Our last blog post details the 2004 Skoda Fabia 1.2L we purchased sight unseen. Our paperwork for the car is still processing but we are confident it will be there waiting for us when we arrive in London in July. Apart from its sluggish 0-60 acceleration and whopping 54 HP engine, the Fabia also sports a manual transmission. Most people have never and will never learn to drive stick shift. In 2018, only 2% of the cars sold in America featured a manual transmission. Unless, you own a high-performance sports car, drive semi-trucks, or own a crappy 1.2 L engine car, you will probably never have to learn to drive stick for your life and being completely honest, you’re not missing out on much.
While our lonely car sits on the lot in the UK, our team thought we’d take it upon ourselves to learn how to drive manual. The right-hand drive in the UK is inevitably going to give our team trouble, so we thought that having some manual-driving experience may make our first drive on British roads a bit easier and safer for others on the road. As far as experience, no one is an expert let alone skilled in stick-shift driving; but we do have some experience so we’re not taking on manual driving completely unprepared. Tanner has the most experience driving stick – he learned when he studied abroad in Germany. Mike has a bit of experience, but only with driving utility vehicles. Joe is the only one without any experience and it showed … more his performance below. Dan actually has experience driving stick as well, but he’s in San Francisco so who cares about him. We rented a mint-green, manual-transmission Ford Fiesta, watched about 20 minutes of YouTube tutorials, and took to Humboldt Park on a sunny Saturday to give manual driving a spin. We circled Humboldt park maybe 40 times and even tested our driving on city streets. Here’s how we did:
Tanner
Grade: B+
# of Stalls: 3
Tanner’s experience showed on the race course but like everyone else, he was not without blemish. In getting the car rolling from a stop, he had no issues. Shifting into 2nd and 3rd gear – not a problem. After gaining some confidence, Tanner started experimenting in down-shifting, a basic skill for a regular stick-shift driver, but for us three, down-shifting was an advanced maneuver. Tanner downshifted once or twice successfully without causing the car to jerk; but still, that’s progress and we’ll take it. Apparently, you’re supposed to give the car more gas once you downshift *noted*. After mastering the Humboldt Park loop, Tanner hit busy North Ave on the Saturday afternoon. It was smooth sailing until Tanner stalled after a red-light went green. A few honks from the car behind us and Tanner’s jimmies were launched into orbit. Hurriedly, he restarted the car and we were back on our way but not before Tanner’s road confidence suffered a serious blow. Perhaps the biggest lesson we learned from our day of driving is that when you stall, ignore the horns and don’t panic; easier said than done but an important lesson none-the-less. Apart from a few other blemishes, Tanner was fine on the roads and with manual transmission. Additionally, Tanner was a great tutor from the passenger seat. He was great in offering advice and tips to Joe, even if they fell on deaf ears.
Mike
Grade: B-
# of Stalls: 6/7 (Depending on who you ask)
Mike, like Tanner, had some stick shift driving experience in that he used to operate heavy duty utility vehicles for a summer job in high school. Still he never drove a manual transmission car and had never dealt with other driving conditions like traffic and stop lights. Since Mike made car reservation, he was the first one to test his skills on the speed bump littered Humboldt Park side streets. Key, ignition, clutch release, gas and the Ford Fiesta lurched forward. After driving aimlessly around, speedbump over speedbump, Mike nervously cruised in first gear hoping to eventually find a good practice area for driving. Only a mile away was Humboldt Park which may as well have been in Wheaton. After a stall or two and cautiously crossing Division Street, Mike had safely arrived at Humboldt Park –our 2 mile looped practice course for the day. It was the first 60s and sunny springtime day in Chicago and the park was buzzing with activity. Kids playing sports, Puerto Rican music, food trucks – all had a front row seat to watching us drive stick shift. Mike acclimated to the outside track. Soon he was shifting into 3rd with no problem. That’s not to say there were some hiccups – he made a testy crossing at a 2-way stop intersection where he crossed the street in first gear as daunting oncoming traffic crept closer making it an uncomfortable moment for everyone in the vehicle. Deep breaths – no harm, no foul. Lesson learned here – when in doubt, hit the gas. Like Tanner, Mike also took it up a notch and drove on the busier North Ave but suffered one stall-out at a red-light. As horns from the back mounted, he restarted it and quickly put it in gear. We sure hope that the British drivers are patient for stall-outs at stop lights and we sure hope by Turkey we aren’t stalling out at stop lights any more.
Joe
Grade: D+
# of Stalls: 30+ (Exact count not kept)
Joe, where shall we begin with Joe. Having no manual driving experience, Joe himself and the team did not hold high expectations from the get-go and those expectations were made very real once he popped the clutch, hit the throttle, and rattled the car to a bumpy halt. Joe did get in a groove and had several nice loops riding around Humboldt Park. However, trouble came when we ran into stop signs and had to cross through-traffic. The thought of crossing a busy street and not stalling out in the middle of the intersection with cars waiting behind us created a mental block for Joe causing numerous stall-outs. On the park’s only stop-light, he stalled through two green lights on two separate occasions. After the smell of burnt clutch filled the car, we were able to get through the light. It’s not that Joe can’t shift the car into gear, it’s the on-road pressure that gets to him. That will come with practice, patience, and maybe a bit more driving confidence. Towards the end of the day, he was doing his best driving but capped his performance with a quad-stall when he tried starting the car from a stop sign into 3rd gear. Not the best idea to do but a rookie mistake that will be fixed with practice. Overall, Joe’s day left a lot to be desired, but he’ll get there. After the driving, he self-assigned himself formal manual transmission driving-school assuring his teammates that he’ll get the hang of it. The rest of Fleetwood Yak and European drivers on the road will appreciate it.
In summary, driving stick is daunting at first and requires mental fortitude and focus on fundamentals. Needless to say, this practice driving day was much needed. However, I’m not so sure much of it will matter since our 2004 Skoda Fabia is RHD so we’ll have to start from square one in shifting with the left hand once we land in the UK. Checkout a video we edited together documenting our day learning stick below: