Are there any driving schools that will teach you how to drive a manual? (loan, high school)

[Aqua Teen Carl]

So I've been looking all around town and I can't find a single driving school in the area that will teach you how to drive a manual. There were some places that said we would have to supply our own manual transmission car (WTF) and that's about it. Do yinz guiz know any place that will teach someone?

[WILWRadio]

I would recommend that you find a friend or acquaintance or the friend of a friend or acquaintance that is older and has had experience with a stick. That is how I learned.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by WILWRadio

I would recommend that you find a friend or acquaintance or the friend of a friend or acquaintance that is older and has had experience with a stick. That is how I learned.

I know a few people but I don't want to burn up their clutch.

[WILWRadio]

Just don't ride the clutch. I actually purchased a car with a stick and bypassed that problem.

[MeinGlanzendMotorrad]

Unless you're the bumblingest idiot to have ever lived, if you go at it calm and steady you're not going to hurt the clutch without trying, in the time it would take you to learn to use it.

I had zero experience the first time I hopped into my buddy's modded to hell and back Legacy back in high school to move it from one driveway to another while we were working on one of my cars and it took me exactly one try to get the hang of it.

And when I first got a motorcycle I had only had one other experience driving a manual, and it took maybe five minutes to get the hang of a motorcycle transmission. No damage done.


You'll be fine.


Besides, clutches are wear items. They're going to need replaced sooner or later no matter what you do.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Ok, I will try to convince my friend to loan me her Infiniti for me to try on. However, are there no ways to obtain formal training on a manual transmission in the city?

[MeinGlanzendMotorrad]

I have no idea.

But don't just get her to loan it to you, have her take a ride with you. Someone who knows what they're doing can point out what you're doing wrong.

[greg42]

Yeah, I could see why you would have to provide your own car. Not so much because of wear on the driving school's car, but because there is almost zero market for this so they would have no reason to actually have a manual car for you to use. But then, if you're not interested in getting your own manual car, why are you learning? Pretty much only parking valets and mechanics would need to know otherwise, I think. Not too many others.

You might check into a performance driving school though; I think there is one or more that do some courses out at the BeaveRun track.

I was lucky in that both my parents at the time I was learning to drive had stick shift cars, so all my learning was on a stick from the beginning. I even took my on-road driving test in the stick car, which was already a big rarity by 1987. All but one of my own cars have been sticks. But I'm thinking the next one won't be.

Thinking back almost 25 years to when I first started learning, I'll say it will take some patience on the part of the teacher, at first, but short of severe coordination deficiency it shouldn't be that hard to get. Hell, I'm a bit of a klutz and still manage to shift my car smoother than most automatics even though I'm getting old now. Which means you might just be able to make it work with your friend if she has a tiny bit of patience, although a new Infiniti would not be something I'd probably be willing to let you learn on.

If you do try it with this or some other friend, what you want is something like a large, empty-ish parking lot at first. I remember one of my first good learning sessions was a closed shopping mall parking lot. It was complete with stop signs and stuff which is good because you're going to have to practice stopping and starting which is probably the hardest part to get down. Of course many such lots around here will never be totally devoid of cars driving through (the moving ones are usually more worrisome than the parked ones) but you can find something suitable I suspect.

Wasn't so long ago that you could still find manual U-Haul trucks. I don't think that's generally the case anymore though. I'd almost offer to attempt to teach you, but I would be screaming. I don't have that patience.

[gg]

I have taught countless people how to drive a stick and that is what I suggest. Find a friend with a car that is a manual and have them teach you. I have been driving a manual all my life and hate autos. Right now the only stick I have is my European Sports Sedan, and you ain't learning on that. My son will be though.

[MeinGlanzendMotorrad]

My European Sports Convertible trumps your Sports Sedan.