driving manual transmission

so who here drives manual? I do!! My rule is whenever in doubt press the clutch!!!! do you guys/ girls have any special tips for a beginner such myself? i've got my stalls down to about 1 in 10 starts

Only thing you can do....Practice. Soon it will be second nature for ya!

One thing you can try is something a friend told me once. He was telling me how his Dad taught him to drive a manual trans. He took him to an empty parking lot and parked the car into a spot that had the cement block for the front tires to bump against. Obviously the spot directly in front of them was empty also. Then he made him drive over the parking block backward and forward until he could do it nice and smooth. Also without hurting the car I assume. This taught him how to start out from 1st and Rev. with perfect skill, which is really the only hard part as you already know. If you try this, just be careful. Don't hurt your car by going over the block or by shredding the clutch practicing!!

Drive around in the empty parking lot too as it's a good practice spot. Use an easy car to start with also so you don't damage anything or wear the clutch out!

For a real test, after you think your a pro, try driving an old VW Van (Bus). Those things are a pain in the ASS!!

I can't offer no advice, as I still suck at driving standards...

I can drive them... but I am lazy and perfer automatic...


and the clutch is yer friend.

Yeah, m0j0m is right, there's no real tricks besides practice. You just have to learn where is the 'friction point' of your car's clutch.

Parkings lots are a great place to practice. (well maybe not on boxing days..)

I'm a manual driver my self, and I get horribly bored when I have to drive an automatic car today

Also, another tips that might help, if you don't want to keep looking at the RPM meter to know when to shift, try to learn to recognize the sound of the motor, and get used to it. This way you'll be able to keep your eyes on the road after a while. But the hardest part to learn is usualy just to start (1st gear).

m0j0m, I don't know about VW Van, but I learned with a golf 1985, and I bet the transmission and clutch system must have been almost as sucky as an old VW Van. (keep in mind this golf had been beated a lot before I got it) The first time I drove another manual car, I just couldn't believe how the previous sucked at shifting gear.

ya going from 1 -2 and 2-3 is alot easier than going from start, i haven't done reverse gear yet though

I have driven a manual almost exclusively for xx years.

I recently picked up an automatic type vehicle (the cruiser) but basically when going out on the town etc.

Have you ever driven a stick so much, that when you drive an auto, and come up on an intersection, go for the clutch , and hit the brake instead? !

M0rbid, VW's are pretty much nightmares no matter what it is. The main thing with the VW Van isn't so much the bad Trans. or Clutch but the fact that the actual Stick Shift itself is like 3 feet long and goes straight down into the floorboard. You sit way up in the Very front, and I mean very front, while the engine is in the back of the vehicle. So just imagine how flimsy and awkward that might feel. It literally just kinda bends and feels all funky trying to get it in gear cause you can't really feel it or anything like you can normally. It's very common to accidentally go from 3rd to 2nd or 1st to 4th or even on rare moments to downshift into REVERSE cause it's all the way to the left & Down instead of the far right. 1st gear to a grinding Reverse is a nasty sound!!

m0j0m

#, that must really suck. I did the 4 to 3 instead of 4 to 5 a few times on the old VW when I started to lear...Yes the grinding noize produced does NOT sound good lol.. Recent VWs are okays IMO, and yes I drove lots of other cars.

Smirkley

Yeah, I'm always lost in an automatic cars. I'm always seeking for the clutch, or trying to move the shifting stick when there's no reason to lol..

[Edited on 31-12-2003 by m0rbid]

Originally posted by smirkley
Have you ever driven a stick so much, that when you drive an auto, and come up on an intersection, go for the clutch , and hit the brake instead? !

lol.....Yep. That's when you look around to make sure nobody saw you, cause you know you looked like a big dummy jerkin' and bouncing around in your car.

When you first change over and if the shifter is on the steering columb my right arm still wanders instinctively for the shifter too, even though my brain is fully aware I don't need to shift. It's like muscle memory or something.

I still like driving stick better than automatic though. I have an automatic now and it's got it's perks. But I like the added interactiveness and added control that a manual has. I'd convert this one over but I just don't have the money or the patience for it right now!

I have driven manuals exclusively, and when I drive somone elses auto, I am continually looking for the clutch, or reaching for the shifter...

Hello.

Having just learned to drive a manual shift, I know the pain it can be, I got so frustrated, specially when the car stalled in the middle of traffic... during peak hours! But I learned the key to success on that matter: Don't panic! That's all it takes, really! Just take your time (as you normally would) and don't try to reach the shift as if you were executing an ejection procedure on a fighter aeroplane

I pretty much had figured all of the theory by myself (dad has always owned manual trans. cars so I've got to watch him daily as he shifts through gears) when I sat, for the first time, in the drivers seat of a manual trans. car, but this time actually trying to drive the thing by myself!

Now... I can't imagine how driving a Lorry is like... that must be a pain in the A$$, mustn't be?

I did, however, find a pretty decent primer on driving manual shift, which might as well help you out during your learning

cssdrivertraining.com...

And the clutch is your best friend, indeed!
Any questions are welcome! (I'm not an expert by any means, though, but just got the hang out of it

Rod

Hehehe. You reminded me of this one time, I stalled for a #ign while, I was climbing up an inclined road, but the light turned red, so I stop. When I wanted to start (at the green light) I stalled like 5 or 6 time, people started driving around me to continu, and the light eventualy turned back to red, and I was still there !!!
LMAO... Ah man, I felt so dumb and humiliated that day.
(I was in a big #ing city called Montreal, in a place where's there is always cars, no mather what hour of the day...)

the very first manual transmission i ever drove was....

a double axle dump truck.

killed it the first attempt...but got it on the second.

there's not much i cant drive.

less clutch more gas, more clutch less gas. thats about all i can say.

some clutches are more sensitive than others. like a corvette, i had the displeasure of driving one...touchy clutch! others are more forgiving.