Driving stick

[Spectre]

So I've reached the point in life where I realize that if I don't make a move now, I'll never have a chance to do this again. I'm 23 and real life is approaching fast.

I plan on getting a new car by the end of this month. I enjoy driving a lot but I feel like I'm missing out on the full experience. Also, there are some cars that I really love that are absolutely meant to drive with stick. Hell, I still feel like crap for getting my 02 WRX in auto. I'm actually looking at reentering the WRX market this year and would absolutely love to get the 5 speed.

I've tried driving stick with my friends cars before and I was OK, but I only drove around for like 15 minutes. I only stalled once . I have a period of 5 days at the end of the month (after my board exams) where I have nothing to do. If I do this, its going to be pure driving time.

I (fortunately) have some friends who drive stick well so I have some good instruction.

Couple questions for the stick masters on OS:
1) My friends are pretty unanimous in their thinking that it's not too risky for me to get a new stick car (despite my inexperience) as long as they're along to teach me the ropes

2) Any general tips about learning?

3) How long did it take you guys to get really smooth at stick? I know most will be stall-free by their first week and whatnot.

[Flyboy]

Re: Driving stick

It took me about a month to really get the hand on it but I was also learning how to just merely drive too. I love manuals... love them, and when I got a car a week ago it's an automatic and I feel completely weird driving one. But once you get it down, then it's clear sailing.

[Scott]

Re: Driving stick

The best tip for me to give you, is don't get frustrated while learning to drive it. It probably only took me a couple weeks to get smooth...

[Trevytrev11]

Re: Driving stick

My first car was a stick, so I was forced to learn.

The hard part is learning the relationship between the cluch and the gas. Once you learn it, it is very smooth and easy to understand, but when you are learning, you will go through a few things:
1) Not releasing the clutch, while continuing to press the gas. This will result in you revving the engine up pretty high.
2) Releasing the clutch, while not giving enough gas. This will relsut in you stalling the vehicle (can be embarrasing when a car is behind you)


Something that helped me was this and I don't know if it works in every car, but it worked in mine. I guess it depends on the transmission.

Put the car in first gear and just let it idle. Without even pushing the gas, slowly release the clutch (let off slowly with your left foot). When you get to a certain point, you will feel the car go into gear and slowly start moving forward. Just hold this point and the car should slowly move. If you release it all the way, you will likely stall, but as long as you have it slightly depressed at the "catch point" you should be alright.

Do this over and over until you become comfortable with the feeling motion and this "catch point". Ideally this is where you want to release the clutch as you are giving it gas. So once you get it down, the next step is to just give it a little steady gas and release it at this point.

First gear is always the bitch because you stall out when you mess up. In other gears, you will just run real weak.

It took me a week to be competant and a month or so to become comfortable. I remember buying my car on a Saturday and having to drive to work on a Sunday. I couldn't get first gear down, so I ran every stop sign.

Good Luck.

Thi big con of driving an automatic is it becomes annoying to constantly shift in and out of gear/neutral when in traffic and it makes it even harder to eat/drink/talk on the phone, etc. (which you shouldn't be doing anyway) while driving.

[mjb2124]

Re: Driving stick

It took me about a week to learn. When I got out of college, my brother-in-law sold me his car that was a stick and that was my main transportation. He sat down with me the day I bought the car off of him and showed me the ropes. After that I drove around the neighborhood that day trying to get comfortable (hills were the worst!). Once Monday rolled around, I had to get to work so I fought through it and made sure to take the route with no stops on hills. It was tough at first, but once you get an idea of how to feather the clutch and gas, it's a piece of cake.

With that said, I'm moving from a stick to an automatic next week (fingers crossed that my new car will be in then). I just got tired of driving a stick and sitting in bumper to bumper traffic changing gears. I never thought it would bother me, but after sitting in stop and go traffic with a max speed of 10MPH for 30 minutes, I changed my tune!

[Spectre]

Re: Driving stick

Put the car in first gear and just let it idle. Without even pushing the gas, slowly release the clutch (let off slowly with your left foot). When you get to a certain point, you will feel the car go into gear and slowly start moving forward. Just hold this point and the car should slowly move. If you release it all the way, you will likely stall, but as long as you have it slightly depressed at the "catch point" you should be alright.

