manual transmissions
 

I'm not really sure if I should of posted this here or in the off topic forum but I'm going to be getting my first car here pretty soon (probably a cheap prelude) but I have never driven a manual before in my life and I really want my first car to be a manual... However no one I know has a car with manual transmission so I'm kinda stuck here since I have nothing to pratice on before I get a car. My question is, would you guys recommend I get a car with a manual and just sort of learn on my own or what? I have the basic knowledge of starting the car from a stop and up/down shifting etc but I've never been able to pratice it at all. So I'd take any advice you guys have to offer, thanks.

buy it in a manual...there is nothing like a manual tranmission...automatics are boring IMO, I learned by myself on an 87 Legend, its not that hard to get used to at all...buy the manual, you WILL NOT regret it...

YES, I was just like you. I have to get a manual b/c of the $. I did not know how to work a manual. The frist time was coming home from subaru with my new 02 RS. I did not think i was going to get the car home. I did and i work on it for 2 week. Now i love my manual. It is a lot of fun, but do not drive it home for the frst time:D

Go to a driving school. Some of them teach how to drive manual. It will probably take you three-four lessons to be comfortable with it, plus they will show you how to start uphill etc.

I don't think you want to burn the clutch on your new car, better do it on somebody else's even if it costs a little more money - you'll save in the end :-)

If you decide to learn it yourself after all, find somebody who can drive a manual transmission and ask him/her to take you to an empty parking lot so you can practice. I think it is really unsafe to drive a stickshift on a public road if you don't know how.

Yeah, I was just thinking of asking my cousin to come along with me when I do get my car... but unfortuneatley I am not aware of any type of driving schools in the area (Tacoma, WA) that teach driving a manual.

Find out where in the pedal travel that the clutch starts to engage so you know when you have to ease into the gas. Somewhere somebody posted a link to a site that had the info you need. Something like howthingswork.com or something like that. Anyways theres been a link posted before that had a good list of things to keep in mind and ways of learning easier.

[url]http://store.learn2.com/basket/compaq/drv_stck.asp[/url]

thanks for the url, most of the sites I've looked at didnt really cover as much as that one article did.

No problem. That links usually posted whenever there is a thread where somebody who's never driven a M/T car asks about learning how to do it. Hopefully it will make it into Alex's faq thread.