Damn, How Do You Work These Auto-Transmission Cars?
My job involves moving about 150 cars a day. I’m a “car porter” which is an un-tipped valet. I move mostly automatics, and many manual transmission cars as well. But, only around the dealership.
My own car is a 5-speed stick. Today (thank God it happened as I was leaving work) a power steering line (or something) went and I limped the car into the shop. Almost everyone gone for the night. Power steering fluid dripping on the ground. Oh well, I work Saturdays and hopefully one of the two techs will diagnose and ( if it’s just a rusty section of line) fix it.
So, I signed out a loaner car. All the loaners are automatics. Okay, I move them around the service center all day long but I’m not used to driving them to-and-from work. Driving it home tonight was just plain weird. You get used to doing the same things at the same places and I — I kept moving my left foot to a clutch pedal that wasn’t there, my hand on a non-manual “stick” all ready to shift and — of course — not being able to.
I rely on cruise control to keep from getting speeding tickets. Okay, this loaner has cruise but the automatic downshifts up the hills of I-91 with a lurch. My ancient Forester is able to be left in 5th gear and maintains perfect speed up and down hills when in cruise mode. This loaner’s pissy-little engine couldn’t.
Mind you, I’m not knocking automatic transmissions. I’m just saying that it’s disorienting to go from a manual to an auto one on short notice . . .
But, I prefer my 5-speed stick and I hope my Forester can be fixed tomorrow with minimal expense. Having control over the trans makes me (probably falsely) feel that I still have some control over my life, or at least of my car.
Update 10/6: I’m *effed. The hydraulic power steering lines corroded and crapped-out. Probably all it took was hitting a bump and the corroded line gave way. The good news is I don’t need to get a new steering rack. The lines are sold as a kit by Subaru and with luck, can be installed without a new rack. The bad news is that my ancient, already leaking and much welded exhaust manifold has to be dropped to install the replacement lines. Ghod only knows what will happen when that is done.
Oh well, such is life.
7 Responses to “Damn, How Do You Work These Auto-Transmission Cars?”
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on 05 Oct 2012 at 7:13 pm # anon
Reminds me of a story: I drive a stick. Was vacationing in Germany in the mid 90’s, and a (car-less, there on TDY) friend met me at the airport on arrival. We went to the sixt(or whatever) counter to pick up my rental and head out of town. Since I was American, they automatically reserved an automatic for me (Mercedes C220 IIRC). (Most Americans need automatics.) So the porter brings the car around, and starts talking at me in German. I didn’t understand a word. My friend said “he wants to show you how to use the automatic transmission”. Of course, I was like “Bah! I know how to drive.” I got in, started the car, and reached down to release the parking brake… and promptly popped the hood! The car had an automatic parking brake release too. I had to get out and close the hood. My friend and the rental employee were both laughing their @$$es off…
on 06 Oct 2012 at 7:27 am # bogie
Whenever I have to drive an automatic, I end up hitting the brake instead of the clutch at least once. I almost threw my mother thru the windshield of her own car by hitting the brake while backing up (I was trying to depress the clutch - which her car did not have). She almost had a heart attack because she thought I had hit a car while backing up. No damage except to my pride and my mother’s confidence that she would make it home alive . . .
on 06 Oct 2012 at 10:17 am # Rich
I recently had a Taurus that had a column shifter. Going to my other cars which had floor shifters I was always reaching to he wrong place. Think about riding a motorcycle most of the time and the disconnect when you get in a car manual or auto
on 08 Oct 2012 at 3:33 pm # Kelly
Jeff - just hit the tip jar for this. not much but I hope it helps.
on 08 Oct 2012 at 7:00 pm # comatus
Studebaker made a heavy-duty 7 speed in which every single gear was on a different arc from the one before. They were absolutely theft-proof if you unscrewed the knob with the pattern on it.
I had a BSA Rocket III that I could leave in front of the bar with the key in it. It shifted on the “wrong” side, in the “wrong” direction, and demanded individual just-so tickling of each carb for the start drill; had it been stolen, I ‘d have known it was the other mechanic at the shop who did it. But you couldn’t get a BSA stolen, love nor money.
on 09 Oct 2012 at 12:08 pm # bud
I used to be a stick-shift snob, too
, but two things got me out of that: Commuting in stop and go freeway traffic, and the fact that my ancient Suburban with a TH350 has run for >250K with two filter replacements and fluid changes. My buddies stick shift Ford pickup of about the same vintage had to drop the transmission to replace the clutch twice in 160K . Of course, it was a F(ix) O(r) R(eplace) D(aily). :-Q
My present Forester stays in 4th going up hills at 55 or so, unless I want to get it to 65 in a hurry; then it’ll drop to 3rd. It doesn’t do much gear hunting. Of course, that little flat four is pretty peppy for 2.5L.
on 09 Oct 2012 at 5:31 pm # Jeff
Bud,
A nice benefit of living in the middle of nowhere is that we don’t have traffic. My ancient (2000) Forester has 191K on it and I can leave it in 5th gear and the cruise control (well, the engine) has no problem with the big up & downs on I-91 and I-89. Maintains exact speed perfectly. I’m sure that if I lived in some crowded city or suburban area I’d prefer an automatic, too.
Kelly,
Thanks very much. Of course, as I always do, I sent you a personal thank you email.
Rich and comatus,
I learned to drive on a ‘63 Dodge Dart which had a “three-on-the-tree” 3-speed manual shift on the steering column. First time out my “teacher” had me make a left turn on a steep, up-hill, busy road. I’m proud to say that I had traffic backed-up for at least a mile on New Bridge Road while I learned how to work a clutch that long ago day.