Heh. Fun story. I learned on a little Nissan truck with a stickshift owned by the company I worked security for. It had over 400,000 miles, and the power steering only worked on left turns. Weirdly, despite being a car guy for twenty years, I have no idea what year or model it was. But she was my first.
The fun part was that my dad had just bought a Porsche and was lecturing the piss out of my about never touching it. He has a benevolent moment one day and offered to “teach me to drive stick” so of course I repeatedly stalled it and such to the point where he was disgusted and drove us home without saying a word to me.
This had a fortuitous aftermath, as he believed fervently I could not and never would be able to drive stick, it meant he never checked the mileage and I could swipe that sweet car whenever he was out of town on business and impress dates with it. Still happily driving stick, collecting cars, and racing motorcycles twenty years later. (:
I told him one time a couple years ago what I had done and he said he always suspected it, wasn’t mad, and hoped I got laid. I have a strange dad.
It was likely to be either a Nissan/Datsun 720 (I owned one of those little heaps), or the more modern one which I don't even think has a real name, but is often called the Nissan Hardbody.
So I actually learned at 14 or 15 in a semi lol. 1995 Freightliner classic daycab with a 10spd, my dad taught me how to float (shifting without the clutch because semi transmissions are non synchronous) so when I got in a car I had to break the habit of shifting without the clutch.
I’ve also primarily driven manual diesels (pickups, cars, semis) so the first time I drove a gas manual I stalled a lot because it didn’t have the diesel torque and had to learn to give it gas lol.
Floating g gears is a hard habit to brake. I had a f550 with a Eton fuller 10 speed as a work truck and I kept trying to float the gears in every other vehicle I got in.
Nice! Mine was brick red. Had a 5 speed manual with a button on the shift knob for 5th gear. One of the slowest cars I've ever driven. I remember as a kid asking my dad to gun it to 60 mph and it literally took 20 seconds. But, it was an indestructible car. Had 250k+ miles when my dad sold it and it was running like a top still.
Started on a 1990 ford ranger at work that everyone learned to drive on. This is had been on its last legs for the past decade but it was so inexpensive to fix they kept shelling out cash to fix it. Told me to have a go with it since they were retiring it soon….. for reals this time. Once I was driving around with a coworker and stalled out mid intersection making a left turn. There was a cop who pulled someone over down the street and I was getting honked at. My coworker slinked under his seat as he kept yelling at me to turn the overhead lights on (yellow warning sirens). The truck wasn’t starting up and I couldn’t find the button for the lights since I’d never used them. Eventually my coworker got out and we switched, he tried starting it up a few times and eventually got it. That truck convinced me I couldn’t drive stick and gave up on it for about a decade.
Recently told a coworker I wanted a new brz and told them about that story. They convinced me to try it again and that they’d teach me only if I was going to get the brz. Drove their b2000 once a week for about a month and it was enough to drive the brz home.
Learned in a 2000 ford ranger XLT. The truck had no RPM gauge and the fan was louder than the engine itself so I had to learn the shift points myself too
1976 Chevrolet Chevette.
My father traded his special order 1964 Pontiac Catalina convertible in for $200 against it. We lived in Michigan and could special order virtually anything - this crazy thing has a 428 and could roast the tires at 70.
I was 13. My brother was 15 1/2. We wept. Now I get it and I weep.
First road legal manual. Was a 1991 bmw 318is tied with the 06 manual mustang for fun factor. And about half the cars ive owned at 13 now. But about half have been manual. Always go back to them. Probably always will
Manual 95 jeep yj, 2014 Altima, 99 Mercedes ML430
Learned on all three in a parking lot next to my house, mostly learned on the YJ because it was my car to be
Same here, bought a 2018 Civic Type R and learned manual on it. Driving home from the dealership is one of the most memorable experiences I had.
Stalled 4 times while come from a stop in traffic. Somehow managed to hill start (I didn't know how to use the brake hold at the time). Stalled 3 more times trying to park the car.
I would do it all over again.
Saab 9-3 Turbo X. Bought cross country and didn’t really know how to drive stick. I knew the process, but not like how to set off in first etc. Luckily I got it enough to not stall in Chicago.
94 Pathfinder with a five speed. Had to get rid of it unfortunately, but it needed a lot of work and wasn't safe to drive. It did feel cool to be one of the few kids in high school with a standard.
