Never, Ever, EVER let a girlfriend drive your MS3

My wife has been driving only stick since she was 16. She taught me how to drive a stick in her old beat-up head-gasket-leaking Sunfire. She really doesn't like the MS3 because the pedals and steering are so much stiffer than in her '07 Jetta.

She never revs over 3k... ever... so I've got her beat in the speed department now :D
 
I have taught my fiancee a couple of times and she seems to do fine when we are on a secluded road or parking lot. But anytime we get on a main street or there is a car behind here she starts to freak out and stalls the car a bunch.

There was this one time I had a friend pick me up to go run a marathon and I left my car blocking hers in the garage on accident. She had to move my car to go to work and it took here 7 stalls to get the car out. I would never trust her driving my car alone and I don't think she would either. Especially if she was on a hill she would cause an accident.
 
not a story about my girl, but....

When I bought my MS3 I had NEVER driven a car with a manual transmission. I have a motorcycle so I understood the concept and the motions involved. I won't lie and say that I made it all the way home with out stalling, but no gear grinding, or clutch burning! I was proud of myself! Since making the conversion (auto/manual) I find myself confused for a few seconds when I rarely get behind the wheel of my girls car (auto). I always press the brake with my left foot, start it up, then realize that it was unnecessary.
 
Heh, I've only done it once, but it's always fun when you're driving an auto and jab the brake with the left foot looking for the clutch. Makes passengers cuss ya for some reason.
 
bacarl said:
Me too! I've done the same exact thing on several occasions when driving autos :)
Click to expand...

I also find myself getting a little nervous when I just put it in gear and go....like its gonna stall. Mainly just in the drive way, once I get out on the road I have no problems 'trusting' the automatic transmission.
 
You know you've got it bad when you borrow your family's Caravan for some moving, and when approaching a corner stab your left foot down to clutch in and reach up to the shift-stalk on the steering column before you realize you don't how to bloody downshift.
 
I do the "left foot on brake to start up" trick every time I get in my Trans Am now. Took me a few times to realize that I always put my right foot on the brake when i started it up in the past anyway... gotta brake to get out of Park.
 
Yep, since I've been driving my MS3, I have tried to depress the "clutch" in my 300C and my Ram on several trips. Duh!
 
I almost feel ashamed to say it but I did something similar to your girlfriend with my Speed 3 the other day. I've been driving stick for about six years straight and never have any problems but the speed 3 is a little bit tricky.

Anyway, the other night I'm coming home from a friend's house really late at night with my music up loud and I downshift from 5th or 6th to 3rd to pass someone. I have no idea if I missed the shift or it just wasn't all the way in gear or what but the problem was the music was loud so it took me a few moments to realize it since the music was loud and I wasn't really on the gas until I changed lanes to the left so the whole time I was easing over to the other lane my clutch was slipping. I only notice something was off when I tried to give it some gas to get past the car so I could get back over again. So I pop it out into neutral and go back in and as I'm driving along I notice the acrid smell of clutch....

I was a little bit concerned, I mean I've been pretty babying of this car so far (it's only got 2,200 miles on it). I drove along with all the windows down so the smell went away but I noticed for the day afterward the engine bay still had a lingering smell.

The clutch still grabs fine (even right after this happened) so I'm not really concerned. Just gotta be a little more attentive light at night when i'm tired.
 
Last edited:
my 911 has the keyhole on the left side. i still try to jab the key in an invisible hole every time i switch cars. i wont even talk about trying to find reverse.
 
here's a pic of my girlfriend driving my MS3 on the Tail of The Dragon only 5 days after I bought it. She did just fine:

img_4275-800.jpg
 
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