Gen Z driver is horrified by extra stick shift in car - older generations give him an education

The concept of a stick shift, or manual, car remains alien to a lot of younger American drivers.

In fact, most young drivers have never even tried a stick shift car before.

This person does drive such a car, but ran into an unexpected and intriguing issue.

He found an extra stick in his car alongside the gearbox.

DISCOVER SBX CARS – Bid now on supercar auctions powered by Supercar Blondie

Gen Z driver can’t work out the extra stick

This humorous story comes to us today from the social media platform Reddit.

For those who are unfamiliar, Reddit is an enormous platform that hosts thousands of different communities.

These communities, known as, ‘sub-reddits’, can be dedicated to almost any interest you can think of.

Naturally, we tend to gravitate towards any of these communities that are car-focused.

Recently, a Reddit user called, ‘getajobtuga’, posted quite an interesting dilemma.

“I’m Gen Z, I do drive manual, but what is this abomination?” the user titled their post.

They also included a photo of his gearstick, which does, indeed, show a stick shift.

But it also includes a second, slightly smaller gear shifter just to the left of the main stick.

Older users educate gen Z poster on second stick

Thankfully – and mostly unlike the internet – the user’s post received a lot of help.

In fact, the Reddit post attracted some extremely informed guidance on the equipment at hand.

The first comment on the Reddit post provided some much-sought after clarification.

“You have a vehicle with a low-range transfer case.

“It allows you to adjust the torque going to the wheels and/or 2 or 4 wheel drive,” they explained.

And that response was absolutely correct in diagnosing the second stick.

How does a low range transfer case work?

A low-range transfer case is mostly found in 4×4 vehicles.

It allows the driver to switch between speed and torque, especially for situations that call for more power.

Essentially, when it’s engaged, the transfer case engages an additional set of reduction gears.

This then has the effect of reducing the overall gearing of the vehicle.

In turn, the engine’s power is geared down, which results in a vast increase in torque delivery to the wheels.

As you might imagine, low range gearing is ideal in difficult terrain, such as mud, snow, or rock crawling.

It’s also much better for transferring heavy loads at much lower speeds.

Perhaps old dogs can teach younger ones existing tricks, after all.

DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie