I’ve taught a half dozen or so people to drive manuals. Each one did something I’d not have expected. My favorite was the person who pushed the clutch down only as far as they pressed the brake when coming to a stop. Of course the car died. Once we could break that habit they did alright.
I pretty much just start with having them stall the car to prove the world doesn’t end…it’s fine. It’s gonna happen a dozen or so more times. Let’s move on.
On the other hand, I grew up driving manual, as most people in Europe, and my first time driving an automatic I was rolling up to the car rental exit and I pressed the brake as hard as I usually press the clutch. It was not fun for anyone in the car.
Then over the next few days of road trip, everyone else in the car had their turn at driving and we all did it 2 or 3 times, so it became an inside joke.
There was a point when everything I owned were manuals. Went to visit my parents and had to drive one of their cars. Got in and went to start it and thud! I instinctively went for the clutch and brake. Right foot found the brake and my left foot found the floor.
You typically learn to feel the accelerator and brake with one foot but just engage the clutch (ie, all the finesse is letting the clutch out). But you know this. All your muscle memory works like that. When you switch to automatic, just use the one foot and it works much better.
You have probably already worked that out but it’s handy advice if you’re a passenger in an automatic with a first-time driver who is used to manual.
I’ve taught a half dozen or so people to drive manuals. Each one did something I’d not have expected. My favorite was the person who pushed the clutch down only as far as they pressed the brake when coming to a stop. Of course the car died. Once we could break that habit they did alright.
I pretty much just start with having them stall the car to prove the world doesn’t end…it’s fine. It’s gonna happen a dozen or so more times. Let’s move on.
On the other hand, I grew up driving manual, as most people in Europe, and my first time driving an automatic I was rolling up to the car rental exit and I pressed the brake as hard as I usually press the clutch. It was not fun for anyone in the car.
Then over the next few days of road trip, everyone else in the car had their turn at driving and we all did it 2 or 3 times, so it became an inside joke.
There was a point when everything I owned were manuals. Went to visit my parents and had to drive one of their cars. Got in and went to start it and thud! I instinctively went for the clutch and brake. Right foot found the brake and my left foot found the floor.
You typically learn to feel the accelerator and brake with one foot but just engage the clutch (ie, all the finesse is letting the clutch out). But you know this. All your muscle memory works like that. When you switch to automatic, just use the one foot and it works much better.
You have probably already worked that out but it’s handy advice if you’re a passenger in an automatic with a first-time driver who is used to manual.
The hard part to muscle-learn was to leave the left foot alone and just use the right one.