Learning stick shift on a Subaru
#7
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Cheesesteakville
Posts: 6,833
Car Info: 05 wrx wagon, 90 celica alltrac, 66 mustang
I learned in one of these:
I am teaching my girlfriend to drive a stick as she just bought one. She is having a tough time at it. Starts the lesson out fine stalls or bucks a couple times than can not drive at all she gets so frustrated.
I am teaching my girlfriend to drive a stick as she just bought one. She is having a tough time at it. Starts the lesson out fine stalls or bucks a couple times than can not drive at all she gets so frustrated.
#9
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Santa Cruz, California
Posts: 3,228
Car Info: 2006 obp wrx limited sedan
The first wrx i test drove was a 5mt 07 TR in san jose @ kowloon auto. Long *** clutch.
First stick i ever drove. Took it out for a test drive and im pretty sure that car needs a new clutch now lol.
A month later i bought a wrx limited 4EAT! Lol
First stick i ever drove. Took it out for a test drive and im pretty sure that car needs a new clutch now lol.
A month later i bought a wrx limited 4EAT! Lol
#13
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Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Stockholm
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Car Info: 2018 Golf R Variant
That's pretty normal with the learning. I have taught loads of people to drive manual and when this happens, what I do is have them go somewhere like a parking lot (no stress of people behind you waiting to go) and do this: hold revs at around or greater-than ~2krpm, and slowly let the clutch out to take off instead of trying to control the throttle on take off. Just hold revs steady (this is a good exercise anyway), have her gently lift the clutch pedal and tell you when the engagement point is reached.
If she has trouble holding the revs where intended, this is probably what is giving her trouble. A great exercise for that is to hold RPM in 500 rpm increments, meaning, 2500, then 3500, then 3000, etc. Getting control of this will help you become a rev-matching genius.
Bucking is simply letting the clutch out too fast with not enough throttle + FWD. The opposite end of this is slipping the clutch. It's all about getting the engagement point down. Try to get out of the bucking stage ASAP though as that is really hard on everything, where slipping is only hard on the clutch.
A Justy is remarkably easy to drive, but they can also be twitchy in cases like this, and the throttle is very sensitive. When I drive my Justy longer distances, my ankle gets sore from holding my foot off of the accelerator (otherwise I find myself happily cruising along @70-80mph which is too fast for a 4WD Justy).
Also, one of the very best things would be to have her drive it around a bit solo because people are always stressed out when someone they respect is trying to teach. Doesn't matter how nice you are, the real learning happens once she is by herself. Hope that came out right.
#14
Learned stick in a friends old jeep wrangler. Had it down in 5 minutes. Took 30 minutes to finally get the WRX drivable outside of a parking lot and days to work out all the kinks. Going from a clutch that doesnt really give a damn where you release it to one that is super sensitive is quite a change.