. As it was, I still had to stop every hour or so to stretch during the normally 6 hour drive home.

My now deceased neighbor was an old farmer. He got his leg tore clean off while trying to unplug a baler. Had to drag himself back on to the tractor and drive it home to get help.

Later in life he chased down a burglar with his prosthetic leg and a shotgun and held him til the cops got there.

This all happened after fighting in korea of course.

If he were alive id let him know he needs to turn in his man card for having cars with automatics.

Guys like him remind me im kind of a Bob Costas.

While people can swing their dick all day long about how great they are at reaching across themselves to change gear with the opposite hand. Let's be honest here, it's not the best, brightest or safest way to drive. Get real ladies and gentleman.

We all love manuals for fun, but there are a lot of great auto's out there and a lot of reasons why for some people in many different circumstances auto's are preferable. Shall we call up Lewis Hamilton and ask him to hand in his man card as all his cars, including his company cars are auto's or auto shifting manuals?

When I completely tore up my right knee, I had to drive auto for 3 months, all left foot with my right leg in the passenger seat. Still didn't stop me from skiing.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: While people can swing their dick all day long about how great they are at reaching across themselves to change gear with the opposite hand. Let's be honest here, it's not the best, brightest or safest way to drive. Get real ladies and gentleman.

My trans tunnel is about the same height as my hips, and the lever comes up and over to the point where it is pretty close to the steering wheel, which has also been extended to where it's sitting in my lap. It's literally just as easy to shift left-handed as right-handed.

Your car may vary, of course.

In reply to Knurled:

In the last 5 years I've had 2 total knee replacements, my dd is a miata na 5 speed. Sometimes just getting in or out must have looked kinda funny. I was driving 2 weeks after either...

yupididit wrote:

Toyman01 wrote: 300 miles driven today, most of that time spent in traffic. You couldn't pay me to DD a manual. I certainly wouldn't want to drive one with a sprained ankle. Anecdotal story: My grandmother once had to drive herself to the hospital with a broken clutch ankle. This was in her 3 on a tree 1970 Chevelle. No wimpy hydraulic clutch in those. She was 78 at the time. She also drove herself to the hospital with a dislocated shoulder, after being electrocuted by her hedge trimmer and falling down. So all of you can turn in your "man" cards. She was stronger than any of us.

To be fair, her sensitivity to pain is probably dulled or easier to deal with after 78 years of going through the facts of life.

And the Depression. Don't forget about the depression.

The clutch in the Fairmont is hard enough to push that even some healthy people have problems with it. I credit it with keeping my left leg healthy. But if I get hurt, I'm hoppin' my wide ass into the truck.

In reply to snailmont5oh:

Watching my grandmothers carefully unwrap presents and neatly fold the paper for reuse, was interesting. The Great Depression formed habits that stuck with them for life. Surviving it made for some strong people. They were the ultimate conservers. Waste not want not, was a mantra that was repeated to my generation on a regular basis.

In reply to minihaha:

Getting out of a car for me generally involves an elbow on the windshield to lift myself up.

Another reason I don't like trucks. Besides the back pain I get from sitting upright all the time, it's hard to get out of them without looking like a bulldog running down stairs.

My Contribution:

Was mountain biking outside of Sacramento and God's Own Hand smote me into the dirt, causing me to land directly on the tip of my right elbow, breaking my olecranon. My wife was home with the new baby and with no other options, I somehow drove myself in the 5 speed Taurus SHO 20 miles home. The hardest part was making it to I 80. Once on the freeway, I was bouncing that Yamaha engine off the rev limiter in second gear the whole way because it hurt so much to shift.

There was no sympathy to be had in that household for the 10 weeks it took to heal...my diaper duties were necessarily put on hold... only to be paid back with interest with the next rug rat ; ).

Adrian_Thompson wrote: While people can swing their dick all day long about how great they are at reaching across themselves to change gear with the opposite hand. Let's be honest here, it's not the best, brightest or safest way to drive. Get real ladies and gentleman.

well, when I ripped my shoulder up, I was 22, had a manual shift Hyundai Excel, no health insurance, and was trying to finish up college. Thankfully, winter at the shore was very dead at the time, so once I got on the highway to school each day, it was pretty easy

Adrian_Thompson wrote: Try a collapsed disc and surgery. It makes two pedals very very welcome.

I slipped on the wet hospital floor, which gave me a right L5-S1 radiculopathy (AKA "Sciatica") that was as bad or worse than the patients I had. Physical exams were rather interesting with both of us limping/hopping from the chairs over to the exam table. Maybe "comical" is a better word. Anyway, I was driving a MB 220D with 4 speed manual. With the whopping 36 HP, it did all come on at idle so I could drive the whole thing with my left foot, let the clutch out slow and not stall, then on the gas with my left foot, etc.

minihaha wrote: In reply to Knurled: In the last 5 years I've had 2 total knee replacements, my dd is a miata na 5 speed. Sometimes just getting in or out must have looked kinda funny. I was driving 2 weeks after either...

I've had the same. Also a broken foot. And I have bad breath.