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Mon Jul 15, 2002 3:15 pm

I guess this fits in the stories forum, but anyways today I gave my automatic Honda driving friend his second manual transmission driving lesson in my Bug. The first time her jerked the crap out of me but he has improve a lot in 2 days. We are doing this in my high school parking lot (big and empty) and today it had rained just a bit and the pavement was almost dry. When he started off he gave it way too much gas and his foot slipped off of the clutch and the left back tire spun a little bit. I can't believe it. I did it and left a mark I hope it stays so that when school starts back I can tell all the V8 and rice burner guys that my "wimpy" 1600 VW made that.
Oh, and that friend is learning to drive my car because he thinks he might buy a Beetle or Karmann Ghia as his second car. He has been hanging around me way to long!

Mon Jul 15, 2002 4:47 pm

I can remember being about 7 or 8 yrs old and my Mom letting me shift an ol 64 bug we had then from the passenger side. I go the hang of it pretty quick an she diddn't have to keep her hand on top of mine very long... she would just push the clucth in and I knew from the sound of the revs when to shift...
I can't count the number of people I've taught how to drive a stick in a Bug or Ghia in the past... plenty that's for sure... One gal ran over about 3 car stops in a grocery parking lot one buzzed night about 3 am, Just as I was ending her driving session a Cop came up with a big GRIN (she was really hot) and asked if everything was "allright" ( he obviosly saw the whole thing) we walked around the car and made sure the rims weren't tacoed and I said we'd be fine as soon as I got her home :)

Mon Jul 15, 2002 7:16 pm

I also let my little brother (6 yrs old) shift for my from the passanger seat. He listens to the revs and shifts good. Sometimes I let him steer it from my lap down our long driveway. I love to see the look on his face when he tells people he drove my Bug, which to him is the coolest thing on wheels. He's a little VW freak in the making. Heck he already knows all the basic air cooled VWs and can identify them.
Something else I think is funny, when he plays with his toy cars his VWs are regarded as being better than all the others. My mother says I am like a virus, everybody around becomes hooked on VWs.

Tue Jul 16, 2002 2:04 pm

I learned to drive stick in 1971 in a Squareback from a driving instructor. I was doing OK until the last lesson. He directed me onto the Henry Hudson Parkway in Riverdale, the Bronx. This 30's-era highway curves and twists, has narrow lanes, no shoulders, and has acceleration ramps barely longer than one car length. To this day I don't remember how I managed to get on, accelerate to 50 in a VW, and get off without getting killed, but I do remember the instructor telling me to get off the highway a little sooner than I expected. Maybe that's why it was the last lesson...

Tue Jul 16, 2002 6:59 pm

I learned how to drive a stick on crazy fast sandrail powered by a 1914cc engine backed up by a bus tranny, I was 12 years old and I convinced my Dad to let me drive the buggy, I think the only reason he let me drive it was because we were on the sand dunes and it was not very crowded, also the peaks on the hills were not to bad. The first time I took off out of first gear I felt the V8 killing power of that high performance aircooled engine, something came over me, within 10 minutes I was hauling ass down the coast of Lake Michigan at the top of third gear, my Dad had to yell at me not for grinding gears, because I did not grind one gear, but for going so fast that he was about to piss his pants!
I still can not belive he let me drive the rail at such a young age, I love the fact that I leared how to drive a stick on such a powerfull VW in a offroad situation, because my first driving experience on the road was a much slower one, a 81 Rabbit pickup!

Tue Jul 16, 2002 7:26 pm

OXYMORON = diesel RABBIT pickup !

Tue Jul 16, 2002 7:41 pm

A 300,000 mile original engine oxymoron! Real Rabbits do not live that long!

Wed Jul 17, 2002 5:23 pm

i was driving my dads impreza wrx only 300 miles and i didnt expect the gear throws to be so small so i push it hard into first after a couple of times trying and i dislocated the shifter haha had to take apart the whole center console and push it back into the joint

Tue Aug 13, 2002 9:03 pm

i taught myself in my 71 bug, check it out http://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/gallery.php?photo+40754.jpg

Tue Nov 05, 2002 5:29 pm

im just learning how to drive and i've driven stick, and i guess i dont get the concept. so much thinking is involved. i staled about...well im keeping that to myself. but i can shift my sisters jeep pretty good. oh bye the way i have a 93 fox, it;s good enoug for a learner like me!

