Car and Driver magazine launches campaign to save manual transmissions!

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If average people can learn to drive tese, then you can back up your normal car. ;)
The second one minus the stickers has the same size back window as my car, I bet it would be easier to park the square van though as you at least know where the end is. Since it's round in every direction the mirrors only give you a general idea of where the end is unless the thing behind you is very shiny.

oh, and on topic. My car is an automatic and it doesn't bother me much as I can still shift it anyway. I don't think I would be happy with a manual when I have the occasions when I am too tired to really be driving and need to put all my concentration in not killing people.
 
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[...] I don't think I would be happy with a manual when I have the occasions when I am too tired to really be driving and need to put all my concentration in not killing people.
Nothing wakes you up as the sound your gearbox makes when you do something wrong ...
Oh God, did I just break it
-another try at changing gear-
thank god it?s still alright, gearboxes are so expensive
 
You obviously underestimate my ability to be lethargic. :lol: Won't wake me up any just distract me and with my luck this is when some idiot kid decides to jump into the street without looking.
 
back on topic of the opening post, i just got an email saying that they've sent the sticker and button for the "campaign".

and i thought teaching parallel parking was required to get a license in the USA? I know that it was part of my road test.
 
They had me pull up to the curb and drive parallel to it for 100 feet. Unbelievably stupid.
 
Well supposedly the test has changed so I will report if it is different from how you describe it sometime next month.
 
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If average people can learn to drive tese, then you can back up your normal car. ;)

I miss my van. :(


Oh Merc63, nice triple post. Does thou not understandith the multi-quote?
 
Oh Merc63, nice triple post.

Quadruple post, which I didn't notice until after I neg-repped him for a triple post, which was bad enough. :mad:
 
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Hehe I know you got one, and I will make fun of you for it when I'm less lazy :p
I didn't have to parallel park during my test but during lessons
That explains alot about MA drivers... :D (i kid i kid) I failed parallel parking and still got my license. It depends on where you take the test, in NYC they are pretty strict about parallel parking since thats 90% of parking here, but I took my test in Rochester (when in uni) and they didn't give a damn.
 
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I'm pretty damn good at parallel parking, suck at backing up along the curb for 50 feet.
 
This thread has swerved further than an inattentive katwalk.
 
When I started driving I demonstrated good handling in the family automatic. As soon as I was mostly comfortable with that vehicle my parents transitioned me over to the 1976 Volvo 245 with a 4-on-the-floor (with electronic OD). I spent hours at the practice lot at my school in the off hours doing parallel parking, backing, emergency maneuvering, and precision wheel placement until it was second nature. I felt like I went in and out of that parallel parking spot so many times that I wore grooves in the tarmac. Once I got the hang of that in the parking lot we were out on the street and then I spent an entire day with my mom in the car going up and down the steepest hill in town with a Stop at every intersection.

It was brutal, exhausting driving - especially after about the 5th hour on the hill. But I was the only person I knew driving a manual transmission in San Francisco and parallel parking on those steep hills (both left and right sides). I still have to coach my friends through parallel parking, and sometimes I just have to park their cars for them.
 
I'm pretty damn good at parallel parking, suck at backing up along the curb for 50 feet.

Protip, mount one of those stick-on convex mirrors on the passenger side, you can see the curb. Also rest your left wrist on your left knee so you don't give the wheel a big twitch when you look back. Alternate looking back and looking at the mirror.

That little mirror made me pro at backing into spaces instantly.
 
I'm pretty damn good at parallel parking, suck at backing up along the curb for 50 feet.

I'm good at that, I can locate the side of my car because the furthest out bit is the mirror and I can see that. Park with less than an inch between the side of the car and an object? Drive around something so close mom screams? OK easy. Locate back of car? ksfhgjf. The front I can kind of guess as I have a nice sized window etc but back, helllllll no.
 
Unfortunately I can't control the passenger side mirror in the driving instructors car because it's set so you can know you're 6 inches away from the curb, also I have to look back through the rear window to back up for Driver's ed and can only look at the mirror occasionally which screws up my perception of where the curb is. As well as having one hand at the top of the wheel so the car becomes even more sensitive to movement because for some screwed up reason whenever I put my hand on the back of the passenger seat my left hand moves slightly to the left, I'll have to see if I can get away with having both hands on the wheel and just looking backwards.
 
I sent off an email early enough that my "Save the Manuals" badge is in the mail!

I'll never give up my clutch pedal!
 
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