<p>Gourmetmom:</p>
<p>Given the issues having the Italian 2 seater will cause with your sons, I think you should just go ahead and leave it in my garage.</p>
<p>I drive a manual and it comes in real handy when renting a car outside the USA. Manuals are much cheaper rentals and even in the UK, Ireland and other countries which drive on the left, shifting is no problem whatsoever. The first day I usually reach with the right hand when shifting a few times which my wife finds amusing.</p>
<p>I can’t believe my mom let my brother lend me his MGB convertible to take to college freshman year. I thought I was the bomb though - no, I was the bomb. I had to hold the choke out to start it and it took two hands to hold it out. That left no hand to turn the key so I had to ask someone (usually a cute boy) to help me start the car. </p>
<p>The first car I bought was a Mazda RX7. What a fun care that was to drive. Again, I was the bomb.</p>
<p>I like it beacuse almost no one will be able to drive their car if it is a stick! (One less temptation)! :)</p>
<p>Also, my first car (and second, third, fourth) were sticks and I loved them and was so glad that I learned at 16 and now can drive any car!</p>
<p>Again, people will talk on their phones - and eat - while driving so I think it’s great to learn how to drive a stick but I’d put safety ahead of driving enjoyment for a kid.</p>
<p>ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad, my vote goes for the porsche boxster.</p>
<p>I’d put safety ahead of driving enjoyment and let the kid know that the expectation is that s/he will not talk on the phone while driving.</p>
<p>ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad -</p>
<p>Ha ha, although it’s in hibernation now, it is much more suited to San Diego!</p>
<p>D1 has a mini, and I thought it would prevent it become a party car. I then saw a picture in the year book of D1’s car stuffed with 8 kids. She assured me that they didn’t go anywhere, there just wanted to se how many people they could squeeze into her car, kind of like telephone booth. She loves her car, especially around some sharp corners.</p>
<p>JustaMom, My 1972 Ford Pinto was a Baby Blue hatchback. I got it in '79, my senior year of high sch. I thought I was so cool cruising our little town. Several of my friends had manuals too. One had a VW Rabbit, one had a Chevette, one had a VW Bug and one had a FireBird. She was the ultimate in cool. We rode in her car whenever possible just to be cool by association,lol.</p>
<p>I got a 4 speed bottle green Pinto in 1975. I drove it until it had over 200k miles on it. </p>
<p>JustaMom - we have a lot in common - the tractor driving and the Pinto.</p>
<p>Where do you live? If you’re in a big city with a lot of traffic, try an automatic. Somewhere else? Learning how to drive stick would be a great skill to have.</p>
<p>I learned how to drive a manual in Tahiti–alone! Stalled three times at a stop sign out of F’aaa, but was puttering around those roundabouts in a little Peugeot like the best of `em in two days!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Absolutely. There’s no way to enforce that 100%, but no phone while driving will be put into the contract my daughter signs before we allow her to begin driving our car. If we find that she has violated the contract, it’s back to me driving her to school and everywhere else.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It’s been established that it’s already pretty darned dangerous to use a cell phone even while driving an automatic. See no phone zone in cars thread. People who believe that they are somehow removed from that risk for sure shouldn’t be driving a stick, but ideally they wouldn’t be driving at all if talking on a phone or texting is that important to them.</p>
<p>
I hear people say this a lot, but as a city dweller who drives a stick, I feel just the opposite. It’s in city driving, more than anything, that I appreciate the total control of a manual transmission. Yes, it can be a nuisance when you’re in stop-and-go, bumper-to-bumper traffic, but that’s not what most city driving is like (at least not in my city). It’s more about low-speed cruising and the ability to respond immediately and precisely to what’s happening in front of you.</p>
<p>cartera - yep!</p>
<p>In Dec 1970 my dad bought a lime green Pinto. it was a coupe - before they came out with the hatchbacks.