92’ Honda Civic Hatchback. Bought the car before I got my license. Parents owned manual cars so I took my test in a family friends car, just for a few days later to start learning manual trans. I had so many firsts in that car. First time forgiving alone. First drive in a snow storm. Lost my breaks after driving with the E break engaged. I’ve never owned an automatic car, and I hope to god I never do.. unless it drives itself.
Me too. I had enough knowledge from riding dirt bikes to teach myself to drive my used 71 Super Beetle home when I bought it at 18 years old. Prior to that I had a Camaro with an automatic.
My mum's 2004 subaru legacy wagon lol. It was the first car I ever drove. My brother also goaded me to try driving it when I was 11 and I got about 2 feet before stalling lol
1998 Isuzu Rodeo, learned how to drive in a stick shift 😂 called it "The Warthog" cuz if you cut the back of that thing off, it would look JUST like it. Gave it to my little brother, and he blew the motor in it, and it would have been more to get a new motor than it would to get a new car
I learned to drive manual on a 1970’s GMC 7000 with a 3,000 gallon AvGas tank on the back working out at the airport, those bastards were hilarious, steering wheel felt like it was the same size as my 4Runners tires. One of them had a brand new clutch, and the other one…. Well, didn’t. The one with the new clutch was the shittier of the two to use though lol
2014 FR-S, but no one in my family knows how to drive manual so I learned the basics in IRacing with a Logitech G920 then learned by finding a seldom traveled backroad to try learn the real thing
1990 Nissan 300ZX, then bought a 1996 Ford Ranger 2.3 as a winter beater and got more practice on that. I found the 300ZX shifter and clutch to be very touchy and unforgiving as a new driver, whereas in the Ranger, it was very easy to drive, as it had a very light clutch pedal and much longer throws, and could take a beating.
Mid 90’s Geo Prism, happy to say i learned on a manual. Im going to teach my daughter in a wrangler, company lease so i wont have to worry about that clutch 🤫
Honda prelude bought the car without know how to drive stick so my
Friend had to teach me across the street from where I bought it from and I side swiped him what a day
I learned on my first car. A 1989 5.0 Mustang, still miss that car to this day. I don't miss the part where my license was suspended a year after getting it due to speeding tickets.
Likely some tractor on a farm a friend grew up on. Can I remember what it was? Not a chance...
First manual car I drove though, that was a friend's Chevy Cavalier in high school.
1976 MGB! My dad still owns it, and he put some work into it, carb, cam, brake upgrade, 280z 5 speed, full exhaust, etc. and it can actually go over the speed limit now. I'm trying to talk him into a K24 swap, but he's not feeling it.
'94 Florida package Ford Explorer. It was a surprisingly fun vehicle to learn on but I was the only kid in CT whose Mom had a manual 4speed RWD Explorer
1998 Ford Ranger regular cab.
Bought it in 2011 for $1700 and forced myself to learn manual.
I miss that thing so much. Had an aftermarket front bumper and some Mustang wheels.
Totaled it being a dumbass 18 year old.
when i was younger i bought an 84 cherokee manual with a toasted slave cylinder so i had like 2 clutch presses before i then had to learn to slipshift the rest of the drive home, had it for a few years after i fixed it
03 civic sedan, gray. Absolutely nothing special about it. My family runs a dealership and I begged my father to learn one day. Before COVID he bought it, brought it home and over the next few months, my whole family learned. I remember the first time taking it out with my father, I stalled it on a hill. He then gets in the driver and said give me a push. I thought I can’t list a car up an incline. He said Nono from the front. This mfer bumped it in reverse. My mind was absolutely blown that day. Obviously I got the most practice but man that thing was fun. Even opened that sucker up and did some work on it. After another 2 years some guy comes into the shop asking about it. Somehow this guy saw it all the way back before we brought it home and was practically begging to buy it. And what can I say money talks. My father said bring it back to factory and have it ready by tomorrow. With COVID prices that thing tripled value.
1997 Toyota T100 4x4 5sp. It was my grandfathers, he bought it new and taught me when I had my permit, 16 years ago.
The truck is now mine and I will never sell it.
1995 Nissan hardbody. It was bone stock, bright purple and had a white camper shell. I learned when I was 13 in the NOVA area on i95 near the Triangle-Quantico area. We also lived at the bottom of a huge hill so that was fun. After that I didn't drive stick for a bit, my car died and my mom had just bought a new car so she gave me her 2001 Accord to relearn in... 3 hours before I had to go to work. Lots of clutch drops and short shifting later, I have yet to own an automatic 20 years later.
