Though there are differences, they are not differrent enough to take more than 30 seconds to adjust to when changing cars.

with the driver's seat on the right, and shifting left-handed. The shifter was in the same arrangement as the U.S., with first in the upper left.

I spent the first couple hours unintentionally dropping the shifter from first into fourth. Once I got used to shifting left-handed, it was easy-peasy. Never had a problem getting left, though.

Everywhere else in Europe is left-hand drive.

The mid 80's Chevy Cavalier I learned to drive in was so underpowered that it easily died or lurched horribly if the gas and clutch weren't done well.

I taught my kids in a BMW335, and as long as you give it a little gas, you can dump the clutch and it wont stall.

My wife learned to drive an F-150 with a "3 on the tree" manual transmission. We taught both our girls to shift with a manual transmission.

There is a big difference among clutches, not only among different makes and models, but how each driver has the play in the clutch adjusted.

Absolutely no doubt that I could manage one as well now as then, in others words not well.

I learned on a manual and then switched back and forth for a long time. I drove a manual from 2014-2019, then automatics from 2019-2021, and now back to a manual. You will remember easily and mechanics don't vary much.

The only thing I've found to vary across makes (sometimes wildly) is reverse. Sometimes it's hard left or right and down, sometimes hard left or right and up, sometimes (inexplicably and usually Volvos) you're supposed to pull up on a collar on the stick.

forward gears. We’ve had two older manual cars among the ones we’ve owned going back 30 years. The ‘74 we owned had a mechanical clutch, that made shifting a bit strenuous. One of our current cars is a ‘90 with a hydraulic clutch which makes the clutch play a lot easier. The bigger issue I had was going from a five speed to a six speed.

if you're going to try it, perhaps after dark would be best.

I could put in reverse.

when you get it in reverse.

than a sedan. 1992 Explorer was similar. didnt drive a stick after that for 20 years then borrowed a BMW 325 for a few hours. No problem.

...just over 30 years ago. It's come back to me pretty easily on the rare occasions I have driven one since (borrowing a friend's beater truck, renting a car in Europe, etc.).

It was pretty much like riding a bike or skating (also had no occasion to do for a few years). Felt weird for a couple minutes, then the muscle memory took over. I test drove at least five different models and had no difficulty with any of them.

Regardless of the vehicle, I bet a short drive on a back road would be sufficient to warm you up.

A lot of modern manual transmission cars (very hard to find these days, I don't think the BMW 325 is avaialable with one) now have rev matching to make the shifts between gears smoother without any effort from the driver. You might stall once or twice remembering how to get the car moving, but I doubt you would have any problem.

The old manual trucks I drove 30 years ago had much sloppier gear boxes than cars and you had to get the hang of where the next gear was. I have not driven a manual truck since then, but imagine that the gear boxes are smoother now as well.

These days I only drive stick in rental cars in Europe (not very frequently). It's like riding a bike.

And have on and off since I was 16. But my prior car was an automatic so I took 5 years off and it came back instantly.

might be a little choppy at first.

It takes a couple of minutes to recover the muscle memory and then it's fine.

I saw an amusing bumper sticker on a Jeep the other day, which was a picture of the shift pattern with "Millennial Anti Theft Device" written underneath.