I'm surprised you can drive manual. I've heard it's uncommon for those living in the first world countries to do so.
Really? It is very, very common in Australia and in Finland. In Finland, manuals are better for the winter conditions. New cars have caught up though I guess.
On the new car though, I needed to give more gas than usual, and I stalled when I tried to do what I usually did with the pickup.
This was the problem for me one of the two times - thought there was enough power, but there wasn't. It wasn't an old van - but it had a lot of kilometers on it, and diesel.
I was mostly basing off of the US. A lot of people I know drive an automatic, and can't drive manual.