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I love stick and learned in the 60's on a Willys jeep.
It takes a lot of practice especially starting on hills w/o rolling back.
Since expensive clutches on front wheel drive cars are easily abused by drivers learning manual, driving schools typically avoid them.
You can't learn it from a book. You have to get the "sweet spot" on the clutch and coordinate letting out the clutch with pressing the accelerator.
Try the driving schools. Maybe one leases vehicles and isn't so unhappy with having clutches wear abnormally. Manufacturer warrantees do not cover the wear parts of a manual shift.
Actually the wear parts are typically covered to 12,000 miles. I got a clutch replaced under warranty on a neon srt-4 back in 2004 with 11,500 miles.
I'd suggest going to youtube and checking out the abundant videos on driving a manual transmission. Then, I'd find someone with a "second" car that they wouldn't mind you using in a giant empty parking lot to practice. I have exclusively driven sticks my entire life and would recommend learning on a later model VW. I find them easy to drive.
Anybody know of a big empty parking lot in Durham? I need to teach my wife stick sometime. I learned by buying a crappy 89 Mustang 2 hours from my home. Then I drove it home. Stalled lots of times, missed 3rd gear lots of times, burned out a few times, but about a week later I was proficient. Helps to have someone that knows how to do it. It really is tough from a video.
The one piece of advice I can give is that until you get good, think of the clutch as the pedal that is accelerating you. Rev up the engine to 1500-2000 rpm and hold, then very slowly start letting out the clutch. Don't get excited when you start moving, keep letting out slowly. You'll see how the speed of letting out the clutch affects your acceleration. Eventually you learn to push the gas and let out the clutch at the same time.
As for hills, you have to find the spot where your clutch starts to catch. Find a spot in the lot where you roll back a bit, doesn't have to be much. Don't use the gas, let the clutch out slowly until the car stops rolling and hold there. That's the spot! A trick you can do if you are on a steep hill and the light is about to turn green is to start letting the clutch out while on the brake. You'll feel the car start to squat and see/hear the RPMs start to drop. At that point you are in the spot, although you may need more or less depending on the hill. You can slowly let off the brake to see.
Other than that, shifting gears is easy. Eventually you learn how to make the shifts smoother. It can take a while so don't get discouraged if you shake the whole car when you shift.
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