I'm in the process of learning to drive stick, how long would you guys recommend i wait before i purchase a 8, i'm thinking i should wait till i dont stall at all

 

The 8 is an easy stick to drive. When you feel comfortable driving stick is when you should buy.

 

I bought my first car as a stick and learned on it. 85 RX-7 GSL-SE. It did not take long at all. The nice thing about the rotary is you can rev it high so it gives you lots of time to decide to shift. Then you are at a reasonable rev for the next gear. Go for it. Get the 8. Stalling won't kill it but the embarrasment of stalling one of these may motivate you to learn faster.

 

I learned to drive stick on the test drive for my 87 Honda Accord LXi hatch.
Gave the dealer my ID, jumped in and took it off the lot.
The hill going up the driveway was a bit tricky....

Never looked back. I'l NEVER buy another automatic.

 

been driving stick all my life, dad had 5 speed pick up, and i bought my first car when i turned 17 (ford festiva- tragic, i know) sold that for a 5 speed. nissan pulsar, after that i cought an acura nsx and then i got my 8. automatics have a reliable track record of suck!!!!!!

 

so it wont hurt it if i stall once and awhile??

 

I took a couple of lessons on a 626 before driving my RX-8 home, I stalled it a few minutes after I first started it up (had no idea about flooding issue back then, so I got lucky) and a whole bunch of times on the way home (the clutch was so much lighter than the 626's), it's a bit embarassing to stall such a great car, but I've got 5k on it now, and I haven't stalled it since the first week. The car still drives great, so I'm pretty sure all my stalling didn't affect it too much.

 

so if i stalled while the engine was stil not warmed up, theres chances of it flooding?

 

Hey Fish, well, if you do a bit of research around on these forums you'll find that a number of people have flooded their cars from turning them off w/o warming up the engines or by stalling the car when it's still cold. Me, I've been lucky, I haven't had a single problem with my RX, and I've never flooded it *knock on wood* (even with all the stalling I did in my first week).

If you're afraid of stalling while the engine is cold, maybe just let it run for a bit in neutral when you first start it up, so that it will warm up, that way if you stall it, you probably won't have a problem.

 

Highly recommend you to rent a little manual Civic for a couple weekends and have a friend who drives a standard with you on the first time. Might as well break yourself into the manual world on a rental.

 

I basically learned on the 8. Besides a couple of times on my friends car. It took me about a week to get adjusted with the 8 and get it flowing rather than thinking too much. was too use to auto. And i did stall in the streets a couple of times, ooo its embrassing. Just drive away as fast as you can. With stalling, i never flooded. I also let a friend drive it, and she stalled when it was cold. No flooding. Wish you the best of luck.

 

thanks, you guys are a big help. I think ill rent a car and practice on that first, thats a pretty good idea. I have lots of time till june, thats when ill be financialy cleared and be able to get an 8. I can't wait