fenderlover

where did u guys first learn how to drive manual

i want to learn but don't know anyone with a manual what should i do?

vectorwolf

http://standardshift.com/videos.html

mjcampb

Learned in an old pickup (think it was a 57 Ford, not sure) out on my Grandpa's farm. He let me almost drive into the side of the barn. I was scared, but I think he was more scared as Grandma would have let him have it.

As for learning, I'm sure there are driving instructors or schools willing teach you for a "slight" fee. I'd start by looking in the Yellow Pages or internet search. Good luck.

williamngRX8

i learnt my first stick with 8. i had auto 8 and traded her in.
its not that hard as i originally tought. first two days might be like hell but don let that discourage you. after a week and two you will be fine.

https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discussion-3/first-stick-8-a-70366/

Darklighter

I learned to drive stick by test-driving cars ...

Having said that, I already had an idea of how it was all supposed to work (from watching my dad drive) and just needed practical application.

If you're completely new and don't know anyone who has a manual transmission car, your best bet would probably be to contact a driving school.

Krankor

I learned by buying a stick car (Toyota Tercel) and being forced to learn to drive it. My buddy spent maybe an hour with me teaching me stick when I picked up the car, and that was really enough to get me going. It takes some practice but it's not that hard, and TOTALLY worth it; I'll never go back to slush-box.

Krankor
05 Shinka 6MT

Astral

watch the videos on that site vectorwolf mentioned...

do you know anyone who CAN drive a stick? if so, buy the manual car, have them drive it to a parking lot. in an hour, you'll be able to limp home. give it a week and you'll be ok. you'll get smooth and what not soon after that (how soon? don't know)

i've had a total of 2-3 hrs of stick driving experience before i bought my 8. i was all scared the first week (the 2nd night we went for a friday night cruise in downtown boston! man, that was the most difficult drive of my life). but i kept on driving and practicing.

it's been 5 weeks now and i'm not 100% smooth yet, but i'm so much better. uphills are essentially not a problem. steep uphills -- a little bit of a problem, but if someone is riding my bumper, the e-brake trick always works well.

the thing about the rx-8 is that it seems to drop revs fast, so if you have to be pretty quick with shifting and clutch action to get perfectly smooth.. you shift lazily/slowly, and you'll end up having to give it a little gas as you release the clutch, to "catch" the revs and don't let them fall below where they need to be. or maybe i'm just still a n00b...

Gerael

My friend did it the best way..... go out and get yourself a rental miata for like 30 bucks...

of course.. learn the theory online first... but then use the miata to learn on...

what my friend did was ....
clutch in... first gear.. rev to redline.. drop clutch.... until you can master your clutch control...
haha.. do this in a parking lot preferably... so you don't hae the stress of trying ot keep up with traffic..

better to wreck a rental than your new 8... seriously.. if you can't drive manual when you buy your car.. have somebody who can take it home for you...

you don't wanna be grinding gears and screwing up your clutch when you are breaking the car in...

also a few tips...

1) don't keep your foot constantly on the clutch when cruising...
2) don't keep your hand constantly on the shift **** while cruising...
3) don't keep the clutch down at stop lights...


hope this helps..

TRU681

Best way to learn is to have someone teach you. Watching a video might help but having someone there to instruct you is the best way to go.My friend taught me & I learned how to drive stick in about 2hours total in a parking lot & on a hill at night where there are very few cars around.I got the hang of it but not perfect but in a few days you should be pretty decent except maybe parking on a hill will be tough for a little while. Since you dont have any friends who owns a stick car, do you have any friends that knows how to drive a stick but doesnt own one because having a friend teach you is way better than watching a video in my opinion. If you dont know anyone who knows how to drive a stick, I'm afraid the best option & safest option is to get a driving instrutor to teach you.Here's a few tips on what I was taught when I was a beginner.
1st thing to learn putting car into 1st gear: practice on steping on the clutch all th way down,slowly gas & practice trying to keep the rpm between 2.5k-3k. Practice that for a while. When you can constantly hold it between 2.5k -3k rpm then you'll get the hang of getting it in 1st gear & soon you can actually drive it on a street but do it at a place with very few traffic & cars around.Make sure you have someone who actually knows drving stick with you so they can pull the hand brake in case you do something wrong & almost run your car into something. After you get the hang of it, you'll have to start practicing on a hill. Hills are much harder in the begining. What you try to practice on a hill is to balance the clutch & gas so that the car pretty much at a stand still. Practice that for a while. once you get the hang of that, the onnly thing left to learn is to park on a hill & parralel parking. I know, I'm not that great at explaining things but hope at least some of it helps.One more thing is when you're on a hill & there's a car behind you & you get nervous, just pull your hand brake up, slowly gas then slowly relase the clutch.After you find the sweet spot & know you're in 1st gear slowly release you hand brake.

youpey

i learned on a new porsche 911 turbo, at the garage i used to work at. it was a customers car. woops

Diabolical RX8

My friends first car was a manual, he learned to drive it in 5 minutes and he hardly killed it. After watching him drive it for about 9 months he let me drive it one day and I never killed it. I continued practicing on manual cars that I test drove. Its really simple inless you are over confident.

