[deleted]

Comments

• bigkahuna1986@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Manuls aren’t super hard, but there’s definitely a learning curve you can’t avoid. Since you’ll be in a new country you’ll have enough going on and don’t want to add to any stress, I would really recommend renting an automatic.

  source

  • hydrashok@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    This. It takes a bit to figure out the rhythm, but it’s not hard once you know how it feels. If you do, definitely be prepared to be frustrated at least once and stall the car at least more than once (I know I did)!

    Once you figure it out, though, it can be much more fun and engaging (and sometimes more annoying) than an automatic.

    source
  • kambusha@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Yeah, you’re going to stall the engine in the beginning. A lot. That means turning the engine back on in traffic in unfamiliar surroundings.

    Also, if you’re going to be driving on any hills, you’ll need a separate new skill set for a manual car.

    Stick to automatic, but take the offer to learn.

    source
• schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Are you sure you will be allowed to drive a manual car in Romania with your American license if you didn’t take the test with a manual car? I live in a different European country and here if you take the test with an automatic car, you are only allowed to drive automatic cars. You should research this.

  It’s definitely different from an automatic car and requires more concentration. Once you get used to it, it’s not difficult. I was older than you are now when I learned to drive at all (which I did on a manual car) and managed it anyway.

  source

  • OhmsLawn@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    US licenses don’t differentiate. There’s no way to tell by the license which transmission you used on the test. Shouldn’t be a problem.

    source

    • thebestaquaman@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      For that exact reason some countries (my country included) don’t accept an American license unless you do a test here first.

      Though IIRC, that applies for both manuals and automatics, because American drivers education isn’t really trusted here.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
  • distance@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    [deleted]

    source

    • Another_username@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      When I was in Romania last year the rental company (enterprise) wouldn’t accept my US driver license…not sure if it is Romanian law or company policy though.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
    • thebestaquaman@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      You might want to check the details here: I know that in some European countries, you’ll have trouble renting a car at all with an American license unless you pass a driving test in a European country first to get certified. In fact, in several countries I don’t think an American license is valid at all until you pass a test. It’s probably worth checking out the details for Romania.

      source
• 0ops@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  If you’re anything like me, you have an easier time understanding how to do things if you understand how they work.

  Image

  See the clutch in the diagram? The clutch is the part that actually connects the engine to the transmission. Mechanically, it’s almost like a brake but reversed. To keep things simple, the engine side has a disk and the transmission side has a disk. When you press in the clutch pedal all the way to the floor, those disks will be totally separated and the engine can rev however you like because it’s not connected to the rest of the drivetrain. As you release the clutch slowly and smoothly, you’ll feel the clutch “bite”: that’s when the two disks make contact, but it’s very light contact at first so they’ll be sliding against eachother (think of gently applied brakes). The friction will still spin the transmission a little bit though, and if you’re in gear the car will start to roll. As you smoothly release the clutch pedal more and more, the two disks will press into eachother more and more firmly, sliding less and less, until you’ve fully released the clutch pedal and the disks aren’t sliding at all; the engine is totally connected to the rest of the drivetrain.

  Image

  With most cars I recommend for a first step starting the car rolling on flat ground using only the clutch, no gas. With some cars you might have to give it a little gas, but in my experience most cars have enough idling torque to start from a stop by releasing the clutch very slowly and smoothly, I’m talking like 5 seconds or more to go from clutch fully to the floor and car stopped to fully released and rolling. Once you’ve done that a few times and you’re starting to get a good feel for how the clutch behaves, you can start adding some gas to start more quickly and release the clutch quicker (but still smoothly).

  The second thing to know once you’re rolling is that the engine needs to run within a certain rev range, if you let it get too low (below like below idle rpms), you’ll stall, too high and you’ll hit the rev limiter or possibly damage the engine if it doesn’t have one. Knowing that, I think that timing shifts and knowing when to press the clutch becomes pretty intuitive, really all you need to do is press the clutch before the engine gets out of that rev range, shift up or down in the direction that gets you back into it (or maybe into neutral if you’re stopping), and smoothly release.

