I am considering getting a Ford Focus. I presently have a 98 Escort, which is still going good. However my son is learning how to drive and it looks like we need a automatic. The Focus SES looks like its reliable, gets good gas mileage and priced reasonably. Is this car likely to do 10 years also like the Escort?
Why do you need an automatic? If my brother could learn to drive on a standard, anyone can. He is not the brightest bulb on the tree, if you know what I mean. Or, as they say, he is mechanically declined.
The focus will likely last a long time.
Jeff
PS, do you son a favor. Get him a standard.
in Sweden, if one gets driving license using automatic, one cant drive anything else. if you get license running manual you are allowed to run both. are we strange ? /Jorgen
Probably not a bad idea. My daughter is getting of driving age and she will learn on a manual tranny. The vehicle is.......(drum roll please).......a '51 International pickup. I promised her she won't be taking any trips where there is a chance her friends will see her. ;-)
"Jorgen Moquist" wrote in message news:mTUQi.2$ snipped-for-privacy@nntpserver.swip.net...
It used to be that way in South Carolina. When I got my first license in
1964, I borrowed a friend's Ford Falcon 6-banger with 3 on the tree so I wouldn't be limited to automatics.SC Tom
On Tue, 16 Oct 2007 03:55:35 +0200, Jorgen Moquist wrote Re Re: Focus:
No, you are smart. But then that is very strange to encounter in this world.
On Tue, 16 Oct 2007 01:10:08 GMT, Jeff wrote Re Re: Focus:
Ditto.
This reminds me of a story about my daughter. Since we only have standard trans cars in my family, that's when she learned to drive on.
When it came time to buy her own second-hand car when she was sixteen, she wanted an automatic trans, because "that's what my friends drive". I insisted that she had to get a standard, but that when she got out of college and was working, she could of course get automatic.
Fast forward now seven years latter and she is out of college and working and ready to buy her second car. This is an almost-new Honda with an auto trans. She asks what I think and I said "..it's your money that you worked for so get whatever you want..". She buys the Honda automatic.
About two months later, I'm talking to her and she says ".. I don't know what I was thinking when I bought that (Honda with the auto trans), but I'm selling it and getting something with a standard trans. Those autos are no fun to drive!".
The eventually get common sense, but sometimes it takes a while.
Just smart.
Jeff
When I was going through driver's ed in high school, they normally used a Chevy with an automatic transmission. My father owned a Mercedes with a four on the column which I taught myself how to operate in the middle of the night.... but that's another story. Anyway, I mentioned to the driver's ed instructor that my family didn't own a car with an automatic and I needed to learn how to handle a straight drive. So he started showing up with a three speed Chevy every time I was scheduled to drive. I did fine with it.
However... he continued to use that same car all day, so I would see him out in the parking lot with another student jerk, jerk, jerking a few feet at a time and then stalling. Some of them never made it out of the parking lot. I snickered a lot.
Do you hear yourself??? You're considering getting a NEW car so your kid can drive an automatic??
Go get YOURSELF a new car and tell your kid he gets the Escort, and that he better learn to drive it properly or he'll be the one paying for a clutch!!
Tough love my friend, tough love. :)
-DJ-
Learning to drive with a stick is not that hard...
When I sold the T-Bird (not worth fixing) and got my Celica GT Coupe, I learned to drive a manual in hours. Stalled it a couple of times, burned rubber on the other ones, nevertheless, it only takes a couple of hours to learn to drive a manual car.
When my sister bought her Renault 5, she learned how to shift, next day she was stuck in traffic and didn't do that bad.
I've been driving automatics for the last 10 years, but when I drive my friend's Bimmer, I can drive it (manual), even her brother's 'Stang.
Even able to drive my friends Volks (cable-clutch)
Don't get a new car so he can learn to drive. let him earn it...
That's one of the problems in our modern society. We adapt everything so it's not too hard on youngsters...
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.