TRU681

Haha, big oops. Your story is pretty similar to one of my friends story. He got a job at a valet parking & lied about him knowing how to drive stick. He barely know anything about stick so he pretty much learned it on his job & burned alot of clutches, like Porches,Lexus,& etc. He's one lucky bastard, able to drive a crap load of nice cars.

MrJynx

my friend took me out for a quick drive/learn session on his civic the day before i picked up the 8. What really helped me was keeping the car on a very slight upwards incline and "rocking" back and forth with the clutch. So i would gently go up the incline, let the car roll back and repeat. This showed me how the clutch/gas work together and the catch point of a clutch.

Now I think i'm a pretty good stick driver 39,000km later and my shifts are perfect. It did take me approx 1000km to get somewhat smooth shifts, and then another 10k for the ultra smooth shifts.. I only stalled the car twice and grinded a gear or two only 3 or 4 times over the life of my car..

One thing to note, once you go stick you never go back. I have no idea how/why I drove an auto car for so long.


MrJynx

SpoiledBlk8

I was also self taught when I realized the car I was ordering was going to 750.00 cheaper then an automatic. A friend picked it up from the dealer and a few nights on a parking lot I was ready to go (or so I thought). First day out I dropped the clutch and the car lunged out of a parking space and I nearly hit this guy who was walking to his car. Then I killed it about three times trying to get up a steep hill with a stop sign. Looking back I see that same guy behind me searching through his car for a baseball bat. He was wearing his angry eyes

After work I saw him and apologized and while he wasn't ready to forgive and forget at that moment...I have had plenty of time to make it up to him as we are ready to celebrate our 20th anniversary this coming June

Now I drive a manual better then him :D

Frostee

I was self-taught with my mom's old Hyundai Pony. What a POS, but it never gave us grief. It started because my mom has pretty bad arthritis, so I would go outside in the winter in the mornings to start the car and move it to the front of the building. that way it was warm when she got in. I always found that first and reverse were the hardest to get a hang of, but once you go those gears pretty good (which is all i did), the rest is fairly easy. Spring came around, so i would take it out on the road by myself at night to get used to the roadways with limited traffic. went out to the Corel entre to use their loading ramp to practice on hills (its fairly steep, enough to get a good rolling going).

Genesis

find someone with a manual....

ZoomZoomH

iTrader: (1)

i think spending about $180 for a driver's ed course (yes the ones that teenagers and first-time drivers take to get their licenses) that specifically teaches driving a manual transmission would be the best 'bang for buck' in learning stick quickly, and cheaply!!

ZoomZoomH

iTrader: (1)

actually, i bet if you contact your local driver's ed schools, they may be able to arrange specific sessions just for learning manual transmission, since you don't need to re-learn all the rules-of-the-road stuff a typical driver's ed course has, or do you??

tuj

Well, after having taught about 15 different people how to drive a stick, I can say you can't really learn by just reading about it. Try to find a friend/coworker/family member to show you, or contact a driving school, although most of those do not have manual cars anymore.

The basic idea to learn is to hold the throttle at a moderate value, like 1.5 or 2k, with the clutch in, then slowly, slowly let out the clutch until you feel the car start to creep forward. The trick is to learn the engagement point, and how to find it. Its a bit of a challenge at first, and don't feel bad if you don't get it right away and stall a few times. When I first learned years ago, I sucked pretty bad. I'd like to think that thanks to that experience, I'm a better teacher than I had!

tuj

Because two hands on the wheel gives you better car control than one.

ZoomZoomH

iTrader: (1)

not only is keeping both hands on wheel improve car control, you put extra stress on the clutch/shift fork by resting your hand on it when not shifting. want to be gentle with the shifter!

Astral

One of the Mazdas in a local dealership had gearbox issues, because the driver always rested his hand on the shifter (and apparently not just a light touch, but actually put the full weight of his hand, and maybe then somel). This caused the gears to wear abnormally and caused gearbox issues.

TwoZooms

My dad taught me how to drive a stick in a 1978 Subaru DL station wagon. That car survived the clutch-slipping antics of both me and my brother, which is to say that it was completely indestructible. The fact that it went from 0-60 in something like 23 seconds (if at all) probably saved my teenage life. I never picked up any girls in it, though.