teach me to drive a stick?

[theflystyle]

its sad to admit but i do not have time or experience behind the wheel of a stick car. kinda a long favor but i would pay for your time, etc. im in the fairfax, NOVA area. i did a search for driving schools but nothing listed manual cars. I would like to learn so that i can eventually get a manual leggie one day.

lets see what happens, thanks

[evolutionmovement]

I'm too far away to help you, but I had my mechanically misinclined friend learn from a sales guy when he bought a Del Sol. The basics are easy. The only thing that takes getting used to is starting off. I taught my ex in about 5 minutes. I don't know why they always have people grinding gears in movies - I've never had anyone do that. Stalling and bunny hopping are the problems and some cars are worse to drive on than others. I like old trucks and such best myself as the strong clutch makes you aware of it, the torque of the engine wants to pull you from a stop easily, and there's plenty of travel in the clutch. High performance cars and modern sissy cars with their flaccid clutches are usually bad for opposite reasons.

So you put the car in gear, clutch in, start it. Give a little gas, practice holding it around 1500 rpms (though when you start driving, especially with a hard-to-stall Subaru, you can just keep it at idle speed add gas to balance the drag of the drivetrain as you let off the clutch) or so and slowly let off the clutch. You should feel the car start to pull a little and the revs will drop. If you let off the clutch too fast, you'll stall it. The trick is to slowly add gas now as you smoothly let out the clutch.

Once you get a hold of starting and stopping in a parking lot, changing gears is nothing, you move on to hills. Industrial parks are good places to go.

Once you've mastered smooth starts and shifting without riding the clutch (you'll hear a lot of ricers do this even when they shift - they partially hold the clutch WAY too long. You only need the minimum of clutch to get the car moving smoothly. Anything more just wastes it.), you can move on to fun stuff like heel and toe (misnamed), left foot braking, and matched downshifts. You'll never want to drive an automatic again.

[Legacy777]

Steve has some good advice.

Honestly, your best bet is to just get out there and do it. I had driven on some back roads with a 5spd before I got my license, however the day I got my permit, my mom said hop in, we're going to get a movie, you're driving. I stalled it a few times, more then once at this one intersection.

If you go out, don't go out on a friday afternoon unlike me. There are definitely some cars that are much more forgiving. Subarus typically are very forgiving and do very well at telling you they're about to stall. My mom's yota truck was not. It just stalled.

Then once you have things sort of down, go drive a different vehicle with a manual trans. That would always give me a hastle swapping between my dad's subaru and my mom's toyota. But you'll get the hang of it.

[theflystyle]

i guess my issue is getting a hold of a manual, and then having someone let me use their car. i have read all your comments and def have the idea down. just need to put it into practice.

[evolutionmovement]

Definitely Subarus are great to learn on, or at least the old ones, N/A especially. You can feel the clutch, it has some decent weight to it, the engines can drop real low rpms before stalling, and there's plenty of torque to move off. I actually use no gas at all moving off in the wagon, just the lightest touch on the gas. But beggars can't be choosers, I suppose.

But as Josh mentioned, go somewhere where there won't be anyone to bother you and when you first get out on the road, do it at a light traffic time. Nervousness and not wanting to look like a tool will almost guarantee you stall or bunny-hop embarrassingly in front of a bunch of chicks or something.

First day I drove my 260Z with my girlfriend in the car, I kept rolling back on a steep hill at a light, I thought, because I was nervous with her in the car and a huge jacked up truck behind me. Stalled it through a green light cycle and rolled back into the truck with the guy laughing his ass off. Finally gave up and dropped the clutch at 3 grand and peeled away. Through a red. Later found out that car had some serious carb issues (they were notorious when new and this one was 20 years old) and some electrical gremlins that made it more difficult (dead spot off idle and hesitation. That was before the fucker would completely foul the plugs on the highway and make me pull over every few miles, fight to restart, then accelerate to burn off the shit only to repeat the whole thing a few miles later). I had a point. Oh yeah, the car you choose also makes a difference. Nervousness will get you, but so will a piece of shit and sometimes you can't tell what a POS you're driving really is because you blame your inexperience. Be easy on yourself and don't use a complete POS to learn if you can help it.