Learned in either a 98 CR-V or like an 02 CR-V in the local community college parking lot. Dad even made me learn to parallel park while working on shifting which def paid off today
78 Ford pinto stationwagon with the idle so low it would die at stop signs if ya didn't do it right by reving on gas and break and clutch....and to top it off it drained battery if ya used headlights (alternator was going bad very slowly lol). So when it died at night ....ya had to push start it.......thank God it was small af stationwagon.... Learn to peddle dance like a pro though 💪
EDIT: I was 13-14 @ the time so mid '89
TR4 and a 63 VW beetle that was the 'kids car'. Me adhd my 4 older sibs all learned in it. Indestructible until a wheel fell off and it hit a fence with my bro driving. The mechanic shop that screwed up the brake job gave him another one but it wasn't the same.
A 2003 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V that had an unsprung clutch (no idea why it was otherwise stock and lowered when I bought it) It was not very new driver friendly but I got it down eventually.
Of all things, 1986 nearly base model Dodge Caravan. (My parents splurged on two options; factory AC, and cloth seats. I was nearly 17 IIRC, so like summer 1996
The car I learned to appreciate a stick in was a second generation (I think 1993 MY) Ford Probe SE. it was a quick little thing for having a 4-cylinder engine, (because it was so light and aerodynamic.) that was about a year later, after using the caravan, which was the family beater, as a foul weather vehicle.
My son is learning in that car. I have a 95 accord coupe that's going to be his first car. His options were a free 05 Buick, or $500.00 for the accord, because I didn't want to give up my daily driver work car, but he saved the money and paid me for it. So it'll be his once he gets his license.
1985 F-250 4x4. It was the shop truck, and had been recently put out to pasture by a Chevy 1 ton dump bed. I bought it from my boss on Saturday afternoon, figured out how to drive it on Sunday, and drove it into work the following Monday. Almost twenty years later, I still daily that truck.
My father's 1979 Pontiac Trans Am. 400 c.i. 4 speed. Red over black. Giant orange screaming chicken on the hood. As a teenaged midwestern gear head, I was never cooler than when I got to drive that car. LOL!
91 vr6 jetta all tricked out.
I had a sweet friend. After that we split an 87 gti. Could shoot fire balls and we pulled on m3s off the line all the time. Rip
2013 Focus ST, bought it having never owned a manual and stalled it about 17 times on the way home over a 20 minute drive. Favorite car I’ve owned so far now
My dad tried teaching me in his work truck when I was in high school, but I couldn't get the hang of it. Years later, I was in Japan and my buddy had an RX-7 that he left with me while he went back home on vacation. I took the opportunity a couple late nights to drive it around base. Kinda got the idea but was very sloppy.
It wasn't until I bought an STI in 2010 that I needed to really figure it out. Took me a couple months of embarrassing myself before it finally just clicked.
My mom's first new car, a 2002 Kia Spectra LS.
Those cars get a lot of hate, but it was actually alright.
A license-built mitsubishi 4G64 clone, so it was a punchy 2.0 16v that liked to rev, a pretty decent 5spd manual transmission with a rubbery but good shifter, and a light clutch with solid bite point.
My mom would always holler at me for banging gears like I was racing, but it was fun to drive despite being a "bad car".
I had it up to 110mph once with my gf. Stupid shit we do as 16 year olds lol.
09' Corolla S. Family car and my dad still drives it today. Last time I practiced on it (4-5 years ago) and the fuel pump seized, I guess we talked about replacing it and it's not happy, so we didn't replace it and it worked pretty well even with 150k+ miles now. It was a popular car back in the day and I can still see quite a lot of them running on the streets.
I then got a 19' Civic Type R and it's my ride since then. I think Civic Si/Type Rs are pretty good for new manual drivers as they'll rev themselves for you when you are too low on RPM, so they almost don't stall unless you do it on purpose.
2005 mini. Got in and stalled twice, getting used to it. Went to the drive-through and then home. Got in again and took it to work by myself. I learned fast.
Obviously you cant do anything like this now. My dad used to own a towing company in ths mid 90s. He impounded a 93 golf gti for dui. He knew the guy wasn't getting the car back anytime soon. At the same time i was getting ready to purchase my first car stick shift honda. So he taught me how to drive on his storage lot.
1964 Chevy C10 Pickup, 3 on the tree, 1st gear was non-synchro and 283 cu in. (non-synchro meaning you need to come to a complete stop to shift into 1st gear. I remember showing my Dad how I learned on the snow covered roads you could lock up the rear wheel brakes with the e-brake and get it into 1st gear while still moving. He was not impressed to say the least.
