Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Auto

MINI will teach people how to drive its new cars since almost nobody knows how

Why MINI needed to open up a driving school for its cars

By

The manual transmission used to be ubiquitous. Whether consumers were trying to save money or because they were looking for a more engaging car to drive, manual transmissions used to be more readily available. Now automakers only offer manuals on a few trims with expensive packages or high-end sports cars, making them hard to find. People really don’t want to drive cars with a manual gearbox these days, and who can blame them? A real-life person had a real-life conversation with me where they said they purchased a Tesla because they didn’t want to drive anymore. Now, more than ever, there’s a good chance the manual transmission will die because people aren’t interested in them.

In an attempt to save the manual transmission, MINI has brought back the manual gearbox on select Cooper Hardtop models. Furthermore, the British brand is launching a new driving school to teach people how to drive cars with a manual transmission. Yes, it’s seriously gotten to the point where an automaker has to have a manual driving school to get people interested in buying cars with a manual transmission. It almost sounds like an SNL skit, but this is very real. 

Close up of manual transmission in a Mini Hardtop from the passenger side.
MINI

The new MINI Manual Driving School will be held at the BMW Performance Center in Thermal, California. Attendees don’t have to own a MINI to attend the school, but it will cost an undisclosed amount of money and take an unknown amount of time. MINI’s class will include some time in a classroom, as well as on the track with drivers having to pass a driving test on a timed course as a final exam. MINI doesn’t have information on how long the school will be or how much it will cost. 

Recommended Videos

This isn’t the first or only class drivers can attend if they’re interested in learning about driving a car with a manual transmission. In Southern California, people can attend Stick Shift Driving Academy or go through Hagerty and complete their manual driving school. Where MINI’s school stands out is that it’s to be the first from a major automaker.

Related

Clearly, the days of learning from a friend or a parent — like I did — are long gone. With the rise of electric vehicles, the expansion of quick-shifting dual-clutch transmissions, and the push to improve fuel economy, which usually means upgrading an automatic transmission, we don’t expect a lot of people to attend MINI’s driving school. At least the British brand is trying to do something to keep the manual transmission alive. In the old ways were better kind of way, we’re sad that this is even a thing. 

Editors' Recommendations

Joel Patel
Joel Patel
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Joel Patel is a former contributor for The Manual. His work has also been featured on Autoweek, Digital Trends, Autoblog…
A golf cart manufacturer may have just made your new favorite EV — the CRU Car
The CRU Car is the perfect EV for getting around your neighborhood
cru car ev nev club

Think about how you use your vehicle. For most, it’s a lot of short commutes and shuttling people around. Those without a vehicle to get around might not see the purpose in owning a highway-ready hauler for jaunts around town. CRU, the latest offering from established golf cart manufacturer Club Car, may be able to do everything most of us want a vehicle to do, particularly an entry-level EV.

CRU is a NEV (neighborhood electric vehicle), much like a stretched golf cart. It’s not focused on toting golf bags around while you angrily drive to your latest sliced drive sitting dozens of yards off the fairway. Instead, CRU is meant for hauling people and groceries and is designed to be customizable. Its base configuration is a bit limousine-like, with an L-shaped bench in the rear of the vehicle and two seats up front. There’s an optional table in the back, and the front passenger seat can swivel around to face those sitting in the back. The CRU’s rear seating compartment is only open on one side – the right curb-facing side – for a few unique reasons.

Read more
BMW’s cool new app lets you drive roads shaped like the famous Hofmeister kink
German engineer Wilhelm Hofmeister first introduced the kink in 1961
The Hoffmeister Kink on an early 1960s BMW 3200 CS.

Hidden designs on everyday products lurk everywhere. You may have heard of the ‘31’ lurking in the middle of the Baskin Robbins logo, or the FedEx arrow pointing, “Thataway!” between the ‘Fed’ and the ‘Ex.’ You may even have heard the myth that the ‘BMW’ symbol represents flying propellers as the German firm emerged from a renaming of the aircraft engine manufacturer Rapp Motorenwerke in 1917. (It doesn’t — the blue and white quarters actually represent BMW’s home state of Bavaria.) What only true auto nerds know is that auto manufacturer BMW has another secret symbol: the Hofmeister Kink.

Now, German auto aficionados can experience their car’s fine dynamics by accelerating through 55,241 (and counting) Hofmeister Kink-shaped roads throughout the United States, accessed through the BMW app.

Read more
What It’s Like to Drive a NASCAR Race Car (and Where You Can Get Behind the Wheel)
hands on nascar racing experience drive 5

I've driven a lot of fast cars in the past few years. Earlier this year, I had a Corvette up above 120 miles per hour on the track. I've been behind the wheel of Ferraris, Maseratis, BMWs, and the list goes on. So I figured I could handle a race car just fine, and my heartbeat didn't so much as quicken as I climbed through the window of a NASCAR stock car on the track of the Daytona International Speedway.

But as I sped toward the first turn and saw the 31-degree bank looming in front of me, I did have one brief heart flutter and a moment of doubt. As I recall, my thoughts were something like this: "Holy shit."

Read more