Does your Significant Other know how to drive your manual tacoma?

Thinking it would be a good idea that she knows the basics in case there's ever an emergency and she needs to get the truck moving.

 

Err, my girlfriend’s been driving manuals much longer than I have, she has a manual Impreza that we carpool in as our daily driver. When we looked at Tacoma’s (to replace my manual Outback with) the auto trans wasn’t even considered as an option.

 

I grew up on manuals but she would like to learn on it. Thinking about teaching her now that its winter and there's nothing else to be doing outside.

 

I agree, both of us learned to drive on manual transmission growing up. Auto is really never considered....considering the ability to find a new vehicle with one is
getting harder and harder.......

 

Don't know where you live, but you need new and better hobbies if you think winter means nothing else to be doing outside :-D Like me and my girlfriend, we go ice climbing together (something else she was doing before we met).

 

Ehhh, I used to ski and snowboard. We just recently picked up this newborn baby thing so my outdoor activities are pretty limited. haha

 

I tried to teach my wife how to drive a manual once on a rental car out of the country. She didn't get it, better for both of us if she sticks to autos. She has no interest in driving my truck and really can't see over the hood anyway. The only time it was an issue is when I broke my right collarbone last summer, we couldn't swap cars.

 

I'd like my wife to learn, and she's expressed that she's willing, but don't want to burn out my clutch doing so. Do they rent cars with a stick anymore? Renting one for a few weekends would be cheaper than replacing a clutch.

Slight side bar, I was thinking that using 4LO might be a great teaching tool if/when the time comes. In first gear you don't need any gas/its tough to stall, so it might be a good way to get the feel of letting the clutch out and feeling it engage without worrying about the gas pedal (as a first step). Any thoughts on good teaching methods?

 

yes but he refuses to drive a truck with hello kitty stickers on it

 

She claims she does but I've never put it to the test. It's always a bit of worry when we're on trails 100 miles from BFE.

 

Fair enough, I hear that a lot. Just need to get the munchkin old enough to come skiing/boarding.

 

Haha no more rentals with sticks but what you *could* do is go test drive a "beater" ford focus or something and ask for an extended drive...teach her on that? haha im sure that's frowned upon though

 

My wife's European so she knows how to drive a manual. It's actually pretty funny to see her get in a car with a clutch as she pretty much just operates the clutch and shifter on autopilot. I had a Toyota pickup back when we met over 20 years ago that was a 5 speed and she drove it pretty often, but would always get it stuck in gear and call me to come get it. The transmission in the '16 shifts SOO much better.

 

Absolutely!

 

My wife needs/wants to learn, and I'm happy to try teaching her on the truck, but it's more the size of the truck that intimidates her. She'd rather learn on a smaller car.

 

Very interesting you mention this. I was in 4lo the other day and the thought crossed my mind that it would be a good "training wheel" because it pretty much moves itself from a complete stop....I just didn't want any excessive burnt clutch because of increased torque.

 

Yeah, she can drive it perfectly fine, but the size of it compared to her car definitely is a factor...

 

If only dealerships didn't require leaving your drivers license.

 

I don't think a few clutch slips will hurt it...it's more long term but of course i'm not willing to test it on MY truck

 

I don't think my SO would have any interest driving a manual regularly, but there's the infrequent occasion where she needs to borrow a truck or I can't drive once we went somewhere together when she'd need to drive it. She has the concept down...but as I learned, shifting/driving a farm tractor has no correlation whatsoever to shifting/driving a vehicle.

I learned on a 10 speed, and it seems cars just got easier from that.