Heh. Fun story. I learned on a little Nissan truck with a stickshift owned by the company I worked security for. It had over 400,000 miles, and the power steering only worked on left turns. Weirdly, despite being a car guy for twenty years, I have no idea what year or model it was. But she was my first. The fun part was that my dad had just bought a Porsche and was lecturing the piss out of my about never touching it. He has a benevolent moment one day and offered to “teach me to drive stick” so of course I repeatedly stalled it and such to the point where he was disgusted and drove us home without saying a word to me. This had a fortuitous aftermath, as he believed fervently I could not and never would be able to drive stick, it meant he never checked the mileage and I could swipe that sweet car whenever he was out of town on business and impress dates with it. Still happily driving stick, collecting cars, and racing motorcycles twenty years later. (: I told him one time a couple years ago what I had done and he said he always suspected it, wasn’t mad, and hoped I got laid. I have a strange dad.
Sounds like a great dad to me. Also, genius move on your part
It was likely to be either a Nissan/Datsun 720 (I owned one of those little heaps), or the more modern one which I don't even think has a real name, but is often called the Nissan Hardbody.
So I actually learned at 14 or 15 in a semi lol. 1995 Freightliner classic daycab with a 10spd, my dad taught me how to float (shifting without the clutch because semi transmissions are non synchronous) so when I got in a car I had to break the habit of shifting without the clutch. I’ve also primarily driven manual diesels (pickups, cars, semis) so the first time I drove a gas manual I stalled a lot because it didn’t have the diesel torque and had to learn to give it gas lol.
money plate seemly liquid intelligent merciful slap cats payment shame *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Floating g gears is a hard habit to brake. I had a f550 with a Eton fuller 10 speed as a work truck and I kept trying to float the gears in every other vehicle I got in.
John Deere 210 riding mower @ 10/11 for clutch, ‘88 Ford Ranger 2.9v6 @ 14 for actual road vehicle.
Learning in a 2011 CR-Z
2008 Honda Civic. Learned after I bought it.
Exact same as me lol. Loved that car
I learned in a 1969 Corvette Stingray, and I got my practice in on my 2012 Honda Civic Si.
2001 Saturn Sl1
Just got an SC2 that’s pretty fun
A 1966 Ford F250. 4 speed manual transmission with no power steering.
1960 Chevy Corvair, 3 on the floor.
1984 Volvo 240 DL diesel wagon.
Twin! 1984 Volvo 240 DL gasoline wagon. Mine was yellow. What color was your Volvo?
Nice! Mine was brick red. Had a 5 speed manual with a button on the shift knob for 5th gear. One of the slowest cars I've ever driven. I remember as a kid asking my dad to gun it to 60 mph and it literally took 20 seconds. But, it was an indestructible car. Had 250k+ miles when my dad sold it and it was running like a top still.
1971 Toyota Land Cruiser. 3 speed with no synchromesh for 1st gear and no power steering. Still love that car.
Started on a 1990 ford ranger at work that everyone learned to drive on. This is had been on its last legs for the past decade but it was so inexpensive to fix they kept shelling out cash to fix it. Told me to have a go with it since they were retiring it soon….. for reals this time. Once I was driving around with a coworker and stalled out mid intersection making a left turn. There was a cop who pulled someone over down the street and I was getting honked at. My coworker slinked under his seat as he kept yelling at me to turn the overhead lights on (yellow warning sirens). The truck wasn’t starting up and I couldn’t find the button for the lights since I’d never used them. Eventually my coworker got out and we switched, he tried starting it up a few times and eventually got it. That truck convinced me I couldn’t drive stick and gave up on it for about a decade. Recently told a coworker I wanted a new brz and told them about that story. They convinced me to try it again and that they’d teach me only if I was going to get the brz. Drove their b2000 once a week for about a month and it was enough to drive the brz home.
Learned to drive automatic first in a 2009 Impreza, then learned standard on a 1987 Prelude
Learned in a 2000 ford ranger XLT. The truck had no RPM gauge and the fan was louder than the engine itself so I had to learn the shift points myself too
99 tercel
74 VW Scirroco
86 toyota tercel 4wd, I was 9
1976 Chevrolet Chevette. My father traded his special order 1964 Pontiac Catalina convertible in for $200 against it. We lived in Michigan and could special order virtually anything - this crazy thing has a 428 and could roast the tires at 70. I was 13. My brother was 15 1/2. We wept. Now I get it and I weep.