We had more kids than cars so we had to share, but I loved driving it. It was easy to push out of snow banks! I drove it to school my freshman year in college (I commuted) and for 3 months without a starter. I would just park down hill, facing out and pop the clutch. it just needed a little nudge.
It eventually rusted out.
My Dad also had a GMC pickup truck - 3 speed on the column. No power steering or power brakes. I drove that for a year or so as well and loved it because it impressed the guys.</p>
<p>nightchef - I tend to agree with you.
My daughter had a Cabrio that I drove down I-95 last August in bumper to bumper heat. it was awful because I was always between first and second gear.</p>
<p>I will say this about learning to drive a manual - you never forget. I had not shifted in probably 20 years - when my daughter got hers, I was nervous but it was just like riding a bike ;)</p>
<p>I’m bringing this thread up to get ideas on HOW to teach my son how to use a stick shift. It’s a useful tool, especially if you ever want to go on the Amazing Race!! (Funny how so many on that show have to use one and don’t know how!).</p>
<p>I have a 19 year old car with a stick shift, and I’ve been holding onto it to teach my son, and this is the summer to do it. He’s watched me drive the car over the years, and I’ve pointed out the clutch and the gear box. I’ve tried to explain as best I can what I’m doing while I’m doing it. My biggest concern in teaching my son to drive a stick shift is that over the past almost 40 years of driving a stick, one forgets how to TEACH someone to drive a stick, because one just does it.</p>
<p>So if I’m missing something here, please correct me. Here’s my plan:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>First, have son watch youtube video of how to drive a manual transmission car.</p></li>
<li><p>Second, find a big, empty parking lot to practice.</p></li>
<li><p>Third, take son to big empty parking lot and have him get the feel of the car without actually driving it. Do I show him with the car off how to depress the clutch, put the car in gear, then slowly release the clutch while simultaneously pressing down on the gas pedal? What else should I be teaching him before the engine is turned on? The value of neutral? </p></li>
<li><p>How to turn on the engine.</p></li>
<li><p>Practice going into first then stopping; or teach him more than one gear at a time?</p></li>
<li><p>How to stop the car (maybe I should teach him that before turning on the engine!)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I’m thinking once I teach him the “basics” – listening to the engine rev, going forward, stopping, shifting gears – then teaching him how to downshift (or is that taught as part of the basics?). Then after all that, teaching the art of hill driving and hill stops, using the emergency brake, etc. to avoid roll backs.</p>
<p>I’m sure I’m missing something, so all comments and assistance welcome.</p>
<p>It’s been almost 4 years since I taught S2 how to drive a stick, but we also started in a large empty parking lot. Getting accustomed to the car as you describe is important. The trickier part was deciding when to let him on the road & how to manage that. I scouted for neighborhoods that had stop signs, but were relatively flat to start with. I would try to take him out on weekday afternoons, before the elementray schools let out so there were no school buses to deal with, nor small children playing outside. I was then able to guage how conmfortable both he & I were with increased traffic, faster speeds, etc.</p>
<p>I learned how to drive on a volkswagen with a bad clutch.
I like driving a stick, but my current car- a Jeep! doesn’t have a clutch- you have to special order a clutch and I bought it at a credit union sale.
Couldn’t get over that you have to special order a clutch for a Jeep.</p>
<p>I think everyone should know how to drive/a manual, & if you work on your own car it is easier- but living in a city with hills- a manual could get to be a PITA.</p>
<p>I like it. It virtually eliminates the issue of them lending their car to others. It forces them to pay more attention to driving and not get as complacent.</p>
<p>The best way I found to give my kids the “feel” of the clutch is to have the start the car moving by SLOWLY letting out the clutch with no gas. You can do that if you are really careful, and it helps them get the feel from what is really happening. Also, newer cars seem to have airy, easy clutches, we teach our kids on the+ year old car with the heavy heavy clutch, the more difficult the clutch the better “real feel” they get and the more quickly they understand what they are trying to do.</p>
<p>My girls like knowing how to drive a stick shift, and it was wonderful for preventing them from loaning out their cars.</p>