Anyone gone from driving a auto to manual?

[Mummy Bean]

Eek I am petrified. I passed my test nearly 5 years ago in a manual but the day I passed me and hubby went out and bought a huge landrover automatic, we have upgraded it twice since but always a landrover auto.

But we needed something a bit smaller and have just gone out a bought a BMW. So ive gone from huge 4x4 with powerful but sluggish engines with auto transmission, where I can see the front of the car to a fast rear wheeled drive manual where i couldnt even begin to tell where the front of the car is (thank god it has parking sensors).

No idea how I am going to drive it.

So has any one made the change - how long did it take you to get comfortable driving a manual again? Did you take lessons - professionally or from a friend??

 

[maisie78]

My last car before this one was an auto. It got written off Jan 2013 and the courtesy car was a manual. I was really nervous about driving it at first but it very quickly came back to me and we bought a manual car. Granted I had driven manual cars after my test (had the auto about 2 years) but it still took a little getting used to. Just take your time and don't stress, you'll be surprised how quickly it becomes instinct again xx

 

[weewdy]

You will be fine, i jump from manual to auto all the time and from a pick up to a mini on a daily basis, its amazing how quick you will get used to it.

What i will say is remember on roundabouts you are driving a rear wheel drive. We had a bmw and on a few occasions i had it nearly sideways round a roundabout.

 

[Louisandemma]

itll all come back to you in an hour or two dont worry

 

[emyandpotato]

I've never driven an automatic so don't really know what it's like but manual is easy peasy, I'm sure it'll come back to you! You don't need to think about it really, the car tells you when it needs to change gear and you'll feel it in the power etc. Just go somewhere quiet with your OH and practice changing gears.

 

[Eternal]

It took awhile and I really struggled with panicking about rolling back, lol, but most cars have anti roll these days. We then switched back to auto haha .... In f at recently bought a car and hubby insisted on another auto, his work van is a manual though and says he likes that they are different lol.

But yeah, it didn't take long, mind you I was going from small 1.0 litre autos (max 1.6) at the time to a 2.5 v6 which was much easier than an smaller engined manual. Auto just took the worry out of things for me, so we switched back. But overall I don't really mind what it is.

 

[holly2234]

I learnt to drive in an auto and i drive one daily, however we also have a manual that my OH drives. He learnt to drive it the day we bought it (after driving an auto forever). I can start it and get it moving without ever having stalled it! But as soon as i need to go out of first gear i get all tangled up and forget to take my foot off the gas when i pres the clutch or forget to use the brake at all! But then again, i have driven it for a total of 30 minutes EVER so its going to take me more practice yet.

Since you have already got it all down previously, im sure it will just come back to you!

 

[babyjan]

I think it will all come back but I agree, go somewhere quite to practise x

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

You will be fine! I much prefer auto but after 2 days you will be back to normal x

 

[Mummy Bean]

cheers guys made me feel better. deff intend to take it out to a local large car park and practice.

 

[Mrs R]

I drive an automatic, hubby drives a manual. I do have to think about it for a few mins when I get into his car to drive it (very rarely drive his car) but after a few minutes you'll get the hang of it again