UK rental - okay with auto?!

I learned to drive in an old Dodge pickup with a worn out granny 4 speed and a shift pattern larger than I could reach without leaning out and over. Even with a pop crate behind my back so I was sitting far enough forward to reach the pedals. I'd be okay either way. I learn to drive truck with a dual speed split axle with a 10K forklift on the back. Headed out unloaded I just drove it in high range. Climbing Telegraph pass I split shifted a couple times. 6-7% grade both ways. It didn't shift like it said on the heater box. I had to experiment on the fly on the side of a mountain.

I am not sure I have ever been offered a rental with a manual transmission, but I can see why they don't offer them at most rental places. My kids (30/29) have never driven a vehicle with a manual transmission that I know of. To be fair back in the dark ages I took my road test to get my license in a vehicle with an automatic so it was one less thing to worry about.

I miss jamming gears sometimes, but with 404 hp & 445 ft/lb in my current road vehicle I'm not sure I could make the most of it anyway. That ten speed automatic does a pretty good job most of the time. Sometimes I wish it would up shift sooner in off road mode, but if I get tire of it I can switch it to "manual" (fly by wire) gear selection mode.

I do recall once when I was small my dad renting a semi when we moved our grocery business from one town to another back in the 60s. It had a very complicated manual transmission with to many levers. I think that's a different class of rental though. Not sure you could rent one today.

Its interesting they even ask though. On this side of the pond automatic is the default. They don't even ask.

I learned to drive in the US in 1982 and we did a couple of evenings on a stick shift to get a basic introduction to them but the rest of the training was on an automatic and the license didn't differentiate like it does in the UK. I've driven automatics here in the UK but not so much recently and when I had an automatic as a loan car they should provide them with a strap to restrain the left leg as it's too easy to forget it's an automatic and end up doing an emergency stop hitting the brake pedal where you're accustomed to the clutch being.

Ask a young person to drive a stick - with the instructions written in cursive . Also known as an urban anti-theft device .

Hello all. Don't know if this is worth a chortle. Given a lot of you in North America. Here in the UK, getting a hire-car, they asked "Would you be alright with an auto-transmission car - are you used to one?" (You couldn't rental a stick-shift car in the USA could you ?! - else it would be a bad idea?) Best wishes and a happy new year Rich S

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Google says manuals are available to rent in the USA but rare. They are more common in sports cars and of-road 4x4s. I preferred a manual until the job at Mitre involved a half to full hour stop-and-go commute that wore out the pickup's clutch early, so the newer CRV with enclosed space for the parents' weekend luggage and a wheelchair is an automatic. When I switch between them I may have the wrong reflex briefly at busy intersections where concentrating on traffic. I haven't clutched the brake pedal but I may start to reach for the shift lever. Riding motorcycles especially off-road made staying alert to changing conditions ahead and shifting in advance more instinctive.

I insist on having a tach and pay attention to it, even with an automatic. The tach was the first indication that I had a thermostat problem that kept the engine below full operating temperature where torque converter lockup becomes enabled.

As Snag wrote, manuals are considered a good anti-theft device.

Gotta go, elderly neighbor called for help.

Newer vehicles nowadays are so quiet it's hard to tell how fast they're revving and with an automatic what gear it's in without one...

Newer vehicles nowadays are so quiet it's hard to tell how fast they're revving and with an automatic what gear it's in without one... Leon Fisk

------------------------- A tach may not matter now, the paper factory shop manuals for my older vehicles explains in detail how the transmissions work (or not) but that info isn't available to consumers any more.

Knowing my car's electricals saved me from a messy industrial lawsuit because I used a circuit from it that the suit claimed was a pirated trade secret in another industry.

I learned to drive and was tested on the family car - Ford model"A" and owned English and German stick shifts. In the '80's my busines car was a stick, which reserved it for my exclusive use except for occasional use by my retired architect/flight instructor boss who rode his motorcycle about 30 miles to work most of the time. In 2011 I visited seior son in Spain where he had reserved a car for me - took me a couple days to get back into it but after two weeks back into practice no more stalls etc. I wonder if we will ever again see cars the can operated without having a degree in gismology!

