Learn in Your Car Spanish Complete Language Course (Learn in Your Car)

I've tried to learn Spanish with at least five other recording systems, but I could never understand what the speaker was saying. In Learn in Your Car Spanish, the speaker speaks slower and more clearly than in any other sytem I've seen. With a pretty good understanding of English grammar, you can figure out the structure of sentences and phrases and start to put together your own sentences. It's the only Spanish course that has worked for me. I've thrown all the other systems away.

I absolutely love these CDs. I put them in the car so I can practice my Spanish when I have to drive for a while. Replaying them allows us to remember...

You hear a sentence in English, then you have the time to translate it out loud in Spanish, and a few seconds later you hear the answer. All the basic is covered, verbs, vocabulary...

I recommend this method with much enthusiasm. It worked great for me! Great product!

Wonderful product. Been only working with the program a couple of weeks and I can already have some conversation with a Spanish friend.

The lessons on these CDs are set up in a logical sequence. You can drive along, for example, and take in a lesson on "Transportation Phrases," which begins with the easiest phrases and builds on them. At the end of the lesson, you can replay that lesson or move to the next even if you haven't fully mastered the one you just heard. On a long interstate trip, you could pack in a good amount of vocabulary, but you can work on little segments on short jaunts to the market, then practice the words as you're roaming up and down the aisles. There are two speakers, a man and a woman, so you can hear how words sound as spoken by different vocal styles. This is truly an effortless program.

Alright. Which is better? Behind the Wheel Spanish Behind the Wheel - Spanish 1 (Behind the Wheel) or Learn in Your Car??
The titles sound similar, but the courses are quite different.
I have both and have benefited from both. Of the two, I much prefer Behind the Wheel Spanish. My reasons for this follow:
1. Behind the Wheel Spanish is a much less rigid and more intuitive type of course where you are allowed the freedom to create your own sentences on the first CD and beyond. While Learn in Your Car is great for vocabulary, there is no such feature included.
2. Learn in Your Car uses a 'non-interview' instructional type format which is somewhat reminiscent of your high school language class days. Very structured and a bit geekish.
Behind the Wheel has an English speaking teacher with great native speakers that sort of stroll you through the language. You really never feel like you are in a class, but you are always learning to speak.
3. While I use both courses, I always walk away from even a short session with Behind the Wheel knowing how to say and understand more immediately after my lesson, whereas with Learn in Your Car, the material does not 'stick with me' nearly as fast or as easily.
4. Behind the Wheel has taught me some certifiably cool idioms like 'Me costó un ojo de la cara' or 'It cost me an eye out of my face' that all the native Spanish speakers with whom I have spoken have instantly understood. They nearly embrace me when I use these little 'gems'.
Once again, Learn in Your Car doesn't have any of this stuff.
Conclusion: Buy and use both courses, especially if you like variety.
If you only have enough money for one, then by all means purchase Behind the Wheel first. The advantage to using both is that the more rigid structure of Learn in Your Car can be a refreshing (albeit much less effective) change to Behind the Wheel.