How Do You Shift into First?

[Ben]

I guess there's a bright side to people no longer being able to drive a manual:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/12/12/would-be-carjackers-in-florida-couldnt-drive-stick-shift/?intcmp=latestnews

[KD5NRH]

I still want to get some of those alarm-type "protected by" stickers with a shift pattern for the logo.

A friend once found his VW moved a bit...realized he'd left the keys in it, but whoever tried to take it couldn't find reverse.

[230RN]

Don't you have to push down on the stick to get it in reverse?  Had two beetles, seem to recall that lockout system to prevent accidentally shifting into that gear.  I seem to recall that it was difficult to shift back and forth from 1st to reverse when rocking it to get it unstuck from snow banks and the like.

My Greenbrier van just had a stiffer spring to get off the 4-speed "H" into reverse, IIRC.

It's funny --I have to remember by muscle memory, imagining myself in the cars to recollect the shift patterns.

[zxcvbob]

Don't you have to push down on the stick to get it in reverse?  Had two beetles, seem to recall that lockout system to prevent accidentally shifting into that gear.    Or was that on my Audi?

That sounds very familiar from my VW days.

[lee n. field]

Don't you have to push down on the stick to get it in reverse?  Had two beetles, seem to recall that lockout system to prevent accidentally shifting into that gear.    Or was that on my Audi?

My old '70 Bug was like that.

[K Frame]

"Don't you have to push down on the stick to get it in reverse?"

Nope, there have been odd shift patterns over the years.

Both of my Subaru Outbacks go into reverse by pushing the stick all the way to the right and down, which does seem to be defacto standard with the adoption of the 5 speed transmission. There's no lockout, though, unless it's passive.

I can't remember 100%, but I seem to recall that my Plymouth Sundance was all the way to the left and UP.

I've driven cars where to go into reverse you had to push a little button or tab on the shifter. I THINK that the early Vegas had a collar that you had to pull up with two fingers.

Supposedly on some cars you can (or could) get, special order, a dogleg gearbox in which reverse is all the way to the left and up, with first in the down position (where second would normally be).



All four of the cars I've bought have been manual transmission, but I think the next one I get is going to be an automatic. A few months ago I went from the beltway in Washington, DC, to Frederick, Maryland, (about 40 miles) in horrendous stop and go traffic. By the time I got to Frederick my left hip and knee hurt so bad I thought I was going to puke.

[mtnbkr]

All four of the cars I've bought have been manual transmission, but I think the next one I get is going to be an automatic. A few months ago I went from the beltway in Washington, DC, to Frederick, Maryland, (about 40 miles) in horrendous stop and go traffic. By the time I got to Frederick my left hip and knee hurt so bad I thought I was going to puke.

This is why I keep looking at Autos.  The last car I bought was a manual only because I really liked the car, but the auto trans was a dog.  It didn't hurt that the manual was pretty sweet.

Chris

[Ben]

All four of the cars I've bought have been manual transmission, but I think the next one I get is going to be an automatic. A few months ago I went from the beltway in Washington, DC, to Frederick, Maryland, (about 40 miles) in horrendous stop and go traffic. By the time I got to Frederick my left hip and knee hurt so bad I thought I was going to puke.

That's the main reason I switched as well. If I lived in WY or somewhere, it wouldn't be an issue. Well, other than my last two manuals were trucks, and manual vs auto transmission capability in light trucks has flip-flopped over the last twenty years, so auto is actually also better for towing/payload capability.

I think over the years, I've used reverse in every configuration you mentioned.

[K Frame]

And you still haven't taken me for a ride in it, you tooluator.

[KD5NRH]

A few months ago I went from the beltway in Washington, DC, to Frederick, Maryland, (about 40 miles) in horrendous stop and go traffic. By the time I got to Frederick my left hip and knee hurt so bad I thought I was going to puke.

That's why you should learn the most important driving skill; finding alternate routes, or good excuses not to go at all.

[K Frame]

That's why you should learn the most important driving skill; finding alternate routes, or good excuses not to go at all.

You really don't know a *expletive deleted*ing thing about the DC metro area and its driving conditions, do you?

[roo_ster]

That's why you should learn the most important driving skill; finding alternate routes, or good excuses not to go at all.

You really don't know a *expletive deleted*ing thing about the DC metro area and its driving conditions, do you?

The most important driving skill around N Virginia is to not live there or visit there.  To play the game is to lose.

[KD5NRH]

You really don't know a *expletive deleted*ing thing about the DC metro area and its driving conditions, do you?

I do have proof that it's possible to live a lifetime without driving there at all.

[K Frame]

I do have proof that it's possible to live a lifetime without driving there at all.

So, the answer is no, then, you don't know anything about what it's like to drive around here and why "alternate" routes are far too often a recipe for monumental failure.

[wmenorr67]

If I remember my bugs correctly, reverse was push down, right and back.

[230RN]

"Don't you have to push down on the stick to get it in reverse?"

Nope, there have been odd shift patterns over the years.

I meant specifically for the VWs I had.  But yes, there are odd shift patterns on various cars.

