Maybe there's hope? "Manual Transmission Alive and Well," declares the Globe and Mail

[daiheadjai]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe...ticle34803405/

The author of the article basically restates a lot of what we tell each other (and ourselves) on this board.
I'm not sure if manuals are truly making a resurgence, but in a world dominated by news about how the next Tesla Model ZZZZ will make humans obsolete, I thought this might be a tiny shred of good news.

In any case, I'm glad to be leaving the land of the CVT soon....

[StraightOuttaCanadaEh]

I read an issue of evo magazine, and this was at least several months ago, I'm thinking mid-2016, where one of the journos was talking to a higher up in the auto industry who told him that many of the manufacturers are reintroducing manual transmissions. Aston still does (albeit just on the Vantage), Porsche is gonna (although to be fair their base 911s never stopped being offered in manual - only GT3s did) and I can't remember who else. The main problem is there are no schools anymore that teach it. You have to find local guys with beat up cars that run private ads on local classified sites. That's how I learned. That and PC sims lol

[gravitylover]

I learned to drive stick valet parking

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by StraightOuttaCanadaEh

The main problem is there are no schools anymore that teach it. You have to find local guys with beat up cars that run private ads on local classified sites. That's how I learned. That and PC sims lol

What? I did my driving lessons in a Manual, just googled the two driving schools I remember off the top of my head and both still offer manual transmission cars.

The thing is it'll be like $100+ to get in the car, but it's not like some desolate wasteland of automotive drudgery.

[daiheadjai]

I learned to drive by working a summer at a car dealership (my Dad was a salesman).
On lunch, he'd take us out in a ratty Corolla or Echo on the used lot (they sold Toyota/Lexus), and I'd practice.

My goal for learning stick was to test drive the IS300 manual, which remains one of the sweetest cars I have driven. This was waaaay back in 2002.

[StraightOuttaCanadaEh]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

What? I did my driving lessons in a Manual, just googled the two driving schools I remember off the top of my head and both still offer manual transmission cars.

The thing is it'll be like $100+ to get in the car, but it's not like some desolate wasteland of automotive drudgery.

You're in the states, you guys have everything lol. I'm in Canada's largest city (4 million people) and not a single official driving school offering manual lessons. There was one - Young Drivers - a very reputable school. But they'd discontinued them half a dozen years ago. Hence I had to resort to local ads.

[darthpnoy1984]

If you guys wanna learn MT you gotta go to UK.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by darthpnoy1984

If you guys wanna learn MT you gotta go to UK.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A shitty Nissan off craigslist is less than the plane ticket, pass.

[funwheeldrive]

My parent's bought me a 1990 civic for $1000 on my 16th birthday. I took it out the next morning and taught myself how to drive stick. Not really sure why you need a school?


The Driver's training school in my town doesn't offer manual transmission.

[TommyW]

Manual driving school? You're F'ing joking, right?

[WolfpackS2k]

Originally Posted by funwheeldrive

My parent's bought me a 1990 civic for $1000 on my 16th birthday. I took it out the next morning and taught myself how to drive stick. Not really sure why you need a school?


The Driver's training school in my town doesn't offer manual transmission.

Yeah, you don't need a school. I learned on my best friend's older sister's 1987 Honda Accord, over the span of one afternoon. Was really easy - didn't stall out once. I was 16 at the time.

Never owned a manual transmission car until I was 19, but the skill came in really handy when I was 18 and given the opportunity to drive a brand new 1998 Ferrari F355 Spider

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by funwheeldrive

Not really sure why you need a school?

The Driver's training school in my town doesn't offer manual transmission.

What's confusing? I did my driver's training (school) in a manual transmission car, >10 years later they still offer drivers training in cars with manual transmissions. That's all.

Five minutes talking about how to operate a car, start it, drop the clutch and go onto some of the busiest freeways and intersections in a city of ~1 billion people.

Originally Posted by TommyW

Manual driving school? You're F'ing joking, right?

Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k

Yeah, you don't need a school.

See above. Not sure how you guys misinterpreted it as MT specific lessons, it was all pretty straightforward until you guys came in, driving school and drivers training is pretty interchangeable as far as I'm concerned. Many states require/recommend in-car training from an instructor. Not everyone wants to throw thousands of bucks into purchasing a garbage car, has access to "friends" willing to teach, or is willing to plunk down on a decent car and then learn on it for (unfounded) fear of breaking it.

[funwheeldrive]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

What's confusing? I did my driver's training (school) in a manual transmission car, >10 years later they still offer drivers training in cars with manual transmissions. That's all.

Five minutes talking about how to operate a car, start it, drop the clutch and go onto some of the busiest freeways and intersections in a city of ~1 billion people.





See above. Not sure how you guys misinterpreted it as MT specific lessons, it was all pretty straightforward until you guys came in, driving school and drivers training is pretty interchangeable as far as I'm concerned. Many states require/recommend in-car training from an instructor. Not everyone wants to throw thousands of bucks into purchasing a garbage car, has access to "friends" willing to teach, or is willing to plunk down on a decent car and then learn on it for (unfounded) fear of breaking it.

My comment was mostly directed at this

The main problem is there are no schools anymore that teach it. You have to find local guys with beat up cars that run private ads on local classified sites. That's how I learned. That and PC sims lol

It's cool that some driver's training schools offer cars with manual, but I don't think it would be worth paying hundreds of dollars for someone who already has their license to retake driver's training just for the sake of learning manual.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by funwheeldrive

It's cool that some driver's training schools offer cars with manual, but I don't think it would be worth paying hundreds of dollars for someone who already has their license to retake driver's training just for the sake of learning manual.

A couple hundred bucks cheaper and way safer than buying a clunker, and some insurance companies offer discounts for defensive driving courses.

Not the dumbest idea around, some would say it's way smarter than buying some POS that's typically recommended by gearheads.