Long story short: I’m (24M) American, and I’m visiting my long-distance Romanian boyfriend for the first time soon. In Romania, most cars are manual - including all the ones owned by my boyfriend’s family (I’ll be staying with them). I’ve never driven a manual before. His dad told me he can give me a quick lesson, and that I’m welcome to use their cars if I want; otherwise, I can rent an automatic. I don’t have access to any manual cars here in the U.S. to practice on, so I’m not sure what to do.
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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.
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.
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.
This. It takes a bit to figure out the rhythm, but it’s not hard once you know how it feels. If you do try it, 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.
EDIT: that said, if you’re really concerned about it, don’t be ashamed to rent the automatic!
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.
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
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.
My mans over here saving the planet
You don’t have an automatic starter do you? Things started going downhill when we stopped manually cranking the engine
Why did you stop? I still manually crank most of my engines. (between lawn mowers and collectables I have a lot of engines without electric start) . I spend a lot of time filing points as we… Even when I have electric start, I find getting moving and popping the clutch works just fine.
My recent automatics have been 8 speeds. Do you drive an 8 speed manual?
4 speed connected to a transfer case with hi/low
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.
I have my US (state) driver’s license & my IDP, neither which specify manual/automatic, so there’s nothing stopping me from driving a manual legally. In Romania, from what my bf told me, if you pass your test on an automatic you can de jure only drive automatic as you have a marker on your license, but de facto you can drive whatever as there are no actual legal penalties mentioned in the law for driving a manual with a marked license.
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.
You also need an IDP: “U.S. citizens who wish to drive in Romania must have an International Driving Permit (IDP) in addition to the valid U.S. state drivers’ license (DL).” https://ro.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/additional-resources-for-u-s-citizens/driving-in-romania/
Ah missed you said you have your international drivers permit. You’re good then, and there’s a lot of country roads in Romania to learn on…I say give learning manual a shot :)
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.
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.
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.
With the Geneva convention on Road Traffic they must recognize it, at least for visitors. However you are probably right if OP tried to move there and get a local license, they’d need to retest.
That is totally fair because I literally, and I mean literally, drove around the block for my American driver’s test. My entire test:
K start the car and turn right out of the parking lot onto the street
Turn right at the stop
Turn right at the stop
Parallel park right there
Pull back onto the road
Turn right at the stop
Turn right at the stop
Turn right into the DMV parking lot and park anywhere
Congratulations, you passed!
This was in a residential area too, so there was hardly any traffic and I never went above 25mph/40kph
Exactly: I have friends that got a drivers license in th US, and the education/test is honestly a joke compared to what they require here, and it clearly shows in the number of driving-related deaths.
Generally you are allowed to drive whatever you could at home. Since US licenses allow you to drive a manual you can drive a manual even if you never had. By contrast if you are from a country that makes the distinction you can’t drive a manual even if you have been practicing (how?) and just need to do the final test to drive a manual. (I’m not sure how someone without a manual endorsement would go about getting it in such countries, but whatever that process is)
I don’t really think there’s any “generally” here: It differs quite a bit between countries. I believe in some countries they won’t allow you to drive a manual unless your license specifies it (i.e. an American license isn’t valid for a manual).
No it’s pretty general. Check out the following international treaties:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Convention_on_Road_Traffic
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vienna_Convention_on_Road_Traffic
As a benefit of these treaties, if I so chose (and we’re rich) I could even ship my car to Europe and just drive it around (up to 6 months) without really doing anything! It doesn’t need to meet most any of the EU car rules either.
Now if I tried to permanently import it, I’d have to make modifications like light colors and such to make it legal.
But really for visitors the rules are pretty lax. You need an international driving permit which is really just a translated license.
You can forget these international treaties. No Romanian policeman is supposed to know or observe them.
Romanian law is what counts.
Soon there will be some EU law regarding driver’s licenses, but not yet.
Foreigners driving around isn’t that uncommon, especially in Europe…
Sure it’s possible that if stopped you may get hassled more than usual, made to wait while the officer asks the station what to do but there’s no real risk of anything more than that.
The US doesn’t have licenses differentiated for automatic or manual, well, none of the 8 states I’ve lived in anyway, so there’s no way for Romania to know.
It’s definitely something you can learn in just a few lessons, particularly if you are just driving around town here and there. There’s a rhythm and muscle memory to it, and once you get it, it becomes super easy.
I think I traded in my last stick-shift (a Jetta) 13+ years ago, and there are still times when I am driving and my left foot instinctively moves toward an invisible clutch…
Eh, he’s alright. Whenever I pick up Emanual in my Uber, he’s decent people…
…what?
Did I misread the situation?
I guess it is like bicycling: there is a price to pay in blood 😉 My suggestion: in Romania, take a few hours of driving lessons with a professional teacher who can explain everything to you.
I think that’s overkill, he already knows how to drive.
He just needs to learn how to use the clutch. A few YouTube videos, and a few hours of practice getting used to the clutch and he should be good
It takes a bit of practice. A few minutes of instruction can show you how it works, but then you will want to actually practice (maybe an hour or so) on some quiet roads before driving in traffic.
Unless you’re OK with looking foolish in front of your boyfriend’s dad, I would rent an automatic. You also have the possibility of damaging the clutch if you’re not careful.
That said, it shouldn’t take more than an afternoon to get the hang of it, so, either way.
Looking foolish? It’s Romania. The only foolish thing to do is to not try.
I mean, damaging the clutch takes a LONG TIME. I abused my first car learning to drive and it was just fine throughout the 8 years I owned it.
Depends on how bad you are. You can glaze a clutch in an afternoon.
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
And learning how to properly shift. While the car surging and stopping was funny while I learned, you don’t want to do that on a busy thoroughfare. Just make sure to practice someplace quiet and you’ll pick it up pretty quick.
Getting the car to start rolling up a hill instead of down it backwards is also an important thing to get the hang of before someone is right behind you in traffic.
Luckily you can always fall back to a handbrake start if you need to, I’ll usually always do that if I’m driving a car I’m not at all used to and find myself in an uphill start.
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.
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.
Nah, takes you 15 minutes to learn, and just a few weeks of practice to make it perfectly smooth
If the clutch survives.
If the clutch doesn’t survive, it was already near failure anyway.
There’s always a few topics that bring the most annoying people out and manual driving is one of them.
No a learner isn’t going to destroy a clutch. You could also grind a gear a dozen times in a learner session and still not strip it.
These types of shitty comments only keep people from trying new things out of fear or embarrassments.
A learner could destroy a clutch (I’ve seen it, though it was a long time ago when clutches weren’t as good as today), but it’s not likely these days. Plus I’m not going to let a learner destroy a clutch by using a method that helps them really get a feel for it: have them get the car moving without using the gas.
Hard revving and riding the clutch out would be far harder on a clutch than the slipping needed to get moving without touching the gas.
