Yuen

Hi folks, I was wondering if anyone could recommend a great driving school that can teach me how to drive standard?

I live in Mississauga and I'm having trouble finding driving schools locally that teach manual. Any help is appreciated and thanks for your time.

Rems31

I took one official lesson here before I bought my 8. The rest of my manual shifting experience before getting this car was from friends...

http://www.shifters.ca/

I believe Sears also has some manual driving lessons...

Thief

Did you take lessons in their 8? Cuz I did :D

Rems31

What?!? No I don't remember what car but it sure wasn't an 8. though the guy did ask me what car I was getting and he said the RPM launch would be a bit higher on the 8.

Thief

I did one lesson in their Mazda 6 and then two in their 8. The guy with the 8 was asking me if I needed snow tires too :D

Yuen

Hey thanks rems, shifters looks pretty awesome. except, lets say a few lessons would rack up to nearly $300+ dollars. Would I be able to learn how to drive stick in time?

I get how manual driving works like, just never had any hands-on experience. I've been driving an auto for four years now. I tried to look up Sears driving school but they seem to only offer them in the states.

Rems31

I think you can do it...anyone can learn stick. You should do at least one lesson to get the theory behind it and at least get the feel of it. Everyone I talked to before I learned said that I should get the hang of it after a week at most - and I did. Just be prepared to burn the clutch. If you can, rent a standard car and practice on that after you get your lesson.

Thief

I've had practice driving stick before getting my 8, but the reason why I went to shifters.ca is because it had been 6 years since I touched manual. Honestly, I thought the 3 lessons were pretty damn worth the money.

Yuen

Heres the problem, I don't have a standard car to practice on. Nor can I rent one because I'm 20 years old right now. I really want to test drive a manual RX-8 at my local dealership but I don't want to look like well, an idiotic driver, by stalling their car fifty times during the test drive. It would be quite embarrassing too.

My friends don't drive standard either. Gah!

Rems31

Just do it...they'll let you do it. How do I know? Cuz I did it. I had a day off and went to the dealership on a weekday when I had booked my test drive on Saturday after my lesson on that Friday. I went in there and they let me test drive it knowing full well that I didn't exactly know how to drive stick.

I just asked them to take me to a secluded spot where I stall and not **** off 50 cars behind me.

Smokin_LaLa

yeah same thing with me, the salesman knew i never drove stick and still let me test drive it. I took some private lessons and the dude charged 60 bucks for an hour and a half i was driving stick in few days but the hardest part was taking off on an incline stop....the instructor was great he knew all the roads that were secluded and took me to this big **** hill and let me stop and start from the crest of the hill

Thief

I wasn't very good when I went to the dealership. They still let me drive it. I did bring a friend who had been driving stick for 10 years though.

Footman

iTrader: (2)

That's why you don't buy manual demo cars I did the same thing. This is my first manual car ever. I had some practice on friend's civics and sentras before. I also studied the theory of operation and working mechanics of a manual transmission beforehand. It's helpful to understand what you are doing when you are depressing the clutch and moving the shifters.

Smokin_LaLa

Oh yah....One more thing Yuen press down on the stick before shifting into reverse

Yuen

Haha awesome! Thanks guys, I guess once I take a few lessons with shifters, I will go test drive the RX-8! Hey Rems, where did you get/ test drove your eight?

And duly noted footman, never buy manual demo cars! hehehe

Rems31

I bought mine and test drove it at Erin Mills Mazda

Yuen

Thats the closest dealership to where I live too! Wow, you must live awfully close to me. >.>

dozer

iTrader: (3)

i took lessons in my cousins 99 corolla

ChristInBen

My cars have always been manual from the beginning. I love manual cars - they are so much fun to drive and give you more control of the car. I bought my first car, a 1988 Toyota Celica GT back in college and my dad taught me how to drive manual on it. I learned pretty well, but the clutch was going on it and I burnt it out, and bought a new one. So from that car to my 2005 RX-8 GT has been quite an experience - but the 6-speed shifter in my 8 is truly awesome!