So, a buddy tried to teach me to drive manual yesterday
- Thread starter Jon
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2001
- Posts
- 12,521
What kind of pieces of shit are your friends driving? None of those are bad cars at all, but it sounds like they're beat to shit. You have to really do something wrong to make a S2000 or Civic Si break.
Anyway, if any of your ricer friends happen to have a Mazda Miata with a regular clutch and no retarded wannabe racer addons they are awesome for learning. The clutch is very forgiving, and the engine doesn't much care if you forget to shift and you're doing 6000 rpms in 2nd gear on the highway because you forgot to shift. Also, when you are practicing moving from a dead stop do it on gravel, then if you mess up you're more likely to kick some gravel up than stall the car out. Whoever owns the gravel driveway might not like you too much though.
Anyway, if any of your ricer friends happen to have a Mazda Miata with a regular clutch and no retarded wannabe racer addons they are awesome for learning. The clutch is very forgiving, and the engine doesn't much care if you forget to shift and you're doing 6000 rpms in 2nd gear on the highway because you forgot to shift. Also, when you are practicing moving from a dead stop do it on gravel, then if you mess up you're more likely to kick some gravel up than stall the car out. Whoever owns the gravel driveway might not like you too much though.
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2004
- Posts
- 9,940
Some tips:
1. *....just relax....*
Driving stick is way more involved than auto. It's way more tactile, way more CONNECTED.
The sooner you realize this the quicker you'll master this shit.
Don't let your buddy rush you into any "lessons".....just ask him to let you SIT there for a while with it in neutral... RIGHT foot on the brake (or use the handbrake), right hand on the shifter and left hand on the steering wheel. Don't touch the clutch for now. Just sit there until it almost feels normal.
Take a few deep breaths and calm your mind....
Just rev that engine up and down, practice holding it at certain rpms, give yourself an idea of where your foot should be on the gas in correlation to certain RPMs...
-Learn to FEEL the engines "elasticity" through the physical feedback you get in your right foot: feel it "tense up" and whine as you feed it gas, feel it drone and sputter when you let your foot off
2. ALWAYS push down the clutch when moving the shifter
-when you're ready, put your LEFT foot on the clutch and throw your car into 1st gear or reverse and use your right foot to feed it gas...just gently tap it and keep your revs up around 1k-1500 as you slowly take your left foot off the clutch...if it takes off too quick for you just press down the clutch and let'er roll a bit.....if it rolls TOO quick, press down the clutch, toss it in neutral and feather the brakes until its rolling at a more manageable speed.
3. Learn what gear is ideal for what speed. Just for when you're slowing down but have to speed up again.
4. Never hold the clutch down for any duration of time. Put it in neutral and feather the brakes when you want to stop/slow down.
-The clutch pedal usually operates on a cable with a return spring or hydraulic pressure....in either case you'd be slowly ruining your clutch pedal by constantly holding it to slow down and you'd be slowly ruining your transmission if you constantly drive while "feathering" the clutch to control your throttle response.
Use the clutch for shifting gears as much as possible, as smoothly as possible.
Good luck!
1. *....just relax....*
Driving stick is way more involved than auto. It's way more tactile, way more CONNECTED.
The sooner you realize this the quicker you'll master this shit.
Don't let your buddy rush you into any "lessons".....just ask him to let you SIT there for a while with it in neutral... RIGHT foot on the brake (or use the handbrake), right hand on the shifter and left hand on the steering wheel. Don't touch the clutch for now. Just sit there until it almost feels normal.
Take a few deep breaths and calm your mind....
Just rev that engine up and down, practice holding it at certain rpms, give yourself an idea of where your foot should be on the gas in correlation to certain RPMs...
-Learn to FEEL the engines "elasticity" through the physical feedback you get in your right foot: feel it "tense up" and whine as you feed it gas, feel it drone and sputter when you let your foot off
2. ALWAYS push down the clutch when moving the shifter
-when you're ready, put your LEFT foot on the clutch and throw your car into 1st gear or reverse and use your right foot to feed it gas...just gently tap it and keep your revs up around 1k-1500 as you slowly take your left foot off the clutch...if it takes off too quick for you just press down the clutch and let'er roll a bit.....if it rolls TOO quick, press down the clutch, toss it in neutral and feather the brakes until its rolling at a more manageable speed.
3. Learn what gear is ideal for what speed. Just for when you're slowing down but have to speed up again.
4. Never hold the clutch down for any duration of time. Put it in neutral and feather the brakes when you want to stop/slow down.
-The clutch pedal usually operates on a cable with a return spring or hydraulic pressure....in either case you'd be slowly ruining your clutch pedal by constantly holding it to slow down and you'd be slowly ruining your transmission if you constantly drive while "feathering" the clutch to control your throttle response.
Use the clutch for shifting gears as much as possible, as smoothly as possible.
Good luck!
Last edited:
Like I said in one of my posts, they're all used cars they bought, most with over 100k, that he was trying to flip as a side business. The S2000 was modded to hell and back...definitely. It's previous owner also installed a turbo but, removed that before he sold it to my buddy. It still had exhaust, etc. The damn thing just seized up in the parking lot of his game store.
