I was standing outside in my driveway today, working on my own car, when an old Volvo approached the intersection in my residential neighborhood. It had a "For Sale" sign in the rear window.
The driver came to a 4 way stop at the corner I live upon, and when traffic cleared the car stalled. He restarted it...it was a little slow in starting...and as soon as he tried to move forward the car stalled out again. This went on about ten times. And I watched him grow increasingly impatient and angry. There was much swearing and banging upon the steering wheel.
He was coming up a very slight incline as he approached the stop sign. As I watched his struggles, I was certain he would exit his car, since he had saw me too, and ask me for some sort of mechanical assistance. Fat chance of that, since I don't know squat about cars.
As it turns out, he was taking the car out for a test drive. And it was a standard transmission. The guy behind the wheel was, I'm guessing, about 23.
I approached him to ask if I could be of assistance, hoping he would say no, because I really can't trouble shout engine issues. As it turned out, he told me he was test driving the car, and it had a standard transmission, and he really wasn't all that good with a stick.
"Would you mind if I give it a try?", I asked...Not at all, he said. Infact, he was quite happy for the offer. I got behind the wheel and started it up. It was an old car, and you had to sort of goose the gas pedal a little as you engaged the ignition. But once it started up, it worked just fine. I started the car, engaged the clutch, pushed down on the gas pedal and took off with no problem. I drove down our street, turned around, and pulled back up in front of him.
"The car works fine", I told him...it's your clutch work that needs some practice.
He admitted to me that he's never driven a clutch, and I told him that I have driven one my whole life. I tried, in five minutes, to explain who you feel a transmission beginning to engage, and when and how to apply the gas as it does so. But you can't teach a neophyte how do drive a standard transmission in 5 minutes.
I learned to drive a clutch in San Francisco. Granted, it was a Volkswagen...probably the most forgiving transmission ever engineered...but still. With all of those hills, and all of the city traffic...you had to be brave and adhere to a short learning curve while learning to drive a clutch in The City.
We shook hands after I showed him that the car worked fine and didn't have a transmission problem. And I invited him to come back by my place, if he buys it, for free lessons in how to drive a clutch.
I really have no idea how young people learn to drive these days, as I never raised a child. When I grew up, I took Driver's Ed in High School. I guess most HS's have eliminated that offering. My Dad also took me out in the family Impala as I was learning to drive and put me behind the wheel and gave me some guidance. I had relatives back in Ohio that learned to drive much earlier than I, because they lived in rural areas and were able to drive farm vehicles on private property.
These days...it's all privatized. And I suspect that parents are not quite as apt to take on the task of teaching their kids to drive as in the past. It gets hired out. There's plusses and minuses to that, I suppose. But I get the since that kids are not learning who to drive a standard transmission much these days. I've even read that auto makers are offering fewer entry level models of cars with a clutch.
Still...it is, in my opinion, a basic life skill. And one that is not hard to acquire or master. I currently have an automatic transmission, and I must say I prefer a clutch. Having driven one for almost 35 years, it becomes habit. And when you own a smaller car with an economic engine, let's face it...a standard transmission just allows you to accelerate more quickly and merge into freeway traffic better. Let alone manage long uphill drives.
But I have watched a number of young drivers struggle with a clutch in the neighborhood. Mostly, it seems, they are trying to learn it on their own. I've seen some coaches in the passenger seat, but even they seem to be poor teachers.
How do you learn to drive a clutch?
That's a good question. Start with a forgiving car, is my best advice. And learn to become one with the vehicle you are operating. You need to feel what is happening under the hood and under the floorboard. You need to be attuned to how the machine you are operating is responding. Live in a hilly area? The emergency brake is your friend.
I can't write a manual on how to drive a clutch, but I sure could teach someone who would really listen to me. I could show them how. I could explain, in specific circumstances, why they dumped the clutch, and show them how not to do it in the future.
And I could pass along the wisdom that a standard transmission can almost always be started, even if your battery is on it's last leg, if you just get it rolling and dump the clutch.
I look forward to my next car. It will be a standard transmission once again. I miss the interaction, and the connectivity with the car that is lost when you drive an automatic.
And I hope this guy comes back and takes me up on my offer to make him a standard transmission guru in short order.