Hi all.

I have something to confess. I don't know how to drive a stick. There I said it. I am a proud member of the 4EAT club. I actually blame my incompetence on my parents. No one in the family has a stick on which I can learn. Anyways, I bribed one of my friends to teach me, and he started going on about how I'll frustrated the first day of learning "stick" can be, so my questions are:

How deep in "s***" am I?

And do you guys have any tips to make learning go a little smoother?

TIA.

 

Don't worry about it. Just take everything slowly and try to make your movements as smooth as possible. Don't try anything you're not comfortable with (like downshifting for example).

And do you go to ucd?

 

Yeah. I'll be a third year majoring in Statistics this fall.

 

Once you learn first gear from a stop the rest is cake....

Seriously it took me all of twenty minutes to learn my first stick (1990 Silvia Q's )

Once you get the car moving from a dead stop, the rest of the gears will be easy.
Then you get to worry about going from a stop on a hill going up

Have fun and be patient.

P.S. There is nothing wrong with automatics

 

I know, but I think it is important to learn how to drive a stick. Anyways, does anyone know where Bubble is?

 

milpitas square.

 

Cool, cool.

 

When I started out, I had friends teach me in trucks with no tachometer, no radio, no power accessories. This was good, since it made me focus on listening to the engine.

Then I had a co-worker who gave me really good lessons in his old Integra in an empty parking lot. He would pull the e-brake and have me apply gas and slowly let out the clutch until I felt the car start to move a little. Then I would let up on the gas and depress the clutch, then repeat. This was done so I could get used to the clutch point.

After I mastered that, I would drive forward about four car lengths, then stop, then drive in reverse two car lenths, then repeat.

After I mastered that, I would do figure eights around lamp posts in first gear.

A few weeks later, I went to the dealership and bought a brand-new '98 Prelude Type SH. I have no idea how I got it off the lot, but I made it. It was crazy. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet.

Good luck.

 

You'll be fine man. Just throw a mountain lion in the car and learn to drive with the fear.

Actually all it takes is learning the balance between gas and clutch. From there on out it is smooth sailing. Best place to learn is an empty parking lot and follow what wu said. You throw in going over speed bumps and up entrance ramps from a stop as well.

 

It's okay. Nothing to be ashamed of. At least you wanna learn. My first car was an automatic Integra because my parents couldn't drive a manual. Which was fine, first car, learning to drive, whatever. When I got my RS, I wanted to have a manual, but it was initially opposed by my folks (since they helped me buy it and insisted that they'd use it from time to time), but I convinced them I could learn how to drive one. I had a friend teach me in his Ford Explorer in the parking lot of Cal State Hayward. Then when I finally did get my car, I had a friend sit with me while I get the hang of my car a few times. Then one night I decided to just drive my car around my street past midnight. Then I went out again, but I went out into the city streets (helps that I live in the suburbs). A couple days after that, I stopped using the Integra to get to work, and just decided to drive the new car there. It didn't take long after that learning experience before everything felt like 2nd nature. You'll start to learn when to shift without even looking at your tach. It's been almost 4 years since then and my parents never once touched the car since they didn't know how to drive it, haha. So, don't sweat it. Just go do it man. I had a friend who suggested that I go to howstuffworks.com to learn how a clutch works. So when you do get to driving a stick, you can picture it in your head as to how it works.

 

Thanks all. I'll keep in mind the things you guys recommended.

 

Long live 4EAT's.

<- Future member of the 4EAT Club.

 

I know exactly how you feel. My friends, many friends, and I did not have a stick car, none of us did because the parents are against stick...typical asian thing, but I had my brother's friend, who was really nice, teach me in his pretty new beemer, so I got the hang of that, and got my car. I taught about 5 or 6 of my friends the basics and they got it going, stalled a few times, and my gf, who actually did better than everyone, maybe because she's smart and i thorougly expland how the clutch and gears worked. My other friend got a stick shortly, and another friend...and it continues to grow, like a virus..niiiice.


oh yeah, www.standardshift.com

 

hey i so know how you feel. i never drove stick b4 n i use to have a auto rs for 3 years n i always wanted to 2 drive a stick so i purchased a stick wagon last week. i learned it so quick the next day driving friends around they thought i been driving stick for a while. that being said it pritty easy to learn

-Barnaby

 

Too lazy to read what everyone else wrote. But IMHO, first thing to do is learn the catch point on the car. Make sure you're on flat land (starting on a hill is a ***** when you don't know how to drive stick) and slowly release the clutch and wait until the car starts to move. After that, start applying gas and figure out the ratio of how far the clutch should be at when you're applying gas etc.

Don't worry if you keep stalling in the beginning, some people pick it up quick, some people don't. It's all part of the process.