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I don't think it took me more than a couple minutes to feel comfortable in a right-hand drive manual driving on the left. But roundabouts still required some analytical attention. Driving is driving.
My 1st car was a Honda CRX stick shift. It was all I could afford so my Mom showed me on the way home after buying it. Half way home she asked if I wanted to try, I took over and after a few stalls I caught on quick. Now I prefer stick but usually end up with autos.
My very first experience with having to shift gears was on my older brothers Triumph motorcycle. I was probably 12 or 13 and only got to ride in the nearby church parking lot. I do know that my legs were far too short to reach the ground.
I really learned to drive a stick in 1971 when a friend who had an older Saab Shrike taught me one afternoon. Since these were 2 stroke vehicles one had to "free wheel" when not accelerating. I owned several of these cars myself and when I finally had a more conventional car with a 4 stroke engine it took some time to learn not to free wheel when slowing down to but down shift instead.
Some people just can't learn. My parents got the truck I currently have because my mom's friend at work had to sell it because his spouse just could not learn to drive a stick. What the hangup was I don't know, but she said he told her he was tired of driving whenever they went out since his partner couldn't. So they sold it to my mom and bought an automatic. My dad drove it for a couple of years until he bought a van, then I inherited it.
I think a lot of younger people don't have the chance. I don't know anyone in So Cal, other than sports cars, that drive stick. It's a major PITA with the traffic, clutch, clutch, fourgettaboutit.
I tried to learn by renting a Honda S2000 but I got stuck while making a U-turn and had to ask someone walking his dog to help me get out. Drove it right back to the rental place and got an automatic instead.
So I never learned.
A rental S2000? :Eek: where was this??
It took me a couple hours to get the basics, driving my Saab 900 SPG back from where I bought it in Rhode Island to Boston. Maybe three days to have it down to where I was confident enough to start on a slight incline. After a few weeks it became ingrained. Every car I've owned was a manual.
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