Learning to drive a manual

[mds_2004]

Is this a good first to learn manual? and is this also a good first car?

 

[Raph]

Originally posted by Megaman
keep your eyes on the rpm gauge also if moving from a stop...if it goes below 1100, give it a little more gas or youll stall. 1500-1800 is a good range from a stop.
once you get used to it, you'll know and feel where you're rpms are.

have fun

and when u get the feel of ur car,u can let the clutch out and start to roll at idle RPMs...constantly starting at 1000+ will shorten the life of your clutch...




dont u have to do your Driving test on a stick to get your liscence

 

[boostdevil]

i never heard of launching at 1100 rpms would shorten the life of the clutch, maybe launching at 4000 rpms might ruin tbe clutch but not 1100.. and no you dont have to learn on a stick in the united states to get a licence, although you people probably should

 

[Nighthawk01]

will cause more hat and friction in the clutch because your going to be riding it for half a freakin mile,
when lauching at a highr rpm,, say 2-2500k, you will be on the clutch for a much shorter time,, causing not as much het build up.

 

[onepimpclipse]

Everyone has pretty much covered everything, just keep your feet moving in opposite directions. i.e. When you press the clutch you will simultaneously release the gas, and the opposite is true. Don't worry about downshifting yet. Learn to drive first.


98redGS is right though, go by yourself. Don't think someone with you will help any. You'll be nervous and they'll be screaming out instructions.

 

[19Eclipse90]

People should learn to drive on manuals before ever touching an automatic. If you can't drive a manual you shouldn't be able to drive.

I'm taking my drivers test January 7th, and plan on using my DSM although I had thought about driving my dad's 75 Volkswagen Rabbit, just cause I'm sure not to speed in it, it's automatic so shifting wouldn't be on my mind, and they are so freakin small. But parallel parking is a biotch cause of no power steering.

But anyways, back to this thread, I started out driving automatics, but then my brother got a stick for his first car, a 93 Eclipse GS, and he was all into it so I wanted to get one for myself or at least learn how to drive his, so my dad let me drive it one night and I didn't kill it once. You should do fine. Downshifting, since people have already brought it up, you want to let off the clutch extra slow while braking. Starting on a hill is the hardest thing there is. I never used the ebrake method but it was suggested to me. I would use an open parking lot to learn to drive though.
Brian

 

[BitAddict]

you might want to check out howstuffworks.com and look at how a manual tranny works. this will give you a good idea of what is actually going on while your getting used to the clutch/throttle relationship. try to visualize whats going on in your head while you shift. lots of good tips so far!

 

[g0tEclipseD]

my GST was my first stick shift car. i was able to drive it almost perfectly by the end of the day. definetly enough to get me to school and back and to work and back with no problem .practice makes perfect. in about a week or so u wont even know worry about it!

practice in empty parking lots and long roads for downshifting. also like stated before, hills suck, especially when ur still new to driving stick. what i would do is just pull up the e-brake and then go like a normally would and then just let it out when i felt the car was able to move forward

 

[Raph]

and when u get the hang of it,youll be up and down shifting as if u were driving a Porsche

 

[CowPimp]

Manual transmissions are much more fun to operate than automatics. Sometimes traffic will make it suck a little bit, but once you hit open roads it's all worth it. Other advantages include better gas mileage and less power sapping through the drivetrain.

I found my Talon to be the easiest car to learn stick on of any manual car that I have driven. I have driven the following manual transmission vehicles: Civic DX, Sentra ?, Vel Satis 2.3i, Lancer OZ, Saturn SL2, and an Integra GS-R.

Basically, the way I learned to drive it with the Talon was this: First, push in the clutch and go into first gear with the shift knob. Then, very slowly release the clutch. At a certain point you will start to feel the car rumble a little bit; it may even move forward very slowly like an automatic does when you aren't touching any pedals. Once the car starts to rattle you should begin to apply throttle a little bit and finish releasing the clutch. Shifting between gears is a piece of cake. Most people have more trouble getting the car going from a stop. I used this method to teach my brother how to drive stick in a parking lot; he didn't stall out once. Eventually you will become comfortable enough with where the engagement point is that you will be able to get the car moving with smoother and quicker motions.

The rest of learning stick just comes with experience. Downshifting, rev matching, shifting quickly, launching, etc. After a maximum of a couple of months, you will begin to shift without any thought.

Happy shifting!

 

[newDSMRacer]

I have an automatic mustang , Duz suck! Not only cuz its a Ford, but its automatic, I head Manual is very easy! (Stares at other posts), but someone said once you learn it, its just like turning on the radio. You know what to do, but my question is: When you start the car, is it in nuetral or 1rst? This may be the dumbest question Ive ever asked but I have no idea...*Im still lookin for a stick talon, got one drop me a PM*

-Chris

 

[xcelr8n]

the tranny will be in whatever gear you leave it. usually i would think most leave it in neutral and pull the e-brake. I leave it in 1st gear tho.

 

[Nighthawk01]

it doesnt matter what gear it's in,, long as you have the clutch pushed in.

 

[Zenja]

Before I drove my first manual (90 Laser RS Turbo) I read a bunch of stuff about how clutches and MTs work and read on how to start out learning it. This was helpful but it messed me up at the same time. I kept pushing the gas in and letting out the clutch, and stalling. I was letting the clutch out way too fast.