  TL;DR: The clutch connects the engine to the transmission. Press it in to disconnect the engine from the transmission, release smoothly to gradually reconnect. Start out only using the clutch to to get the car rolling, then once you’ve got the hang of that try adding a little gas to get rolling quicker. Shift in a way that the engine is always within it’s rev range, i.e. press the clutch in and begin changing to a more appropriate gear before you start redlining or bogging.

  source
• zxqwas@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Like riding a bike. If you’ve never done it it’s going to be hard but give it a few hours of deliberate practice you’ll be fine.

  And again like with a bike you should probably practice away from traffic to begin with…

  source
• FistingEnthusiast@lemmynsfw.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  It’s easy

  It’s also a great way to be more connected to your vehicle and what’s happening. You have to be more aware of things, anticipate corners, hills etc.

  Automatics have made people lazy and disconnected

  source

  • SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    That’s why I drive a manual with no power steering, power brakes, ABS or traction control.

    Manual windows and no power locking and I find power window wipers make this generation soft too.

    source

    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      My mans over here saving the planet

      Image

      source
    • Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      You don’t have an automatic starter do you? Things started going downhill when we stopped manually cranking the engine

      source
• LordCrom@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Take the lesson. While learning, stay off of hills and any upward incline until you got a feel from taking the car from full stop to going in 1at gear.

  While learning you will stall the car… Don’t let it bother you.

  The trickiest part is learning how to ease the clutch while applying gas to go from full stop to motion forward.

  Remember neutral when coming to a stop.

  Manuals are great, it’s built in theft protection from like 95 % of people

  source

  • Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Yea, getting the lesson from Dad is probably a great thing. He’ll enjoy helping, it’s good bonding time, and he’ll have stories for the future!

    source

    • macaw_dean_settle@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      *yeah, not yea or nay. It isn’t a vote.

      source
• hildegarde@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Its not hard to learn but it does take time to become confortable with it. I recommend renting a car. Driving manual car for the first time with the added stress of driving in a different county is a recipe for disaster. By all means try it. Take up the offer of that lesson, but its unwise to have to rely on a manual car for transport when you’ve never driven one before.

  But also make sure you actually need a car. The US is built with fully car dependent infrastructure, so americans are taught their whole lives to just assume they always need a car. That isn’t the case everywhere, and might not be where you’re going. Be sure to check.

  source
• letsgo@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Make sure your driving licence is valid for driving manual in Romania. Here in the UK if you pass your test on an automatic, you’re only licenced to drive automatic, and if you drive manual then you are breaking the law and your insurance is invalid.

  Maybe there’s no issue but it’s worth checking.

  source
• CandleTiger@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Learning to drive a stick is really easy if you have somebody to teach you well, but waaay too many people are like, “here, keep fucking up until the car doesn’t go anymore or you figure it out, whichever comes first”.

  Hardest part is getting the car to start moving from stopped. Changing gears once moving, you can fuck it up a bunch and nothing much happens except funny engine noises and the owner starts making constipated-looking facial expressions. But if you fuck up starting from stopped, then you lurch around a bunch, stall the engine, and don’t go anywhere.

  To get started from stopped, without horrible lurches or stalls, do like this FROM A FLAT PLACE – don’t try anything with hills until you can make the car go on the flat first:

  0. IMPORTANT: adjust your seat so you can easily push the clutch (left pedal) in – all the way to the floor – without uncomfortable stretching

  1. In your driveway when there’s nobody going to honk at you, start the car, put it in neutral, and practice pushing the gas pedal just enough to hold the engine at 3000 RPM or so. Not making crazy racing noises, just a nice steady “the engine is running normal-fast-ish” and hold it that way. Practice a couple times until your foot and your ear know what it feels like

  2. Put it in gear without moving – gas off, clutch in and put the car in first gear.

  3. Gas on, steady at 3000 RPM, slooooooowly let the clutch out until you can just barely feel the clutch is engaged. Engine revs down a little bit, car starts crawling forward. Practice that a couple times, just let the clutch out until it barely starts doing anything, then put it back in, until your foot knows what it feels like.

