Wife drove the car last night - first time.

Jdub · 02:35 PM

Had a very high-class evening visiting the Van Gogh exhibit as a sponsor representative, plenty of free wine and treats, off to a nice italian restaurant after, Chianti and veal - you know the drill.

Hand wife the keys to the Pcar after din - first time for her. "Oh, I'm driving?" she says. "Sure I say, why not?" (She loved her '95 VW Cabriolet 5-speed stick BTW, and so did I.)

Stalled three times, but then she got the knack on the clutch and the 915 (edit: rebuilt pedal cluster, new cable and spring). She loved it. Full suspension rebuild, etc. makes the car tight and stiff. Driving, she could feel how the bumps and stiffness were a part of the car. Now, she understands what nobody can ever understand as a passenger in this type of car: what is bothersome as a passenger is just the opposite in the driver's seat.

So I'd recommend everybody co-opt your spouse or other by letting them take the wheel. A bit of wine helps loosen up the clutch/shift synapses as well. Highly recommended.

John

aigel · aigel's Garage

I got home with the 911, buying it and didn't even make it out of the car. She went: "get outa there, my turn now!".

G

bigrubberjeep · 06-09-2004, 09:46 AM

F-that! The only time my wife drove it was around the cul-de-sac in first gear only. (5MPH)

That was it since I baught it.

vash · vash's Garage

my lovely girlfriend drove my 75, but one step on the clutch with the SC, and she said no way! that helper spring is like "girlfriend-away".

JeremyD · JeremyD's Garage

I encourage mine to drive ours - she cleans the carbon out...

Not that there is any in there to begin with... Oh and she get's "it" too.

goat · goat's Garage

I try not to let my other half drive mine, cause she drives the car at near red line through all gears scaring the hell out of me!!

ubiquity0 · 06-09-2004, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by vash
my lovely girlfriend drove my 75, but one step on the clutch with the SC, and she said no way! that helper spring is like "girlfriend-away".

Shouldn't the clutch be lighter w/ the helper spring, not heavier?

Speed Buggy · Speed Buggy's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by goat
I try not to let my other half drive mine, cause she drives the car at near red line through all gears scaring the hell out of me!!

I agree with Tim. My wife drives it like she stole it. I can't bring myself to do that just yet. I keep seeing dollar signs. The car likes her better, I'm sure.

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

my wife doesn't like how heavy the steering is at slow speeds, other than that she thinks its OK (she just took it around the block). I'm going to take her out to some twisties and turn her loose. She loved to hit triple digits in her Prelude, and has been know to do the same in her A8. I think she should do a DE in the A8, but then again, I don't know that I want to pay for what might break...

KobaltBlau · 06-09-2004, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ubiquity0
Shouldn't the clutch be lighter w/ the helper spring, not heavier?

Yeah, but wierder. I assume this is what he is referring to. If not, the SC needs a'fixin.

vash · vash's Garage

ub,
it is that helper spring "pop" that gets her. kinda gets me too. got me bad on 16th street in the castro district, yesterday. some guys were catcalling me, and i got all flustered, and glug! i stalled it. they loved it. flattery comes at a cost! haha, gotta love san fran!

KobaltBlau · 06-09-2004, 10:15 AM

that's very funny

VaSteve · 06-09-2004, 10:29 AM

I persued mine to drive it. She was afraid I was going to yell at her for grinding the gears (I've had it 4 months at that point). I found this really empty street and she drove maybe a half mile. I'm not sure she really liked it, and wouldn't go further where traffic was. I got back on the other side and jumped on it a little harder than usual. Got yelled at (as usual). But it was FUN!

goat · goat's Garage

The other fun part about letting the sig other drive the car is when they find out you have eight way adjustable seats. she spent a good part of ten freeway miles tweeking the seat every which way. Gotta get some good racing seats soon. For my own sanity at least.

CrossT · 06-09-2004, 11:04 AM

Ditto on the helper spring comment

I've had my car for more than two years

My wife got in, pressed the clutch in and out, didn't like the kick back, got out of the car and wouldn't try it

We've had many other manual trans's before, and she had no problem with them

todd
86 coupe

yelcab1 · 06-09-2004, 11:48 AM

Wife is not interested in any stickshifts, that eliminates 3 out of 4 cars we own.

svandamme · svandamme's Garage

chicks are evil
they are not allowed to touch my car other than sitting in the passenger seat while beeing pretty and quiet.

cantdrv55 · 06-09-2004, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by vash
ub,
it is that helper spring "pop" that gets her. kinda gets me too. got me bad on 16th street in the castro district, yesterday. some guys were catcalling me, and i got all flustered, and glug! i stalled it. they loved it. flattery comes at a cost! haha, gotta love san fran!

Are you playing with your stick at the Castro again? Not that there's anything wrong with that...

kqw · 12:23 PM

My wife is afraid to drive my 911...She says that if something happened she would never live it down.

It didn't help that I had the car alarm sequence complicated enough to confuse her BUT...I always say..."you can drive it anytime you want"

ubiquity0 · 06-09-2004, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by vash
ub,
it is that helper spring "pop" that gets her. kinda gets me too. got me bad on 16th street in the castro district, yesterday. some guys were catcalling me, and i got all flustered, and glug! i stalled it. they loved it. flattery comes at a cost! haha, gotta love san fran!

Lucky they didn't jump into the back seat