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Piobaire

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These days a manual is good protection against having your car stolen. Along that line, my last manual was a BBFA option package (bare bones, **** all) Ford Ranger that I drove in the 90s. I bought it with the insurance money from the Pontiac that got stolen from the Detroit Medical Center where I was doing a clinical for undergrad. I bought the manual Ranger so it would not get boosted too and it worked quite well.
 

Beckwith

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Things got stolen in Detroit? Nah. Once got lost in Detroit on the way back from the Canadian Ballet, pre GPS, pre cellphone, man that was a bit scary to say the least.
 

patrick_b

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When I bought my GTI last summer I have to admit to a bit of trepidation having not driven a manual in probably 15 years. Fortunately test drives were solo due to Covid but my fears were put to rest quickly. It's not something that you lose apparently.

I learned to drive a stick on my dad's 72 Opel GT, 4 speed. I still remember the terror of one stoplight leaving my high school on a big hill. It was the late 80's so there were lots of MT's in kid's cars and everyone hated that hill.
 

patrick_b

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Looks like new cars are going to be a little scarcer in the ST. I'm glad I jumped on my Porsche allocation when I did if this is true.

Care to share your spec? Can't wait to hear about taking delivery! I'm curious about the purchase process as well. What was the allocation procedure like?
 

clee1982

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When I bought my GTI last summer I have to admit to a bit of trepidation having not driven a manual in probably 15 years. Fortunately test drives were solo due to Covid but my fears were put to rest quickly. It's not something that you lose apparently.

I learned to drive a stick on my dad's 72 Opel GT, 4 speed. I still remember the terror of one stoplight leaving my high school on a big hill. It was the late 80's so there were lots of MT's in kid's cars and everyone hated that hill.

how far did you roll down...
 

otc

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I know how to drive stick but just not very well. I don't want to learn on a $100k car. My gf waifu pillow doesn't know how to drive a stick at all so if she ever needed to drive it, I would be screwed.

Not that I think the PDK is a bad choice or anything, but if you roughly know how to drive stick...its not like you're going to blow the car up.

You're not going to be lighting up the clutch or grinding the gears...stalling a car really doesn't do much to it. The only learning you'd be doing is getting smoother, faster, and more natural.

Its not a 100k car, but I would teach someone to drive stick in my car without real worries. Sure, if they were totally incompetent, maybe I'd get worried (or if I was creating a really stressful situation and causing them to freak out and hit the gas), but these transmissions are meant to slam between gears at full bore...they can take someone learning to feather them into 1st.
 

otc

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(or if I was creating a really stressful situation and causing them to freak out and hit the gas)

On that note, I saw this guide to teaching a significant other how to drive stick. Something along the lines of:

Put her in the drivers seat with the car off and explain the clutch, have her shift through the gears, get into reverse, etc.

Get in the drivers seat and have her get in the rear seat behind you so she can look over your shoulder and see your feet while you drive and go through everything again.

Park the car, tell her to practice until she feels comfortable, and then walk the **** away. Go inside and watch TV.
 

Texasmade

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Care to share your spec? Can't wait to hear about taking delivery! I'm curious about the purchase process as well. What was the allocation procedure like?
I don't have it in front of me but it was guards red, satin platinum rims, PDK, delete door decal, delete alcantara, add GT multi function steering wheel, the $1000 Bose system, and a couple of other cheap bits here and there. Total MSRP was like $94k before TTL.

Purchase went like this.
1. Before Xmas, I walked into a Porsche dealership and told the SA I wanted to order a 718 Cayman GTS 4.0. She said to go online and do the Porsche configurator for my spec sheet. Select their dealership at the end to show interest. I left my information for me to email me if an allocation became available.
2. Right after Xmas, the SA emailed and said she had an allocation available and asked if I was interested. I took a day and said yes. She sent me a link to do a $2500 deposit.
3. She then sent me the buildout sheet I submitted for me to signoff and send back to her. If any changes, I would need to do a new spec sheet. After that it was sit and wait for lock date and production week.
 

Lionel Hutz

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Rental car places don’t really stock manual cars because no one knows how to drive them.

There are some places that offer private lessons but they're hard to schedule now with C19.

you could always spend a weekend day test driving manuals at various dealerships

I believe mustangs still come in manual
 

otc

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Both VW salespeople I rode with seemed blown away that I could actually drive stick...

Which makes me think some of those poor manual GTIs on the lot must have a rough first few miles!

(although like I said before...some stalling and jerking around are not really that bad for the car despite how much they make you cringe).
 

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