Our Boxster Has a Manual Transmission

The Boxster GTS in our household has a manual transmission, not an automatic. In an age when people are already talking about self-driving cars becoming a reality, here I am with a stick shift… (LOL). When we bought the Boxster GTS, my husband told me, “You absolutely have to get the automatic-transmission restriction removed before delivery!” So I rearranged my work schedule, found someone to watch the kids, and somehow made it to driving school to get my license restriction lifted.

Getting my license sorted out went fairly smoothly. The real challenge was only just beginning.

The Boxster’s Clutch Is Heavy…

After the Boxster was delivered, we decided to find a quiet road where I could give it a try. My husband drove us to Murotsu in Hyogo Prefecture to buy some oysters, and we swapped places at a nearby harbor so I could practice. “All right! Let’s start the engine!” I said, pressing the clutch for the very first time…

…W-whoa, what is this?! (；ﾟДﾟ) The clutch is unbelievably heavy!

It felt stiff and heavy, almost like a strength-training machine at the gym.

“Wait, this clutch is so heavy! The Comfort at driving school was way lighter (,,ﾟДﾟ)!” I protested, but my husband just replied,

“Well, of course. You can’t compare it to a Comfort (-_-)”

in a decidedly unimpressed tone.

Nervous from the get-go, I pressed the brake and clutch firmly and started the engine. Then my husband began calling out instructions from the passenger seat like a driving instructor: “Okay, ease off the clutch while gently pressing the accelerator…” But all that happened was…

Vrooom, vrooom!

The GTS’s engine roared, but the car didn’t move an inch.

…

…

Husband: “No, you have to let the clutch out more (-_-)”
Me: “I know, but I’m tensing up so much that I can’t lift my foot off the clutch!”
Husband: “What does that even mean? lol”

We called it quits for a moment. My husband looked down at my feet and said,

“Ah, those shoes are the problem. You need driving shoes or something comfortable to drive in—not shoes like those.”

In the end, we set off anyway and spent the rest of the day crawling along in first to third gear.

A Few Days Later, We Headed to Ashiyahama

A few days later, I tried again, this time wearing more comfortable shoes, and we went to nearby Ashiyahama to practice. (Of course, my husband drove us there.) Shoes really do make a difference. I found it much easier to drive than before and even managed to ease off the clutch more smoothly lol. But throughout the drive, my husband kept calling out things like:

“Come on, shift into second while you’re turning. You can hear the car struggling!”
“When you think the light’s about to turn green, get ready in advance!”
“You’re in neutral at a red light—why are you still holding the clutch down?”

Every time he said something, I got flustered and stalled. In the end, all I managed was a slow crawl at around 30 km/h at most. My brain was working so hard that I started to feel dazed and my vision grew hazy. When I began saying things like, “Wait, am I dreaming right now…? (-_-)”—which was not exactly reassuring—I was ordered to stop practicing.

So, unfortunately, I never once got to experience the kind of exhilarating drive shown in the photo below…

Time to Take It onto Local Roads!

After a few practice sessions, we decided, “I can at least get the car moving now, so next I’ll try driving around the hilly neighborhood near home.” Before we set off, my husband told me:

“The Boxster’s hill-hold function keeps it from rolling backward on a slope. So stay calm, give it a little more gas than usual, and let the clutch out—you’ll be fine.”

I kept repeating those words to myself as we headed out. The downhill stretches were fairly easy, but then we reached an uphill section and, sure enough, had to stop at a red light. I glanced at the instruments…

……There was no green “HOLD” indicator anywhere (-_-)

“Um… the hill-hold isn’t on,” I told my husband.

“Oh, right. Yeah, depending on the slope, it doesn’t activate on every hill.”

…
…
…Seriously?! (,,ﾟДﾟ) You didn’t tell me that!

That sent me into a full-blown panic. As soon as the light turned green, I lifted my foot off the brake to press the accelerator, the car rolled backward, I panicked and let the clutch out too quickly, and the engine stalled. I tried again, only to stall in exactly the same way. I repeated the cycle so many times I was practically seeing stars and about to foam at the mouth. Finally, my husband put on the hazard lights and stopped us right in the middle of the road.

I should have put a new-driver sticker on the car. Though, then again, a new-driver sticker on a Boxster GTS would be a bit of a sight. In the end, my husband drove us home. Ever since, whenever he’s asked, “Want to try driving the Boxster?” I’ve stubbornly replied, “No, I’m good”—and that’s where things have stood.

Time to Make a Real Commitment!

…But yesterday, while writing this blog, I had a change of heart and decided, “I really am going to practice driving the Boxster!” I told my husband, who immediately dismissed me with, “You’re all talk again.” I insisted, “I’m serious this time! What should I practice first? Hill starts, maybe?” He thought for a moment, then quietly began:

“Listen. Before you worry about the clutch or hill starts, you need to fix your attitude. You drive a car with PDK every day, but you still drive it like an automatic. That’s no good—you’ve got to start there. First, practice on Gran Turismo on the PlayStation until you can drive smoothly in manual or PDK mode, just like you would in an automatic. Then we’ll talk.”

Wait, a game…!?

That’s right. My husband’s hobby room is equipped with all this gear:

He gets behind the wheel in there pretty often. He already drives to work every day, so coming home and driving virtually too seems a little crazy—but now it looks like I’ll have to start with the PlayStation 4 as well. The road to mastering the manual Boxster GTS still looks incredibly long.

My goal is to drive the Royu Driveway before the end of this year.

Every journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I’ll do my best.