Going forward (and only forward) until a K-9 officer helps
By Gina Spadafori
June 5, 2008
Yesterday, a little Hyundai Accent SE gets dropped off for the week’s test drive. I sign the paperwork, thank the driver and then go back in to work. It’s a sweet little car, well-equipped for $16K with super gas mileage (27/32) and, from first impression, a pretty good amount of room inside.
But I soon discovered a little problem: I can’t figure out how to get it into reverse. I pull out the manual, and still can’t see what it was I wasn’t understanding. “R” was over and up, I can see that. But pushing down, pulling up … nothing was cutting it. I finally push the little car out of the space, shift into first gear and drive home.
To be fair, I had one icky headache, so maybe the neurons weren’t exactly connecting at their best.
Finally, I drive to my friend Pam’s shop, Launderdog.
Pam’s a can-do person, and I thought maybe she could figure it out. First go, nothing. She and I are digging through the manual again. Fortunately, there was a County Sheriff at the store, a K-9 officer with his dog, picking up some food and schmoozing.
“I’ll try it,” he says. And sure enough, in three seconds flat, he has it in reverse. There’s a ring on the stick you have to pull up and hold up while shifting into reverse.
Well, duh, and I sure felt like an idiot. The sheriff shrugged and effected an “aw, shucks, ma’am, we’re here to serve” manner. I thanked him profusely, anyway, and Pam asked for and got permission to give the gorgeous little German shepherd officer a treat.
Now that I see how the shifting is done (although I still don’t think the manual explained it well), I know it’s so simple the police dog herself could have done it.
Such are the trials of a DogCars.com vehicle reviewer. And of course it was a K9 officer who helped me figure it out!
Any opportunity to assist the multi-talented Gina is flattery enough and in light of my pre-doglife career as a factory rep for (then) Mercedes-Benz of North America, an opportunity to figure out an aspect of something with four wheels instead of four paws seemed as easy as, well, shifting into drive. But here we were trying (embarrassingly) for reverse. As I sat in the little Hyundai Accent SE, it felt comfortable enough; probably more so if I weren’t so distracted by trying to impress and rescue Gina. The driver’s manual explanation may have been one of the stickiest (pun intended) illustrations in the entire manual. And who says there’s never a cop around when you need one?! Ahh, the men in uniform - especially the ones with dog hair on them! Next time you see one of the K9 units, smile and wave. They get to have their dog as their partner in pursuit of badguys in Sacramento County which makes them the Goodguys and most certainly this guy was the goodguy for Gina!
Comment by Pamela Demarest — June 5, 2008 @ 8:32 pm