Aiming to Be an MT Lady Driver

It’s been a week since I took delivery of my BMW 320i. Since then, I’ve been driving almost every day, so I’ve gotten quite comfortable behind the wheel. I no longer stall, and I don’t roll back on hill starts anymore. Even on gentle slopes where auto-hold doesn’t kick in, I can start smoothly without panicking.

So far, I’ve been to Harborland in Kobe, driven on the Hanshin Expressway, and even managed to park at a nearby convenience store and a supermarket with a tricky parking lot.

That said, I wouldn’t say I’m great at driving a manual yet — I’m just at the level of “I can at least drive it for now.” So if I tried to drive a GT3 or Boxster right now, I’d probably mess up and end up with a deep emotional scar — that much is obvious… lol.

If I were to compare it to Dragon Quest, I want to level up by defeating more enemies before challenging the boss.

Let’s Go See the Night View on Royu

One evening, after putting the kids to bed early, I found myself with a little free time, so I decided to take a trip to Royu to see the night view. Last time I tried, the “mountain god” blocked the view, but lately I feel like I’m graduating from being a rain goddess, so I had a good feeling that “it should be fine to go see it tonight.”

911に乗って、芦有ドライブウェイの夜景を見に行ってきた。

Actually, I’ve been lucky with the weather more often recently. Thinking about it, since I bought the BMW 320i myself, both my touring trips and the delivery day have been blessed with clear skies. Maybe the mountain god of touring finally approved of me getting an MT car… but that’s probably not true, lol.

To avoid catching a chill while going out at night, I dressed the kids in jackets and sent my husband a quick message saying, “We’re heading to Royu to see the night view now,” then hopped into the 320i.

The route from home to Royu is perfect for practicing hill starts. There are many gentle slopes where auto-hold doesn’t engage, so it was great practice to carefully engage the clutch and start without rolling back.

By this time, there were hardly any cars around, and I smoothly arrived at the Royu Driveway toll gate.

Glancing at the thermometer near the toll gate, it read 14 degrees Celsius. It didn’t seem too cold, so I relaxed and drove at a comfortable pace.

Since I was on Royu Driveway and driving an MT, it would have been fun to rev the engine and really push the car, but unfortunately, I don’t have that skill yet, so I carefully drove while repeating 2nd → 3rd → 4th → 3rd → 2nd gears.

Also, Royu has quite a few cat’s eyes (road reflectors). A friend who came to Royu for the first time in a Ferrari 488 Spider accidentally ran over one and damaged their tire, so I was extra careful to avoid them… but the more careful I was, the closer I seemed to get to the cat’s eyes — funny how that works, right? (laughs)

This 320i is a base model, not a sporty version, so honestly, it’s not really the kind of car you’d push hard on Royu. The ride is soft and comfortable, perfect for relaxed family drives. Still, even when taking curves on Royu, there was no big body roll like “Whoa, steady now!” — it felt safe and natural to drive.

Higashi Rokko Observatory and My Car

When I arrived at the Higashi Rokko Observatory, a few cars were already parked. The night view itself was pretty nice, so I was happy.

Just then, I checked my phone and saw a message from my husband:

“Hey, I was taking photos at Royu too!! I just got home. If I’d seen your message earlier, we could’ve met up.”

No way!! Come to think of it, he was driving the GT3 Touring to work today and stopped by Royu on the way home. I guess we really are a matching couple (-_-) lol.

We spent a little time enjoying the night view and wandering around the observatory, but it started to get chilly, so after about 10 minutes, I decided to leave. On the way back, I carefully drove again, repeating 2nd → 3rd → 4th → 3rd → 2nd gears, but I was reminded once more how terrible I am at downshifting.

If I slow down gently and downshift carefully, it’s fine, but the moment I try to drive a bit more briskly, the shift shock hits hard. It would be so cool if I could do heel-and-toe downshifting in these moments. For now, I’ll just keep practicing every day, aiming to master smooth heel-and-toe downshifts.

Back home, my husband showed me the photos he took of the GT3 Touring that day.

They’re incredibly beautiful… as expected, the α7Ⅲ really makes a difference. It’s pretty tough to capture both night views and cars well with an iPhone. Next time, I want to go to Royu with my husband in the 320i and have him take photos of my car. Hopefully by then, I’ll be able to drive Royu more smoothly!