JadeAmethyst.....I was just going to comment on that (stopping on a hill).....I remember while my dad was still teaching me driving the stick shift on the California I5 Freeway in the San Fernando Valley (during traffic)....the off ramp happened to be rather steep (at least for a beginner). I got up to the top & it was a STOP LIGHT .....I had no idea how I was going to get going again without ending up at the bottom of the off ramp again.....but I looked back & there was a whole string of cars behind me. My dad solved the problem. He put on the hand parking break while I was doing the clutching to get it going he was letting up on the break....I think I killed it a couple of times before getting going as there were a bunch of honking cars behind me.

With practice, I learned how to sort of "ride the clutch" on hills like that so it didn't go forward or backward.....just took me time to figure it out.....not a good solution for the clutch but I didn't have that many hills to deal with in that area of Calif & most offramps level off at the top.....think I was just so panicked that time since it was my first experience on a hill......Hey...give me San Francisco now.

I doubt I will ever afford another vehicle but I would definitely look for a stick shift.....however with my truck & hauling a horse trailer, there are times when I need to focus on the trailer & glad I don't have to deal with stick shift even though I truly love it much better than automatic.