US car thieves floored by manual gearbox

From The Register (Entire article):

Quote:

Two US would-be car thieves failed dismally to make off with a Honda Accord after discovering it had a mysterious manual gearbox, RTÉ reports.

Having menaced the owner with a gun outside a pizza restaurant in Georgia, and relieved him of his wallet and car keys, the pair of teen master criminals prepared to make good their escape. However, according to an employee of the pizza outlet, "they could not start it because it had stick shift".

The eyewitness recounted: "The kid was just sitting in the car trying to start it but he had no idea what to do. He looked dumbfounded. The only thing he had going was the radio."

While dumb and dumber wrestled with the problem of how to drive a car with four on the floor, restaurant staff called the cops who cuffed them as they tried to leg it into nearby woods.

I see there is a basic lack of automotive operating education here. LOL! As well as the basic education that stealing is wrong.

haha, how awesome...


I've always wanted to learn to use a manual~

Haha... the look on their faces had to have been priceless.

That is just plain awesome... stick shift is so easy though, I find it somewhat more convinient than automatic, even though there's alot more timing and movement required, it gives you more control of your car.

You know what the sad thing is... If I were the thief I'd be in the exact same situation...

* WJ hides self from the shame of not having driven a stick-shift vehicle...

There was actually an artical simular to this posted over a year ago where some notorious car robber in the states got caught cuz he tried to steal a manual. Anyways, manual isn't hard to learn, took me less then a week and it's so much more fun to drive, could be a bit of a ***** in traffic untill you get used to it.

-gene

Stick shift is only easy AFTER you learn it

I was test driving a new car at an Acura dealership way back (before my stick-shift days :P ) and stalled a few times in the middle of the road. That was quite possibly one of the most embarrassing moments I've ever had in my life. Now I daily drive a stick and will never go back to automatic.

I was taught on a manual, so this article made me realize why it was good to learn that way...so I could steal pizza men's cars. No, wait, because "this way you'll really understand how to use a car, not just how to press pedals" as my dad put it. I really wish I could've seen their faces..man.

I actually prefer stick over automatic. It gives you more control over what you want to do when you want to. Plus, it's fun going down hills using just the clutch~

When I was first learning how to drive a car, I learned a little on a stick shift. I didn't like it at all. It truly is all about the timing. I stalled in a few intersections and it sucked. At least it wasn't my dad who taught me. I think I would have died. When my brother was getting his license, my dad took him out in the GTO, got out and put my brother in the drivers seat and just told him to drive. No real explanation. Just drive. >.>

Driving a 4-5-6 speed isn't difficult at all. If people were just a little more intelligent, specially if your going to steal a car, atleast know how to drive one, it doesn't take skill at all to drive a manual, just practice.