Life with a Manual Transmission (MT) Car

About two years ago, I purchased my very first car, a manual transmission (MT) vehicle. Before meeting my husband, I had absolutely no interest in cars—they barely even registered in my field of vision—so I never imagined the day would come when I’d buy my own car.

And to think it would be an MT car… lol

Life really is full of surprises.

The reason I bought my MT car two years ago was simple: I wanted to learn how to drive a manual transmission.

Back in 2016, when our family was about to welcome an MT Porsche Boxster GTS (981 model), my husband told me, “Make sure you get your license restriction lifted before delivery.” So, while working and dropping our eldest daughter off at daycare, I found time to attend driving school and finally managed to get that restriction lifted.

But for the next three years, I never really got the hang of driving an MT car.

That’s understandable, considering I could only practice about once every three months. The Boxster is a two-seater, so to practice with my husband, we had to find someone to watch the kids.

You might say, “Why not just drive it alone more often?” But since it was a Porsche—and my husband’s first Porsche at that—and an MT car, I was always worried: “What if I crash or cause an accident driving solo?” So, with my skill level at the time, I just couldn’t bring myself to practice alone.

Then one day, I thought, “If I keep this up, I’ll never learn to drive an MT. I should buy an MT car I can drive every day and practice!” Within two weeks of that decision, I bought a BMW 320i.

After delivery, I made it a point to drive it daily (the first day I stalled so many times I had to put on my hazard lights in the middle of the road lol), and thanks to that, I finally learned how to drive an MT car. However, last summer, after giving birth, I sold the 320i.

For a while after that, I thought, “Automatic transmissions are smart and easy to drive; I don’t need an MT car anymore.” But a few months after giving birth, as I started to feel more relaxed, I took the Boxster and GT3 out for a spin again. It was just as fun as ever, reigniting my passion for MT cars, and I decided to buy one again around mid-April this year.

When Will It Be Delivered?

It’s been a month and a half since then. Normally, I’d expect the car to have been delivered by now, but due to the current parts shortage, my MT car still hasn’t been delivered.

When I ordered it, the sales rep warned me, “Delivery will probably be delayed.” My husband has been regularly checking online for updates and told me things like:

“Some people say their production has been confirmed, others say it hasn’t, and some waited three months for delivery. It seems to vary by dealership—there’s no consistency.”

Then just recently, the dealer contacted us with this message:

“Due to the semiconductor shortage, parts are in short supply, and there’s no production schedule yet. We’re sorry, but we can’t provide any information on production timing or delivery dates at this time.”

I imagine the dealer reached out because they were getting lots of inquiries from customers asking, “What’s going on?” Around that time, my husband said:

“The factory will be shutting down for a few days in June. Factory shutdowns mean parts supply is seriously behind. I bet a lot of people didn’t expect to wait this long and have canceled new orders to buy used cars instead.”

Whenever I buy something, there’s a high chance it’s defective, the wrong item, or missing parts, so my husband joked, “Maybe they’ll say, ‘You ordered red, but we accidentally made it blue!’ lol” But I never imagined the factory itself would shut down… (laughs)

When I ordered in April, I optimistically thought, “Even if it’s delayed, it should arrive by June or July.” But at this rate, delivery might not happen until autumn.

I wanted to customize the decals a bit, and since the price difference between new and used wasn’t huge, I ordered new. Otherwise, I might have canceled the new order and bought a used car instead.

Still, having no information about the car I ordered and just waiting around is nerve-wracking. When my husband bought his Boxster, it was a left-hand drive MT, so production slots were limited, and it took about 10 months to deliver.

He would say, “Is it ready yet? Is it ready yet?” while searching online for updates. When production started, he’d watch YouTube videos of the Porsche factory line over and over to imagine it. When he heard the car was finally on a ship, he tracked the ship’s location constantly. And when the ship arrived, he said, “I can’t wait! Maybe I’ll just go pick it up at the port myself!” Now, I can kind of understand how he felt.

Especially when it’s a Porsche you’ve dreamed about for so long.

As for what car I actually bought, I promised to share that in the blog when it’s delivered, so I’ll keep it a surprise for now. I never expected the wait to be this long.

Also, it’s not an amazing car that justifies such a long wait (I shouldn’t say that myself…), so when I finally report on it, readers might just think, “Oh, really? Huh…” and that’ll be it (laughs).

Well, I can at least say it’s not a Porsche, and I’ll try to be patient. I’ll share updates as soon as I hear about production or delivery schedules.