Wed Nov 06, 2002 7:27 am

It becomes instinctive but only after a while. You're going to have some embarrassing moments and sometimes you wonder, why bother? Reason is you can drive ANY car and get better rates if you drive in Europe, guys like you more because you drive stick (I assume you're a girl); also you get better mileage and lower maintenance costs with a manual shift.

Wed Nov 06, 2002 9:06 am

learned in a 94 civic, got an auto bus cause my girl refuses to drive a stick, but she says the bus sways too much in the wind. shouldve stuck with the stick I wanted in the first place, gersh darmit!
Bret 77westy

Wed Nov 06, 2002 9:51 am

I LEARNED TO DRIVE STICK IN A 5.0 MUSTANG, ANYONE WHO'S EVER DRIVEN ONE KNOWS THE CONSTENT PROBLEM OF FORCING THE GEARS IN. ITS FUNNY MY SITUATION WAS SOMETHING LIKE CHRIS, THE WAS MY OLDER NEIGHBORS CAR (HE'S 26 OR 27 NOW AND IM 19) HE WAS RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF TELLING ME ABOUT EASING OFF THE CLUTCH AND I WAS ALREADY HAULING ASS DOWN BLOCK. WHEN WE WERE DONE HE HAD TO ASK IF THAT WAS REALLY THE FIRST TIME I HAD DRIVEN A STICK. THE SCAREY THING IS THAT MY GIRLFRIEND WANTS ME TO TEACH HER IN MY BUG ONCE I FINISH BUILDING THE ENGINE, I HAVE THE FUNNY FEELING THAT I SHOULD BE SCARED

Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:18 pm

[email protected] wrote: im just learning how to drive and i've driven stick, and i guess i dont get the concept. so much thinking is involved. i staled about...well im keeping that to myself. but i can shift my sisters jeep pretty good. oh bye the way i have a 93 fox, it;s good enoug for a learner like me!
LOL the steriotype holds, women are bad drivers. did u know automatics were invented for women and disabled old people

Sat Apr 26, 2008 6:20 am

hotfries75 wrote: [email protected] wrote: im just learning how to drive and i've driven stick, and i guess i dont get the concept. so much thinking is involved. i staled about...well im keeping that to myself. but i can shift my sisters jeep pretty good. oh bye the way i have a 93 fox, it;s good enoug for a learner like me!
LOL the steriotype holds, women are bad drivers. did u know automatics were invented for women and disabled old people

Holy crap, a thread a started freaking 6 years ago!!!

And, hey now, I know plenty of women who can drive a stick rather well. My dad and MOM taught me how. Most of the cars my mom has driven have been stickshifts. In fact, last year she told my dad "I'm tired of driving a stupid automatic truck (Explorer) I want a little car with a stick again." So she bought a 5speed Jetta and loves it.
All it takes is practice and a will to learn. If my 12 year old brother gets the concept (he can drive one supringly well) anyone can do it.

Sat Apr 26, 2008 6:43 am

my wife had never driven an automatic before i met here

Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:57 am

I learned in driver's ed in high school. Didn't get my first manual shift car (98 Jetta) until I was 20. Got the Bug last year at 24 and still can't really clutch smoothly. The clutch in the Jetta is very smooth with a good progression, but the Bug's clutch has a much sharper engagement. It seems so on/off. This is the only Bug I've spent time with (the 10 min. test drive in the other one doesn't count). Of course, I only put 400 miles on last year, with 100 of that being a trip on the highway. Hopefully I'll get more practice this year 8) .

Sun Apr 27, 2008 1:14 pm

I learned to drive manual 3000 miles away from home with a new Squareback. After a quick 5 minute lesson from the owner I was good to go..

Sun Nov 09, 2008 11:12 am

I drove a stick cuz all our cars in the family are sticks.

Sun Nov 09, 2008 8:33 pm

I was never taught. We were in the mountains in our lifted samurai and my dad said go drive around. So i did. The second thing i drove that was stick was our sandrail. Man thats fun, i love the feeling of 245hp at your control.