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What a blast from the past. I learnt to drive using a VW Golf, and I've always thought this shift pattern is just standard on German cars with manual transmissi

What a blast from the past. I learnt to drive using a VW Golf, and I've always thought this shift pattern is just standard on German cars with manual transmission (at least in the 90s). One thing I don't see mentioned is that you first have to press down onto the knob, then shift forward, in order to shift the transmission into R. Simply pushing the knob forward won't go from N to R.

RajT88 5y ago
Not just press down on shift knob, but a bit to the side too. On my old Jetta (left hand drive), it was more like "Up and to the Left a little bit", and not a straight throw from first.
- browningstreet 5y ago
  My first car was a 78 Rabbit that had the push-down for R. I also had a Renault Megane that had a pull-up-collar to find R.
telesilla 5y ago
First time I rented a German car I yelled out in the parking garage for help! Some kind strangers explained this to me about the reverse and I got on my way.
masklinn 5y ago
From a video I saw recently I think some of the old lancias (group b stuff) were similar, the pattern was not shown but the driver referred to being careful with first so as not to launch the car in reverse. So I’m guessing this was one of the standard gear patterns in the late 70s / early 80s euros, back when car affordances were often nebulous concepts.
theluketaylor 5y ago
Reverse lockouts came around in the 80s or so, so his 914 wouldn't have one. On older transmissions you're free to try to ram it into reverse at 100 kph if you really want to try.
_whiteCaps_ 5y ago
My Ford Contour SVT (Mondeo in the UK I think?) had a collar under the shift knob that you had to pull upwards to shift into reverse. Had never seen that before, and I felt awfully embarrassed to ask the guy selling me the car how it worked.
Root_Denied 5y ago
I had a '92 Nissan Sentra as my first car in the early 2000's, a hand-me-down from my older brother - it also had this dog-leg shift pattern. Looks like it wasn't just German cars that had this transmission. Definitely burned out a clutch early from learning to drive and learning to drive stick at the same time, but damn do I miss it sometimes.
logifail 5y ago
> this shift pattern is just standard on German cars with manual transmission "Standard?" Hmm. We have two cars with manual transmission, a VW Sharan and a VW Up: The Sharan has R at the top left, then (reading across) 1 3 5 with 2 4 6 below; so 6th is at the bottom right. The Up only has 5 forward gears, but for some reason they decided to put R at the bottom right (so down from 5th... you can probably see where this story is going) I have once, and only once, been driving along at motorway speed in the Up, in 5th, and briefly thought I was in the Sharan, and started trying to change up to 6th, except the Up only has 5, and you're heading for R, not 6th. Happily I didn't complete the change...
- mikeryan 5y ago
  but for some reason they decided to put R at the bottom right Reverse in the bottom right is the “normal” 5-speed reverse spot no?
  - logifail 5y ago
    > Reverse in the bottom right is the “normal” 5-speed reverse spot no? I've driven a lot of 5-speed manual transmission rental cars over the decades, and my impression is that reverse in the top left is (or certainly was) the far more common layout: R 1 3 5 2 4 Our previous car, also a VW, had this layout too.
    - quibono 5y ago
      I'd have to agree with GP here. It was my impression that reverse in the bottom right is the 'classic' spot for a 5-gear manual transmission, unless a reverse lockout is used (then it is usually the top left spot).
    - rswail 5y ago
      I have a 2007 Alfa Spider (Brera without a solid roof) and the pattern is the same with a 6th gear below 5. To get into reverse there's a gear stick collar to pull up.
- deleted 5y ago

RajT88 5y ago

Not just press down on shift knob, but a bit to the side too. On my old Jetta (left hand drive), it was more like "Up and to the Left a little bit", and not a straight throw from first.

browningstreet 5y ago
My first car was a 78 Rabbit that had the push-down for R. I also had a Renault Megane that had a pull-up-collar to find R.

telesilla 5y ago

First time I rented a German car I yelled out in the parking garage for help! Some kind strangers explained this to me about the reverse and I got on my way.

masklinn 5y ago

From a video I saw recently I think some of the old lancias (group b stuff) were similar, the pattern was not shown but the driver referred to being careful with first so as not to launch the car in reverse. So I’m guessing this was one of the standard gear patterns in the late 70s / early 80s euros, back when car affordances were often nebulous concepts.

theluketaylor 5y ago

Reverse lockouts came around in the 80s or so, so his 914 wouldn't have one. On older transmissions you're free to try to ram it into reverse at 100 kph if you really want to try.

_whiteCaps_ 5y ago

My Ford Contour SVT (Mondeo in the UK I think?) had a collar under the shift knob that you had to pull upwards to shift into reverse. Had never seen that before, and I felt awfully embarrassed to ask the guy selling me the car how it worked.

Root_Denied 5y ago

I had a '92 Nissan Sentra as my first car in the early 2000's, a hand-me-down from my older brother - it also had this dog-leg shift pattern. Looks like it wasn't just German cars that had this transmission. Definitely burned out a clutch early from learning to drive and learning to drive stick at the same time, but damn do I miss it sometimes.

logifail 5y ago

> this shift pattern is just standard on German cars with manual transmission "Standard?" Hmm. We have two cars with manual transmission, a VW Sharan and a VW Up: The Sharan has R at the top left, then (reading across) 1 3 5 with 2 4 6 below; so 6th is at the bottom right. The Up only has 5 forward gears, but for some reason they decided to put R at the bottom right (so down from 5th... you can probably see where this story is going) I have once, and only once, been driving along at motorway speed in the Up, in 5th, and briefly thought I was in the Sharan, and started trying to change up to 6th, except the Up only has 5, and you're heading for R, not 6th. Happily I didn't complete the change...

mikeryan 5y ago
but for some reason they decided to put R at the bottom right Reverse in the bottom right is the “normal” 5-speed reverse spot no?
- logifail 5y ago
  > Reverse in the bottom right is the “normal” 5-speed reverse spot no? I've driven a lot of 5-speed manual transmission rental cars over the decades, and my impression is that reverse in the top left is (or certainly was) the far more common layout: R 1 3 5 2 4 Our previous car, also a VW, had this layout too.
  - quibono 5y ago
    I'd have to agree with GP here. It was my impression that reverse in the bottom right is the 'classic' spot for a 5-gear manual transmission, unless a reverse lockout is used (then it is usually the top left spot).
  - rswail 5y ago
    I have a 2007 Alfa Spider (Brera without a solid roof) and the pattern is the same with a 6th gear below 5. To get into reverse there's a gear stick collar to pull up.
deleted 5y ago