Auto is no fun! ... shouldn't take you long to get the hang of manual. I think what you have planned should be fine, but I guess it differs person to person. I've been on my L's since the day I turned 16... We own automatics but I've had about 12 hours experience in a manual (driving thingy with year 10 law class ). Ps. well spoken/written young people are a dying breed on these forums.