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Im learning how to drive stick tomorrow.

Any pearls of wisdom?

Get your left foot ready to start being active.

Check.

she said stick. lol

Re: Im learning how to drive stick tomorrow.

quote:

Originally posted by Ang ' ela_ie Any pearls of wisdom?

Don't stall.

feel the vibrations of the engine.

Re: Im learning how to drive stick tomorrow.

quote:

Originally posted by Ang ' ela_ie Any pearls of wisdom?

There are so many naughty things i could say just on this subject...but I dont know you so i'll hold back:


When I think of pearls, I think of necklaces...now as far as driving stick? dont stall and push the clutch softly, if confused, shift gears!

Re: Im learning how to drive stick tomorrow.

quote:

Originally posted by Ang ' ela_ie Any pearls of wisdom?

Cup the balls.

if you floor it, the engine will still take 2-3 seconds to catch up. When letting the clutch out dont keep pushing more gas in because itll start to catch up to you and youll get panicked and pop the clutch and kill the car. Easy on the gas until its at a good rev and then easy on with the clutch.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeasy there. Eeeease into it.

When u let your foot off the clutch, make sure you have the gas pedal to the floor to prevent stalling.

Prepare to REALLLLLLLLLY REALLLLLLLY hate traffic.

quote:

Originally posted by jupiterone Prepare to REALLLLLLLLLY REALLLLLLLY hate traffic.

I swear I would stab the George Washington bridge if I could. Thought I was gonna say stab you, huh?!? lol *stab*


But srsly, best way to learn imo is to just take the car to an empty parking lot and figure it out on your own. Nobody sitting in the car with you because that can just add to your frustration. Perhaps not the best thing for the poor car but, at least you work at your own pace and don't have to listen to some agitated person try to tell you what to do, because clearly you are doing it wrong and it's so simple why can't you JUST FIGURE IT OUT?!?!

quote:

Originally posted by Ygrene I swear I would stab the George Washington bridge if I could. Thought I was gonna say stab you, huh?!? lol *stab*

You better remember to tighten up those wheel lugs before you head out to work tomorrow.

It's really easy Ang, after long enough you don't even think about doing it at all, it becomes reflexes like riding a pushbike.
Gearboxes are a H pattern and the only gear you need to know where you're starting from is the first one to make sure it's in gear, commit where they are to memory.
Don't look down at the thing!
Eyes on road!
Try not to think of it as a big lump of stupid agricultural equipment you've got force the hell out of with a lot of force. They're actually fairly clever things that use syncromesh to work out where they're supposed to go, so use the pointer, index finger and thumb rather than grabbing it with your whole hand and just use those to move the lever gently.

Next the clutch and accelerator, easiest way I can think of there for a learner is to imagine a see-saw, if one is completely in, the other should be completely out.
Clutch all the way in
Select 1st Gear
Accelerator at idle
Then once you're ready to move, imagine the see-saw swinging from one side to the other very slowly over 2-3 seconds and you will be moving as the clutch goes up to and the accelerator is going down. Once the clutch is out completely, the accelerator you can rev a little more freely to 2-3000rpm (the tachometer is your friend more than the speedometer)
Foot off accelerator
Clutch in
Select second and repeat that through the gearbox.

Slowing down.
Use gears to slow yourself down more than the brakes, provided the engine isn't reving hard plan ahead through traffic and corners, so when you want to slow down, ease off the accelerator completely, clutch in, downshift, touch of brakes and let the engine rev up, when it settles down, clutch in and downshift again to about 2nd and heavier braking, then clutch in and engage neutral once you've stopped.
Same with corners, you'll usually have to downshift to 2nd on anything which is a right angle, do this before you get there, not halfway through or anything!
Sweeping bends, go back to third as you're going into the corner to slow down, touch of brakes to a safe speed, halfway through the apex, power on and then once you're going straight, power off, shift up and power on.

Other things
Don't have your hand resting on the stick while you drive, it's not good for the gearbox and mulches things down there, 2 hands on the wheel.
Don't have your foot resting on the clutch when you drive, rest it on the floor or the little pedal thing next to the clutch, otherwise you wear on the clutch.

once you start to get it down go out on the highway. get up to a good speed in 5th gear then pop in the clutch and shift into reverse without hitting the brakes. if you can do that you'll be golden.