Do this over and over until you become comfortable with the feeling motion and this "catch point". Ideally this is where you want to release the clutch as you are giving it gas. So once you get it down, the next step is to just give it a little steady gas and release it at this point.

First gear is always the bitch because you stall out when you mess up. In other gears, you will just run real weak.

It took me a week to be competant and a month or so to become comfortable. I remember buying my car on a Saturday and having to drive to work on a Sunday. I couldn't get first gear down, so I ran every stop sign.

Good Luck.

Thi big con of driving an automatic is it becomes annoying to constantly shift in and out of gear/neutral when in traffic and it makes it even harder to eat/drink/talk on the phone, etc. (which you shouldn't be doing anyway) while driving.

Thanks for the advice, all of you!

First, LOL at the running stop signs. That was ballsy to take the car out to work the next day! Very impressive- I can already tell stopping/starting is the toughest thing to master.

That's exactly how my friend showed me the one day he took me out driving- just slowly ease of the clutch until you start feeling the car "shaking." That was in a Camry and the clutch was pretty generous though, explaining why I only stalled once.

I know the traffic thing is annoying as all hell but I won't drive in heavy traffic too frequently.

What car are you getting mjb, by the way?

[bgeno]

Re: Driving stick

Stop signs/Stop lights on steep hills are the very hardest part.

When I got my first vehicle (97 Ford Ranger), it was a stick. My step-dad was driving around with me, teaching me how to drive.

He took me too a local park and put me on a fairly steep hill. He got out of the car and stood behind it with maybe a foot or two between him and the car. Then he told me to go. So it was either learn how to balance the clutch, brake and gas on that hill or hit my step-dad.

That's a good practicing tool... mainly because you'll have an idea of how far back you're actually drifting when you take off.



As for how long it took me...

I did pretty well, I thought. It took me maybe 2 weeks to feel comfortable. And I'm FAR from a car enthusiast... so I don't really understand what's happening under the hood and chassis.

I had been driving for about a year before I tried a stick... only about 3 or 4 months with a license.

I just drove and drove around the neighberhood on the day I got my truck. My step-dad was with me most of the time, then he told me to try on my own.


In case anyone is interested, here's a picture of my truck. It's since been sold... man, do I miss it. Lots of good memories in that truck... and I mean *good* memories

http://www.teamrms.freehomepage.com/images/imag0001.jpg

[ehh]

Re: Driving stick

It honestly took me about a half hour to get the hang of it, there really isn't much too it besides timing and it just clicked for me. I learned to drive in a stick and every car I've owned has been a stick.

My first car was a '91 Explorer and the thing was a huge piece of junk but I still felt cool since it was a manual.

Good choice BTW going with a standard, I don't think I'll ever buy an automatic - I'd probably fall asleep at the wheel I'd be so bored!

[mjb2124]

Re: Driving stick

What car are you getting mjb, by the way?

Lexus GS 350 AWD

I'm trading in my 2001 Nissan Maxima that was a 5 speed.

[Flyboy]

Re: Driving stick

Good choice BTW going with a standard, I don't think I'll ever buy an automatic - I'd probably fall asleep at the wheel I'd be so bored!

Man, it's SO bad after having a stick and then getting an automatic. I feel all awkward. And, seriously - who knew a person could use the f'n brakes so much? Ugh.

[Blzer]

Re: Driving stick

I didn't really read the other posts, but my first car was a stick as well. I first drove in a parking lot when I was 14 in my dad's truck, so I got a good grasp of just how to drive. Then I learned how to drive a stick shift in my dad's minivan in an empty wide road area near that freeway the Wachowski Bros built for The Matrix Reloaded. As you know, it's very rare for a minivan to have manual transmission, so essentially this is probably the hardest car to learn on. Shifting gears was as easy as you see in movies. But the tough part is starting from a dead stop. I got used to it during the night, but had to practice every day after that. It just doesn't come too easy at first until you really begin to understand the relationship between the clutch and the gas. Once I did, in that van, it took me about two weeks. In a regular car, it probably would have taken three days.

It sounds like you've done it before, but let's rehash everything here:


- The clutch is basically your car's vitality (when stopped). When in gear, your foot must be on the clutch or else you'll stall your engine.