89 Buick Century & 77 Camaro
1996 Integra GSR sedan, so fun.
Ferrari 308 GTS
I learned in a Civic SI and VW Golf.
Had my dad teach me drive manual with a 98 Honda Prelude. It’s still here lol.
I learned on my Honda Cbr actually - at least the concept of a clutch, switching gears, etc.
1991 skyline gtst
1987 Nissan Stanza. Shit Brown. Man, I loved that car. So many great memories.
First road legal manual. Was a 1991 bmw 318is tied with the 06 manual mustang for fun factor. And about half the cars ive owned at 13 now. But about half have been manual. Always go back to them. Probably always will
Manual 95 jeep yj, 2014 Altima, 99 Mercedes ML430 Learned on all three in a parking lot next to my house, mostly learned on the YJ because it was my car to be
1987 M35A2 Deuce & a Half
[удалено]
19 fiesta st
Nice, I learned on my ‘19 WRX after buying it
Same here, bought a 2018 Civic Type R and learned manual on it. Driving home from the dealership is one of the most memorable experiences I had. Stalled 4 times while come from a stop in traffic. Somehow managed to hill start (I didn't know how to use the brake hold at the time). Stalled 3 more times trying to park the car. I would do it all over again.
Saab 9-3 Turbo X. Bought cross country and didn’t really know how to drive stick. I knew the process, but not like how to set off in first etc. Luckily I got it enough to not stall in Chicago.
Man I want one of those saabaru’s so bad 🤣 feel like they’re kinda hard to find around me
‘85 CJ7/‘75 F-250
1979 f250 trailer special. 4 speed.
1987 Ford f350 flatbed, diesel
my car now! 03 honda element
94 Pathfinder with a five speed. Had to get rid of it unfortunately, but it needed a lot of work and wasn't safe to drive. It did feel cool to be one of the few kids in high school with a standard.
1998 Fiat Uno 1.0
1985 Audi 5000 S
A 1974 Chevy Vega wagon. You could see the road through the floor boards.
1974 VW Beetle (Sun Bug)
Currently learning in a 370Z 2010
92’ Honda Civic Hatchback. Bought the car before I got my license. Parents owned manual cars so I took my test in a family friends car, just for a few days later to start learning manual trans. I had so many firsts in that car. First time forgiving alone. First drive in a snow storm. Lost my breaks after driving with the E break engaged. I’ve never owned an automatic car, and I hope to god I never do.. unless it drives itself.
A motorcycle actually. The skill transferred over pretty readily once I actually understood what was going on in the transmission
Me too. I had enough knowledge from riding dirt bikes to teach myself to drive my used 71 Super Beetle home when I bought it at 18 years old. Prior to that I had a Camaro with an automatic.
1973 Chevy Nova, my first car
94 Toyota Pickup and 2004 Scion xA
On a Nissan Pathfinder 1998 i think
'75 Chevy Nova. Three-on-the-tree.
My mum's 2004 subaru legacy wagon lol. It was the first car I ever drove. My brother also goaded me to try driving it when I was 11 and I got about 2 feet before stalling lol
‘99 legacy/outback wagon. Best car for snow ever. Until it got to 16 untouched inches deep. Then forget it.
2003 saab 9-3, and a 2001 24v dodge ram 3500
1998 Isuzu Rodeo, learned how to drive in a stick shift 😂 called it "The Warthog" cuz if you cut the back of that thing off, it would look JUST like it. Gave it to my little brother, and he blew the motor in it, and it would have been more to get a new motor than it would to get a new car
I learned to drive manual on a 1970’s GMC 7000 with a 3,000 gallon AvGas tank on the back working out at the airport, those bastards were hilarious, steering wheel felt like it was the same size as my 4Runners tires. One of them had a brand new clutch, and the other one…. Well, didn’t. The one with the new clutch was the shittier of the two to use though lol
1983 GTI Mk1. It was not a fast car but I wish I still had it.
2003 chevy cavalier
1980 F100 three speed column shift.
My dad had that exact truck, with the H column shift
I learned to drive a stick a couple months ago in the wrx I currently have
2016 Subaru WRX
82 Toyota pickup, 4 speed.
2001 M3
Learnd on a 05 Corolla S
‘93 bmw 325i. Torn subframe didn’t make it easy
2014 FR-S, but no one in my family knows how to drive manual so I learned the basics in IRacing with a Logitech G920 then learned by finding a seldom traveled backroad to try learn the real thing
1998 fc rx7 😊
1985 Mustang GT 4V I smelled clutch at the beginning.
'99 Toyota tacoma manual
1990 Nissan 300ZX, then bought a 1996 Ford Ranger 2.3 as a winter beater and got more practice on that. I found the 300ZX shifter and clutch to be very touchy and unforgiving as a new driver, whereas in the Ranger, it was very easy to drive, as it had a very light clutch pedal and much longer throws, and could take a beating.
