Fun thread - How manual manual drivers reach for stick or clutch in an auto?

[dominic msu]

I definitely leave my wife’s car in drive and turn off the ignition. Usually when I haven’t driven it in a couple of weeks.

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[Linkster1666]

Well, reaching for a key that does not exist, I thought went away year ago. Nope, reached for a key today.

 

[ALLSTOCK]

honestly, i kinda miss the key turn ignition.

the button just isnt as satisfying as that mechanical turn.

 

[ALLSTOCK]

I feel like I'm in a rocketship. Especially compared to anything I owned with a key ignition.

LOL

rocketships are cool.

 

[Sivi70980]

On weekends when we take the wife's car I'll hit the phantom clutch about 60% of the time. But then the super weird one is while at work TDY driving an auto rental I don't do the phantom clutch thing but instead when I go to reverse or park, I'll reach for the column selector about 20% of the time. Most our company leased trucks are a little dated with column selectors but moving to dials and whatnot as they get refreshed. Rented vehicles are all the newest or just a few years old so no more column selectors. I also have a least favorite gear selector now too. Buick and Cadillac now have selectors requiring an up, left, button press to get into reverse and button press, down to get into drive thing that is actually quite annoying. Single button to get into park completely fine but every time I see a co worker try to drive one of these, they end up pulling forward when they think they're in reverse or vise versa. Some things should really be a set standard for all vehicle manufacturers. The Chevy interior door handles from the 2000's come to mind. In an emergency you reach for the door handle where it is on ever single other car but you're in a Chevy so you only get door panel, glad the fixed it in newer models. Anyways, as I age I think I catch muscle memory more and more with things out of the car too. Login and passwords for computers and different websites for instance. I know the password but my fingers hit the keys without much conscious thought. I do fail captchas sometimes, maybe I'm a robot.....

 

[Hack]

I've never reached for the clutch pedal with my foot, but back when I owned a '65 Ford pickup with the 4 on the floor there was a time I was driving my wife's Escape and reached towards the dash for that tall '65 gear shift lever. The wife was like "WTF?"

 

[Norm Peterson]

OK, since we will not be able to have fun leveraging our experiences as manual drivers I wondered how many guys who drive manual have gotten into an automatic and reach for the selector or stomped on the floor only to find no clutch?

What was the situation?

Long time ago, after I hadn't driven any AT car in several years I went to make an enthusiastic entering-the-highway upshift from 2 to D in a rental GM intermediate of some sort that had the usual wide brake pedal (might have been a Cutlass). As it was rather wet outside, things went from puzzling to exciting in a hurry . . .

I don't think I ever did that again, but that's the one I'd always remember even if I did.


Norm

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