From: Snag_one@msn.com   
      
   On 1/1/2026 1:54 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:   
   > On 1/1/2026 12:21 PM, Richard Smith wrote:   
   >> Hello all.   
   >> Don't know if this is worth a chortle.  Given a lot of you in North   
   >> America.   
   >> Here in the UK, getting a hire-car, they asked   
   >> "Would you be alright with an auto-transmission car - are you used to   
   >> one?"   
   >> (You couldn't rental a stick-shift car in the USA could you ?! - else   
   >> it would be a bad idea?)   
   >> Best wishes and a happy new year   
   >> Rich S   
   >>   
   >   
   > I learned to drive in an old Dodge pickup with a worn out granny 4 speed   
   > and a shift pattern larger than I could reach without leaning out and   
   > over.  Even with a pop crate behind my back so I was sitting far enough   
   > forward to reach the pedals.  I'd be okay either way.  I learn to drive   
   > truck with a dual speed split axle with a 10K forklift on the back.   
   > Headed out unloaded I just drove it in high range.  Climbing Telegraph   
   > pass I split shifted a couple times.  6-7% grade both ways.  It didn't   
   > shift like it said on the heater box.  I had to experiment on the fly on   
   > the side of a mountain.   
   >   
   > I am not sure I have ever been offered a rental with a manual   
   > transmission, but I can see why they don't offer them at most rental   
   > places.  My kids (30/29) have never driven a vehicle with a manual   
   > transmission that I know of.  To be fair back in the dark ages I took my   
   > road test to get my license in a vehicle with an automatic so it was one   
   > less thing to worry about.   
   >   
   > I miss jamming gears sometimes, but with 404 hp & 445 ft/lb in my   
   > current road vehicle I'm not sure I could make the most of it anyway.   
   > That ten speed automatic does a pretty good job most of the time.   
   > Sometimes I wish it would up shift sooner in off road mode, but if I get   
   > tire of it I can switch it to "manual" (fly by wire)  gear selection mode.   
   >   
   > I do recall once when I was small my dad renting a semi when we moved   
   > our grocery business from one town to another back in the 60s.  It had a   
   > very complicated manual transmission with to many levers.  I think   
   > that's a different class of rental though.  Not sure you could rent one   
   > today.   
   >   
   > Its interesting they even ask though.  On this side of the pond   
   > automatic is the default.  They don't even ask.   
   >   
      
      Ask a young person to drive a stick - with the instructions written   
   in cursive . Also known as an urban anti-theft device .   
   --   
   Snag   
      I appreciated foreign cultures more   
   when they stayed foreign ...   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)