I'm a student driver taking lessons with a Nissan Sentra and it's time to buy
a car.  My husband is very excited by the prospect of buying an '83 Vanagon
but I'm worried that it may be very tough for me to learn to drive it; the
steering is likely to be more difficult and the manual transmission is new to
me.  What do you think?

Any suggestions on what to look for when my husband goes to check it out?
 It's got 105k miles, it's water cooled and it needs a muffler. 

Thanks alot,
Regina