- There's a point (and it's different in every car) where you have to ease off the clutch and step on the gas. It's all by feel or hearing, whichever you prefer. I prefer feel, because there are times when you're blasting the radio or there is other loud noise and you just can't hear it. But the best way to learn this is to rip the e-brake and do it from a standstill. In this case, always make sure that you rev too high before you stall (meaning always have more clutch than less). When you find that position that your car feels it wants to go, practice it more and more until you feel you can do it sort of quickly. Then try it with the e-brake off (the best place is probably a parking lot).

- Here's a helpful hint: If you're revving too high, that means you have too much gas for your clutch, not too much clutch for your gas. That basically means don't pull off the clutch instantly. You'll just have a shaky car going forward or stall, and either way you'll look stupid. Quickly let off the gas, then slowly get on the gas again but this time with less clutch. If you can make this quick adjustment, it will really help. On that same token, if you feel you're about to stall, press on the clutch, but let off the gas (maybe go on the brakes if you're going uphill) and start over. Don't try and force gas to go forward. You'll stall, and again, look stupid.

- Starting from a stop facing uphill means your "default" start will need more clutch for your gas and for longer time. If you're still having trouble on uphills, do the e-brake trick to find your starting point and just go from there. I still do it on some really extreme steep hills. Going downhill means less clutch. Or, if you don't mind, just start in 2nd gear and then put in more clutch again.

- People have different views on down-shifting, and I personally like to use as little breaks as possible and down-shift from 5th to 4th to 3rd to 2nd to 1st in slow fashion, easing off the clutch each time so it's smooth as opposed to popping off (so I'm not really riding it either). I probably start braking between 3rd and 2nd as well. I'm just not one of those guys that is in fifth the whole time then goes to brake until I'm near a stop then goes to neutral or 1st. Another habit I have is to coast whenever possible. I feel I'm saving gas, but I really don't know if I am.




Like everything, it really becomes second nature when you do it for so long. Shifting on its own is rather easy as pie, but just practice in the same way you practice your starts so you can shift smoothly. Don't pop off the clutch too quickly and make it a shaky experience. My friends do it and it annoys the crap out of me. In fact, sometimes when I drive people take a while to even realize I'm driving a stick because I'm making sure my shifts are seamless. Reverse driving is like an easy man's first gear driving, only you can't shift into different reverses. Honestly, driving stick is the most fun way to drive and I wouldn't trade it for anything else automatic.

Good luck.

[jmood88]

Re: Driving stick

When I first started learning how to drive a stick I couldn't understand how anybody could ever want a car with it and I never thought that I would be comfortable with it but now a manual is pretty much all I want to drive. For me the hard part was getting out of first and once I was able to do that I could calm down and drive without worrying about stalling. One scary thing that happened when I was learning was when I was driving by myself I stalled right in front of a bus that was turning into the lane that I stalled in but somehow I was able to start the car and leave before I got hit.

[Blzer]

Re: Driving stick

One more tip: If you don't want to go by feel, you should normally probably shift up gears once you reach between 3.5 and 4 RPM (or between 4 and 4.5 RPM if your red line is at 8).

[youvalss]

Re: Driving stick

When u say driving stick u mean regular gear - not automatic one, do u? If yes, I haven't driven this since I got my license (November 1993). Here u must learn to drive on a stick (or at least it used to be this way). Oh, and we must learn driving with an official driving teacher, on his car. They usually have clutch and brake pedals on the teacher's side too (right side). And after about 25-30 lessons or when the teacher thinks u're ready (or when he's done taking money from u) he'll schedule u what we call "test", which means u're driving on another car with a tester sitting next to u for about 15-30 minutes. One mistkae and u'll have to do it again (take some more lessons and wait for another "test" to be scheduled).

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Driving stick

Well 1st off.....driving tests in the USA is a joke. All you do is drive around the block, make 2 left turns, 2 right turns and thats it. Within 3 minutes you are done.

But anyway driving stick really depends on where you live at. Because I know when I was living in Chicago, and pretty much any major city in the USA, there are way too many traffic lights and stop signs to really enjoy a stick.

Living in Indiana now, wide open roads. Yeah I say probably a month before you truly become comfortable with it to the point you will be shifting gears without giving it a second thought.