It’s just like riding a bike. Really! Do you remember learning how to ride a bike? It starts with balance. You start, wobbly, with your feet firmly planted on flat ground (unless your parents were daredevils, of course, and started you on a downhill). As you navigate the pedals and the handlebars, you feel clunky,…
Learning to Drive a Stick Shift? Here’s What You Need to Know First
Isn’t preparation the key to everything? You’ve talked about why drivers should learn to drive a stick shift: you’re more in command, you can avoid up-charges at car rental counters in foreign countries, it makes you a more in-tune driver. Plus, it’s a lot of fun. But then there are the reasons NOT to learn to…
Teach Someone to Drive a Stick Shift in 8 Easy Steps
You can do this. And so can she. You learned years ago and for you, driving a stick shift is natural. Friends say enviously, ‘I wish I’d learned to drive a stick.’ But teaching someone to drive can be a harrowing, even friendship-breaking experience. Add in a manual transmission and forget it; you may never…
6 Real Life Reasons Why Everyone Should Learn to Drive a Stick Shift
Why should anyone drive a manual on today’s roads? They are complicated, cumbersome and inconvenient. A design feature from the olden days of the automobile. With the overwhelming majority now tilting towards automatic vehicles, it looks like the days of the manual are over. I did not always drive a stick shift, but after I…
Sporty and Roomy? You can have both in the 2015 Mazda3
“Quick question – can you or your husband drive manual vehicles?” When I received an email asking if I was interested in reviewing several cars in the area, that was the sentence that caught my eye right away. Of COURSE, I can drive a stick. I don’t need a man to do it for me! was my…
2014 Ford Fiesta ST Review: A Sweet Deal on a Thrill Ride
Sometimes, driving should just be fun. And if you have a gazillion dollars to spend on a Ferrari or an Aston Martin, it’s pretty easy: you just buy a car that could compete in a LeMans race. It’s why we don’t really love old guys in expensive sports cars: they have money to throw around…