One more reason to drive stick shift

Because not all scumbags can: http://time.com/3823934/stick-shift-kidnapping/

But authorities say Nelson couldn’t drive the car because of the manual transmission, and the woman used the emergency trunk latch to escape.

A criminal mastermind...

And here I thought this was going to be a thread about E46 transmissions E36 M3ting the bed...

This guy sounds about as smart as a football bat

In the early 80's my dad had a Cadillac Cimarron with a 5 speed. He parked it on the street in downtown Detroit. When he was gone, someone had jimmied the door and proceeded to attempt to hotwire it, until they likely realized it was a stick, and left.

Maybe they just realized it was a Cimarron.

Nowadays you can just remove a tire. Most young guys I know can't even change one. And a few can't pump their own gas.

Why my daughter got a car with a standard. Non of her friends could drive it.

Nobody in my (immediate) family knows how to drive my cars.

bonus points for getting a car with a dog-leg box

drummerfromdefleopard wrote: bonus points for getting a car with a dog-leg box

I first ran into one of these in a simulator, and I thought that there was some kind of software bug or the rig's shifter was broken.

I just get cars I don't fit in the trunk of.

drummerfromdefleopard wrote: bonus points for getting a car with a dog-leg box

I think we should applaud a 53-year-old woman who bought a car new enough to have an inside trunk release (what was that, 2005 or so?) with a stick. Unless it was German, there aren't all that many cars on the market that have trunks big enough to put people in and stick shifts.

or an old BMW with the reverse to upper left (or an old british car where you have to press down and then shift to where 1st is for reverse)....just put a knob on without the shift pattern and then park in a way that a thief would have to back out :)

My wife drives stick and hates my 5-speed Accord. Complains all the time. Her first car was a stick Ford Capri - 1971?

Datsun310Guy wrote: My wife drives stick and hates my 5-speed Accord. Complains all the time. Her first car was a stick Ford Capri - 1971?

Hey she can hate it, at least she knows how to operate the thing.

My favorite wife driving story - she took my 9000 Aero to go to dinner with one of her friends; it had at least twice the power of her car; apparently at one point there was tire smoke rolling up over the fenders and hood into the car, so she told the friend 'I think the wheels are spinning...'

Back to the original story, thank God she was able to get out - I hate to think what that bastard was thinking.

I have been pleasantly surprised by some younger folks that own/drive manuals. At my current job I supervise two younger engineers in their mid to late 20's (one male and one female) and both currently own vehicles with manual transmissions. I was somewhat surprised to find out that the female specifically purchased her vehicle new because it was one of only a few SUV/CUVs available with a stick shift. I haven't had the heart to tell her my thoughts on VAG reliability, but it sounds like she is experiencing some of the problems that scare me off of VW's.

I gave my daughter a car when she graduated HS. There were 3 requirements. It had to be less than the budget, it had to meet my approval, and it had to be a manual transmission.

She's currently driving a Thunderbird SC, 5 speed and loves it.

She'd probably try to knife a kidnapper and then laugh at him because he couldn't drive her car.

In reply to turboswede: What other 80s or 90s car had a dog-leg box?

In reply to Mr_Clutch42:

928s4 did.

Mr_Clutch42 wrote: In reply to turboswede: What other 80s or 90s car had a dog-leg box?

My 1983 VW Rabbit was a 3E trans. That is a 4 speed where 4th was labeled E.
Reverse was upper left.

Sample shift knob:

irish44j wrote: or an old BMW with the reverse to upper left (or an old british car where you have to press down and then shift to where 1st is for reverse)....just put a knob on without the shift pattern and then park in a way that a thief would have to back out :)

that's where reverse is on my new Sonic

wbjones wrote:

irish44j wrote: or an old BMW with the reverse to upper left (or an old british car where you have to press down and then shift to where 1st is for reverse)....just put a knob on without the shift pattern and then park in a way that a thief would have to back out :)

that's where reverse is on my new Sonic

Also where reverse is on the FR-S, but you pull up on the ring below the shift knob.

A friend of mine was a victim of a car-jacking attempt like that years ago. An armed thug ordered him out of his VW, then didn't know how to drive a stick. My friend ran for his life while the scumbag tried to learn how to work the third pedal. When the cops arrived later, they found the car abandoned, about 50 feet from where it was taken.

In reply to Keith Tanner:

A lot of pre 2005 cars could be opened from the inside, just grab the linkage from the lock cylinder to the latch.