The Si was a different story. Another used car salesman friend of his owned it. Said it was perfect but, it definitely was not. My friend said it sounded like it was about to drop a rod.
The WRX was basically my only option at that point. The car was actually very nice. The inside was perfect...whoever owned it took care of it. The only two...well, three...problems it had was the fact someone had installed a stupid bike rack on top, weird-sounding BOV (like a shoe squeeking on a basketball court), and it had 190k miles on it. The other guy owned it, too, and was asking $9000 for it.
Before I go any further, I'd also like to point out I only had about 20 minutes behind the wheel, tops. The fact I was able shift it into 1st several times is actually pretty impressive. I guess we would have stayed longer but, he ended up getting spooked by the cop that pulled up in an adjacent lot.
Jon
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2003
- Posts
- 26,974
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2003
- Posts
- 34,074
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2014
- Posts
- 733
Another cool thing about standard transmission is when your friend forgets to put the parking break on and you push his car around the block to make him think it was stolen.
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2009
- Posts
- 9,092
We've done that many times. The best one was when we saw my friends car in a mall parking lot. We pushed it 5 aisles, went to Mc Donalds, came back, ate and waited. He went from puzzled to pissed to looking like he was going to cry. That's when we yelled to him and he saw us and his car. He went back to looking pissed.
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2002
- Posts
- 22,057
Forgets the parking brake and leaves the car out of gear? Who the fuck does that? That's how your car rolls away, you don't even have to worry about your friends moving it, it'll move itself.
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2014
- Posts
- 733
In some cases the door was unlocked or the window down enough for us to unlock the door.
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2009
- Posts
- 9,092
In that case nothing.
I've walked to my car, noticed a jackass pulled right up touching my bumper. When I backed out of my spot, their car rolled forward and took up two spaces.
That's happened a few times in my 30+ years of driving.
People have a lot on their minds and do silly shit all the time.
I've walked to my car, noticed a jackass pulled right up touching my bumper. When I backed out of my spot, their car rolled forward and took up two spaces.
That's happened a few times in my 30+ years of driving.
People have a lot on their minds and do silly shit all the time.
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2003
- Posts
- 4,476
My first car was a stick. I still remember trying to take off the first time about 100 times in a row on my street, then realizing I had the emergency break on. Good times.
If you like to drive, stick is the only way to go.
I think it makes sense to have the stick on the left side. You need your right foot to break, hopefully... If you had the clutch right next to the gas you would have to use your left foot to break + there's the chance of accidentally hitting the clutch instead of the gas.
Maybe I'm weird breaking with my right foot.
Basically I don't hold my foot on the clutch, I rest it on the left side of the clutch, and drive as normal until the clutch is needed.
What you want to do is find a giant hill, like stelton road, and practice stopping midway up, and accelerating. Then when you hit a baby hill, you won't freak out. Because you will now notice every slight incline.
I think you should stick with it Jon. It's weird at first, but once you learn stick, it's hard to go back. It's just so much more fun.
Just remember while practicing on a hill, if you get nervous or a car comes behind you, break, and tell that Xenia trailer park trash to kiss your hairy white ass hole.
If you like to drive, stick is the only way to go.
I think it makes sense to have the stick on the left side. You need your right foot to break, hopefully... If you had the clutch right next to the gas you would have to use your left foot to break + there's the chance of accidentally hitting the clutch instead of the gas.
Maybe I'm weird breaking with my right foot.
Basically I don't hold my foot on the clutch, I rest it on the left side of the clutch, and drive as normal until the clutch is needed.
What you want to do is find a giant hill, like stelton road, and practice stopping midway up, and accelerating. Then when you hit a baby hill, you won't freak out. Because you will now notice every slight incline.
I think you should stick with it Jon. It's weird at first, but once you learn stick, it's hard to go back. It's just so much more fun.
Just remember while practicing on a hill, if you get nervous or a car comes behind you, break, and tell that Xenia trailer park trash to kiss your hairy white ass hole.
Last edited:
Calm down, old man. You don't need to correct me on every technicality.
How about this? "I was able to stay in first without stalling several times." Happy?
Jon
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2006
- Posts
- 5,174
I learned stick during a test drive before I bought the car. Don't know how I picked it up so fast, but I guess I was highly motivated to buy the damn car.
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2004
- Posts
- 20,259
Manual is the best, Rally4LF!
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2011
- Posts
- 1,537
I forced myself to learn manual when I moved from HI to OR. I was 25 at the time. My brother had a manual car that had a shit clutch, so when I got my own car with a manual transmission, I had to adjust a lot so I didn't stall. I never liked stopping on hills and hated it when some asshole would stop right behind me when I was stopped on a hill. Within a month of clutch grinding and high revving, I got it down to a point where it was just second nature.
I'd go with the idea of getting a beater with manual trans and just learn on that.
Unless you're stuck in super slow traffic, then it sucks a bit.
I'd go with the idea of getting a beater with manual trans and just learn on that.
Unless you're stuck in super slow traffic, then it sucks a bit.