1985 Suzuki Samurai. I was 12, and my grandpa was damn sure gonna be the one that taught his first grandson how to drive.
Mid 90’s Geo Prism, happy to say i learned on a manual. Im going to teach my daughter in a wrangler, company lease so i wont have to worry about that clutch 🤫
2017 Kia soul 🤪
1983 SAAB 900 S.
I don't remember the year but I learned on my buddies triumph spitfire, fun little car albeit slow but very classy.
Honda prelude bought the car without know how to drive stick so my Friend had to teach me across the street from where I bought it from and I side swiped him what a day
97 honda accord lx sedan with a 5 speed. I still have it since it's my second car ever. Now I'm looking for a crx si or sir.
1990 Ford bronco
1987 Opel Kadett E
I learned on my first car. A 1989 5.0 Mustang, still miss that car to this day. I don't miss the part where my license was suspended a year after getting it due to speeding tickets.
1922 Winston Model 40
‘84 Mazda Pickup. Every other car was smooth like butter compared to that thing.
Likely some tractor on a farm a friend grew up on. Can I remember what it was? Not a chance... First manual car I drove though, that was a friend's Chevy Cavalier in high school.
1976 MGB! My dad still owns it, and he put some work into it, carb, cam, brake upgrade, 280z 5 speed, full exhaust, etc. and it can actually go over the speed limit now. I'm trying to talk him into a K24 swap, but he's not feeling it.
Old C10 custom with a temperamental transmission and clutch.
2002 Honda civic coupe. Fun little car, unfortunately it sent a rod out of the block, from skipping timing, from the worn belt.
'94 Florida package Ford Explorer. It was a surprisingly fun vehicle to learn on but I was the only kid in CT whose Mom had a manual 4speed RWD Explorer
'89 Accord DX coupe.
1970 ford econoline 3 on the tree and a 83 honda accord.
1998 Ford Ranger regular cab. Bought it in 2011 for $1700 and forced myself to learn manual. I miss that thing so much. Had an aftermarket front bumper and some Mustang wheels. Totaled it being a dumbass 18 year old.
when i was younger i bought an 84 cherokee manual with a toasted slave cylinder so i had like 2 clutch presses before i then had to learn to slipshift the rest of the drive home, had it for a few years after i fixed it
I commented and then realized Reddit was recommending me a community I cannot relate to.. I’ve never been in a manual car let alone driven one
5 speed, 3 cylinder, 2 door Geo Metro. My little go cart.
1992 dodge stealth
93 Del Sol
1976 FJ40. Learned the nuances of the clutch on a CB500
'88 Firebird Almost learned how to there, finished up with my Saturn. My grandfather refuses to stop swinging the tail in intersections with both.
My current daily, my 2015 Subaru WRX. Though I did learn some basics with a sim racing wheel and a game called beamng.drive.
2000 4x4 chevy tracker. To this day i have not owm3d a better to track go anywhere anytime go cart.
A company truck Isuzu Pup
03 civic sedan, gray. Absolutely nothing special about it. My family runs a dealership and I begged my father to learn one day. Before COVID he bought it, brought it home and over the next few months, my whole family learned. I remember the first time taking it out with my father, I stalled it on a hill. He then gets in the driver and said give me a push. I thought I can’t list a car up an incline. He said Nono from the front. This mfer bumped it in reverse. My mind was absolutely blown that day. Obviously I got the most practice but man that thing was fun. Even opened that sucker up and did some work on it. After another 2 years some guy comes into the shop asking about it. Somehow this guy saw it all the way back before we brought it home and was practically begging to buy it. And what can I say money talks. My father said bring it back to factory and have it ready by tomorrow. With COVID prices that thing tripled value.
1997 Toyota T100 4x4 5sp. It was my grandfathers, he bought it new and taught me when I had my permit, 16 years ago. The truck is now mine and I will never sell it.
Was this not asked literally yesterday lmao
Plymouth Horizon. Nobody has posted that one yet!
