i wanted a four-door car, turbo was also something I was interested in.

i may be moving in the next few years to west coast (maybe oregon or washington) and I hear AWD is good for driving during harsher weather times.

I wanted manual since I've always been teased for having an automatic celica. I'm getting the hang of driving it now and it's been a much more rewarding driving experience. I feel like I have a LOT more control over how the car runs from controlling the clutch and gears.

The hatchback is not visually appealing to me but it's starting to grow on me. I chose the 5-door version because I would rather have the cargo space.

 

Good reasons there.

Don't forget that depending on what parts of OR or WA you live in, you may see extended periods of snow...so yeah the AWD will be your best friend. It'll be even more your friend if you decide to drive up the mountains to go skiing because you may not have to get out and put on chains like the other cars.

Regardless, AWD is pretty much your friend in any driving instance other than if you need to drift (though you still can) or are entered in a peg-leg burnout competition.

Just remember, anytime you feel like you are losing control...hit the gas. The gas is your friend.

 

something odd, everytime I hit the clutch really quick to shift quicker, the rpm jumps a bit...is that normal? Like I was trying to show off to my friend while keeping under 4k rpm but every time I would hit that clutch the thing would jump a few hundred over.

i just tried it too driving home, everytime I hit the clutch as quick as I possibly can the rpm jumps a couple hundred. I swear my right foot goes off the throttle completely. I did it many time to make sure I wasn't imagining things. help?

 

That seems to be the electronic throttle thingy doing weird things. You can hear the engine blip the rpm for some reason. Did that on both my 06 wrx and 08 sti.

So have you gotten used to MT yet? Make sure you don't learn any weird habits lol

 

are you able to control it? or should I just shift earlier to compensate?

it's weird cuz it doesn't do it for regular driving. only if I push clutch with a little force.

 

practice makes perfect

 

am i ruining the tranny or clutch by pushing down too fast? i swear the rpms blip up a little.

 

no you're not... STOP being overly cautious and overly **** about your driving. again, over time you will get the feel of everything...your RPM will raise a little but it shouldn't be jumping a few 100 RPM but rather a few RPM. This is because the engine and transmission is rotating at a certain speed... when you push the clutch in and don't left off the gas before the clutch is pushed in the RPM will raise... The increase in RPM will help slightly in making the transition between gears. don't watch the cluster so much either. your eyes should be on the road and you should be concentrating on driving rather than being distracted. if you're able to get the car moving then you must be doing something right. practice practice practice. a month of driving and you should improve drastically.

I understand your concern of your new car but you have to grasp the concept first. I'm also ASSUMING you're practicing this daily and not just TALKING about driving it right?

 

i think i developed a bad habit of letting go of the clutch before adding gas. shaggy says I'm glazing the clutch. Sucks because I do it on flat surfaces, but not so much on hills (I think the idea of hitting the car behind makes me hit the gas pedal more). Shaggy suggests that I should do gas then release the clutch.

I'm guessing that the releasing clutch and adding gas at the same time would be optimal.

 

yup what he was doing is letting out the clutch till it started to grab and then he would give it gas.

 

This thread started on may 2nd,yesterday made 2 weeks.

I learned to drive a stick in one day,if you don't feel confident by now you should see if it's possible to drive a different make of car.

Not every make of car is the same,although in theory driving manuals should be the same,it is not.

Even between the same makes there are variations,maybe someone here will let you drive their car.

I would let you drive mine,but that would require you to come to the next race,which may not be your best option.

 

*raises hand* Hey Fran!! Can I try???? Can I try???

 

Like infek says, I must be doing something right if I'm getting the car to move. I'm getting better, but people are all telling me I'm going to kill my clutch fast. I guess that'll be an inevitable expensive lesson I'll have to learn from.

Seems like the handful of people I've asked to teach me have different things to say, so that's why I have so many questions because there seems to be so many methods to driving. My biggest issue has already been trying to do it "right".

2.5 DOHC, it's not that I'm not confident in my driving. But it doesn't help when everyone is telling me I'm going to kill my clutch fast for all my bad habits, which no one seems to agree on. The other night I was pushing gas then letting go of clutch, the guy said find the grab point then add gas. Just today Shaggy says I'm doing it wrong and it should be the other way. I know I've gotten over the hurdle of first gear. I do so much traffic and town driving and the occasional uphill stop-and-go drive. I rarely stall and have a much better feel for my suby these days. I may be ****, but I don't want to learn how to drive manual "wrong" the first time around, get comfortable with bad habits, and have a hard time changing later on.

So I just wanted to thank everyone who took the time out to help guide me. I think I got it but I'm just asking all sorts of questions when I should just be trying to figure it out on my own. Thanks everyone :-)