SquareRainbow

It depends on where the car is driven. I used to live in an area with lots of hills and winding roads. Driving a true manual shift car was pure joy. (sometimes better than sex)

The area that I now live in have miles upon miles of straight interstates. When there's no traffic, I can usually keep the cruise control at 70mph for up to 3 or 4 hours. A manual shift car in this situation is pointless.

Paint Horse

Now I agree with that. I have a 1973 Alfa Romeo Spider I have owned since it was new. I have spent many a happy mile winding it around corners over the years. It has a proper long throw shift lever. None of the current miniature little things that sit right by you.

lhrsfo

OT, but you are absolutely right about devices attempting to learn the unlearnable. Nest thermometers strike me as ridiculous. I have no pattern whatsoever as to when I'm at home or not, so I need one that I can control, not one that thinks it knows best.

SquareRainbow

What we need is a car computer that can tap into our brains wireless and predict what our next moves are. I believe Google or Skynet is working on that.

Actually, I believe there is already a car that can predict what the driver will do ahead of time, by using GPS. If the car "sees" a curve coming up based on the internal GPS maps, it tightens up the electronic suspension to prepare for the turn and then downshifts to the appropriate gear. When the car is about to exit the bend, the suspension loosens up a bit for the straight road up ahead. Unfortunately, I can't remember if that was the Japanese-spec 2010 Nissan GT-R or the new Bentley that has this capability.

offerendum

+ 1. Always had relative sportive cars with manual transmission. Not so my next one. One reason is, that even sportcars aren´t available with manual transmission today. Another reason is, that automatic gear is faster today

fassy

As German I was lifelong manual stick driver and convinced it is the only thing which is real driving... until I bought my Touareg with automatic transmission and since that day I just love it and will never buy a manual transmission car again*.

And if by some strange way I want to use manual gear shift there is still the Tiptronic. Think I used it once or twice just for sake of using it.

* at least not as every day vehicle.

But I have the sense we are diverting very far from the topic.... wasn't this about buying tools? If so, OP, you should call a professional tools store and ask them if you can either just drop by and pick it up or if they can send it to your hotel. Not all of those will sell to consumers, so you might need to call or write a couple of them.

SquareRainbow

I plan to rent a car and drive to wherever I can buy them.

Speaking of driving in Germany... (copy and pasted from what I posted last year in a Mercedes forum)

I was brought up believing that German drivers are the best drivers in the world. This belief was shattered when I visited Germany for the first time and rented a car. It was a couple of years before the Berlin Wall came down. I drove from Munich to Hamburg. I encountered so many drivers who would not get out of the inside lane, allowing me to pass at a very pedestrian 150km/h. There were also many drivers who were swerving from lane to lane without using turn signals. Even in the US, I always stay in the right lane and only move to the inner lane to pass another car. Fast forward 25 years. I drove in Germany about 2 years ago and basically saw the same thing. I was in a borrowed Mercedes E280. On a stretch of no-limit autobahn south of Frankfurt(Main), I attempted to pass a BMW 5-series diesel and the driver moved to the left lane with me. She would not let me pass for several minutes, until I moved back to the right lane and a red Audi came up behind us. The Audi flashed its headlights at her and she yielded. I was able to follow the Audi and pass the BMW. When I was next to the BMW, I noticed that it was a woman driver who was holding her phone with her right hand. (!!!) By now, the speed was almost 170km/h. Oh well...

fassy

Okay, but you need to check a couple of stores if they sell to private persons. Often the professional tool stores only sell to business.

What made you think that? Michael Schumacher? Because we have no fixed speed limit on some highways?

From my point of view Germany has one of the most hostile driving in the world (okay, let's say of the first world countries), only outmatched by Poland.

Stunning enough the high speed accident quote is quite low (compared to Poland), so somehow everybody things driving in Germany is safe and people are good drivers.

I drove 15 years in Germany before I moved to Sweden. Now, everytime I'm back in Germany, I fear for my life. Like you described, changing lanes without signal, "pushing your way" at 225km/h, people not letting you pass (especially a hobby of older men in a big car if the car passing them is driven by a young girl in a smaller vehicle), not maintaining safe distance (I'm often happy if the guy behind me only close up to 10m at a speed of 180km/h), educational driving...

offerendum