A buddy of mine had a Plymouth Fury automatic, and the shifting was done from radio push buttons in the center of the steering wheel.  Really awkward and probably very delicate.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yiZY3NdIGVc/UXYNQUmYaTI/AAAAAAACg1U/O6AzzcdN6Zk/s1600/DSC_0216small.jpg

Many years ago I had a Studebaker Champion with an auto where the reverse gear quit.  Very interesting driving around looking for parking, etc, where backing up would not be necessary.  Left a bitter taste in me regarding automatics, but I changed my mind later when I started to deal with commuter traffic.

http://motoburg.com/images/studebaker-champion-03.jpg

Terry, 230RN

[BlueStarLizzard]

Did they at least know how it was supposed to be done, or were they completely ignorant of three pedals and moving the stick around to drive?

I say I can't drive a stick. I owned a manual for a few months, even drove it. I also drove my step fathers little Toyota truck a couple times. For the sake of both my sanity and the transmission in someone's vehicle, I will not drive sticks and will probably never say I can drive them unless I have the opportunity to practice on one and get comfortable with it. I know how it works, I just suck at it.

However, if I was jacking someone's car, I would at least be able to drive away...

I find myself continually stunned to find that in many cases, things where I think of myself as ignorant, I'm really rather well informed compared to a large portion of the population. and not in a good way.

[K Frame]

"I meant specifically for the VWs I had."

Oh, I missed that you were talking specifically about VWs.

I drove a standard Golf I many years ago, so I don't remember how to get into reverse, and all of the VWs I've driven since then have been autos.

[K Frame]

"Did they at least know how it was supposed to be done, or were they completely ignorant of three pedals and moving the stick around to drive?"

My guess is that they were probably completely ignorant.

Driving a standard transmission is a dying thing here in the United States, and even around the world the standard is falling more and more out of favor.

I had to look for a good, long time (literally months) before I was able to find a Subaru Outback in the trimline I wanted but with a manual transmission.

I learned to drive manual transmissions mainly because I had friends who lived on farms, so I got to drive the tractors and mowers.

[KD5NRH]

For the sake of both my sanity and the transmission in someone's vehicle, I will not drive sticks and will probably never say I can drive them unless I have the opportunity to practice on one and get comfortable with it. I know how it works, I just suck at it.

Ask around with the local mechanics; it's not that uncommon to find one that they can't get rid of and pick it up for $750-1000, ugly but roadworthy.  Get your practice and you might find you prefer a transmission that costs less to replace than any significant repair on an automatic.  Besides, there's the "limp home" factor; last automatic that died on me, I counted myself lucky that it would still settle into second (though it was still slipping badly) so I could drive 130 miles on the shoulder at <40mph to get it (and me) home.  I've finished off a few >250k mile manuals, and only one failed (from properly working - I have had another one that did ~5000 miles with no fourth before it finished destroying itself) in a way that didn't leave me either 4th or 5th. (Actually, that was a case of the previous mechanic mixing another model's clutch plate with the right pressure plate.  The remains of the clutch plate fit in a sandwich size Ziploc bag, and the pressure plate was split.  Once the good mechanic figured out what had happened, he was impressed that it hadn't simply come apart during the other guy's test drive.)

[griz]

Amazingly, there have been cases of carjackers pulling people out of cars at gunpoint, then abandoning the car back to the owner because there was no PRNDL on there.  Kids these days!

[K Frame]

I put 160+K miles on my 1991 Plymouth Sundance, and when the engine finally blew the clutch was still in good shape with minimal slippage. For the first two years I had that car I was living in Washington, DC, city.

I had close to 175,000 miles on my first Outback (the first 58K were put on by the original owner) when I finally donated it to Vehicles for Change. It was still in pretty good shape, too.

[grampster]

I had two floor mounted stick shifts.  I think one was a 72 Pinto, iir the year correctly, and the other was an 82 Saab.  I had fun driving those cars, though I think I enjoyed the Saab better.  I have this niggling thought in the back of my mind that I drove some sort of vehicle that had a stick shift, not my two cars unless it was the Pinto, that you had to press down to move the shifter into reverse.  I did drive some Vdubs that others owned, so maybe that's where that memory comes from.  Hmmmmm.

[TechMan]

I had two floor mounted stick shifts.  I think one was a 72 Pinto, iir the year correctly, and the other was an 82 Saab.  I had fun driving those cars, though I think I enjoyed the Saab better.  I have this niggling thought in the back of my mind that I drove some sort of vehicle that had a stick shift, not my two cars unless it was the Pinto, that you had to press down to move the shifter into reverse.  I did drive some Vdubs that others owned, so maybe that's where that memory comes from.  Hmmmmm.

And it didn't blow up on you?

[vaskidmark]

The Former Daughter decided that on becoming 16 she was going to buy herself a car of her own.  She found a picture of a Benz (forget what year or model) for just above dirt cheap but was advertised, on a stack of Bibles, as being in running condition.  She and her mother went after school and plunked down a small fistfull of dollars and took the paperwork to DMV, then went back to drive the thing home.

Only then did they realize it was a 4-on-the-floor.  The kid had not the first clue.  The future ex had (barely) learned how to shift a 1980s Ford Fiesta without grinding off all the gear teeth, but by this time had completely forgotten what little she had known.  Home to daddy to cry about the unfairness of the whole thing.  About 9 PM I took the kid (she was a better driver than her mother, and magnitudes better at night) to pick up the Benz.  Put it in the driveway till we all figured out what to do.  The only thing I did right away was get a car cover - it was Mercedes' classic baby (deleted)it brown! 

It stayed there for a month before I offered a solution to the manual transmission issue that did not involve the Former Daughter learning how to shift for herself.

stay safe.