Noticed on Kat's post about the Honda.

"Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell." (oppisitelock)
07/31/2014 at 09:07 • Filed to: None

That a lot of people don't know that several countries have seperate manual and auto licences. It's the same here in the UK and to be honest it's a little worrying everywhere doesn't work this way.

DISCUSSION (35)

macanamera > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
07/31/2014 at 09:13

I can't even imagine it being that way in America.

thebigbossyboss > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
07/31/2014 at 09:13

Here you can drive any transmission.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
07/31/2014 at 09:14

why is this worrying?

duurtlang > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
07/31/2014 at 09:15

A major cause of the misunderstanding stems from, I believe, the shockingly easy way you can get a drivers license in the US. When that's all you know it's not that strange to me people can't imagine other countries where they do actually expect something from aspiring drivers.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > macanamera
07/31/2014 at 09:15

The way some people drive when they learn to drive manual I'm glad here it happens with an instructor who can stop the car if needed.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > thebigbossyboss
07/31/2014 at 09:15

Seems strange to me with manual being such a different skill to auto.

Jobjoris > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
07/31/2014 at 09:17

In the Netherlands you default pass your examination on a manual and you're allowed to drive all cars. But you'll be able to get an alternative examination on an automatic and if you do: the only thing you're allowed to drive is an automatic.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire
07/31/2014 at 09:17

You obviously haven't seen weaker drivers trying to drive manual for the first time.

spanfucker retire bitch > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
07/31/2014 at 09:17

That's not even remotely important. There are a myriad of other skills you should be concerned about learning as an aspiring driver than worrying about which transmission you're forced to use based on your license. I'd say that's just about dead last in determining the efficacy of a driver.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > duurtlang
07/31/2014 at 09:18

True. It took some effort to get my licence here (and a large amount of my cash unfortunately) and I don't like the idea of the test being any less stringent.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Jobjoris
07/31/2014 at 09:19

Yeah that's how it works here.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > spanfucker retire bitch
07/31/2014 at 09:20

So you're saying a new driver shouldn't be tested for a sometimes difficult to learn skill, that they'll need if they choose to drive manual. Drivers who don't care still have the option to take auto only.

spanfucker retire bitch > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
07/31/2014 at 09:21

No, they shouldn't.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > spanfucker retire bitch
07/31/2014 at 09:23

...okay.

Alfalfa > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
07/31/2014 at 09:25

a. Someone who doesn't know how to drive a manual is more of a nuisance/inconvenience, not much of a safety hazard.

b. Here in the states, there's a pretty small population that even wants manuals. The cars available reflect that more and more each year, to the extent that it's difficult to end up with three pedals unless it's really what you want.

Milky > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
07/31/2014 at 09:27

From my personal experience though, in the U.S. you have to go out of your way to drive a manual. If a person doesn't know / doesn't want to drive a manual they don't have to by any means.

Actually I was curious, so I went and looked at auto trader …. there are a quarter million cars on auto trader around me. Only 13k of them are manual.

duurtlang > spanfucker retire bitch
07/31/2014 at 09:28

Dealing with the (manual) transmission is one of the most important things when learning how to drive, it's an essential part of vehicle control. Unless when you're able to totally rule out the possibility you're ever going to drive a manual, which is plausible in the US but not so much in many other places. If I wasn't able to drive a manual I'd not be able to drive the vast majority of the used car market, the vast majority of rental cars and the vast majority of vehicles driven by friends/relatives.

Learning how to drive a manual isn't hard but it does take time and practice. Preferably in a car with dual controls and an instructor in the passenger seat.

Sn210 > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
07/31/2014 at 09:31

My father insisted on teaching me how to drive a manual first. It was his "if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball" approach. I'm glad he did!

Kinja'd!!!

Two Drink Minimum > Sn210
07/31/2014 at 09:35

This is what we did with our two boys. You either drive the manual Honda Fit we've so generously provided for you in the driveway.... or you walk. Pick one.

