I learned to drive stick in an '88 RX-7 SE. When I bought it my dad had to drive it home for me because I didn't know how to drive it yet. Three years later I sold it and bought an '02 Nissan Frontier 5 speed. I eventually sold the truck and bought my latest car the '04 RX-8.

I pretty much refuse to buy an automatic. There is just so much power and control available in a manual transmission.

 

Don't drive it by RPM.

Use the feel... the force is with you ObeWAN.

Feel the force with in the RX8. Then let her go.

 

I learned on a 2006 Infiniti G35 that just came off the dealer turck for delivery. I worked in the service department and did a little sales every now and then. They told me to learn and come back to the front when I did. Talk about a fun day.

 

^^Oh yeah thats reassuring to customers needing their cars serviced that the guy taking there car cant even drive stick! LOL Just playin dog, im sure you werent taking the manuals at first (...or were you?).

On that note (kinda related situation), my girl and i went to a club last weekend. I drive up to Valet (it was Valet only, i hate that) and some 300 pound fat *** valet runs over to the guy who orginally took my keys, convinced him to let him park it. I was halfway upstairs when i heard it stall out. I stop, listen, he starts it back up tries to go and stalls it out again! At this point im on my way back down stairs shaking my head. As i get to bottom of stairs and out in garage he does it again! I yell at him from 20 feet away " Take the ******* parking brake off jackass!!" I thought he was going to cry. Felt a lil bad but dam, c'mon, LOL hate Valets.

 

I'd be afraid to give my keys to a valet! I'd wonder what the heck happened to my car when my keys weren't in my posession. Probably nothing, but I just don't trust anyone with my car but me!

 

I don't like the valet's either.. there ballsy *******, they'll drive stupid where you can clearly see them! The auto rx8 isn't so bad but with my old mustangs (gt's with offload h-pipe and flow masters, you could here when someone got on it) you would hear them jump on it as soon as they got around the corner.

 

First stick car I drove (but did not own) was a standard government issue Perodua Kancil. It's what the Malaysian government uses in all their license tests.

Fast forward 1 year, and I am in the USA. Bought an RX-8 as my first car that is titled to me. At first, I sucked at it, bunny hopping everywhere. My shifts sucked, and I had to ride the clutch to get a smooth shift. I even once did a massive burnout trying to start off a slope (Purdue University campus is on top of a hill. So everytime I come into campus I gotta go up a slope).

These days I'm pretty good at it, with rev match downshifts and all. Recently I just started to learn heel-toe, but I've not been able to use it on the streets a lot. I keep coming off the brakes once I downshift, due to a habit of me thinking I only need to downshift once. That, and modulating braking pressure on the street while heel toeing sucks.

Hopefully I'll get it sooner or later.

 

If it helps my Girl learn then I'll put a Fish under the seat

But when she said her leg hurt I felt bad. I knew there was no sex that night...

 

the pedals are close together for heel toeing, so if you are on a hill you can hold the brake with the left part of your right foot and rev it up with the right part of your right foot and accelerate away without rolling, or if you dont feel comfortable doing that you can do the ebrake trick until you get the hang of the timing

 

Thats a good tip! thanks

 

My first stick was a TR-6! (Wanna talk about great cars to have on your resume.) During spring break, we drove from Fla, to Calif. He must have been hating the way I was doing his ride, but we survived. Round trip.

 

I have a question guys, When I'm at a stop in is it ok if I keep my foot on the clutch but not pressed all the way down, well the Car is in 1st? Will that hurt anything?
Thanks!

 

Yes, that is very bad for your health.

You develope a permanant leg cramp and begin to limp.

Then athritis will set in and you will be stuck with a walker. Soon after it will begin to get gang green and you will smell like a dead fish.

 

you want to keep the clutch pedal all the way down when holding it like that, half-way up you would just be using up clutch meaninglessly

 

i think it will also shorten clutch life when you step on it halfway frequently in between stops. better to step on it all the way while in first or not at all while in neutral. but yeah going uphill is hard from a stop so either ebrake or heel-to-toe trick should help.

 

i like to keep my foot off the clutch as much as possible. when im stopped, i put it in neutral.

 

Clutch all the way in, or clutch all the way out, unless you are actively using it to match engine speed to transmission in the course of changing gears.

Sitting in neutral with the clutch depressed will wear out your release/throwout bearing sooner then you would otherwise, and any time the clutch is halfway depressed you are slipping the fiction surface of the clutch over your flywheel and burning it away pointlessly.

That said, when backing out of a parking space I'll rarely release the clutch fully, opting instead to catch the bite point and get the car rolling, then depress it again to keep from stalling and to keep my speed under control.

 

My dad taught me how to drive the family car, which was a 1958 Volkswagen bus. It had a 4-speed manual (no syncro on 1st gear), 36 HP and 56 ft/lbs of torque. The lack of power forced you to use the transmission correctly and the lack of a syncro on first gear forced you to learn how to double-clutch. On the road you learned energy management: go as fast as possible on downhills so you could zoom up the next hill. All we did was row that shifter!

1.3L

 

Gil, hurry and learn as your leading the parade this Sunday.

 

[QUOTE=jones75254;2252034
On that note (kinda related situation), my girl and i went to a club last weekend. I drive up to Valet (it was Valet only, i hate that) and some 300 pound fat *** valet runs over to the guy who orginally took my keys, convinced him to let him park it. I was halfway upstairs when i heard it stall out. I stop, listen, he starts it back up tries to go and stalls it out again! At this point im on my way back down stairs shaking my head. As i get to bottom of stairs and out in garage he does it again! I yell at him from 20 feet away " Take the ******* parking brake off jackass!!" I thought he was going to cry. Felt a lil bad but dam, c'mon, LOL hate Valets.[/QUOTE]

C'mon don't hate on all valets.. I'm a valet and we get sick *** cars all the time and i'm always super careful with them cause i'd want the same with my car.. But I learned stick on a 95 civic when i was like 15 and been driving them since..

 

I have not driven stick in over seven years! but after two days of driving I was back like day one

So keep the cluth all the way in or all the way out got it.
When I come to a stop or at a light I put it in neutral and dont hold the clutch down. I dont like to hold my foot on the clutch and just sit there. It dont feel right.
Thanks for all the help guys

 

soon you'll be double clutching, not granny shifting like you should!!

 

i butchered that fast and furious quote lol

 

i learned how to drive manual when i was about 15 but really start driving it is when im 16 with my wrx.

stick is fun, just hate it when its in traffic.

 

Question:

I tend to keep the clutch at biting point to hold the car on a slope. Is that alright?

Seriously. I once tried the e-brake trick, and only thing that ensued was a burnout. Never dared try it again, and Purdue Campus is a pretty busy place, so I can't easily find a slope to practice on.