[93Leg-c]

Just to add a refinement to Steve's comments on starting from a dead stop: While just letting the clutch pedal out slowly may work, many beginners still stall the engine.

If that happens to you, this is something you can try: As you let out the clutch pedal slowly, concentrate on what you will be FEELING and HEARING as you let out the clutch. You will simultaneously feel the clutch begin to engage, the car start to "tense", and you'll hear the revs of the engine start to drop. It is at this point that the clutch is engaging and is called the "friction point."

It is just around this point that you should hold the clutch pedal steady or possibly even depress it toward the floor ever so slightly (depends on the car) and smoothly give a bit more gas. You'll hear the revs picking up and at that point you can let the clutch pedal out a bit more.

Then as engagement takes place, you can let out the clutch pedal all the way.

Just practice it a few times and you will know where it is that you need to hold the clutch pedal steady (or slightly depressing it toward the floor) while giving it a bit more gas. Every car is usually a little bit different, depending upon the type of clutch components, the condition of the pressure plate, where the clutch is adjusted to start engaging, etc.

On all other shifts after that, you do not need to hold the clutch pedal at the friction point.

I've found teaching people to drive stick that if they understand where the friction point is and then use the clutch pedal accordingly as mentioned above, in a few minutes they've overcome the biggest hurdle to driving a manual tranny car.

Oh, another thought, you can also practice in a parking lot or something like that so you're not in traffic at all.

[TrueBlue]

Learning in a Legacy is easy too - the Hill Holder clutch will let you focus on the technique first.

[quicklook]

i taught myself when i was 14 how to drive a stick.

someone told me about the friction point and then showed me and i was up and running after that.

learned in a 1961 corvair lakewood wagon with a 3 speed on the floor.

[n2x4]

The hard part is getting started from a stop. Once you get that it's pretty easy. Shifting gears is simple too.

[Fkyx]

The hard part is getting started from a stop. Once you get that it's pretty easy. Shifting gears is simple too.

Ah! And if you'd like to preserve things a bit, you can learn how to rev-match on downshift. But that can wait until you're comfortable with everything else.

[quicklook]

it is just like sex, the more you do it the better you are.

[entirelyturbo]

I actually disagree with Steve saying not to learn on a complete POS.

I learned on a complete POS... my grandfather's old Isuzu pickup. 2.3l carbed I4, was supposed to have 90 something hp when it was running properly, and this one wasn't.

On top of running like crap, it had no power steering. So I got to experience the joy of doing 3-point turns in my neighborhood, completely new to stickshift and wrestling with heavy-ass steering.

Also sweating like a pig since the A/C was broken.

Why do I recommend this? Because if you learn on a hard-to-drive POS, once you get the hang of it... you can drive anything.

Case in point: I was once elected to drive one of these across town:


... because a friend of mine, who can drive stickshift, but learned on a newer BMW, couldn't drive it.

I do recommend finding a few backroads with no traffic to learn though.

[Legacy777]

The biggest thing is smoothness and control with the clutch & gas. People have talked about friction point and what not. You do just have to go and try it. I'd caution against riding the clutch too much or too long.

One of my mom's ex BF's daughters had a horrible habit of riding the clutch or engaging the clutch a little bit once she let off the clutch. That'll just eat the clutch up. So do watch your "form"


Once you have a 5spd down, then go find an old "3 on the tree" to learn on

[theflystyle]

i think i have a friend who is willing to let me use his car (civic hatch, blah) i will let you guys know how it goes... tons of info from everyone, THANKS!!!!!!!!!!

[atroby91]

I learned on my legacy. I had it the first time but lost it the second and third times i tried but after the third try i had it. I just taught one of my lady friends how to drive my car and it seemed to help being in a gravel parking lot to allow the wheels to spin if you dumped the clutch ( I didn't want her to go wearing on my tires like i did )

[quicklook]

i think i have a friend who is willing to let me use his car (civic hatch, blah) i will let you guys know how it goes... tons of info from everyone, THANKS!!!!!!!!!!

how did it go?

buying a new clutch for the civic?

[theflystyle]

my friends hatch needless to say wasnt up to the challenge. he barely got it over to my place but then it died in the parking lot. at least i got some seat time and played with the motions. i need to find another car!! lol

[quicklook]

hahahahahaha!

"wasn't up to the challenge."


hahahahahahahahaha