I first started driving a car when John Ford launched his Model T… or so it seems.
My initiation to this mode of transportation took place in France just after I reached the very mature age of 18. After a few weeks of arduous training in “une auto-école”, I was granted the right to pilot one of these machines and let loose in Paris.
Driving in France then seemed like a poker game. The best bluffer won and it took nerves of steel to meet the challenge. Going through Place Charles de Gaulle (where 12 avenues converge) for instance was once one of the greatest challenges any young driver could face.
I learned to drive in a Renault Dauphine, a cute little car with a very simple setup. A speedometer and a “compteur kilométrique”. That was about all showing on the dashboard. The car was, of course, a stick shift model, and this was the most difficult part to master. But it was a rite of passage that almost every young Frenchman was eager to pass (very few women drove then) and I did it.
Since then, I have been driving many different cars, some with stick shifts and some automatic models and I never had second thoughts about it. When you drive, you usually do it in a semi-automatic mode, with very little to worry about.
My last car was a Toyota Camry and I loved it. A solid workhorse that never balked at any task. I kept it for close to 10 years and I was always very happy with it.
Then came the pandemic and this blasted immoral, inhuman, monstrous war in Ukraine, and suddenly the price of gas took off and affected everybody’s wallet.
What is the average fellow to do? Keep a tight upper lip and pay through the nose… or do something to mitigate the damages. Many people switched to electric cars or hybrids, and I finally did it too.
After all these years, I thought I could handle any car, but new models are a very different breed. When you have been driving a 10-year-old car and switch to a new one, you just cannot sit behind the wheel of a new model and hit the road.
Before venturing into the blue yonder, you better take the time to study the manual. A very fat one for that. New cars are so feature-rich that it leaves you scratching your head. Buttons are everywhere and you need to know what to do before taking off.
You just cannot learn while driving, it would be foolhardy and dangerous. So I downloaded the owner’s manual on my computer and tried to master it that way, but it is very difficult. You need to actually sit in the car and experiment to get positive results.
This long preamble is to let you know that I am doing my bit for the environment, and for my wallet. But if you happen to see me in my new wheels, don’t come too close because I am still flying by the seat of my pants. I could inadvertently launch some anti-tank rocket without realizing it.
Thank you for your understanding.
Alain