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In the UK at least, if you pass your test in an automatic, you are not legally allowed to drive a manual. Plus the quality of automatics in our smaller engined cars has tended to be crap. So driving an automatic as a young person is a sign you weren't a good enough driver to pass the test in a manual. That's a stigma that only goes away for people driving long distances in German luxury.
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Sep 14, 2016 18:23
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Thanks for the phone tips, everybody!
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Sep 14, 2016 23:27
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Saladman posted:E: I mean yeah you can buy an automatic, but without exception people will give you poo poo for it if you could have gotten a manual instead. No idea why people are so snobby about "feeling the car" better. I mean why not just get rid of power steering and brakes too so you can feel the car even more. Back when I served in the army, I went straight from a 1950s 10-ton truck with an asynchronous crash gearbox and no power steering, to a pontiac minivan with automatic transmission and servo steering. The pontiac was downright scary, I felt like I was not in control of the vehicle and there was zero feedback from the steering wheel. I'd pick a truck over this turd any time, it was that bad.
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Sep 15, 2016 05:26
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GAY 4 ORGANS
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If you're doing any kind of mountain driving, manual is just so much better going up or down (especially down).
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Sep 15, 2016 06:22
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I just stumbled across this surprisingly well-sourced article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_grenade_attacks_in_Sweden Have there literally been bomb and hand grenade attacks in Sweden on a weekly basis, for loving years? Where do people even get that many grenades?? It's not like it's Kosovo there. Well, maybe Malmo is.
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Sep 15, 2016 12:54
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greazeball posted:If you're doing any kind of mountain driving, manual is just so much better going up or down (especially down). Having ridden automatic and standard motorbikes through hilly terrain on poo poo roads, this couldn't be more accurate. Praying that your brakes will keep sticking and don't just decide to fade while still at a few hundred meters of elevation and a few miles of road still ahead is a poo poo feeling.
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Sep 15, 2016 12:55
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Don't pretty much all automatics have a "low" gear for exactly that?
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Sep 15, 2016 12:59
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AreWeDrunkYet posted:Don't pretty much all automatics have a "low" gear for exactly that? Yes, and even many/most hybrid transmissions have a downshift. And unless you're driving a piece of poo poo unmaintained car, an old car, a heavy truck, or driving from Mount Everest to sea level at a 10° grade it shouldn't really matter, although of course it's better to downshift. (No idea about motorcycles.) I've never heard of or seen any normal car driver having to use an escape ramp and I do a lot of mountain/hill driving.
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Sep 15, 2016 13:29
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AreWeDrunkYet posted:Don't pretty much all automatics have a "low" gear for exactly that? Yes, I don't think I've seen an automatic gearbox that doesn't allow you to force a downshift. The trouble is that people don't tend to know about it, for whatever reason. Honestly, I find the worst thing about automatics is that they're a little bit more boring to drive (not a big deal) and the loving things just creep forward of their own accord when you take your foot off the brake (a much bigger deal, now that I'm not used to it anymore; it's a strange default behaviour when you think about it).
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Sep 15, 2016 13:49
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Saladman posted:I just stumbled across this surprisingly well-sourced article: I just spent two weeks in Kosovo (Prizren and Prishtina) and it's fine, just fyi vv ah fair. I didn't try to find any so I couldn't really say in that case The Schwa fucked around with this message at 17:53 on Sep 15, 2016 |
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Sep 15, 2016 17:39
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The Schwa posted:I just spent two weeks in Kosovo (Prizren and Prishtina) and it's fine, just fyi I don't mean as far as grenade attacks--I mean as far as black market availability of grenades. I'm pretty sure availability is higher in Kosovo, although after scanning that wikipedia article maybe not.
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Sep 15, 2016 17:40
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My uncle stole a grenade from the French army when he was 15 and used it to blow up a garbage can in my grandparents' apartment complex.
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Sep 15, 2016 18:04
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Saladman posted:Where do people even get that many grenades?? Saladman posted:it's Kosovo
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Sep 15, 2016 18:12
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HookShot posted:My uncle stole a grenade from the French army when he was 15 and used it to blow up a garbage can in my grandparents' apartment complex. As an 18-year-old, my grandfather accidentally left the army base for the weekend with 3 grenades. He didn't want to get in trouble by returning them (and thereby admitting that he'd taken them in the first place), so he threw them into a lake. People from the government were sent out to determine why a load of fish had mysteriously died all of a sudden.
