Not yet owner

[Mark]

The manual transmission Mirage has got to be one of the least stolen vehicles in the U.S. My 3 sons all have 6 speed manual cars. But I think they are the last young men on earth that can drive a stick shift.

Most farm kids who drive tractors can probably master a manual transmission with ease, but farm kids are more rare today, too.

[Eggman]

But I think they are the last young men on earth that can drive a stick shift.

My teenage daughter learned on our various manual transmission cars. At 15½ she began learning on Speck, then our 2009 Ford Fusion and then my 1980 CJ-7.

I think it's a point of pride to be able to pass that skill along, like a confidence builder.

During it's rebuild I converted the Dana 300 transfer case on the Jeep to twin stick. That'll keep them thieves away for sure.

[MetroMPG]

I don't think I've ever heard of anyone having their Mirage stolen unless the thief had the keys.

The Mirage has the highest rate of theft in my town!*

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* That's because there are only 5 Mirages in this town, and one owner I talked to used to leave her keys in it.

Fortunately, it also has a manual transmission. The idiots who took it drew so much attention to themselves trying to figure out how to drive it away that they didn't get very far.

[MetroMPG]

Most farm kids who drive tractors can probably master a manual transmission with ease, but farm kids are more rare today, too.

Mark, I bet you also agree that farm kids are the best students to teach driving, if only because they "get" vehicular basics from early exposure to multiple farm vehicle types. So you can move right on to the more important topics than "how to steer". That was my experience instructing.

[Mark]

Mark, I bet you also agree that farm kids are the best students to teach driving, if only because they "get" vehicular basics from early exposure to multiple farm vehicle types. So you can move right on to the more important topics than "how to steer". That was my experience instructing.

I would agree with that. I will spend some time in the high school parking lot with them before we hit the road on the first lesson. They are getting familiar with the car, me, & I with them those first few minutes. It takes about 2 minutes to figure out how much experience they have driving something.

If they have never driven anything before, it's quite obvious. If they have driven something as simple as a riding lawn mower to mow grass, they have some basic knowledge of how to make turns. UTVs are quite common for rural kids these days, and that's a good experience for them, too. Overall, most kids pick up on things pretty fast.

Those who start out real comfortable with driving (lots of experience) will have bad habits they need to change, too.

The rural landscape has changed a lot. Kids growing up on small farms is more rare. Some of the farms in our area are huge. We had 30 milk cows growing up. 1,000+ cows on a large farm is not uncommon. Today's large farms are run like factories with multiple employees. I'm not sure kids growing up on those type farms experience the same as the small family farms of the past.

My adult students tend to be my most difficult students to teach. My younger students are paired up with someone. They have to drive 6 hours & observe someone 6 hours (Six - 2-hour lessons) to fulfill the obligation of behind-the-wheel lessons in my state. They must also log 50 hours of adult supervised driving before taking the driving test.

Adult drivers don't have those requirements. They just need to pass the Wisconsin DMV driving test. They may purchase a few driving lessons, but they aren't usually paired up with anyone. If the adult doesn't have someone to practice with, it's really hard for them.

Overall, being a driving instructor is a great part-time job. I don't even have to grade them. I tell them that I am their coach getting them ready for the big game (passing their DMV driving test, which is done by a WI DMV license examiner).

[Eggman]

I would agree with that. I will spend some time in the high school parking lot with them before we hit the road on the first lesson. They are getting familiar with the car, me, & I with them those first few minutes. It takes about 2 minutes to figure out how much experience they have driving something.

If they have never driven anything before, it's quite obvious. If they have driven something as simple as a riding lawn mower to mow grass, they have some basic knowledge of how to make turns. UTVs are quite common for rural kids these days, and that's a good experience for them, too. Overall, most kids pick up on things pretty fast.

Those who start out real comfortable with driving (lots of experience) will have bad habits they need to change, too.

The rural landscape has changed a lot. Kids growing up on small farms is more rare. Some of the farms in our area are huge. We had 30 milk cows growing up. 1,000+ cows on a large farm is not uncommon. Today's large farms are run like factories with multiple employees. I'm not sure kids growing up on those type farms experience the same as the small family farms of the past.

My adult students tend to be my most difficult students to teach. My younger students are paired up with someone. They have to drive 6 hours & observe someone 6 hours (Six - 2-hour lessons) to fulfill the obligation of behind-the-wheel lessons in my state. They must also log 50 hours of adult supervised driving before taking the driving test.

Adult drivers don't have those requirements. They just need to pass the Wisconsin DMV driving test. They may purchase a few driving lessons, but they aren't usually paired up with anyone. If the adult doesn't have someone to practice with, it's really hard for them.

Overall, being a driving instructor is a great part-time job. I don't even have to grade them. I tell them that I am their coach getting them ready for the big game (passing their DMV driving test, which is done by a WI DMV license examiner).

