Being the passenger in other stick cars

[rml605]

Anyone love getting into the car and seeing the car is a stick? I say this because im always curious to see how they drive compared to me. I often will even look at their tach to see how they're timing their shifts.

[theholycow]

Considering how rarely I am a passenger, I'm just happy to be a passenger regardless of transmission.

[tankinbeans]

I'm always relieved when the other driver makes the same minor errors that I do. Makes it feel less awkward. However, then I realize that trying to rev match isn't even in their radar. "Gee, let's go 5 to 3, jam stick in gear let off clutch, jerk car, floor gas, copious head bobble." Makes for an uncomfortable ride, but since I'm nowhere near perfect at rev matching I don't say anything.

The weird part is that my roommate drives the same car I do, same color, trim, year (sans sunroof) and that makes it feel doubly weird. It's like being a passenger in your own car, but not.

[potownrob]

haven't ridden in a manual car in a while, but i usually would know the car was manual before sitting in it (from looking through the window). i've experienced various riding environments, ranging from calm driving where i had to check to make sure the car was truly a manual to insane wannabe racecar drivers who must've felt they had to beat every car they came across to the next town. a lot of people apparently either don't know what rev-matching is, don't know how to do it, or don't appreciate it's usefulness.

[Boston Fit]

If you ever travel abroad (parts of Europe, Far East) and go for a cab ride, you'll see the art form is alive and well there.

[ClutchFork]

Anyone love getting into the car and seeing the car is a stick? I say this because im always curious to see how they drive compared to me. I often will even look at their tach to see how they're timing their shifts.

I rarely am in this situation but it is nice, especially on a longer trip where you may get to drive part of the way--that has happened to me twice over the past 20 years. The one complimented me on my ability to launch smoothly (I noticed his launches were bucky). I had great satisfaction in that because he was the office know-it-all, so to receive a compliment from him was particularly unusual.

[rml605]

haven't ridden in a manual car in a while, but i usually would know the car was manual before sitting in it (from looking through the window). i've experienced various riding environments, ranging from calm driving where i had to check to make sure the car was truly a manual to insane wannabe racecar drivers who must've felt they had to beat every car they came across to the next town. a lot of people apparently either don't know what rev-matching is, don't know how to do it, or don't appreciate it's usefulness.

I was in a car with a guy who thought he was in F&F. He would dump the clutch and rev the car and basically near RL every shift. It was horrible. I had a headache afterwards and when I got out, I smelt clutch from his car.

I still don't understand though how people get away with not rev matching. If you're cruising in 5th and need to get into 2nd/3rd..what do you do then? Accept the massive jerk?

[AHTOXA]

Yeah, they just accept it. I have a good friend who drives manual like that - has done so for about 8 years. Never had clutch issues but his driving is very jerky. One time we were doing some local driving and with all the stop and go and jerk jerk jerk it got very frustrating and tiring. He was kind of a lumberjack with the manual. Very coarse and always worked it ham fisted w/o much finesse.

[Squint]

About the only time that I'm a passenger in a stick controlled car is the rare times my wife drives the Fiesta with both of us present. Typically, if we're both there, I drive, but rarely, she does. She likes to rev higher than I do before shifts and since she's really short, keeps her foot on/near the clutch pedal. That last part makes me cringe slightly, but she doesn't actually push it at all, so I'm not really that concerned.

[ClutchDisc]

Being a passenger in a stick is exactly how I got into driving a stick! I would ride with my dad all the time and think wow this is really fun!

[kamesama980]

Other than trying to get my wife to learn/drive stick, last time I was a passenger, much less in a stick shift, was years ago and the driver was a go-speed-racer type. good but definitely not into smooth, steady, finesse. previous time before that was lunatic racer...80 mph with 60mph traffic, slam the brakes on and stop short of other cars by less than 2' I kid you not. Perfectly attentive but totally reckless. Since riding with him not much phases me.

[daleadbull]

I was just in India a couple weeks ago and cars there are predominantly stick. I'm sure you've also heard stories about the traffic there. I got to ride in a couple cars there and it was really interesting seeing the different driving styles. One guy would never downshift directly, instead he would just stick the car in neutral and coast till he had to accelerate again. Then he could just put it in the right gear and go. This is definitely more convenient than downshifting every time in stop and go traffic, so I decided to add this to my arsenal. One cab driver even stalled the car once, that made me feel good lol I was like see even he stalls every once in a while and he drives for a living.

I also don't think I saw one single rev match the whole time lol but they were still relatively smooth even without rev matching. Most of the cab drivers there are self taught, so they've probably never even heard of rev matching.

I really love being a passenger in other stick cars, its always interesting and I learn a few things every now and then. Its too bad I don't know a single person (personally) around here that drives stick.

[Krimsalt]

I love when people get into my car and are in awe that it's stick. I hate/love it when some passengers get in and ask me as I shift "why do you go up and down?" because they think automatic is the only thing

[tankinbeans]

I love when people get into my car and are in awe that it's stick. I hate/love it when some passengers get in and ask me as I shift "why do you go up and down?" because they think automatic is the only thing

There's a facepalm and a half.