My boyfriend and I are heading to Italy the last week in October. We are going to rent a car in Florence and then drive to somewhere in Tuscany where we will stay 3 nights and have the car to get around - we heard this is the best way to travel around that area. However, we are debating a manual versus automatic as my boyfriend can drive manual. Some friends have told us that manual will make it more difficult (but much cheaper) and some have said that it's no different. Any thoughts or experiences to share would be much appreciated!
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16611 posts
People who told you that an automatic car is better simply don't know how to drive a car with manual transmission. Since your boyfriend does, the issue is moot.
A manual transmission car is better because:
- Italians (Europeans actually) don't like to drive automatic cars therefore car rental companies keep very few of them in their fleet. Everybody in Europe knows how to drive a manual because if you take a driving test on an automatic the drivers' license will say that you can drive only automatic cars and nobody wants to have that in their drivers' license.
- Those few automatic cars kept by rental car agencies are generally large or intermediate size vehicles which will cost you in rental fee alone 2 to 3 times as much as an economy car.
- Automatic cars are not as fuel efficient as manual cars and fuel in Italy costs about €1.80/liter ($9.50/gallon), or €1.65/liter and up if diesel.
- Italians think that automatic cars are for handicapped people who have lost the use of their left leg or their right arm (or both). Driving a manual car will immediately establish with the locals that your boyfriend is a fully able bodied man and therefore prevent him from being targeted by pickpockets who prey on the elderly and the disabled (I know this is a far fetched reason, but you can add that to the above list for your boyfriend in case he tries to make you spend more on an automatic just because he's lazy and doesn't want to drive a stick).