learn to drive standard

When I was in France earlier this year, I was very excited to go from Calais, to Vimy Ridge, to the d-day beaches! The only challenge was that I had to do it all in two days! Given that I love to drive, I didn’t worry about renting a car and figuring out the French roadsystem. I was very proud of myself that I was able to negotiate the rental of a car for two days (all in French!), and was very psyched to pick up the car the next day. I woke up that evening from a deep sleep with a very troubly thought..oh no, I forgot to ask the most important question…is the car automatic. Sure, I had always wanted to learn how to drive standard, but the circumstances had never arisen to allow that to occur. Sure enough, I arrived bright and early at the car rental agency only to find out that the car (and in fact all of their cars) were standard. EEEKKK. After stopping at three different car rental agencies in Arras, I was able to find an automatic car and while I ended up paying almost $1000 for two days, I had no choice. It was at that point that I decided that I really have to learn to drive standard!

Second lesson in standard with a different driver. I felt very small in this car but driving standard the second time around was easier. I didnt stall as much but shifting up and down is still difficult. More practice is needed

Update: My car (automatic) is gone! Sold! I am very happy. It was a good car and I’ll miss it, but it was definitely time to let it go and move on to something else.

I have not practiced standard driving in the past month very much at all, so everything that I learned will need refreshing again, ughh. I am supposed to be driving the standard jeep now, but I’ll need to practice a while before I feel confident enough to drive that thing in public.

So I had my first lesson in my friends care and damn that was so different from driving automatic. It felt strange to use both legs and to leave behind the inclination to treat the clutch like a brake. No one perished in this attempt but I did almost hit a bus when I started to roll backwards! Those pesky buses come out of nowhere!

More practicing tonight… I actually drove around some of the side streets near my house in 1st and 2nd gear. It was late in the evening so there were very few cars on the road. I’m getting better at making the transitions between gears more smoothly. Still working on starting on hills though…

Yesterday I started practicing this. My mom and I drove up to the parking lot near our house and I did laps around it in the jeep. I’ve learned the basics of driving standard before, and I always struggle with finding the right balance between the clutch and gas when starting up. So that’s what I worked on last night. I think it went pretty well, I only stalled a few times but not too many. Tonight hopefully I can go out again and get some more practice.

My husband’s car is a stick shift, and we don’t have money (or parking space) for a second car. I gotta learn to drive a standard, or take the bus!

I might come back to this later, if I ever meet anyone that has a standard transmission car that I can practice on. Kinda pointless for me right now.

So I’m thinking about bailing on this one. I haven’t even known anyone with a standard transmission car in years, so it makes learning to drive one kind of hard. I already know I will always buy an automatic anyways. I like being able to multi-task and eat or talk while I drive – if I have to.

I first learned to drive standard when I was 17. The incentive for me to learn was from my Dad who said I could have his second-hand truck if I could manage to drive a stick! It was pretty scary in the beginning, especially the hills! But like anything else in life, the more you practice something, the better you’ll get in time. I was glad that he taught me standard because I was able to purchase other vehicles when I was younger that were standard; thus being more cost effective. Now that I am older and have paid my dues, I won’t purchase anything but an automatic :D But I am glad that I can drive standard in case of an emergency situation. I had to drive my SIL’s standard truck the other week because she didn’t feel like driving, and although it had been nearly 4 years since I drove standard, I could still do it :D