Swapping the Boxster and 911

The other day, my brother and his family came to visit us. It had been about three years since they last came over. Since they made the trip all the way here, my husband, brother, and his kids decided to go to the Royu Driveway in the 911.

So, we needed to swap the Boxster GTS (981) parked at home with the 911 Cabriolet (992) parked near the station. My husband said,

Why don’t you show your brother that you can now drive a manual? He’ll probably be really surprised!

So, my brother and I went to swap the cars.

I had no interest in cars as a child, but my brother is a serious car enthusiast. Since becoming a working adult, he’s always driven Subaru Legacy manuals (though he now drives an automatic), and when we lived at home, he would spend every weekend either washing or tinkering with his car right in front of the house.

Back then, I had zero interest in cars, so I just thought, “How can he like working under the blazing sun on such a hot day?” and never asked him anything about cars (I probably would have asked a lot of questions if I had back then!).

Time passed, and after getting my license, I was a paper driver for over ten years. When I started this Porsche blog, my brother was really surprised. On top of that, when I got rid of my automatic restriction and started driving manuals, he was wide-eyed with amazement.

Showing My Brother How I Drive the Boxster

For the car swap, I drove the Boxster first. My brother said, “Before you even started driving a manual, I’d never seen you drive at all, so this feels strange. But you’re actually driving well!”

Still, maybe the manual-driving blood in him stirred, and he said things like:

Why are you shifting up so quickly? You don’t have to go into 4th gear here… 2nd gear is fine, especially since it’s a manual.

I thought, “Well, that’s true…” and we switched drivers partway through.

It had been about three years since my brother drove an automatic, so he said, “I might have forgotten how to drive a manual. What if I stall all the time…?” But just a few minutes into driving, he quickly got the feel for the clutch and shifter.

He even did smooth rev-matching on his own in normal mode, without pressing the Sport Plus button or turning on auto-blip.

When I said, “Wow, even after all this time, you don’t stall at all!” he replied,

Of course not! I drove manuals for over ten years. The clutch on the Legacy I started with was much heavier, and it didn’t even have hill-hold assist.

It was a busy weekend with heavy traffic, but my brother really enjoyed driving a manual again. And the Boxster seemed to come alive, thrilled to be driven by someone skilled with a manual.

I thought, “Wow, it took me three years to open up to this car, but my brother’s heart opened in just minutes (lol).”

When we lived at home, my brother and I weren’t very close. Or rather, we were neither close nor distant… Maybe because we’re opposite genders, after puberty we hardly had anything to talk about. Our daily conversations were mostly just “Good morning” and “Welcome home.”

Even after becoming adults, there were many times my brother would pick me up by car at the station, but the car rides were silent all the way home (not exaggerating, we really didn’t say a word).

So, I never imagined that one day we’d go on drives together and have all kinds of conversations in the car. When I visit home now, my husband, brother, and I often talk about cars, and my parents say, “It’s such a strange sight to see siblings talking about cars,” (laughs).

Maybe this change happened because Porsche came into our lives, and I’m also grateful to my husband for creating this opportunity. Thank you.

I hope the day comes when my brother can drive the Porsche I buy someday. I’ll keep working toward that!