cheap manual transmission vehicle

[Revalos]

I've got a couple trips coming up over the next year or so to places that don't have easy access to automatic transmission cars. I kinda know how to drive stick, as I had to learn on the fly in Iraq 2 years ago, but I don't know it well enough to just pick up a rental car and drive.

I'm looking to spend about $2000 or so, so I'm not looking for any frills, just a car that runs and I could destroy the transmission in and not really worry about it. What are y'all's opinions on online shopping for such things? Craigslist? I looked at carmax and the cheapest one they had was like seven grand, which is wayyyyy too much to waste on something like this. Should I just cruise the DC area used car lots? Am I barking up the wrong tree completely and should just rent a stick shift car for like a week before I go on my trip and be done with it?

[waywardgs]

Rent and get the insurance. Destroy car. Return.

[Revalos]

Rent and get the insurance. Destroy car. Return.

Seeing as I can't really do this where I am going (if I blow the car up in the middle of nowhere I'm kind of screwed) how long should I rent the car for in the US to get acclimated?

[Drew]

Rent and get the insurance. Destroy car. Return.

Never heard of an American company offering manuals.



Revalos, it doesn't matter what you get to practice, just look for something cheap like an old ford focus or a pontiac sunfire or something like that that will basically be worth the same when you sell it.

[BriarFox]

Yeah. I learned on an '89 Toyota Corrolla. That'd work.

[IorakeWarhammer]

old hondas are pretty good, assuming the transmission and electrical system has been replaced / or is somehow still in working order

[Mr. Dallas]

Toyota. Ebay.

[Warriorbird]

Definitely not Carmax. Ebay Motors or MAYBE Auto Trader. You want something bulletproof, consider asking somewhere like Jalopnik v. here. Some of them specialize in doing stuff with low value cars.

[Asile]

Never heard of an American company offering manuals.



This. Unless you find some place that does rentals PLUS buy-here-pay-here (for folks with bad credit, the kind that'll repo the car the moment you're 2 seconds late with a payment). I'd check with CL or AutoTrader or the Washington Post/Washington Times/any other publication in the DC (assuming you're still in that area) area classifieds.

And Carmax only deals with pretty high-end used cars; finding one there for under $5k is pretty much impossible.

[Drew]

Honestly, if you're not retarded you need an hour to learn how to drive a manual. Practice starting for a bit, drive around practice matching revs on downshifting, drive to a hill practice handbrake starts on a hill (eventually you won't need the handbrake but start out with it for comfort and safety).

[Revalos]

Honestly, if you're not retarded you need an hour to learn how to drive a manual. Practice starting for a bit, drive around practice matching revs on downshifting, drive to a hill practice handbrake starts on a hill (eventually you won't need the handbrake but start out with it for comfort and safety).

I'm pretty retarded. The slowing down in traffic and stop starts on hills get me every time since Iraq was zero traffic and no hills. My ex girlfriend tried to teach me, but I was too scared of blowing up her car. Since the places I am thinking of (Italy, Norway, Iceland, Faeroe Islands) are full of hills and some have stupid traffic, I need to be more than just barely capable. I am really just wanting to get over the stupidity phase and go into more of a comfort mode.

I'm going to look at Ebay motors today and maybe head over to Jalopnik. Thanks for the advice.

[Warriorbird]

I'm pretty retarded. The slowing down in traffic and stop starts on hills get me every time since Iraq was zero traffic and no hills. My ex girlfriend tried to teach me, but I was too scared of blowing up her car. Since the places I am thinking of (Italy, Norway, Iceland, Faeroe Islands) are full of hills and some have stupid traffic, I need to be more than just barely capable. I am really just wanting to get over the stupidity phase and go into more of a comfort mode.

I'm going to look at Ebay motors today and maybe head over to Jalopnik. Thanks for the advice.

It might be cheaper to just do adult driving school.

[ThatDamnTep]

I'm pretty retarded. The slowing down in traffic and stop starts on hills get me every time since Iraq was zero traffic and no hills. My ex girlfriend tried to teach me, but I was too scared of blowing up her car. Since the places I am thinking of (Italy, Norway, Iceland, Faeroe Islands) are full of hills and some have stupid traffic, I need to be more than just barely capable. I am really just wanting to get over the stupidity phase and go into more of a comfort mode.

I'm going to look at Ebay motors today and maybe head over to Jalopnik. Thanks for the advice.

I would suggest you find the steepest incline you can and practice, practice practice. Once you get the hills down everything else is cake. Also for a good practice car try and find something like an early 90's Ford Probe.

[Revalos]

It might be cheaper to just do adult driving school.

I actually looked into driving schools around DC first and not a one around here has a manual transmission class. I'll look in Baltimore though, since that's basically the third world anyway, maybe they have some. And my schedule is completely dumb these days, so my chances to work on this will be fairly random so scheduling anything is pretty difficult. I've got at least a year to do this, so I'm not hurting for time though, so I'll consider it.

[Drakefang]

My suggestion is to find a nice parking lot with a couple grade changes. The kind that have a hill on the side or the back or something. Practice stopping on the hill, then starting uphill again. This is fantastic practice and safe. It will really make those first few graded stop signs and stop lights much much easier and less nerve wracking.

If it was me, I'd look for a late 80's or early 90's Honda Civic, Prelude or Accord. Pretty much anything Japanese is easy to learn on. I learned on an '82 or '83 Prelude.

[Warriorbird]

My suggestion is to find a nice parking lot with a couple grade changes. The kind that have a hill on the side or the back or something. Practice stopping on the hill, then starting uphill again. This is fantastic practice and safe. It will really make those first few graded stop signs and stop lights much much easier and less nerve wracking.

If it was me, I'd look for a late 80's or early 90's Honda Civic, Prelude or Accord. Pretty much anything Japanese is easy to learn on. I learned on an '82 or '83 Prelude.

Sunday night at a mall with no movie theater works pretty well.

[Latrinsorm]

ITT:
1. You are overthinking this a little.
2. You overestimate the damage you can do to a car.

[No Gnomes Is Good News]

I paid roughly 3000 thousand for my manual mitsubishi lancer oz, and it's a 2002. A good way to find something relatively cheap is to also look for cars freshly traded to dealerships that have high miles or run up inspections.

[Gelston]

You can get an old ass Jeep Wrangler on the cheap. Thats what I learned on. I got my for $500 in 2003.

Edit- Well, I guess technically I learned on my dirt bike when I was 12.

[Ryvicke]

You'll learn how way before you fuck up the car. Then you'll wonder how you ever thought it was hard. The parking lot thing is pretty much how everyone learns.