Why I decided to face my fear of driving a manual car
carsales team member Shana Zlotin recounts her experience of learning to drive and why driving a manual car was a must.As a 16 year old Hilary Duff obsessed young girl, there were many things that came naturally to me. Raising my Tamagotchi or throwing irrational tantrums, but driving a manual car was certainly not one of them.
Having spent years helping my dad change gears as we drove to school, I expected that driving a manual car would come easy to me. I mean, how hard could some synced pedal movements be? Oh boy was I wrong!
Young Shana could tell you two things with certainty: One, my fluro orange Target track pants were so on trend and two, there is no fear quite like stalling a 2 tonne, Toyota Prado on a hill. Safe to say, I needed a lot more practice.
Eventually my parents bought an automatic Mazda CX-5 and to my bewilderment let me take my P's test in it. After successfully getting my licence I purchased my very first car, an automatic 2009 Suzuki Swift. The reason for my choice was that I had assumed that the Swift was the car from the movie, The Italian Job and I liked it.
Look, I’m not proud of that and I don’t want to talk about it...
I thought that would be the end of my manual gear shifting nightmares. Last month, almost 7 years later, I decided to silence the voices that had haunted my dreams and messaged a friend with a manual Hyundai i30. It was time to conquer my fear of manual.
“It was fun and not scary!”- I would say to myself to keep me on track. If only, but in reality it really wasn’t the case. I found myself overcome with the exact same anxiety and irrational fear as I did all that time ago.
The magic secret for learning in the end? Practice. Did I suddenly calm down and stop panic removing my foot off the clutch? No. But I’ve definitely relaxed with practice. It also helped that instead of having my dad freaking out beside me, I had a calm friend whose only rule was that if I ruin his transmission, I’d have to pay for a new one.
I feel an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and can now successfully take off on a (very) slight incline. For any new drivers taking on the challenge of driving a manual car, relax. Take a breath, pop on Don't Stop Believing by Journey and get going!
Related: ADVICE: How to drive a manual
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