One kid took right to it, the other resisted. But we broke him utterly once we sold our minivan for a manual Mazda6 Touring (which is just a fantastic car, by the way).

duurtlang > Milky
07/31/2014 at 09:37

Here's a major European site (link in English). Over 2 million cars. 1.5 million manual, 0.5 million automatic, of which many are dual clutches I presume. Diesel and gasoline are evenly split, both about 1 million.

RazoE > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
07/31/2014 at 09:39

If anything requiring a special license to drive manual is discouraging. If a person wants to learn manual they can't just go out and buy a $400 beater and learn on. No sir, they have to go through the process all over again. And where are they going to find a practice car WITH NO MANUAL LICENSE? Just doesn't make sense.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
07/31/2014 at 09:45

Uh yes I have. But it doesn't take more than two weeks before they're proficient.

Sn210 > Two Drink Minimum
07/31/2014 at 09:45

it's the way to do it! His rationale was if I was ever in an emergency situation and a manual was the only car around, I could do it. I ended up preferring it and haven't owned an auto yet in my ten years of license-hood. He even taught my younger sister, and she insisted on driving a manual. She had an aqua Jeep TJ 5-speed all through college, but has since moved the LA and bought a Prius :(

zeontestpilot > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
07/31/2014 at 09:46

I'm sort of glad I don't need a extra license for a manual in the US. It means that once I save up the money, I can just go out and buy one without having to pay extra for a manual licensed.

duurtlang > RazoE
07/31/2014 at 09:51

It's not a special license, it's the default license. The special license is the auto-only license, it basically started out as a license for the crippled, those with missing limbs and the like.

Besides, in many countries including my own you don't learn to drive in your own/parents car. You learn to drive in a car provided by a driving school. A car with a manual gearbox, dual controls (passenger has brake, clutch and maybe gas pedals) and a licensed instructor in the passenger seat.

Conan > macanamera
07/31/2014 at 09:53

If only it was.

RazoE > duurtlang
07/31/2014 at 09:55

We learn on the real roads where you can kill yourself at a moment's notice. Like in real life. None of this dual controls. It's like grandpa's way of teaching you how to swim.

"You don't know how to swim?!?" *throws you in the water* "Toma, Swim, Cabron!!!"

I bought a manual Supra not knowing how to drive the thing and learned quickly because I had to do 22 miles a day at 80 miles an hour on the highway to get to work. Best decision ever!

duurtlang > RazoE
07/31/2014 at 09:58

We learn on real roads in real traffic too, of the 30+ hours I spent in a driving school car about 30 minutes were spent on a parking lot, al within the very first hour I ever sat behind the wheel.

PelicanHazard > RazoE
07/31/2014 at 10:06

In many other countries, teaching yourself or having family teach you is illegal. You must go to an approved driving school.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
07/31/2014 at 10:10

I'd love to have everyone take the test on a manual car. Since most of them would fail, we would be able to solve the US's congestion problems for a few months.

It would also keep the clutch kit and transmission rebuild shops in business.

RazoE > PelicanHazard
07/31/2014 at 10:18

That's because they don't have the FREEDOM we do.

Kinja'd!!!

PelicanHazard > RazoE
07/31/2014 at 10:30

I could do with a little less freedom if it means that other drivers stop "not seeing" my bright red car and try to merge into me since daddy never taught them to look.

gc8foreva > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
07/31/2014 at 10:49

I'm glad the US doesn't have a separate license. My mission to get more people to learn how to drive manual would end abruptly at the part where they would have to get another license.

Milky > duurtlang
07/31/2014 at 10:52

Yea exactly, over here there is really no need to test manual skills because the only people that have them are the people that care to drive better aka enthusiasts only.

Two Drink Minimum > Sn210
07/31/2014 at 11:05

Hah! My 12-year-old daughter has already laid claims to our 2013 Abarth. Says she's going to take it with her to college. I'm good with that. But a Prius? Oy.