Lilith youre awesome.

The only thing Im concerned about is downshifting. Its not as intuitive to me, Im not sure I get it.

No advice really, but good luck. Youll love driving through rush hour on 400 and stalling out

Im buying a new car tomorrow; it will be manual too

quote:

Originally posted by Ang ' ela_ie The only thing Im concerned about is downshifting. Its not as intuitive to me, Im not sure I get it.

You dont have to downshift yet, just clutch in and brake to get use to the car. Later you can start down shifting. Its too much to think about when you arent used to a manual.

quote:

Originally posted by Ang ' ela_ie Lilith youre awesome. The only thing Im concerned about is downshifting. Its not as intuitive to me, Im not sure I get it.

It will take a bit of practice but, just note that if you shift from 2nd to 3rd at 5600 rpms and that puts you at 3600, you know that when you are going to downshift from 3rd to 2nd you need to be below 3600. lol I'm sorry Ang I'm a bit drunk.

quote:

Originally posted by Ang ' ela_ie Lilith youre awesome. The only thing Im concerned about is downshifting. Its not as intuitive to me, Im not sure I get it.

Just downshift to third and test the power of the car by putting the clutch to about 3/4 out before making up your mind to stay or move 1 up or 1 down.
It's very easy to panic in the first couple of weeks. Afterwards, it's as second nature as putting on make up or feeding your Tamogotchi (while driving of course).


and put it in neatral when you aren't doing anything. You don't your foot to get tired, non-chalantly let go and ram the brick wall in front of you, nor do you want to stress out the spring on the clutch pedal.

quote:

When u let your foot off the clutch, make sure you have the gas pedal to the floor to prevent stalling.

I haven't yet driven any newer cars with manual transmission, but I see no need to floor the pedal. All that'll do is lurch the car and rev the engine so hard you'll be able to smell it. Instead, gently push down on the gas, simultaneously releasing the clutch, accelerating slowly.

The rest is practice. Find an empty parking lot and prepare to stall a few times until you get the hang of it. Start in 1st gear, speed up until you're comfy, then shift into second. When going fast enough, shift into third; slow down, and go into second. etc.

PS: not sure about newer cars, but generally you can't shift into first gear unless you're completely stationary.

PPS: when shifting, don't force it. If it doesn't shift smoothly, you could be going to fast (if you're trying to downshift).

quote:

Originally posted by Alex Petelin I haven't yet driven any newer cars with manual transmission, but I see no need to floor the pedal. All that'll do is lurch the car and rev the engine so hard you'll be able to smell it.

I think he was kidding...

quote:

Originally posted by L.E.N. I think he was kidding...

But I wasn't sure, which means the other person may have not been sure, which would have resulted in the engine smelling like fried, greasy... engine?

quote:

Originally posted by Alex Petelin But I wasn't sure, which means the other person may have not been sure, which would have resulted in the engine smelling like fried, greasy... engine?

That my be the least of her worries,, the car could lurch into another car.

quote:

Originally posted by Ang ' ela_ie The only thing Im concerned about is downshifting. Its not as intuitive to me, Im not sure I get it.

Hmm, I suppose it's not if you've only ever driven automatics. Essentially what you're using is the engines compression to slow you down in addition to the brakes, whilst at the same time keeping your vehicles revs up at a constant which will stop the engine from stalling and use it's range of power efficiently. An automatic selects gears to do this normally, however I've driven a lot of the newer automatics and they still don't quite 'get it', they're close but still never as efficient it seems on using fuel.
It'll come to you, just find a quiet stretch of road where you can practice going up and down through the gears from start-speed limit-dead stop and repeat until you get the feel of it.
Then later you can work out cornering and so on somewhere else.

Also, the type of engine really determines where you should shift, if it's something big and ugly like my old 5.7L V8 then it would literally be able to idle off the line using it's torque alone to get moving and very gentle use of the accelerator. Unlike the nasty 2L turbo 4cylinder I've got now, it needs about 1300-1500rpm before I start easing out the clutch simply because the engine doesn't have that big flywheel's inertia and torque.

They're far more fun to drive though Ang, you will enjoy it after awhile and don't forget to relax

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