3-on-the-tree

02-06 Honda Civic Si would be as close to on the column as I would want.

^That looks neat.

Similar placement to a lot of old Alfas':

DaveEstey wrote: 02-06 Honda Civic Si would be as close to on the column as I would want.

Having driven one of those, I like that design a lot. It looks weird but it solves a huge pet peeve of mine with a lot of other cable-driven FWD boxes. I hate it when they make me feel down between the seats trying to find a piddly little knob (supply your own inuendo there) when I want to change gear. Actually a lot of other Hondas are exceptionally bad at that.

The shifter should be roughly in the same plane as the steering wheel and no more than the width of one hand away. So says I.

Wrong!

That's a cut down shifter AND a countersunk knob lol. Some people...

I don't like shifters or other stalks (wipers-lights-turns-etc.) within 3" of the wheel. But my favorite feature of old Alfas (other than the sound) was the shifter placement. I think this should be an industry standard.

Honda Element:

And then the aforementioned Carrera GT:

Hey another PistonHead reader lol

I taught my then-girlfriend-later-wife how to drive manual transmission on a '63 Mercedes 220S with four-on-the-column. (mid-'70s) Her little sister (supply your own innuendo here) learned on the same car. Fast forward to the present time and our progeny not only drives manual she taught her boyfriend-now-husband how to drive stick. And the little sister's son has an M3 of the E36 persuasion...

HOWEVER: The girls' grandmother had a '64 Dart with three on the tree...One winter day she parked across the street form the Post Office, leaving the car running. She had a habit of hanging her pocketbook on the shift lever. The pocketbook moved down the lever and shifted into first. There was just enough snow/ice on the road to allow the rear wheels to spin (slowly) but they gained traction and the Dart went across the street and into the door of the Post Office...They still talk about that 30 years on...