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Sep 16, 2016 04:14
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Saladman posted:I don't mean as far as grenade attacks--I mean as far as black market availability of grenades. I'm pretty sure availability is higher in Kosovo, although after scanning that wikipedia article maybe not.
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Sep 16, 2016 08:54
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Istari posted:As an 18-year-old, my grandfather accidentally left the army base for the weekend with 3 grenades. He didn't want to get in trouble by returning them (and thereby admitting that he'd taken them in the first place), so he threw them into a lake. Did he ... not know that you could throw grenades without pulling the pin? Three times?
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Sep 16, 2016 09:13
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Saladman posted:Did he ... not know that you could throw grenades without pulling the pin? Three times? Then people'd have live grenades, obviously it's better to just blow them up in the lake.
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Sep 16, 2016 10:41
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Saladman posted:Did he ... not know that you could throw grenades without pulling the pin? Three times? And risk someone finding 3 live grenades, are you kidding ?
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Sep 16, 2016 12:48
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Istari posted:And risk someone finding 3 live grenades, are you kidding ? Presumably grenades don't float on water. But yeah I guess maybe better that than some fisherman accidentally pulling the pin at a later date. E: In either case, both options sound better than the contemporary Swedish way of getting rid of hand grenades, which appears to be throwing them into occupied apartment buildings. Saladman fucked around with this message at 13:44 on Sep 16, 2016 |
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Sep 16, 2016 13:37
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Saladman posted:E: In either case, both options sound better than the contemporary Swedish way of getting rid of hand grenades, which appears to be throwing them into occupied apartment buildings. Take that, America, with your pesky guns! 
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Sep 16, 2016 14:42
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I'm flying to Manchester in March and will be there from the 11th-13th. I need to head back to the U.S on the 18th so during that time frame I'm looking to visit some other place in Europe. Right now I'm considering Prague or Munich so that will be about 4 days in either city not including the days traveling to and from my destination. Can anyone throw out any suggestions on which one to pick? Is 4 days enough to see either city and maybe take a day trip somewhere else? Also open to other cities.
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Sep 18, 2016 22:30
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Unless you're in Munich for a specific reason, Prague is far more interesting.
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Sep 18, 2016 22:33
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birds posted:I'm flying to Manchester in March and will be there from the 11th-13th. I need to head back to the U.S on the 18th so during that time frame I'm looking to visit some other place in Europe. Right now I'm considering Prague or Munich so that will be about 4 days in either city not including the days traveling to and from my destination. Can anyone throw out any suggestions on which one to pick? Is 4 days enough to see either city and maybe take a day trip somewhere else? Also open to other cities. Prague is a good choice, don't bother with a day trip though as there's more than enough to do for 4 days. If you're really keen on Germany I'd suggest Berlin or Hamburg over Munich.
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Sep 18, 2016 22:47
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Agree you can fly from Manchester to Berlin on an lcc that will be more fun than prague or better yet fly to Berlin than back from Prague and get a bus between the two. It's not far.
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Sep 18, 2016 23:00
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Comb Your Beard posted:Anybody have tips for getting a rental car near Paris? The automatics look outrageously expensive and I don't know to drive stick. I rented a car from AutoEurope when I was living in Paris. Yeah, you get screwed with the automatic. You want to book as early as possible from what I could tell. And driving in Paris isn't fun but it isn't so terrible. Although, I only drove from the train station to Normandy and back. Speeds are slow in the city so just take it easy and you'll be fine. You need GPS.
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Sep 19, 2016 04:14
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hackbunny fucked around with this message at 03:53 on Jul 2, 2020 |
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Sep 19, 2016 12:49
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So looks like Prague it is then, thanks everyone!
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Sep 19, 2016 13:50
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I'm going to be in Barcelona for two weeks and I want to rent a car for a couple days to do some adventuring. Learning to drive stick in a rental in a foreign country: bad idea or horrible idea?
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Sep 19, 2016 22:08
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Y'all need to give up on cars for a minute - you can take the bus to any remote backwoods hicksville basically anywhere in Europe.
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Sep 19, 2016 22:13
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lol Americans Yes, or you can rent a bike to do the same! Though I guess that might be harder than learning to drive manual if all you do is drive everywhere.
