> > > *Phew*
> > >
> > > I go away for a long weekend to improve my Scuba qualifications and it all goes off!
> >
> > I'll be gone from Thursday through Monday...I wonder how many posts I'll have to catch up on.
> >
> > > On another note, the vast majority of cars in the UK are manual transmission and if you only learnt auto, you aren't allowed to drive manual. What's the rule in the US?
> >
> > I come from a long line of automatic-transmission-only drivers on my mom's side of the family. I don't think there are any states that actually require people to learn to drive a manual, but I think it's a good idea for a couple of reasons.
> >
> > First of all, in an emergency, your choices are limited if you can only drive an automatic.
> >
> > Second, manuals are fun to drive and you have a lot more control over the car.
> >
> > Third, if my grandparents had ever learned to drive a manual trasmission, they would not still be driving an automatic with two feet. My grandpa taught himself to drive, and he in turn taught my grandma to drive. Apparently, nobody ever told him that it's a good idea to only use one foot for both the gas and the brake pedals. As a result, my grandparents have to get the brakes redone on their cars every year or so, even though they live on an island where people really can't drive for hours and hours unless they want to keep circling the island.
> >
> > My mom still doesn't know how to drive a manual transmission, and I wonder if my sister will ever be coordinated enough to learn. Having driven a manual for the last three years, I think all people should experience them.
> >
> > That said, I recently bought a new car and got an automatic. No, I'm not a traitor to the cause; I actually had a reason for it, although Sean had to keep reminding me of it when I was car shopping so that I didn't get another manual. I have recurring tendinitis in the arm I shift gears with and, when it acts up, driving is a royal pain. Sean used to have an automatic (he just bought a new car, too, and got a manual), and I would actually switch cars with him for a few days so that I would be in less pain. I love my new car and can't find a single fault with it, but I recently drove Sean's manual and I loved driving it. One day, when I'm rich and famous, I'll have both kinds of cars.
> >
> > > Beasty
> >
> > Ell"Champion procrastinator!"myruh
>
> Actually, with an automatic (and with a manual if you're really good), left foot braking is preferred, but ONLY if you're very coordinated and are a very good driver. I'm talking race experience here. Reason being, you can get on the appropriate pedals a lot quicker with one foot per pedal. And you can trail brake, which involves braking and hitting the gas at the same time. This is useful for when you've messed up and are entering a snowy/sandy corner at too high a speed - - -it'll help rotate the nose of the car around to point where you want to go.
>
>
> of course, you don't BRAKE all the time when your left foot is covering the brake. Someone should tell your grandparents that ;)
>
>
> As far as manual/automatic. . . .why not try a tiptronic tranny? that's the one that you can drive in either automatic or semi-automatic mode. In semi automatic, you choose when to shift by tapping the shifter left or right, rather than letting the computer pick your shifts. And for the days when you're in pain, you just keep it in full-auto mode.
>
>
> (you could also buy a Ferarri F355 and get those SWEET steering wheel mounted paddle shifters ;)
>
>
> As far as auto/manual laws in the US, you don't even have to know how to DRIVE, much less shift. The driving instruction in this country is garbage, pure and simple. In fact, one guy that runs a REALLY good driving school in my state, in which he teaches you how to get out of fishtails, skids, etc, by actually running you through the maneuvers rather than just telling you about them in class, has gotten in trouble because the state feels he's encouraging people to drive like maniacs, and because he's spending "too much time outside of the class room"

I tend to heel-and-toe the brake and gas, especially when driving in snow. I do it without thinking. After 50 years or so, things like that become automatic. I also sometimes double clutch, which is not really necessary with modern transmissions, but it's habit. I have a Cushman Eagle with a two-speed crash box (unsnyn tranny)and a foot clutch. Shifting from low to high requires only a pause in neutral, but high back to low requires double clutching. A few Eagle riders, who haven't bothered to learn that, will always come to a complete stop, shift into low and then take off again. By then, double clutchers are already to the top of the hill.
Howard