One possibility, if you're actually thinking of *buying* a manual car (you didn't actually say that you are), is to negotiate in a good stick lesson with the dealer. Just make that part of your purchase negotiations, that you want an hour lesson in a parking lot somewhere or you won't buy the car. That should be enough to get you going.

Krankor
05 Shinka 6MT

 

can u even rent stick cars anymore? and if anyone knows plz leave a link

 

i highly doubt any national rental chains are renting manuals anymore

that's why i suggested driver's ed school, since many of them still offer manual tranny driving training...

 

No sound in those videos, anyone else have sound?

 

My first car (1986 accord) was manual. I decided to make my first car a stick, so that my friends wouldn't bug me to let them drive it. Had my father teach me. The only thing my father taught me was to go forward a couple of feet in the first gear. stop and then put it in reverse. Then back to first and so on and so forth. So for 10 minutes everyday for 4 days I was rocking back and forth in front of my house.

It was that and the right speed at which to change gears that was ever taught to me. The rest I just figured out myself. Took me at least a week of solid driving to be able to shift without stalling. :D

 

The only stick I've ever been able to rent was a *truck*. A big one. The biggest that the truck rental guys had. (I didn't want one that big, it was all they had). Suffice it to say, I do NOT recommend learning to drive stick in such a beast. Indeed, it was so awful, it is actually the ONLY time since I started driving stick that I really wished I had an automatic instead. The gears were not where you expect the gears to be, and the clutch was just monstrous-- it practically required *both* feet to push it down.

But every time I've rented a car and tried to get a stick, no dice. I've pretty much stopped asking.

Although I'll bet you could rent one in Europe.

Krankor
05 Shinka 6MT

 

It's pretty much impossible to rent a stick in US... I mean, who'd want to have a car that 70% of the customers can't drive even if they wanted to? I bet if they have a rental Miata, it's an auto.

I think only like exotic car rentals would provide a car w/ a manual tranny... and you don't want to pay that kind of money for a rental

 

up around here, i think you can rent a stick from 'rent-a-wreck' (but the name says it all)... possibly even the exotic car lot (like Astral said, but then your paying like 250$+ a day)

 

Ha! Not only that, but you have to pay EXTRA to get an automatic; all the cars are manual by default! They sure got it right over there...

 

thx guys for all the imput





100th post

 

Don't learn the way I did.

At age 15 I decided to take my mom's '84 Ford Escort out for a joyride. Rolling it down the driveway wasn't too hard, and lurching through the gears around our neighborhood worked ok as well, though I almost took out a mailbox.

But trying to get it back up the driveway proved a huge problem. Finally, I red lined it and popped the clutch, it spun out and took a huge chunk out the frame of the garage door, leaving a dent and white paint smeared on the driver's side passenger door.

Mom was pretty po'ed, but I was proud of taking the initiative to learn on my own.

 

go learn by test driving cars :D thats how most my friends and I learned

 

Frostee...can one rent a 6MT 8 in Ontario?

 

i have a general idea but when i go and the minuite i hesitate to shift they will know i don't know how to shift and they will make me leave

 

I remember the first time I drove a manual car, which was 3 weeks ago! My dad park it on the driveway and I decides to take a spin with it around the block. Stalled like 20 times pulling out, including scraping the bottom on the driveway. I never knew how hard it was to pull up the damn driveway, stalled like 50 times!


There are very few rental companies that rent manual cars, but they are not big companies. I know there is an exotic car rental company nearby my that rents only manual and exotic cars, ranging from miatas to ferraris. I think renting a miata from them cost about $90 a day.

 

PROBLEM SOLVED!!!!!!

my cousin is gonna let me learn in his pickup

thx for all the imput guys

 

just holding the stick and loading it forward/backward/sideways I think puts unnecessary strain and stress on the gear box...

might not be that much of an effect.. but.. is it really worth the possible damage?

I at most just lightly touch the shifter just to feel the motion of the car chassis as it goes up and down along the road... sounds kinda sensual..

anyway.. if i'm wrong..forgive me.. but i'm a nut and baby my rex like crazy...

One more tip from me.. actually from watching the stick driving videos.. and my brother who is mechanic...

On upshifts... let your foot up off the clutch quickly.... DO NOT SLIP CLUTCH if possible... this puts uneccesary wear on your clutch and makes it all milky/creamy feeling.... instead... a quick lock of the clutch is much better for the clutch pads...

This may make you jerk a little when you shift gears, but the little jerk is not just transfered to the gear box.. it is actually absorbed up into the clutch plate's springs... can't really explain without a diagram.. but the clutch plate loads the springs and dampens the shock of the clutch plates engaging... which protects your tranny...

so... in short... don't slip.. little jerk ok.. cuz its absorbed by the clutch design..

this doesn't mean dropping clutch from 9k is okay.. you'll bust the springs and they'll pop out and grind everything to hell...

 

so i just got back from learning to drive stick on my cousins truck. it's a old dodge pickup. i wos wondering how hard the 8's clutch is, how much force does it take to hold it in? does ur foot get tired easily?

 

I first learned by buying a Miata with a manual transmission, I had to get to work and the only way that was going to be possible was by driving the car I just bought, so with a basic idea of how it should work I hit the roads and have never looked back (of course I did make the salesman I bought it from deliver it to my house so I wouldn't have to drive it in really rough traffic my first time out).

Later on I started selling cars and in the year I worked for the dark side I can't count how many people I taught to drive a stick. I talked most of them into buying a stick by simply telling them we would take the car out to a local park, I would teach them how to drive it and if after an hour of trying it out they didn't feel comfortable with the stick I would get them set up with an automatic, they all went with manual transmission cars.

So if you are thinking of buying an 8 just tell the sales person that you don't know how to drive a stick and won't buy a car from them unless they teach you, I promise that they will be falling all over themselves for the chance to give you a lesson

 

I have found the 8 clutch to be perfectly nice.