does knowing how to drive stick (manual transmission) stay with you?
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Anonymous
| I'm 45. I drove a manual transmission car in high school, and again about 15 years ago when I borrowed the car of a relative who was in the hospital for a few weeks. Otherwise I have not driven stick for 25+ years. Now we're contemplating a vacation to a place where automatic cars are really limited (and super expensive) to rent. If I rent a manual, will it all come back to me? |
Anonymous
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Yes forever.
I do have a little trouble when in England and the stick is on the wrong side however. But even that is nbd. |
Anonymous
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Yes, but is it a difficult clutch that has been trashed by many renters? Is it hilly? Is the local driving culture challenging?
It might be a whole lot less stress to plan ahead and go out of your way to get an automatic. |
Anonymous
| Yes! I bought a stick shift car at age 45, and it came back immediately. |
Anonymous
| You’ll fall right back into it. My muscle memory took over, it was like I’d never stopped. |
Anonymous
| Yes, but I'm bad at downshifting. I'd rather put it in neutral and let it glide and only bother putting in in drive when I need to start going again. I cannot break, turn and downshift at the same time. If I have a turn coming and I need to slow down, I'd rather not break with it in gear as it might die out. |
Anonymous
| Yes. But, be careful with steep hills, that takes me a day or two to get back to perfect. |
Anonymous
That is way too many can'ts to be a safe driver. |
Anonymous
|
Yes it comes back!
Learned on a stick, then drove automatics with the exception of an occasional European rental until I bought a stick last year. Most of it was immediate. The finer points took me longer. With my first car I was a pro at parallel parking in Annapolis—a tight squeeze spot on a hill. Thirty years later and a different car...I’m glad the spaces where I am now aren’t so cramped! |
Anonymous
| I would also echo what PP said about manual in countries that drive on the left. A family member just returned from Scotland. The stick is to your left but the position of the gears remains the same instead of being mirror imaged. He also said his left arm wasn’t as strong as his right and he had a harder time shifting. So in those cases I might get an automatic, one less thing to attend to while you’re trying to remember to stay on the left. |
Anonymous
Not for me 
I learned on a manual in a European country, and was so happy to switch to an automatic here. I must have a coordination issue. When I go back and try to drive a manual, I get so stressed out it’s not worth it. |
Anonymous
| Yes. You just need to get the feel of the car you are driving. I rented in France last year and was very nervous but I was fine after the first half mile of feeling out the new car. |
Anonymous
| OP here. Thanks all. This is for the Azores Islands, so driving will be on the same side of the road as I'm used to. (Thank god -- otherwise I don't think I'd try.) I suspect roads will be hilly, but that traffic/parking won't be too awful. |
Anonymous
| Just make sure you know how to get it in reverse. I got stuck one time after borrowing a friend's VW! It was different than mine (you had to push it in and down, and it took me many stressful minutes to try to figure it out). |
Anonymous
| Shouldn’t be a problem. Have fun. |