[Pushing Fifty]

I haven't for a while, anyway, but I just learned I have arthritis in my hip. X-rays confirmed it after I've had worse-than-normal sciatic pain for the past few days.....


I'm certainly glad water-cooled Beetles come in automatic! Hopefully, I won't be walking around like I have a corn cob shoved up my butt at events from now on.....

 

[007]

that stinks. if you ever "have the itch" u should tell the DR. to put a shot in your hip and have a go. ill never drive an automatic, prob not ever a 5 speed again. love 6.

-jd

 

[janitz]

that stinks. if you ever "have the itch" u should tell the DR. to put a shot in your hip and have a go. ill never drive an automatic, prob not ever a 5 speed again. love 6.

-jd

Stick shifts are a few years away from being in the same category as steam trains, nostalgia.

Electric, hybrids, hydrogen fuel, and high efficiency gasoline/diesel vehicles don't use stick shifts and have 7 or more gears (if they have gears at all).

 

[Smileybug]

I have a feeling there will come a day when I won't be able to drive a manual. I have a bad left knee and on more than one occasion its irritated me enough that I had to stop driving

 

[warren]

I'm not giving in yet, although it might not be a horrible idea for me to have at least one DSG/automatic car in the fleet.

i suspect my time with original knees is getting short. ;-)

 

[janitz]

I've recently started some Yoga stretching to help with a sore back, there are likely poses designed to help with hips and other joints that you could do.

 

[Pushing Fifty]

Stick shifts are a few years away from being in the same category as steam trains, nostalgia.

Electric, hybrids, hydrogen fuel, and high efficiency gasoline/diesel vehicles don't use stick shifts and have 7 or more gears (if they have gears at all).

I'm fine with an auto, as long as self-driving cars never become the standard. They'd have to take my keys out of my dead hands before I'd ever get in a car that drives itself.

 

[tedybear]

If it wasn't for the "Detail" (for lack of not being able to spell Fin'ense....?)

Large number of companies retrofit cars and trucks all the time for people that can't use their feet to drive. Sadly we're a bit away from having a clutch/brake/gas combination attached to a steering wheel like a some specialized 'rides' are customized with. Local firm showed off their ability by using a sharpened pencil.....against a modified brake "Pedal" (located for easy drivers reach by hand) Full stop and never even wore the tip off the pencil. Smooth as silk.


I'm close to the same boat. Both hands have discomfort now when I start using tools...and my lower back? Twin set of pinched nerves for a compressed disc. Doc says sense my issue is one of numbness and not pain? Just to leave well enough alone.


S-

 

[mattyd2009]

I miss having a stick. A swap might be in order someday. The only thing I like about an auto, I can multitask. Lol

Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App

 

[Pushing Fifty]

I'm not to the point of not being able to use my feet by a long shot. It's just that I have chronic sciatic nerve issues on my left side, and my latest episode is so excruciating that I went to the doctor. She ordered X-rays and found arthritis, which gets worse with age. I'm going to see a chiropractor by the time some of you are reading this to see if it will help me to function normally again. I've been walking like a 95-year-old for a week.

 

[Chuckie]

Close to the real thing

Sport Mode using the "Flappy-Paddle Shifters" on a DSG Beetle are pretty close to the real thing and you don't need a left foot to mash down a clutch. No sweat starting off on a hill either.

I love a manual, but the paddles on a DSG TDI with all that torque is a lot of fun. Especially on a curvy road with a lot of elevation changes and downshifting like the Dragon. I am sure it's just as fun in a turbo gasser as well.

 

[squeebug]

I can't for whatever reason enjoy a DSG. Just doesn't have the same feeling IMO. I'll drive a stick until you can't get them anymore. Even then I'll keep driving one because I won't get a car without it (within reason). If need be I'll just revert to the 65 Ford :crazy:

 

[janitz]

I can't for whatever reason enjoy a DSG. Just doesn't have the same feeling IMO. I'll drive a stick until you can't get them anymore. Even then I'll keep driving one because I won't get a car without it (within reason). If need be I'll just revert to the 65 Ford :crazy:

Yah.

My Mercedes has paddle shifting but I never make use of it, it sounds like a great idea on paper, you get a manual shift so you can drive like a sports car. The reality is that unless you're sports shifting on a controlled track, the paddles are more trouble than they're worth. Especially since they jammed 7 gears into the transmission and you have to shift from first to second to third to get going on a left hand turn, that or you let the engine get up to 6000 rpm.

 

[squeebug]

Yeah, I like being able to go from 5th to 3rd or whatever without having to cycle through the other gears. It's the one thing I don't like about motorcycles too. Having to go through all the gears, most importantly when stopping.

 

[Benny Beetle]

I'm not to the point of not being able to use my feet by a long shot. It's just that I have chronic sciatic nerve issues on my left side, and my latest episode is so excruciating that I went to the doctor. She ordered X-rays and found arthritis, which gets worse with age. I'm going to see a chiropractor by the time some of you are reading this to see if it will help me to function normally again. I've been walking like a 95-year-old for a week.

Welcome to the club!! I've been like this for years, I just refuse to give up my clutch. My ortho surgeon called me a member of "a dying breed" when my only concern (about my knee surgery) was "HOW LONG until I can drive again?" and informed him I only drive manual. I've found (for myself) the more I can move the better I feel. So in the near future, when I need to trade Benny in, I'm planning on another with a clutch! Sorry to hear you're not able, hang in there though.

 

[Pushing Fifty]

I suppose the title to this thread is a bit misleading....I can drive a stick, (although it's been 5 years since I have) but with my chronic sciatica, I've chosen not to. No doctor made this decision, but I did.

My last manual car was a 1969 aircooled Beetle that I sold in 2009. I switched to New Beetles and will never look back.