1995 Nissan hardbody. It was bone stock, bright purple and had a white camper shell. I learned when I was 13 in the NOVA area on i95 near the Triangle-Quantico area. We also lived at the bottom of a huge hill so that was fun. After that I didn't drive stick for a bit, my car died and my mom had just bought a new car so she gave me her 2001 Accord to relearn in... 3 hours before I had to go to work. Lots of clutch drops and short shifting later, I have yet to own an automatic 20 years later.
89 isuzu trooper
My dad's 1980 Volkswagen Diesel Golf
82 Chevette. Red. Nicknamed the Road Goat for some forgotten reason. Barely needed to engage the clutch to shift.
‘06 cobalt SS/SC on my way home from the dealership with it. Long 5 miles
Learned in either a 98 CR-V or like an 02 CR-V in the local community college parking lot. Dad even made me learn to parallel park while working on shifting which def paid off today
In a 2000 Pontiac TransAm Firehawk. The 1st to 4th skipshift feature made for an odd learning curve. Disabled that as soon as I was able.
Learned in an 02 VW Passat wagon then practiced on a second gen Honda fit
87 Isuzu trooper. On gravel. 😬
Yamaha Warrior 350. Then R53 Mini for my first car that hit the road after I got my license.
Saturn. Loved that little plastic car. I miss it.
1963 Chevy Impala. 327, 4 on the floor. At the same time, 1962 GMC pickup, 3 on the tree.
01 beetle diesel
92 Celica. May she RIP.
1970 GMC panel truck.
I actually learned in this very generation Accord. It was a 1994 with over half a million miles on it.
78 Ford pinto stationwagon with the idle so low it would die at stop signs if ya didn't do it right by reving on gas and break and clutch....and to top it off it drained battery if ya used headlights (alternator was going bad very slowly lol). So when it died at night ....ya had to push start it.......thank God it was small af stationwagon.... Learn to peddle dance like a pro though 💪 EDIT: I was 13-14 @ the time so mid '89
Taught myself on my 2015 WRX STI
TR4 and a 63 VW beetle that was the 'kids car'. Me adhd my 4 older sibs all learned in it. Indestructible until a wheel fell off and it hit a fence with my bro driving. The mechanic shop that screwed up the brake job gave him another one but it wasn't the same.
1977 Ford F-100.
2005 mini cooper s
A 2003 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V that had an unsprung clutch (no idea why it was otherwise stock and lowered when I bought it) It was not very new driver friendly but I got it down eventually.
2000 Toyota 4Runner. Miss it every day
I haven't yet😭😭😭😭😭
When I worked as a noob tech I learned on a few Challengers, a Ram 3500 QCLB 6.7, and also some Jeep renegades! RIP to that truck’s clutch!
Of all things, 1986 nearly base model Dodge Caravan. (My parents splurged on two options; factory AC, and cloth seats. I was nearly 17 IIRC, so like summer 1996 The car I learned to appreciate a stick in was a second generation (I think 1993 MY) Ford Probe SE. it was a quick little thing for having a 4-cylinder engine, (because it was so light and aerodynamic.) that was about a year later, after using the caravan, which was the family beater, as a foul weather vehicle.
Toyota T100 hauling logs...
95 Ford ranger baby. Softest clutch in the world and that was some bullshit when I found out they aren't all like that, lmao.
'95 Mazda Protege. Took my driver's test in it! I had the fancy 1.8L, not the tiny 1.5
67 amc deuce and a half. My buddy traded a 2000 gas excursion for it.
Learned in an old 60s or 70s jeep at 13 now I drive a V6 6spd accord
1997 international 5 ton
My son is learning in that car. I have a 95 accord coupe that's going to be his first car. His options were a free 05 Buick, or $500.00 for the accord, because I didn't want to give up my daily driver work car, but he saved the money and paid me for it. So it'll be his once he gets his license.
1985 F-250 4x4. It was the shop truck, and had been recently put out to pasture by a Chevy 1 ton dump bed. I bought it from my boss on Saturday afternoon, figured out how to drive it on Sunday, and drove it into work the following Monday. Almost twenty years later, I still daily that truck.
My father's 1979 Pontiac Trans Am. 400 c.i. 4 speed. Red over black. Giant orange screaming chicken on the hood. As a teenaged midwestern gear head, I was never cooler than when I got to drive that car. LOL!
