|
|
Just got back from a short drive with our eldest in which the conversation turned to manual transmissions. 
Once again, a youthful exuberance for manual versus automatic raises its head.
he: If you're back far enough at this light, you can just let the car handle it.
me: Huh?
he: Well, you don't need brakes or gas, it just sits there.
me: You could get the same affect on any hill using a manual transmission; just give it a little gas.
he: I want a manual transmission so bad...
me: And I wish I could make sure you had a manual (transmission) next year in San Francisco just so that you'd finally understand the good and bad (the insurance would kill us and having a car in the city is almost beyond pointless), but that's not happening.
I loved (and still do) having a manual transmission.
At the same time, when I had a car which was performing badly (something most young people have to deal with — it runs, sorta), the last place I wanted to find myself back then was on a hill, at a light with someone driving an expensive vehicle (usually an automatic) less than twelve inches behind me. The bigger the hill the bigger the intimidation factor.
Posted by Dave at June 16, 2004 10:55 PM