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Ron Thorne wrote:VW Passat.

Great car. I drive one of those for work if I'm lucky enough to get it. The other work cars are boring but serviceable Hyundai's. The Passat (turbocharged) is like a slingshot and just a joy to drive.

I can drive a manual if need be. My last two cars have CVT which a lot of people in Australia don't like. I quite like the idea and they both work well enough. I had a Camry Hybrid for three years but the interior quality, or lack thereof, drove me nuts. It would be different to the US model, assembled here and with firmer suspension for bad Aussie roads. Anyway, got sick of the rattles and broken trim and now have a 2012 Subaru Liberty (Legacy in US) I'm very happy with it and love the all wheel drive + CVT w/semi manual paddle shift option (rarely used). The handling is astonishing. A sensible if unexciting car, though one of the best overall drives handling wise.

My first few cars had manual transmission but manual, auto or CVT; it's not an issue for me. Most cars in AU are auto so you generally would have to order a manual trans as a special order on a new car or hunt down a second hand one. Too much hassle.

Hillman Minx! I learned to drive with a 1962 Triumph Herald.

It looked a lot like this:



I quit driving a stick about 20 years ago, because I wanted to be able to drive and drink coffee at the same time. Now I'm lazy, and besides, my 2001 Accord V6 shifts beautifully without my assistance.

Though I can't be sure as I don't really give a shit to check, my 2011 Subaru Impreza has a feature that locks the brakes on a hill as I disengage the clutch.

This feature alleviates the need to use the emergency brake on hills as we were taught.

This is what our 1961 Hillman Minx looked like, though it's not our actual car. Very sedate. The interior was red leatherette. We traded it in on our 1967 Saab 96 V4, and received more in trade than I paid for it initially. Great little car!

What country did that Hillman come out of Ron?

By 1964 I believe they were Izusu Hillman Minx and previous versions came from Europe.

Mike Schwartz wrote:What country did that Hillman come out of Ron?

By 1964 I believe they were Izusu Hillman Minx and previous versions came from Europe.

Great Britain. It was part of the Rootes Group who also produced the Sunbeam line, including the wonderful Alpine.

A. Kingstone wrote:Though I can't be sure as I don't really give a shit to check, my 2011 Subaru Impreza has a feature that locks the brakes on a hill as I disengage the clutch.

This feature alleviates the need to use the emergency brake on hills as we were taught.

My Liberty has that and is useful as I live in a hilly town.

I always put the kids in the trunk.

Fun topic! In 1971 my folks bought me a brand new red Triumph Spitfire. My Dad tells me that when we go to pick it up that HE'LL be driving it home since I didn't know how to drive a stick. Well, I wasn't havin' any of that so I convinced a girlfriend to teach me on her VW bug. Man, I can still hear the sound of those gears grinding! But I drove the Spitfire home, I actually had to do that 'emergency brake' on a hill trick during my 1st drive! My last stick was a brand new black '87 Maxima SE I drove off the showroom floor, man did I love that car. At the time I lived an hour north of Pittsburg in the hills of the Ohio/Pa border. A 2-cop type town. I used to get up in the middle of the night (2-3 in the morning!) and tell my wife that I was goin' cruisin'. The back roads in the mountains were totally deserted and the cops were eating donuts. Drove those roads so often I got familiar with the dips and turns, I was doing what I now understand is called 'drifting' through some of those turns, on purpose!;) Man, I loved that car. I'm one of those crazies that believe in brand loyalty, I've owned 2 Maxima's since the 1st, and 2 Infiniti's (Nissan), one that I'm still driving today!

Chazro, I absolutely loved my 2005 Maxima (automatic). Great car! I drive a Lexus GS350 now but if I was told I had to go back to driving a Maxima I would not have a problem with that.

I've owned Acuras for 22 years.

I really miss manual transmission! Learned to drive manual in a Chevy Malibu station wagon in Ithaca (famously hilly). It was the first car James and I bought as a couple.

Yes it was!!!

My standard transmission car was a 1990 Nissan Stanza. I loved that car!! Too bad I put it in a ditch during an ice storm and totalled it. I LOVED THAT CAR, man.

Yeah, you're right about that, Scott!