  4. Now do it again, engine held at steady revs, clutch out until just barely engaged, then let the clutch out just a little bit more, so the car wants to crawl, and hold the clutch there. Car starts crawling. Keep the engine steady like you’ve been, let the car start crawling, don’t even change anything, just let the car crawl. It will slowly accelerate until you’re moving at some steady 1st-gear speed. Once it’s come up to (slow) speed you can let the clutch out the rest of the way.

  5. Congratulations you moved a car

  source

  • Successful_Try543@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    practice pushing the gas pedal just enough to hold the engine at 3000 RPM or so. Not making crazy racing noises, just a nice steady “the engine is running normal-fast-ish”

    Depending on the type of car, this might usually be somewhere between 1500 and 2000 RPM, 3000 RPM are more typical for a sports car.

    source

    • lime@feddit.nu ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      especially in a diesel…

      source

      • -> View More Comments
    • sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      It’s also typical for a Honda fit

      source
  • x00z@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    IMPORTANT: adjust your seat so you can easily push the clutch (left pedal) in – all the way to the floor – without uncomfortable stretching

    The person of the driving school who thought me how to drive told me to push in the clutch completely, and put your seat in a way that you would have your knee bent just a tiny bit.

    source
• Adderbox76@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I miss the prevalence of manual transmissions. Every one of my old first beater cars were manuals. But it seems that they’ve been phased out for the most part and it sucks. Driving Automatics isn’t really driving (I’ll die on that hill).

  source
• JustJack23@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Why do you need to drive in the first place?

  source

  • DarkCloud@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Yeah, just take their well known public transport system, or take six months and tour the country by bicycle. \s

    source

    • Sentau@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Can’t his boyfriend drive the car

      source
• banshee@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Driving a manual is pretty easy, but it depends on how you handle failure. The learning process requires making a few mistakes while you become familiar with a clutch and shifting gears.

  Also, I think it’s much easier to learn if you know what the parts are doing. Watch some videos on how it all works and what different RPMs sound like.

  source
• gnu@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  The basics are easy - half an hour with someone who knows what they"re doing should be all you need to get out and about. Getting to the point where it’s instinctual and you don’t have to think about shifting is probably beyond the limits of a short trip but depending on how much driving you do you can be fairly smooth within a few days.

  The main risk you run with learning manual is that once you get the hang of it it spoils automatics for you - you might end up having to buy yourself a manual car to avoid being annoyed by the missteps autos tend to do.

  source

  • boletus@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Modern autos with cvts are kinda at the point where it is basically magic. They feel like driving a golf kart that can reach 200km/h.

    source
• NeryK@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Driving manual is not particularly complicated, but it will require you to focus a lot of attention on it at first. Since you also have to cope with with differences in driving regulations, this will put you and your passengers more at risk than necessary.

  It takes time (~tens of hours) to build the muscle memory so that it becomes natural. For a vacation in the short term, you should go ahead with your plan to rent an automatic.

  source
• spankmonkey@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  You could rent an automatic, get the lesson, then see if you want to use their cars or keep the rental. I do recommend giving it a shot since it would be a new experience!

  There is a small learning curve to manuals, and it is slightly harder in hilly areas.

  source
• twice_hatch@midwest.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Image 🤠

  source
• RBWells@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Not if you already know how to drive, no. My kid who was motivated to use my car learned easily, and I learned it in a day when the rest of the people I was with were too drunk to drive.

  But learning to drive in a new country? And manual at the same time? That seems more difficult. Can you practice here first? Does anyone you know drive stick?

  source
• bstix@feddit.dk ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Driving manual is not difficult, but unlike the opposite scenario, it’s not something you can learn with only short instructions.

