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08/19/2022
I am badly brought up. Not from my parents - God forbid - but from my car. No matter how hard I try, I can't turn an ignition key from the zero position directly to the starter contact. No matter how much of a hurry I'm in, there has to be a short pause between switching on the ignition and activating the starter. That's why, in my opinion, the most unrealistic thing about modern action movies is that the hero jumps into a car for a chase and a second later is already speeding away with screeching tires.
The 1998 Citroën Evasion 2.1 Turbo D, in which I gained my first driving experience as a seventeen-year-old, is to blame. The uncouth vortex chamber monster wanted to be carefully preheated before every cold start and could not be rushed. So you put the ignition key in the lock, turned it to notch two and then had all the time in the world to adjust the rear-view mirrors, adjust the seat position and fasten your seat belt before the four-cylinder engine came to life with a sound like a moving box full of porcelain tumbling down the cellar stairs.
My first car of my own at the age of 18 was not much better. As a former Berlin car, the 1987 Mercedes-Benz 300 TE had a retrofitted electronic immobilizer. However, it didn't disarm itself as usual via a radio transponder in the key fob, but only via a cumbersome additional handle. So I put the ignition key back in the lock, turned it to notch two - and all the lights remained dark. Because now a fiddly plastic pin had to be held against a contact on the steering column. And that takes time if the key ring doesn't have the ideal diameter.
So even today, the first thing I do after getting in the car is turn the ignition key to notch two before I do anything else, and even leave a second to think if I want to restart the engine after stopping at a level crossing. I feel it's a gesture of courtesy to the engine not to wake it up without warning. It must be given a fair chance to adjust. After all, I don't want to be rudely tossed out of bed in the morning when the alarm clock rings - I'd rather roll over again.
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