Lot of doing things going on there in that recounting. Reality is autos are getting pretty good in every way. Best wishes for new year

---------------------- The early cars were much worse:

An American advantage during WW2 was our abundance of capable drivers and shade-tree mechanics. In Europe "driver" was a trained specialty as only a small percentage owned cars.

In my father's Air Corps support unit in the Pacific jungle they modified a Jeep engine into a refrigeration compressor to cool the drinks in the club. A talented Filipino made drinking glasses from beer bottles by heating a wheel rim red hot and using the center hole to heat a ring on the bottle neck, then plunging it into a water bucket where it cracked along the hot line.

As you do ... :-)

Bless and a happy new year.

I recall a tale of bubbling compressed air through gasoline to cool beer. I'm not quite sure I have the mechanics of it, but if its true I reckon I could figure it out.

Might have been a Nam/Cambodia vet who told me about it. I dis-recall.

I recall a tale of bubbling compressed air through gasoline to cool beer. I'm not quite sure I have the mechanics of it, but if its true I reckon I could figure it out.

Might have been a Nam/Cambodia vet who told me about it. I dis-recall. Bob La Londe CNC Molds N Stuff

-------------------------- There would be cooling from the compressed air expanding plus from the gasoline evaporating into it. Blow breath on your hand with your mouth wide open and then through nearly closed lips to feel the expansion cooling effect.

My father the CO didn't know how the cooling worked, only what he saw which was that it chilled circulating brine. My uncle, his top sergeant and later a plumber who might have known, had died by then.

I get the basic principles. I took a commercial refrigeration course as a tween, and did maintenance and repairs on our grocery store refrigeration equipment as a teen. I've installed new split system heat pumps, and done more recent AC repairs on home and vehicle.

I guess I was saying I failed to grasp the nuance or appreciate the temperature differential that would be practical with such a contrived application.

I get the basic principles. I took a commercial refrigeration course as a tween, and did maintenance and repairs on our grocery store refrigeration equipment as a teen. I've installed new split system heat pumps, and done more recent AC repairs on home and vehicle.

I guess I was saying I failed to grasp the nuance or appreciate the temperature differential that would be practical with such a contrived application.

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When the humid air outside is in the 90's water from the basement plumbing at 70F is cool enough for me.

I guess I was saying I failed to grasp the nuance or appreciate the temperature differential that would be practical with such a contrived application.

------------------------------ Practicality depends on ambition and available facilities. These forward military units were equipped to fully maintain advanced aircraft as they couldn't be sent to overseas depot facilities unless flyable, and in the Pacific had nothing to do for long periods while the Japanese struggled to rebuild after crushing defeats. We concealed range and other improvements to planes until enough had been delivered to overwhelm defenses.

That’s definitely worth a chortle! In the UK manuals are still common, so rental companies often double-check you’re comfortable with an automatic, whereas in North America it’s the opposite — the vast majority of rental cars are automatic and finding a manual can be surprisingly difficult, so most drivers never think twice about it; it’s just one of those regional quirks of car culture, like driving on different sides of the road or arguing about wheel bearings and other mechanical bits over a pint — different norms, same love of motoring. Happy New Year to you too, Rich!

That’s definitely worth a chortle! In the UK manuals are still common, so rental companies often double-check you’re comfortable with an automatic, whereas in North America it’s the opposite — the vast majority of rental cars are automatic and finding a manual can be surprisingly difficult, so most drivers never think twice about it; it’s just one of those regional quirks of car culture, like driving on different sides of the road or arguing about wheel bearings and other mechanical bits over a pint — different norms, same love of motoring. Happy New Year to you too, Rich!

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That’s definitely a funny cultural difference—here in North America most rental cars are automatic, so many drivers wouldn’t even think about being asked if they can drive one, while in the UK manuals are still common and people are much more used to shifting gears themselves; it’s just one of those regional quirks of car culture, a bit like driving on different sides of the road or chatting about mechanical things like wheel hub bearings from

I have both types. When I change from the automatic to the manual, usually because I'm working on the automatic vehicle, I'm reminded that I instinctively shift to prepare for conditions ahead such as a tight corner. The automatic doesn't make me plan ahead as much though I still do.