  It does take time to develop the motor skills in order do it without thinking about it. The practice wlll take maybe an afternoon or two if you do nothing else. I’d advise you to do it over more than one day to allow yourself to sleep on it and come back at it

  Once you’ve learned it, you’ll never think about it again though.

  source
• theunknownmuncher@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Takes a bit of practice to get the feel for it but it’s not too hard. 90% of the learning curve is just getting the car rolling from a dead stop without stalling

  source
• Bytemeister@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  It’s not too bad. You can get passable in a manual with less than a day of practice.

  There are a lot of good tips in here, but I’ll add a few that seem to be missing/less prioritized.

  Practice rev matching while down shifting. You’ll be a lot more comfortable with the car if you can get into a lower gear faster. This will allow you to pass and accelerate smoother and with confidence.

  Practice recovering from a stall (although you’re probably going to do this accidentally anyway). Foot on brake, push the clutch all the way in, shift to neutral or 1st (I prefer 1st to get into gear faster), start the car, and get moving. This process should be fairly automatic and done within a second or two.

  On that note, don’t worry about stalling the car. It feels terrible, and embarrassing, but it’s not really damaging the vehicle (might wear out the engine mounts a little faster, but no one really cares).

  Most important, have fun!

  source
• kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  hm i think you will need at least lime 3h of controlled practice tp get used to it. My gf learnt to drive automatic and after 3 lessons of 30min, she can barely start moving the car by herself lol.

  source
• Agitatedpencils@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I’ve found the hardest part is suddenly having any health issue with major extremities. Broke your finger? Crucial. Broke your leg or foot? Crucial. Having 2 functioning legs and 2 functioning hands is ideal.

  source
• NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  The clutch biting point is the main trick - particularly on a hill start. In an automatic you can hear the gear shifts so that’s your timing.

  source
• bdonvr@thelemmy.club ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  It’s not toooooo hard. But you will need a good little bit to get the feel for it.

  And I don’t know how hilly Romania is but the first time your stall out on an incline you will feel embarrassed and likely honked at. And it will be all the harder to recover cause now you’re stressed about it.

  source
• Graphy@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Driving a manual is easy if you already know how to drive. I got my lesson from a dude who sold me my first manual. You’ll fuck up a bit but you won’t break anything.

  Take the automatic if you’re worried and just enjoy your vacation

  source

  • 52fighters@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I’m teaching my 15 year old how to drive and we drive a manual transmission. She’s doing just a well as her three older siblings that learned on automatics.

    source
• MTK@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  It’s really easy, there’s just a few things that you have to remember and there is a bit of muscle memory. I suggest watch a bunch of videos on how to do it properly on YouTube and just practice in a parking lot for like 2-3 hours and you should be completely fine to drive. You might not have cars to practice on where you live, but you might be able to just do it when you get to Romania. Just go for like two hours to practice before you start driving around.

  source
• melsaskca@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Driving a manual is a bit tricky to start with but minimum practice and you’ll learn everything you need to know. Everything else is experience. Once you’ve driven it for a while, especially through various weather conditions, you’ll find that you have more control of the vehicle when driving a manual stick shift. Even three on the tree makes you more free.

  source
• fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  It’s incredibly easy if you have any semblance of finesse with your feet. Rev up the engine, ease off the clutch until the rpms start to dip, then give it more gas and ease off the clutch until you’re fully going.

  Before you even mess with the clutch play with the throttle. Get good and holding it at 1500 rpm, 1750 rpm, 2000 rpm etc. throttle management is just as important as the clutch.

  source
• Dagwood222@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Check local driving schools. They might have one.

  source
• xavier666@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I had almost no driving experience. And I learnt driving a manual in 10 lessons (30 min each). So depending on how much time you have, you can think about learning. Do mind that it will be frustrating initially.

  source