Bought my first car this week!

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by CoogarXR

*Sigh*

Just to clarify, I don't mean beating the heck out of it. Spinning the tires (at a reasonable RPM), doing doughnuts and locking the brakes up, all while in the snow doesn't create any real wear and tear. And I don't suggest "playing" in a lot close to traffic, in the city, or a lot with a bunch of poles. C'mon, I thought these things were common sense. If you do a doughnut in an icy parking lot and something breaks, it wasn't road worthy in the first place.

I come from a "worst case scenario" type upbringing. That's how my dad taught me to deal with snow and ice. Get out there and get a feel for it.

He taught me to drive a stick shift in a similar manner. He let me get used to shifting and working the clutch in a nice flat gravel lot. After I got a feel for it, we went out in the country and he made me stop in the middle of the steepest hill we could find, and practice taking off without rolling back wards.

The logic being, most situations won't be that intense, and it will seem like "nothing" to drive day-to-day after you master the tough stuff.

Everybody is so scared, angry, or distracted while driving nowadays. People forget how fun driving can be. I love to drive.

I was a little older than most of you people, when I got my D/L and first car. My parents didn't own a car, as we lived in the city and my father felt, he didn't need one. They didn't mind using public transportation. Myself, I hated it with a passion, especially in bad weather.
My first car had a manual transmission, because it was less expensive to buy. For me, the clutching was the hardest to get the feel of. Right now, I'm back to a manual, for my daily driver.