New Member in Great Distress

Just sign up? Feel free to tell your fellow Standardshifters about yourself, your car or anything else.
Progressive Shifter
Junior Standardshifter
Posts: 49
Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2011 10:13 am
Location: Chester, PA, US

New Member in Great Distress

Post by Progressive Shifter »

Hello, everyone!

My name is Khalil, I'm seventeen years old and I joined this forum because I wanted to learn how to effectively operate a manual transmission-equipped car. I am totally aware of the basic stuff (eg Starting the engine, stalling, up-and down-shifting, etc.) and I want to get hands-on but I nor anybody in my family currently drives a stick-shift car at this moment. :oops: I don't really have anybody to turn to and I am really wanting to take the time to go hands-on with stick-shift cars, especially when I get my permit to go driving, since I am looking to buy a car with such a transmission when I become fully prepared to do so.
MANUALS ARE SO UNDERRATED!! xD
User avatar
AHTOXA
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 14693
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2007 6:31 pm
Cars: '19 4RUNNER TRD ORP
Location: Irving, TX

Re: New Member in Great Distress

Post by AHTOXA »

Welcome!

Great to hear that you want to learn.

Depending on where you live, you might have some options.

- A standardshift member near you that's willing to teach you
- One of our new members was able to actually find a rental car with a manual for $70 a day and learn on that for a day or two.
- Maybe you can convince a buddy with a manual if you know one. Offer to buy him a tank of gas or something in return.
'19 Toyota 4Runner TRD ORP
'12 Suzuki V-Strom 650
User avatar
wannabe
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 8113
Joined: Tue May 15, 2007 11:48 am
Cars: NONE - take the bus
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Contact:

Re: New Member in Great Distress

Post by wannabe »

welcome!

whereabouts do you live? we have shifters pretty much in a lot of places (duh) so one might be near you...or at least, in your state/area :D

congrats on wanting to learn. My dad had a yellow stick beetle, but wouldn't teach me, so i had my grandpa teach me on his car, which i now drive due to an accident last winter :P
2003 Chrysler town and country

Crafting and stuff
Progressive Shifter
Junior Standardshifter
Posts: 49
Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2011 10:13 am
Location: Chester, PA, US

Re: New Member in Great Distress

Post by Progressive Shifter »

AHTOXA wrote:Welcome!

Great to hear that you want to learn.

Depending on where you live, you might have some options.

- A standardshift member near you that's willing to teach you
- One of our new members was able to actually find a rental car with a manual for $70 a day and learn on that for a day or two.
- Maybe you can convince a buddy with a manual if you know one. Offer to buy him a tank of gas or something in return.
Yeah, I think that my best bet would be to find a StandardShift member near me. I mean, I'd like to rent a stick shift car, but I dunno if I can even bank on that. That, and I know no friends that own cars, period; let alone stick shift cars.
MANUALS ARE SO UNDERRATED!! xD
User avatar
theholycow
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 16021
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:36 pm
Cars: '80 Buick LeSabre 4.1 5MT
Location: Glocester, RI
Contact:

Re: New Member in Great Distress

Post by theholycow »

I wouldn't worry too much about getting practice without having a car. The amount of practice you'll get borrowing or renting a car won't be enough to make it a permanent part of your brain/muscle memory, so when you drive one again you'll start from scratch again.

I'd say to just learn once you have your own car. No better time to learn than the day you (struggle to) drive it home! :shock: :D
1980 Buick LeSabre 4.1L 5MT

Put your car in your sig!

Learn to launch/FAQs/lugging/misused terms: meta-sig
watkins wrote:Humans have rear-biased AWD. Cows have 4WD
User avatar
AHTOXA
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 14693
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2007 6:31 pm
Cars: '19 4RUNNER TRD ORP
Location: Irving, TX

Re: New Member in Great Distress

Post by AHTOXA »

Yeah, that's how I learned. When I was learning, I didn't even have a benefit of Standardshift being there. Standardshift did not exist when I was learning. Hell, people were still using the manual to do service work on the cars when they ran into issues. Now the internet has replaced most of it.

And I'm not even old.
'19 Toyota 4Runner TRD ORP
'12 Suzuki V-Strom 650
JusCruzin
Junior Standardshifter
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 10:02 pm
Cars: 2008 BMW E90 M3
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: New Member in Great Distress

Post by JusCruzin »

I was able to locate a rental car with manual here in LA but it took a lot of searching. I don't know what sort of budget you have -- I certainly had no $ when I was 17 years old -- but you might consider looking on Craigslist for a beater with manual. You can get one for as little as $1000 or so. You still need to pay for insurance, registration, gas, etc., but if you have a little bit of money saved up, a used car can be had for surprisingly little.

