tex2670

Driving around on a manual for a week would be all you would need.

SLegacy99

Why? Large luxury vehicles used to have MTs. My buddy had a 7 series with a 5MT. Neat car.

Gojirra99

Agreed, but BMW's pretty good too, & the rest all suck

LexFather

No I'm fine. Its clear to those that have an IQ over 24 I shoot straight and I don't just "hate" the gotdamn brand. Their shifters are slick, clutches great and they make Lexus/Toyota manuals seem like concrete. Sadly of course the Honda/Acura rice brigade doesn't see that post but God forbid I call the TL ugly, they all text each other to come here and post crap. Anyone that says Honda/Acura shifters are bad needs their head examined.


Yes good point there. I find the 540 manual to be incredible for such a big/heavy/well built car. Feels smooth as silk to me.

As for manuals, sadly at this rate by the time I have children, they probably won't be made anymore and/or the government will call them dangerous/illegal.

Don't care, as soon as my child can reach the pedals, I'm showing him how to drive a manual.

kit cat

iTrader: (6)

jeez, i was just joking b/c Mike always has so much hate towards Honda. tough crowd. I've driven a NSX and I attest that it is one of the best shifting cars out there. Never driven a S2000 but heard they are even better?

JonSC4

iTrader: (2)

It's not hard. I learned the day I bought my first manual car. I spent about an hour in a parking lot practicing then drove it three hours home.

LexFather

I know u were joking. I was not about the IQ comment

Back to manuals. My two best buds were not car guys and therefore could not drive manuals. My Scoupe Turbo and ES 300 were manuals. Needless to say I would always have to drive and thought is was uber lame they didn't know how to drive a manual.

My dad basically showed me in a new Nissan hardbody xcab and then gave me the keys to figure it out. I'll never forget getting stuck on my first hill.

Sandi_k

My now-husband tried teaching me to drive an MT on his mom's ~1977 Camaro when I was 17. I never learned the trick, as the throttle was way sensitive, and the clutch was grabby.

He kept telling me to hit the throttle as I released the clutch, and I could never manage consistently.

A couple of years later, after I'd ridden a scooter for a couple of years, he tried again. This time, using a 1955 Ford Fordor, with the three speeds on the column.

The breakthrough was when he *finally* mentioned that I could "pause" the release on the clutch, as I accelerated through the clutch engagement. He'd never said that before, and being a very literal type, I thought I had to always continuously release the clutch. Once I knew I could hold the release, it was a piece of cake.

I later taught a girlfriend how to drive MT on my car in an afternoon, in a local parking lot. So I'd agree that an afternoon is sufficient, but it definitely helps to keep practicing.

Every car I've owned has been MT, and it's only now that I'm considering an AT. Only the X3 or the Cayenne have MTs, and both are more expense than I want to spend right now.

Sandi

kit cat

iTrader: (6)

funny you say this b/c I didn't know a MT X3 even existed till last night when I saw my friend's X3 was a stick. Apparently they are really rare and has to be special ordered.

SLegacy99

That's been my dissapointment with Lexus. I'd like to own one someday, but I don't get along well with automatics. Looks like Audi or BMW might be a better brand for me.

IS-SV

I see your point having owned many cars with manuals, even if manuals are a small portion of Audi and BMW sales today.

Shoyuu

No worries, wasn't aiming any aggression on you. I knew Mike disliked the current Acura/Honda line up.

A friend bought a used S2000 and he said it was pure bliss rowing through the gears. I didn't get a chance to drive it before he sold it.

It's harder to stall in a truck. I remember driving my friend's old Toyota pickup and I had to really screw up to stall on that thing.

I got stuck one time in rush hour traffic by myself when I first started to learn... Car started to creep back down and I almost panicked till I remembered the parking break technique lol.

San Francisco with a beginner = burned clutch.

SLegacy99

You know, I don't see 550i's very often. But the one's I have seen were 6MTs.

IS-SV

Last 550 I saw was actually an Auto Tranny, but at first glance the stick looked looked like a manual. This car was on display at a local high-end used car dealership.

RON430

San Francisco is actually Spanish for flaming clutch.