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Sep 19, 2016 23:10
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hackbunny posted:Paris by bike is really nice (until it starts raining I guess). Velib is cheap and really easy to use I had a scooter. It was great and terrifying at the same time.
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Sep 20, 2016 00:02
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Ras Het posted:Y'all need to give up on cars for a minute - you can take the bus to any remote backwoods hicksville basically anywhere in Europe. That's not really true. We went to Normandy to visit the beaches and countryside, and getting around via public transportation isn't really a good option. And exploring Tuscany is probably best via car. Sure, you can take a bus but then you're tied to a set schedule, etc.
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Sep 20, 2016 00:05
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Blackmjolnir posted:I'm going to be in Barcelona for two weeks and I want to rent a car for a couple days to do some adventuring. Learning to drive stick in a rental in a foreign country: bad idea or horrible idea? I learned to drive stick in North America, and I've been to Spain several times although I've never driven there. Learning to drive stick and negotiate Spanish traffic in a large city at the same time is my idea of hell. I would not advise it in the least. One or the other might be doable; both at the same time would be extremely challenging to say the least. Spain, especially the area around Barcelona, is well set up for public transit with buses and trains, I'd stick with those unless you take a lesson or two in a manual transmission first. Coming from North America, it's amazing because the buses and trains actually work and adhere to a schedule, so it's not a massive pain in the rear end to use them. EDIT: Also, let's face it: you're on vacation in Spain. Unless you're a non-drinker, you will probably be too drunk to drive safely on a fairly regular basis.
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Sep 20, 2016 00:53
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I drove from Barcelona to Montserrat, Andorra, and through the Pyrenees. One of the most spectacular drives I've ever done. I'm a filthy casual though so I was stuck with an automatic. Still had a great time and would say the price of renting an automatic was totally worth it for that drive.
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Sep 20, 2016 03:58
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Blackmjolnir posted:I'm going to be in Barcelona for two weeks and I want to rent a car for a couple days to do some adventuring. Learning to drive stick in a rental in a foreign country: bad idea or horrible idea? Not as bad as your posting
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Sep 20, 2016 04:06
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Entropist posted:lol Americans I don't ride bikes here because we drive on the other side of the road at home and I'll get all confused, also on a bike I'll probably die
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Sep 20, 2016 07:48
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Blackmjolnir posted:I'm going to be in Barcelona for two weeks and I want to rent a car for a couple days to do some adventuring. Learning to drive stick in a rental in a foreign country: bad idea or horrible idea? Do you have zero manual experience, or not much? If you have zero, then you're going to have trouble even getting the car out of the rental parking lot. If you kind of knowhow to drive a manual, it seems like an okay idea. Otherwise just pay the extra €30/day and rent an automatic for two days. You're not going to bike to Montserrat anyway, ... there must be some Dutch in this thread who think a car and a bike are substitutional for visiting the countryside around a city.
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Sep 20, 2016 09:35
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I don't think even trying to get comfortable is a good idea unless you know what driving in Europe is like and you speak Spanish. Trying to figure out road signs in a foreign language, which way to go, and maneuvering through smaller streets than what you're used to while learning to drive stick sounds like the worst hell ever. I have a liiiittttlllleee bit of experience driving stick and could probably get by if I had to here in my town of 10,000, and I absolutely in no universe would do it in Europe. Enough that when we rented a car last time we were there that was a manual I told my husband he could do all the driving, and I was very, very happy with that decision.
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Sep 20, 2016 10:19
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fwiw my dad hated driving in Barcelona more than Greece, Italy, Argentina, France, Guatemala or Mexico. So I just went by train when I was there. I think a lot of it depends on your itinerary. 2 weeks in Barcelona for me would probably mean seeing Figueres, Sitges, Montserrat, Andorra and the Islands and the rest of the time in the city. A car might be nice for the first 4, though I would guess public transportation would be easier and cheaper in each case. If you've already seen Barcelona and are thinking of spending the entire time driving around the countryside, a car would make more sense.
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Sep 20, 2016 13:31
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To contribute to the rental car chat I posted about earlier, using Kayak I found decent deals on an automatic. Possibly a small Renault sedan. Gonna try to pick it up some where in Paris vicinity reachable by train and drop it off at Gare du Nord. I can handle some city driving.
Comb Your Beard fucked around with this message at 19:03 on Sep 20, 2016 |
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Sep 20, 2016 16:04
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