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Hardest one I ever drove was an 80s dodge colt rental when I was just learning. I rented in San Francisco. It was hell to drive. Any low HP car can be difficult. Find a V8 to practice. 250 - 350 HP should be fine.[/quote]
You gotta love those San Francisco hills.
In 1969 I had taken a month off to visit my Father who was remarried and living in Santa Cruz, California. I had ridden my new Harley to California. One of my Step brothers had been involved in a scrape with the Law in SF and he was going to be in the hoosegow for a few weeks. He wanted my Dad to take me to SF and pick up his motorcycle and ride it back to SC. He had chopped 194? Knucklhead that had a suicide clutch with the shifter on the tank, no front brakes and a raked and extended front end. I had ridden it before and no problem. However getting out of SF was a real P.I.T.A because I kept hitting stop lights on hills. I got back to SC but I sure did appreciate having my factory bike as my ride. Two wheels with a manual can be a challenge also.
It sounds like you're giving it far too much gas when starting. Go to a big empty parking lot and practice starting in 1st gear without touching the gas at all. Keep in mind that releasing the clutch pedal is not a single, constant motion. You can vary the speed or modulate it slightly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by M3 Mitch
When you get the clutch too close to locking up too soon, realize that *slightly* depressing the clutch can usually "fix" that. Or, if you get into hucka-bucka territory, just de-clutch, and give it another go with slightly more RPM and a slightly slower engagement.
Sound advice. These are the two main tips I tell people when they're learning how to drive stick.
I learned to drive in an old Ford truck with a 3 on the tree, and I still have problems when I shift in my Mustang. I often miss a gear like going from 2nd to 5th or 3rd to 6th. It will take time to get use to it!! Youll get it!
with the car off, push the clutch all the way to the floor, and then adjust your drivers seat so that your back is pushing against the back of the seat comfortably, while the comfortable extension of your left leg(knee slightly bent) is depressing the clutch all the way to the floor.
i know this is a simple issue, but so many people make the mistake of not having the proper footing, or seating position to comfortably find the friction points of the clutch.
looking at the reviews for your car, Car and Driver and Edmunds both point out that the shifter and clutch are not very notchy and compliant, and that the car lacks low end torque, even though it has 348HP. both of these factors would make it a much more difficult car to learn to drive manual transmission on.
Yeah, I've read those too. The low-end torque issue seems to be a design flaw.. it's not THAT low, but low compared to other cars with similar performance specs. My 2010 one had the same issue, actually more pronounced in the 2.0 4-cyl auto... it's performance seems to be optimized for twisty open roads.
It made me feel a little better that professional test drivers wrote that they stalled it out a few times.
The problem seems to be that it the throttle and clutch are very finicky, the bite point is higher than most manual cars from what the salesman told me. When you throttle up it'll lose rpms VERY quickly, so if you're not familiar with exactly where the bite point is you'll stall it. Or you'll over-compensating for the rapid loss of rpms by putting more pressure on the throttle & launch it or have a jerky start.
At least if I can master this... other manual cars should be easy.
My last car was a manual transmission. By that time it was $1,200 cheaper than automatic and for every gallon of gas, it ran for extra five miles. But lately I find out for the current year model, there is no significant difference in mileage.
It took me about 1 week to learn manual when I was in my 20s. But even after I drove for 30 years, I still burnt the clutch of my last car on a really steep road (I could smell it). Most car repair shops didn't want to fix it and told me to bring it back to the dealer. It cost me exactly $1,200 to replace the clutch. So I had no savings at all.
If you live in a hilly city like San Francisco, I would not recommend to drive manual transmission. It is really a challenge to coordinate your hand brake, clutch and gas pedal on a steep uphill road with a stop sign ahead, especially if there is another car tailgating.
I also recommend you to have somebody who knows how to drive manual transmission sitting next to you when you learn driving manual.
A starter in learning manual will always have the car installed and restart the engine numerous time . Learn to be patient. And there is a very likely possibility that your car will fall back after stopping on an uphill road. And most likely you will forget to use the hand brake because most drivers used to driving automatic hardly use the hand brake. The one sitting on the passenger seat can help you apply the hand brake to avoid collision.
Be careful of being too proficient on driving a manual!
I learned on a Datsun 240Z that had a racing cam and extremely stiff clutch in it. You either had to come off the line flat out or you killed it. Years later, I had an 89 Honda Civic. Kept it for about 15 years and as it aged, it became harder to shift; but, I adjusted. Had the engine on this car die for some unknown reason while traveling down the road once. Put the clutch in, restarted, and took off with no one the wiser.
Now I have a 2000 BMW Z3 which shifts as smooth as anything I’ve ever driven. I drive it in the summer only. A few years ago, I went on a business trip with a male colleague (I’m female) and I was in charge of driving the rental. I had been driving the Z3 for the summer and kept trying to do “something” with my right hand. After a couple of times doing that, I had to apologize and explain what I was trying to do. Don’t know if he believed me.
Nobody ever learned to be a doctor, lawyer, how to drive a manual transmission from internet advice.
Just practice, practice ,practice.
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