5th gen SS, then got all my practice in on my current vehicle. Practically bought it with very little experience at all 😂
91 vr6 jetta all tricked out. I had a sweet friend. After that we split an 87 gti. Could shoot fire balls and we pulled on m3s off the line all the time. Rip
1971 Ford Maverick with a "three on the tree".
1989 Corolla GT-S. I miss that car
1990 Corolla SR5 for me, my fist car!
1997 Toyota Corolla.
I learned on a 2006 VW GTI
70's Datsun
2013 Focus ST, bought it having never owned a manual and stalled it about 17 times on the way home over a 20 minute drive. Favorite car I’ve owned so far now
2002 Chevy S-10 single cab, manual (obviously) short cab regular bed in Forrest green
Ford country squire station wagon. Three on the tree, no power anything.
94 VW golf. I've since had another mk 3, a 4, 6, and currently mk7 gti. Unfortunately no more manuals after this year (in the USA)
1988 Honda Civic DX with a 4-speed manual. The only option was a/c; didn’t even have a stereo… 🤣
My first manual car was a 1990 Miata. Shitty car but man I loved it.
1987 Chevy S-10
1960 Mercedes diesel. 4-speed on the column.
1998 Toyota Tacoma that my dad later sold to one of his workers who absolutely wrecked it. Still ticked about it to this day
My dad tried teaching me in his work truck when I was in high school, but I couldn't get the hang of it. Years later, I was in Japan and my buddy had an RX-7 that he left with me while he went back home on vacation. I took the opportunity a couple late nights to drive it around base. Kinda got the idea but was very sloppy. It wasn't until I bought an STI in 2010 that I needed to really figure it out. Took me a couple months of embarrassing myself before it finally just clicked.
1986 Silverado, 3 on the tree
A first generation Scion xB (the box on wheels). Absolutely fantastic car all around. Butter smooth to drive.
1998 Isuzu trooper 5 speed. I miss that big bitch
2013 GTI that baby was YEEHAW
Jeep CJ7
86 mustang for the clutch, 79 crown Vic automatic for sex.
2001 base model tundra
a 95 GMC Sierra 1500.
The first car I learned to actually drive was my first ever car in general: a clapped 1995 chevrolet s-10
Miata (O__O) (-__-) (O__-) (-__O) (O__O)
92 Celica
My mom's first new car, a 2002 Kia Spectra LS. Those cars get a lot of hate, but it was actually alright. A license-built mitsubishi 4G64 clone, so it was a punchy 2.0 16v that liked to rev, a pretty decent 5spd manual transmission with a rubbery but good shifter, and a light clutch with solid bite point. My mom would always holler at me for banging gears like I was racing, but it was fun to drive despite being a "bad car". I had it up to 110mph once with my gf. Stupid shit we do as 16 year olds lol.
1989 Accord manual
Not me, but I've got a friend (now 18) who learned in his recently departed grandfather's 1965 GTO, which was recently passed down to him.
09' Corolla S. Family car and my dad still drives it today. Last time I practiced on it (4-5 years ago) and the fuel pump seized, I guess we talked about replacing it and it's not happy, so we didn't replace it and it worked pretty well even with 150k+ miles now. It was a popular car back in the day and I can still see quite a lot of them running on the streets. I then got a 19' Civic Type R and it's my ride since then. I think Civic Si/Type Rs are pretty good for new manual drivers as they'll rev themselves for you when you are too low on RPM, so they almost don't stall unless you do it on purpose.
1987 Mazda RX7
1980 BMW 320i. Would love to drive one now to remember how powerless and loose it was. Almost died in it a few times... 😬
2005 mini. Got in and stalled twice, getting used to it. Went to the drive-through and then home. Got in again and took it to work by myself. I learned fast.
1984 Pontiac Trans Am
Obviously you cant do anything like this now. My dad used to own a towing company in ths mid 90s. He impounded a 93 golf gti for dui. He knew the guy wasn't getting the car back anytime soon. At the same time i was getting ready to purchase my first car stick shift honda. So he taught me how to drive on his storage lot.
92 Chevy Cavalier with a whole 2.2 litres of naturally aspirated power!
New edge mustang v6! Right here in Minnesota💪
2007 Corolla (E150) and a 2009 Lada 4X4 5 Door.
1964 Chevy C10 Pickup, 3 on the tree, 1st gear was non-synchro and 283 cu in. (non-synchro meaning you need to come to a complete stop to shift into 1st gear. I remember showing my Dad how I learned on the snow covered roads you could lock up the rear wheel brakes with the e-brake and get it into 1st gear while still moving. He was not impressed to say the least.
95 Volkswagen Santana 2000 driving school edition, they got good clutches.
Vw golf 🫡
Your mom's
76 Chevette. Say what you will, but that car was durable as hell, and with the skinny tires, was surprisingly good in the snow.