The key is to learn the range of where the clutch movement has the most impact. If it's all the way in, it can move out for a while before it will start catching. Once it starts moving out, there's a certain distance where it will go before it will fully catch and the rest (as you let it out) doesn't really do much. You have to try to learn how fast to move during this main catching part.

I would suggest first trying to let the clutch all the way out without using the gas pedal. Let it out very slowly (and yes, very slowly, not like I did) until you start to move forward a bit. At that point, keep letting it out slowly while trying to have the RPM at about 600 (just make sure it's over 500) until you're going at full speed at idle in 1st gear. When you're actually driving normally, you usually give it a little bit of gas right before you start letting out the clutch. When you're driving normally and using the gas, you usually have to hold the clutch a little bit near the start of the catch point, or let it out slower anyway, then when you feel the clutch and flywheel almost equal out, just move the clutch out fast. I'm guessing this can be quite different on different particular cars too, depending on how much the clutch is worn and such.

As for upshifting, the trick is to learn to give it a little bit of gas during the shift, while letting out the clutch in order to make it smooth. As you push the clutch in, you should be shifting to your next gear (and try to make it fairly fast and smooth so your RPMs don't drop down to nothing), then as you let out the clutch, hold the gas pedal in a bit. This is where the action of moving the two pedals in opposite directions balancing them out comes into play especially, if you want to make your shifts smooth. Don't worry too much about this part yet, practice it after you can actually get moving decently and drive around. Learn how to shift smoothly after that.

Everything involving downshifting has a couple of different ways. When I'm coming to a stop, I usually just leave it in the gear that I'm in, or downshift from 4th to 3rd, or 5th to 4th to 3rd but not less than that usually. The lower gear you're in, the faster you'll slow down and wear out your brakes less, but you don't want to have to spin up the engine much when you're letting the clutch out. Once you're almost at a stop and at about 1000rpm in 3rd (or whatever), push the clutch in and shift to neutral. If you're not coming to a stop (like turning), push the clutch in before the turn, shift into an appropriate gear for the speed, and get going like usual. You should downshift from 4th to 3rd at about 50kph, 3rd to 2nd anywhere below that, and never to 1st.

The main part about learning how to downshift is making it smooth. When you downshift and let out the clutch, the wheel speed will spin the engine up to the appropriate RPM and you'll feel a big slow down until the RPMs match. If you give it gas to get the RPM to where it should be before you let the clutch out, it will be much smoother and easier on the car.

You should be in 1st only when going out of a stop or when driving around really slowly in a big parking lot or something, looking for a spot. 2nd should be usually up to 40kph, and 3rd up to 50kph. I usually shift to 2nd at about 3000rpm, then to 3rd at 3000rpm, then 4th at 2500. On the street, I use 3rd to accelerate to whatever speed I want to get to then shift to 4th to cruise. 50th is for 65+, but use 4th for accelerating to about 70.

Don't be too worried about following instructions like these too much though, it may seem hard to learn at first but all it takes is some time. It takes a different amount of time for each person, but usually by 2 days you should be driving decently, and then it just gets smoother and more advanced from there. It's just a matter of time and practice.

 

[DaSikestMachine]

learning stick is easy i first drove a Honda civic hatchback with upgraded clutch that was easy. I got my skills downpat on a 86 RX7 converted to carb. without power steering.......A pain in the ass. The carb stick is much more diffucult to drive than a FI stick. my .02 oh and like everyone else is saying just jump in the drivers seat by yourself. after a while u'll get the drift.

 

[Andy5]

Originally posted by Raph
just use the Ebrake to aid you while moving from a stop on a hill

hold the ebrake,let the clutch out till it grabs u,(rear end of car dips a bit)and then dail in some throttle(while letting the Clutch out and droppin the Ebrake)..that way the car wont roll back at all


Driving a stick is EZ

Like to see u do that in my car, i have no e-brake cable!

 

[jerzeytib]

In the past month I learned to drive stick w/o tachometer gauge. It took me about 3wks to get right with just listening to the engine revs.

 

[Munsta]

Learn in a DX Wagon in a paddock

Why do you americans call them sticks? Stupid...

 

[ArticNemesis]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned that I see many drivers that are new at manual transmissions do...

Don't man handle the gear shifter.. Easy, gentle movements. Your tranny will love you for it in the end.

Gently to the left, and push forward for 1st. Pull back towards you for second. Slide it foward to hit 3rd (it will automatically center.) Straight back for 4th. Push forward and away from you for 5th.

You should be able to do all this without gripping the gear shifter in your fingers and palm.. I see many a new drivers miss gears, grind synchros, and just show the tranny abuse that it doesn't really need from trying to force it in at different angles.

 

[Andy5]

You really don't even need to listen to your engine once you get good. You'll just know when to do it because of the speed, and how long its been in gear. Like For me, i'm usally in a gear for 2-3 seconds before i shift. It becomes 2nd nature and you just do it. Fairly easy acutally, just remember, "Clutch Shift" not "Shift" Like i did 1 time.

 

[CowPimp]

Originally posted by Munsta
Learn in a DX Wagon in a paddock

Why do you americans call them sticks? Stupid...

You can't expect a country thousands of miles away from you to use the same terminology to describe things. Stick is just short for stickshift.

 

[1gE.T.]

Get the manual. If you upgrade to a 2600lb clutch then you will have to relearn to drive almost anyways.