Here's how to learn to drive manual

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by Gungnir

Unfortunately your how to guide produces people like 95% of manual drivers I've seen in the US, who seem to think they're oh so superior to auto drivers as they roll back while granny shifting their way to the speed limit and spend as much time on the clutch as brakes when slowing down.

Sorry my "how to" guide offended you

Seems like you are the one that thinks is superior to everybody else

[Blondebaerde]

Originally Posted by Tiffer E38

I taught my sister how to drive a manual trans in my BMW 2002 Ti race car, with a lightweight flywheel and 6 puck racing clutch that was basically an on-off switch. lol! Once she could drive that, she could drive anything. I taught my son to drive manual in my Fiat 124 Spider when he was 14 by taking him to an open parking lot on a weekend and going through the list in the OP. Once he got good at that, I introduced hill starts.

Yeah, my 996 Turbo (911) was like that: high-performance and twitchy just about everything, including the clutch. Hell, I used to stall it occasionally, and I'd been driving clutches 25 years at that point. All that made sense when pushing it right to the wall, though.

Ex GF at the time asked to learned on that, inner voice was "GTF away from my 425hp race car with lights", outer voice was "honey, let's learn on my Toyota truck, which is hugely more user-friendly." That it is. BTW, don't try and and teach people in their 40s how to drive a stick, it's like trying to teach a dog how to fly the Space Shuttle. Did not know my Tacoma could be stalled, it's so friendly on the stick. It can. She did.

So ends the lesson. Surprised anyone over the age of about 25 can learn one, it take a bit of finesse and coordination.

[Nothere1]

Originally Posted by Douglas Dakota

When I was learning how to drive a manual, the most stressful situation was (combined):
-Driving a car with regular fuel, weak engine (4 cylinder) not diesel (because diesel has much more torque it is more easy to start off without accellerator)
- Stopping at a traffic light with some good incline on the road. You need to use the handbrake, if you do not want to go backwards. Otherwise you need to be very quick with 2 feets for 3 pedals.
- A douchebag behind that starts honking.
That situation occured quite often and left me with a red head and some sweat on the forehead. But after you went through that several times, you can manage almost every situation.

One of the only post that points out the more difficult parts, for most of us, of learning to drive a manual; learning to drive in a low budget vehicle. I had to learn in a 45 year old gas grain truck that only ran three weeks out of the year. If you stopped feathering the it, the engine died. So there wasn't any take your foot off the accelerator option. I gave that old maid some scares, but she was battle axe so no one could really tell.
As for stopping or stopping on an incline, I have big feet so I could cover the brake and clutch with one. The problem to me was trying start up the incline again with enough power but without killing it.

[IGoZoom]

Originally Posted by Nothere1

One of the only post that points out the more difficult parts, for most of us, of learning to drive a manual; learning to drive in a low budget vehicle. I had to learn in a 45 year old gas grain truck that only ran three weeks out of the year. If you stopped feathering the it, the engine died. So there wasn't any take your foot off the accelerator option. I gave that old maid some scares, but she was battle axe so no one could really tell.
As for stopping or stopping on an incline, I have big feet so I could cover the brake and clutch with one. The problem to me was trying start up the incline again with enough power but without killing it.

You make a very valid point. I was born in 1975 and started driving (legally, anyway) in 1991. One of my good friends in high school drove a hand-me-down late 60s GMC truck. It had a 3-speed manual on the column (aka 'three-on-the-tree'). To this day, I have never driven a column-shifted manual. The lack of a shift diagram always freaked me out, so I never tried.

I mentioned earlier that I learned to drive on my sister's '85 Nissan 300ZX. But actually, as a kid (age 10 or 11), I learned to drive my dad's 1976 Ford F100 4x4 on dirt roads. It was very simple to ease out on the clutch, without pressing the gas, and slowly start moving forward without stalling. My dad didn't even use 1st gear because it was so short, just 2nd through 4th. So starting off in 1st was a piece of cake.

But I'm glad that I had a modern vehicle when I actually learned to drive on the road and in the real world. My sister's ZX was a pain-in-the-@** to drive, but that only forced me to practice more in an attempt to master driving it smoothly...which never happened, but at I did manage to drive it without stalling.

A 45-year-old commercial truck (which would have been roughly a 1945 model when I was learning) would have been a nightmare. Similarly, my friend's GMC truck seemed like it would be a nightmare, even though it was second nature to him. I also had a few friends with VW Bugs and they were fairly primitive (not to mention the location of Reverse was a mystery...although I finally learned).

[adriver]

Originally Posted by Gemdiver

But that clutch wear!!! I don't want to spend another $600 to replace the clutch!

So you think adding a few thousand rpms will stop the clutch wear???

Originally Posted by Jynnie847

I guess I grew up with parents who had a certain level of common sense! Who honestly takes their 16 yr. old kid out on a busy public street to learn to drive a stick? No brains at all.

I was kinda lucky because I grew up in a border area between dense suburbs and rural cornfields. So I was able to learn to drive an '82 Honda Civic hatchback manual tranny by buzzing around lonely country roads with very little traffic even in the afternoon. Of course, I stalled it a few times but no worries since no heavy traffic and irate drivers clogged up behind me.

I really dont know how city kids learned to drive a stick back in the days when manual trannies were common. I'd be terrified at age 16 and taking a car out on a busy 6 lane freeway for my "lessons" --- yeah, a lesson on how to die young LOL.

My dad taught me when I was 14. We were in a one mall town, so even that was tough. We went out to the forest trails. There is one area where it first starts out by the paved road. He was a car salesman and picked up a early 90s beat up chevy pickup with a 5spd. I had several football fields in all directions of flat open dirt field.

Originally Posted by Professor Griff

"Pull the clutch all the way out" - I hope you mean let the clutch out while slowly pressing the gas, otherwise, by the 100th stall those motor mounts are gonna be toast .

as opposed to launching and jerking it??


The hardest part is not giving it gas, its understanding the clutch engagement, and how sensitive that is. Then you can learn to add the gas pedal.

[elhelmete]

Originally Posted by Dopo

I've heard many people saying that they struggle to learn how to drive a manual.
Well, recently I taught my two little kids how to drive manual, so I know this works.

- Go to an empty flat parking lot and start the car
- Forget about the accelerator, you are only going to use the clutch (left foot) and brake (right foot)
- Press the clutch and the brake, put the car in 1st gear
- Let go off the brake, now the car is in neutral (clutch pressed)

You have to be able to get the car going only using the clutch
- Pull the clutch out slowly to the middle point
- Car will act like is going to die, hold the clutch there until the car is moving
- Pull clutch all the way out

Do that about 100 times and by then, you'll be 90% done learning how to drive a manual.

This is 100% correct. Foolproof, IMHO.