Learning to drive a manual transmission?

[BrandonFriday]

Alright, I bought this car a few days ago. My first car I've ever bought. I used to drive a s10 Blazer, which was an automatic, as my first car. Now I've got this. I love these cars, but I have one major problem with it. I can't drive a straight drive. Any tips on making myself better? I know I just need to drive it more to learn about it, but does anyone here have any encouragement stories for me? I get upset at myself for stalling the car, or having a jerky start off. I can drive it once I get it out of 1st gear. It's just the start off.

[blu_fuz]

Watch some youtube videos on driving stick shift. That will help a lot. I didn't know how to drive stick when I bought my contour either . Gotta drive to learn.

[BrApple]

being fluid comes with time, don't expect it to start with.

start by learning the engagement point of the clutch. So on flat ground use nothing but the clutch to get the car moving. Then once that is comfortable start using the gas at the same time. so as you come off the clutch you need more gas the faster you go. try to keep the rpms the same when you do this. just do this over and over until you are comfortable.

This was the approach that my father used when teaching me to drive a standard. however I have been "driving" some sort of tractor, lawn or my Dads Model B Allis Chalmers tractor since I was in 5th grade.

[BrandonFriday]

Thanks guys. My dad has been teaching me really well. It's just I can't seem to grasp the concept of the clutch and the gas. I don't want to ride the clutch and mess it up. Thats a few hundred dollar repair I don't want to throw away. The car has always been taken care of, I bought it from a guy in PA. I live in NC. It only had 77000 miles on it. I just wish I knew how to drive the thing, and show it off.

[blu_fuz]

Clutch repair/replace is about $1,000 if you pay a shop - keep that in mind when you think you want to do a burnout or ride the clutch .

[mmc757]

Turn off the radio and LISTEN to your car. Learn to tell what your RPM's are by the sound its making. Get the relationship between RPM/gear/speed/sound ingrained in your brain and the rest will follow.
Decide where you want to shift at and shift at that same point every time until your more comfortable, then you start to experiment and learn better shift points for different driving conditions.
Its all very zen...

[TheKidWithTheSE]

Dont worry I'm in the same boat, which is why i wont buy a SVT

But good luck to u learning

[RedFire98]

It's just I can't seem to grasp the concept of the clutch and the gas. I don't want to ride the clutch and mess it up.

try feathering the gas pedal instead of riding it (i.e. quick blips under 1200 rpm), thats how i was taught on my 5.0 mustang and still find myself driving the same way almost 10 years later..

[elraido]

One of the better things you can do, is just drive around yourself in town. Doing laps around a block where you know no one will be. After having my mom teach me, a couple days later I did that. Got it down in about a half hour to where I knew I could go anyplace.

[Smokinjoe]

Congratulations for wanting to learn how to drive a stick. It is something every man should know how to do. Once you master it, you will take pride in doing something not everyone can do.

Dont worry I'm in the same boat, which is why i wont buy a SVT

But good luck to u learning

Shame on you. This is why manual transmission vehicles are slowly disappearing from showrooms. There is now a whole generation of young drivers who have grown up with automatics. I feel bad for them, they don't know what they're missing.