DE-FROSTING YOUR WINDSCREEN

If your car has to be parked outside overnight, & there’s a layer of ice on the windscreen in the morning, don’t use hot water to get rid of the ice. Hot water will guarantee that you damage the windscreen, especially if you have cracks/chips which will only increase in size if in contact with hot water. (Small cracks or chips in a windscreen are sensitive to sudden heat changes and a can quickly increase in size if they are subjected to a sudden change of temperature).

Rather use a scraper, an old bank card or a plastic knife, remove the ice. Use the air conditioner to demist the interior of the windscreen. When driving in cold conditions don’t use your windscreen sprayers, coz the water from the reservoir will freeze onto the windscreen and the wipers will not be able to clear it from the windscreen.

Also, check the condition of your windscreen wiper blades and replace them even if they’re cleaning the glass but are a little streaky.  Wiper blades must be in good condition and need to be inspected regularly, only the edge of the wiper blade should make contact with the windscreen and not the entire rubber body of the wiper blade.

As the driver, you need to be able to see clearly out of the windscreen at all times, so take care and drive safely!

What do Real Men Drive? Maual or Automatic Transmission?

Back in the day men used to drive manual transmission largely because automatic transmission was considered a driving aid for women.  However, in today’s fast paced world, men have swopped the stick for the auto and have no qualms about driving manly bakkies with auto transmission.  Let’s be honest; a bakkie is meant to be the ultimate in manly cars, but to drive a rugged double cab with auto transmission is just unfair and makes men seem to be deceitful – a bit like a brawny macho guy who only has a little tiny tool for us gals to play with.  Alright, I guess, on the other hand, perhaps one could say men who drive automatics are in a permanent energy saving mode as it allows them to concentrate on one pedal at a time, whilst keeping one eye on the road and another on attractive women drivers. 

The argument for and against men driving manual or automatic transmission is as dated as the issue of the chicken and the egg.  Whichever came first between the chicken and the egg is a selfish lover, but there is cause to pause and re-evaluate why men should drive manuals and not automatics. 

No. 1 An automatic transmission is the ultimate dominatrix

Men like to be in control of everything.  They want to be the boss of everyone, but us women know that deep down men just want to be told what to do, when to do it and how to do it.  Once again, the automatic transmission comes to the rescue as it does everything for them because when driving a manual, a man would actually have to think about clutching in, shifting gears, clutching out and balancing the fuel pedal to keep from stalling.  Perhaps it would be more politically correct to say that men have so much on their minds (beer, sports, beer, braai, sports and did I mention beer?) that they don’t need the added stress of having to figure out which gear to change into, therefore an automatic car is their best choice; not only is it going to think for you, it will do it for you as well.  At the core of it all, an automatic transmission is the ultimate dominatrix and it every man is her….

No.2 Pulling fancy moves in an automatic is for cheats

In the testosterone filled world of motor car racing a variety of well executed  maneouvers let experienced drivers do all manner of fancy moves and one such requires the driver to change gear, rev, brake and accelerate simultaneously. This technique is very important, particularly in emergency situations (pronounced avoiding a taxi), that manufacturers have included this function in automatic transmission as well. Your passengers will be all too pleased that you averted the danger but deep down, every man who drives an automatic knows he’s not that macho and has his car to thank for that stunt.

No.3 Automatics consumer more fuel

Let’s have a moment of silence for people whose cars have big engines, especially if they are automatic transmission.  A driver of a big engine vehicle is likely to be on a first name basis with all the petrol attendants at their nearest fuel station because the more horsepower the engine, the more thirsty the car.  Traditionally, manual transmissions have been more energy efficient than automatics, and manufacturers have cleverly started to include stop-start technology in big engines (of automatic driven vehicles) in an attempt to create better fuel efficiency. 

No.4 Automatic transmission cars are not as fast

Although men love speed and fast cars, they seem to be unaware that automatics are a tad slower than manuals.  When driving a manual, the driver will easily find the engine’s ‘g-spot’, or point at which the engine hits a certain revving range which is its most powerful peak. In an automatic however, that sweet spot of the engine will be found but then quickly by-passed almost instantly, because the car is in control and not the driver. Alas, there is no real magic or skill required to drive an automatic and the biggest danger of that are mentioned in the point below.

No.5 Automatics make men’s hands lazy

Ask any woman about the qualities she admires most in a man and next to humor, she might confess that he needs to be good with his hands; not only so that he can fix things around the house, but good hand coordination is good for adult maneouvers as well. Driving requires a certain level of good hand coordination and if a man can demonstrate skill with his hands in a car, by shifting gears smoothly enough not to make us throw up our lunch, then we would be assured he might translate that hand coordination skill to other….more pleasurable tasks too!

No.6 You can’t talk macho car talk in an automatic

Driving a manual can make a man seem powerful and sexy, especially if the Fast and The Furious is your all time favourite movie series.  Men always try to impress women, irrespective of marital status of either party, because they are the taller version of peacocks and cannot help showing off their feathers.  It will come to pass, that at some point, a man will try to impress a woman by saying something seemingly intelligent (pronounced ‘arbitrary’) about his ride. If driving a manual, there is so much more he can say about his driving skills which will make he seem like the Tyrese Gibson of the road, whereas in an automatic he’ll just be pretty in a Brad Pitt sort of way. 
The bottom line is that us women want manly men and nothing is more manly than a man who can drive a manual transmission – we can’t even say the word ‘manual’ without first saying the word ‘man’.  Driving a manual not only demonstrates good multi tasking abilities, but also assures us that should the car run out of fuel, you can push it to the next petrol station  - something not even The Rock can do in an automatic.  We want men who drive real cars, and others who drive automatics (bakkies and 4x4s) may as well wear pink silk boxers and eye liner; because real men drive manuals.