this isn't supposed to be the hard part about driving

[cellio]

Every time I drive Dani's car (a rare occurrence) I am reminded that driving an automatic transmission requires specific skills that I apparently haven't learned. I assume there's a trick to accelerating -- that you can regulate the gas flow (via the gas pedal) to kick the gears in when you want them to -- but I'm afraid I will be forever reaching for the clutch pedal and shifter while driving. :-) This has happened with multiple cars, so it's probably me and not the car.

(We're going to his company's winter party after work, I'd rather he drive home in the dark with the predicted sleet, and he's not cleared for my manual transmission. So since he takes the bus to work anyway, I just took his car today.)

Comments

[alienor.livejournal.com]

I assume there's a trick to accelerating -- that you can regulate the gas flow (via the gas pedal) to kick the gears in when you want them to

Yep - N and I are forever having this conversation, being a split household ourselves. When he stomps on the gas pedal in my truck, she just makes a lot of noise and doesn't really go anywhere... there's a trick to getting her to drop a gear and MOVE into traffic, which is what he's trying to do. You kinda lay off the gas for a second and then push the pedal. It's hard to explain (and varies by vehicle - mine is really finicky about it).