> The only problem I've ever had with driving is trying to unlearn the habit of right-foot braking. I keep catching myself doing it. It doesn't help that in most cars the brake pedal's in an uncomfortable spot for the left foot.

Aren't you *supposed* to brake with the right foot? In a standard, the left foot is reserved for the clutch only, and in an automatic, the left foot isn't supposed to do anything. Unless things have changed, that's probably why the brake isn't in a comfortable position for the left foot. It's not supposed to be.

That brings to mind the fun I had trying to go from a standard to an automatic several years ago. When you drive a standard, you learn muscle control in the legs that you don't quite realize. Let me explain.

When you use the brake, you go easily when you push down on it, but you can release it abruptly. When you use the clutch in a standard, you slam it in hard, but let it out easy.

Well I never really thought about this until I switched to an automatic. The moment I stopped being conscientious of the fact that I was in an automatic, the door was opened for my mind to settle back into what it knew. Slow down enough that downshifting is required, WHAM! my left foot would slam down on that ultra-wide brake pedal, and the car would lurch forward. I did that quite a number of times before getting comfortable in an automatic.

The thing was -- and I tried this just to see how it would work out -- I COULD NOT press the brake with my left foot in an smooth, gradual way. Try as I might, that leg just didn't have the motor controls to be able to do that. I could improve upon out-and-out slamming it, of course, but I couldn't get noticeably close to the smoothness my right foot could do without even trying. You just don't ease a clutch in, so my left foot never learned the skill.

Anyway, now I drive an automatic, and my right foot does the work for both pedals. Like I say, I thought this was how it was supposed to be.