i have to teach my wife how to use a manual transmition

[ruf-porsche]

Originally Posted by lane912

do you all have any advice? i did this once before with my sister 15 years ago in my 63 bug. now the car i have as a instructional tool is my 66 912. i just don't want to be stuck and not have her be able to drive.

Can we say rental car?

NO way I will teach me wife to drive a stick. Then I'll be putting in claims for body work on the PORSCHE and LOTUSes.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by serge944

Sounds like a recipe for divorce. When I bought my old gf a ski lesson (I wasn't dumb enough to try to teach her myself), the instructor says he's seen numerous marriages end on the hill.

BTW - anyone want to teach Serge how to drive a manual? He destroyed the clutch in my 911 a while back.

[red-beard]

1st, go to a friendly doctor. Explain that you will be teaching your wife to drive a manual transmission. Politely ask for the stongest tranquilizer they can legally provide, which will still leave you coherent.

Once a stock of said pills is available, take one. Then follow all advice from above.

[Sapporo Guy]

lolo, why is everybody telling you have to drive a stick? What you have an auto ?

1.) rent-a-car ... you can then have fun with it yourself before you bring it back.
2.) sit in the back seat ... that way she won't notice as much when you go to slam on the brakes!
3.) IF it's your personal car, mention that you might/will buy parts
4.) NO cars or traffic in the vicinity. panic is bad enough when the car starts hopping all over the place
5.) car fresheners to remove the stench of burnt transmission
6.) tell her you love her 10 x + before you start
7.) have some hard alcohol ready when you get home ... teaching works better when you're drunk though but DWI is not cool
8.) Have her practice on your feet where 1 foot is the gas and the other is the clutch ... sounds dumb but you can even be dumber by making engine sounds ... I did this with the X and she thought I was nuts but when we got in the car she actually did pretty well.
9.) rent a car !!!

[pwd72s]

My retired pilot friend came up with the perfect solution....after trying to teach his wife how to use a manual gearbox, he hired a pro. That didn't work either. She's a really sweet lady...but she simply cannot get her head around the use of a clutch & a shifter.

He just buys her cars with automatics...problem solved.

[Sapporo Guy]

lolololo, could try a different stick shift

[Joeaksa]

Too bad all the rental cars here in America are automatics. Overseas you can rent a manual rental car and that would be a good start!

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by widebody911

BTW - anyone want to teach Serge how to drive a manual? He destroyed the clutch in my 911 a while back.

Let him help you replace it (or pay for it being done) and that will go a long way towards curing him of abusing any car part.

[GH85Carrera]

One thing that might help is to show her a diagram of a clutch. The parts manual has them. If she can visualize what is happening in makes it easier to grasps what she need to do.

[flatbutt]

If you can't spell it...you can't teach it!

Truly bro...get someone else to do it.

[m21sniper]

I just got a 5 speed 2003 saturn SL-2 yesterday (bought it to sell), now the GF wants to learn to drive it.

So i just ordered a new clutch.

Hahahaha.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Let him help you replace it (or pay for it being done) and that will go a long way towards curing him of abusing any car part.

To his credit, he did.

[Scuba Steve]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

My retired pilot friend came up with the perfect solution....after trying to teach his wife how to use a manual gearbox, he hired a pro. That didn't work either. She's a really sweet lady...but she simply cannot get her head around the use of a clutch & a shifter.

He just buys her cars with automatics...problem solved.

Same thing here. She got good at getting the car in gear and moving around, but when it rolled back even just ever so slightly she'd completely freak out. It's something that can't be done.

[peppy]

I would wait until after Christmas....you would hate to be fighting over the holidays.

I think Click and Clack had something about this a few years ago, but it was a teenager.
Their advise was to put the driver in the car for 30min with no keys, let them push the clutch in and shift through the gears. Then let them start the car and pull forward 5feet and back up 5 feet. This should be done at least 2 hours, before you ever get in the car with them.

[Dave L]

man you guys are rough.

I taught my wife. We did the parking lot thing and she certainly stalled the car out a few times but she did catch on. The only real "incident" was driving through a small town one day. She had to stop on a slight incline at a stop light. Being a small town they had a bench on the sidewalk and a couple of little old ladies watching the traffic and day go by. When the light turned green my wife got off the brake to go for the gas. Of course the car started to roll back, I told her to give it some gas and let the clutch out. This was interpreted as peg it on the red line then dump the clutch. Little red beamer lights up the rear tires and screams off at red line through the intersection. I was howling, as I am sure the little old laddies $@#t thier pants. My wife pulled over a couple of blocks away we laughed about it and I continued the drive home.

We have had a number of cars since then, all manual and she has bought 2 cars herself, both with manual transmissions.

I have tried to teach her rev matching and heal and toe but she just isnt interested, I figure she drives stick as well as the "next guy" so Im happy with that.

[Sapporo Guy]

Just pull out the juice blender in the kitchen.
Punch away at the buttons, real nice and hard ... stop - pulse - stop - puree, continue for a bit so that the electric smell starts (add in a satanic laugh for effect)

Then say, don't do that!

Reminds me of some older ladies I know, they change the car oil once a year, maybe every 2 years.
I asked them, "Do you do the same with deep fry oil?"
They said, "doh no".
So, I asked, "why?"
They said, "It either spoils with age or you have over used it".
So, I said, "oh, I see!"
And then went on that a car is the same
They actually have been changing the oil every 6 months since then

So, possibly the blender or another kitchen appliance might help

[Flyer88]

My wife hasn't driven one in 10 years and now needs to learn again since my new dd 330i is a 6 speed. Hopefully the "it's like riding a bike" thing is true! She doesn't need to drive it often but when I take her truck to trailer to a DE she'll have it for the weekend. She is actually excited about it.

[serge944]

Originally Posted by widebody911

To his credit, he did.

That's damn right!

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by gr8fl4porsche

Unless of course your wife is not defensive and argumentative like the rest of the female population.

Jeezus, I just think you solved one of life's great riddles!

Thanks!

rjp

I had my sister do it after I failed myself. Still married after 28 years.