Good luck.
Progressive Shifter
Junior Standardshifter
Posts: 49
Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2011 10:13 am
Location: Chester, PA, US

Re: New Member in Great Distress

Post by Progressive Shifter »

wannabe wrote:welcome!

whereabouts do you live? we have shifters pretty much in a lot of places (duh) so one might be near you...or at least, in your state/area :D

congrats on wanting to learn. My dad had a yellow stick beetle, but wouldn't teach me, so i had my grandpa teach me on his car, which i now drive due to an accident last winter :P

Wow, that's crazy! XD Anyway, I live in this small city called Chester in Pennsylvania and though I have heard certain cars with manuals ride through my neighborhood, they usually belonged to people I didn't know, so now thinking about that I couldn't even turn to them. That, and I can assume that mostly everybody in my town drives AT-equipped cars. :p
MANUALS ARE SO UNDERRATED!! xD
JusCruzin
Junior Standardshifter
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 10:02 pm
Cars: 2008 BMW E90 M3
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: New Member in Great Distress

Post by JusCruzin »

FWIW, I just learned that Rent A Wreck here in LA has a few manuals for $25 per day. There are Rent A Wreck locations in Pennsylvania but not all locations have manuals so you need to call and find out.
User avatar
AHTOXA
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 14693
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2007 6:31 pm
Cars: '19 4RUNNER TRD ORP
Location: Irving, TX

Re: New Member in Great Distress

Post by AHTOXA »

That whole Rent-a-Wreck name does not inspire much confidence. :lol:
'19 Toyota 4Runner TRD ORP
'12 Suzuki V-Strom 650
Progressive Shifter
Junior Standardshifter
Posts: 49
Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2011 10:13 am
Location: Chester, PA, US

Re: New Member in Great Distress

Post by Progressive Shifter »

JusCruzin wrote:FWIW, I just learned that Rent A Wreck here in LA has a few manuals for $25 per day. There are Rent A Wreck locations in Pennsylvania but not all locations have manuals so you need to call and find out.
Okay, I understand this may mean something I'd have to look up myself probably, but gimme a little bit of info about Rent A Wreck, for I have never heard of them before.
MANUALS ARE SO UNDERRATED!! xD
Rope-Pusher
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 11607
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:44 pm
Cars: '08 Jeep Liberty
Location: Greater Detroit Area

Re: New Member in Great Distress

Post by Rope-Pusher »

I've got this proprietary software on my confuser that lets me look up most anything. I typed in "Rent a Wreck", and it came up with these links for urine formation:

http://www.rentawreck.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-a-Wreck

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=rent+a+wreck
'08 Jeep Liberty 6-Speed MT - "Last of the Mohicans"
User avatar
theholycow
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 16021
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:36 pm
Cars: '80 Buick LeSabre 4.1 5MT
Location: Glocester, RI
Contact:

Re: New Member in Great Distress

Post by theholycow »

AHTOXA wrote:That whole Rent-a-Wreck name does not inspire much confidence. :lol:
:lol: The name is supposed to inspire confidence that you'll rent cheaply.

I first heard of them like 10 years ago and I thought the name was pretty funny. I expected them to have beat up, run down pieces of ancient crap, 20 years old and such. No, they just have plain boring unremarkable cars...maybe they keep them a few more years and with more miles than other rental outfits, which seem to have brand new cars all the time.
1980 Buick LeSabre 4.1L 5MT

Put your car in your sig!

Learn to launch/FAQs/lugging/misused terms: meta-sig
watkins wrote:Humans have rear-biased AWD. Cows have 4WD
Progressive Shifter
Junior Standardshifter
Posts: 49
Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2011 10:13 am
Location: Chester, PA, US

Re: New Member in Great Distress

Post by Progressive Shifter »

theholycow wrote:
AHTOXA wrote:That whole Rent-a-Wreck name does not inspire much confidence. :lol:
:lol: The name is supposed to inspire confidence that you'll rent cheaply.

I first heard of them like 10 years ago and I thought the name was pretty funny. I expected them to have beat up, run down pieces of ancient crap, 20 years old and such. No, they just have plain boring unremarkable cars...maybe they keep them a few more years and with more miles than other rental outfits, which seem to have brand new cars all the time.

Wow, I can imagine, with what you said that it would probably mean it would be a while before I could actually find an MT car there; I checked out Rent A Wreck and found 5 "so-called" close locations within my area. One particular Rent A Wreck location being 14mi away in Philadelphia.
MANUALS ARE SO UNDERRATED!! xD
User avatar
AHTOXA
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 14693
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2007 6:31 pm
Cars: '19 4RUNNER TRD ORP
Location: Irving, TX

Re: New Member in Great Distress

Post by AHTOXA »

14 miles is fairly close, no?

I used to commute 68 round trip miles to work every day for years. I don't do it any more, but my concept of close is skewed probably.
'19 Toyota 4Runner TRD ORP
'12 Suzuki V-Strom 650
Post Reply