You Can Teach An Old Dog New Tricks But You Can't Teach An Old Woman To Drive

[navylife59]

Holy Crap. I about had to put my old lady out of her misery! Apparently, there is a age cutoff for women to learn how to drive a stick. The RS3.0 that I had to confiscate from my Son (not staying in college) needed to be moved and my fiancee was standing there so I said, "Hey, do you want to drive the tC?". She had been asking to drive it for some time but she did not know how to drive a stick. I put way too much trust in her abilities to understand simple mechanics. She does not take direction very well and provides absolutely no feedback to the learning process. A stump is more observant. Am I coming off a bit harse? You are damn right. Flame on!

Well, it did not take long before she was dumping the clutch, stalling, and drag launch/stall. Not at all good for the powertrain. What did set me off was when after she forgot how to shift into 2nd (after she just did it), she went all girly stupid on me, blabbering, and just started ramming the shifter every which way finally landing it in gear with the clutch out and the car stopped. Needless to say there was an unmistakable sound of something metal snapping. It like a spike driven right down the middle of my spine. After the obligatory "WTF!!!!!", she just set there blaming me for not telling her what to do. I told her, "I sure as hell did not tell you to try and destroy the transmission!". That will be the last time she ever sets foot behind the wheel of a tC.

I know, I know. I sound like a sexist. Well in this case, you're dang right. There are a few nuggets of women out there who don't let their hormones blind them from being mechanically competent. For the rest of the female of the species, well, cars are just something that they plain just don't get. (yes, I am using all of the smilies).

A quick, no nonsense systems test (roasting the tires thru 1st and 2nd) helped to breathe a sigh of relief that all was not destroyed.