Mark, I'd sign up for lessons with you. I'm sure you'd find loads of bad habits.

[Fummins]

I would agree with that. I will spend some time in the high school parking lot with them before we hit the road on the first lesson. They are getting familiar with the car, me, & I with them those first few minutes. It takes about 2 minutes to figure out how much experience they have driving something.

If they have never driven anything before, it's quite obvious. If they have driven something as simple as a riding lawn mower to mow grass, they have some basic knowledge of how to make turns. UTVs are quite common for rural kids these days, and that's a good experience for them, too. Overall, most kids pick up on things pretty fast.

Those who start out real comfortable with driving (lots of experience) will have bad habits they need to change, too.

The rural landscape has changed a lot. Kids growing up on small farms is more rare. Some of the farms in our area are huge. We had 30 milk cows growing up. 1,000+ cows on a large farm is not uncommon. Today's large farms are run like factories with multiple employees. I'm not sure kids growing up on those type farms experience the same as the small family farms of the past.

My adult students tend to be my most difficult students to teach. My younger students are paired up with someone. They have to drive 6 hours & observe someone 6 hours (Six - 2-hour lessons) to fulfill the obligation of behind-the-wheel lessons in my state. They must also log 50 hours of adult supervised driving before taking the driving test.

Adult drivers don't have those requirements. They just need to pass the Wisconsin DMV driving test. They may purchase a few driving lessons, but they aren't usually paired up with anyone. If the adult doesn't have someone to practice with, it's really hard for them.

Overall, being a driving instructor is a great part-time job. I don't even have to grade them. I tell them that I am their coach getting them ready for the big game (passing their DMV driving test, which is done by a WI DMV license examiner).

How old do you have to be to start driving there? Here, when you're 14 you get a "learners permit" that allows you drive as long as you're with someone that's over 18 with a valid license(and is capable of driving). To get your permit you just pass a multiple choice test. Then when you're 16 you can take a written and driving test to get your driving license but things have changed since I got mine. Now there's a graduated license system where you have time restrictions and zero booze tolerance for the first few years iirc. The booze I get, the time restriction seems dumb to me. The same rules apply to a 16y/o as an 30y/o new driver. Some people work nights. They may have changed some of those rules lately cause most people I know that had a graduated license never bothered to get the restrictions removed cause they didn't want to take another driving test. So there's tons of 30 year olds that technically shouldn't be driving after midnight(or whatever the time was) and stuff.

[Grumpy Bear]

Major setback. Cost a lot of money to use your money. Deferred taxes on retirement accounts doesn't mean tax exempt.

Good thing I had car money saved to pay them. They took it ALL. ROTFLMAO

It's all good. No one died.

[7milesout]

They took it ALL. ROTFLMAO

It's all good. No one died.

Don't get me started. I'm in a no good mood this morning, for having to deal with money issues. It just burns my arse how much money we have to give to our trusty gobment. Now, if our gobment took all our money and were very smart and efficient with it, maybe I wouldn't be such an ass about it. But the fact is, I'd say out of all the dollars I give the gobment, they likely waste ... 70% of it. And I mean WASTE. It doesn't even make it in to some bureaucrat crook's scheming pocket. It's just gone for nothing.

I just saw a report on how much money the Biden's made in 2023. Their tax returns. I think it was in the $600k's. And I was ASTONISHED it was so low. A president of our country should be making a lot more than that. But then, I noticed how much they paid in taxes. And I almost fell out of my chair! IIRC, I think they paid somewhere in the vicinity of $200k! What an absolute waste!

I'm going to shut up now, this reply isn't political. I don't dislike one side or the other ... I HATE THEM ALL. They all suck. I'm going to look around and see if I can find some classes on how to duck out of paying Federal income taxes. And the amount I pay is quite small compared to the numbers mentioned above.

Grumpy - I'd be a little more than grumpy if I lost my Mirage fund to gobment waste... Kudos to you.

[Fummins]

Things aren't any different up here. I've got a retirement fund that my work matches what I put in up to a certain amount. It's basically a tax deferred deal where don't pay income tax on that money now but you will when you go to use it when you're retired(or whenever you decide to pull money out I guess). The idea is that you'll be in a lower tax bracket by then and pay less tax...But I don't know how well that works out in reality.

I dump my extra money into a tfsa(tax free savings account) you're aloud up to contribute up to a certain amount each year and not be taxed on the money that account makes. Or at least that's the way I understand it(which is probably wrong). I have a direct investment tfsa where I can blow money on terrible stocks and sometimes lose money or make a tiny profit from selling or holding and collect dividends. I haven't claimed income tax on that stuff, until I'm told I have to I'll keep going. I don't make anything worth claiming anyways.