1st World Problems: Valet Parking a Manual

[velocitas]

Looking at upgrading my car this week and will most likely be a manual as I'm bored of automatics or automated manuals!

One question being a typical lazy fat expat I tend to valet park a lot but I have serious doubts about letting one of those fine gentlemen ride the clutch on my car all the way around the carpark costing me a small fortune in exotic car pieces.

So avoiding the obvious answer of "park it yourself you git", would you trust any of these guys to know how to drive a manual properly?

[After_Shock]

Have you finally found that DBS you have been after?

In reply to above, having watched a valet stall a Carrera GT 3 times in a row outside mall of the emirates then the answer would be no.

[Pistom]

No

[dxbtiger]

When the byblos hotel in tecom first opened we watched the valet drive a mates wrongler (auto) into the revolving doors!

Jeep was fine, doors didn't fair so well.

[shirt]

my wrangler was a manual, never had any issues having that valet parked. the elise i have valeted twice now and won't ever bother again. its amusing watching them try and get in, not so amusing when you have to go fetch it yourself as they can't work out how to start it.

[MitchmachineUAE]

As others have mentioned, I'd park it yourself.

The wife used a valet to park my manual wrx in Qatar a few times which resulted in a new clutch after 20,000kms.

[velocitas]

The answer is as expected so, park it yourself.

@After Shock, yeah mate I stumbled across a low mileage, bond spec DBS with two years warranty that I'm struggling to get out of my head. The R8 is a great car but not enough drama for my one day a week car. I got low balled by the dealer so I'm going to look into selling mine first and if I get the right price for it that will open up a few options. If not, I’ll just keep the R8 for another few months

[Gaffer]

A lot of places wont valet park a manual as the guys only have the automatic licences.
Numerous times I have had to drive the Z with the valet guy in the passenger seat to the parking.

No drama really.

Claire

[e21jason]

I wonder how they deal with a dog leg first

[After_Shock]

velocitas said:

The answer is as expected so, park it yourself.

@After Shock, yeah mate I stumbled across a low mileage, bond spec DBS with two years warranty that I'm struggling to get out of my head. The R8 is a great car but not enough drama for my one day a week car. I got low balled by the dealer so I'm going to look into selling mine first and if I get the right price for it that will open up a few options. If not, I’ll just keep the R8 for another few months

Ah fantastic, same grey colour as the bond car? Cant be many in the UAE!

[matrignano]

I'm sure the fly-off handbrake will cause them some bother as well

[Impspeed]

Off topic, but watching Burj Al Arab Valet trying to put a Fisker Karma in to gear, let alone drive it, was humorous. They did park it out the front next to a Veyron and Rolls Royce though.

[velocitas]

matrignano said:

I'm sure the fly-off handbrake will cause them some bother as well

To give credit where it's due, I couldn't even get the handbrake off on the test drive. Still it's a nice out of the ordinary feature as is fishtailing every time you put your put down

[velocitas]

After_Shock said:

Ah fantastic, same grey colour as the bond car? Cant be many in the UAE!

Yup, it's the grey from Quantum of Solace rather than the lighter silver from Casino Royale:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfYC_CBNtiM

Just need to flog my car first......

[After_Shock]

velocitas said:

Yup, it's the grey from Quantum of Solace rather than the lighter silver from Casino Royale:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfYC_CBNtiM

Just need to flog my car first......

Lovely! Make sure to get some pics up when you get it

[shirt]

Impspeed said:

Off topic, but watching Burj Al Arab Valet trying to put a Fisker Karma in to gear, let alone drive it, was humorous. They did park it out the front next to a Veyron and Rolls Royce though.

not surprising these days really especially if you're used to twist key and go. i've had several car hire experiences where its trial and error to get it started and the parking brake disengaged,