Best/worst cars for learning stick on?

[brages]

What do you think makes a car a good choice for learning to drive stick shift on? Plenty of low-end torque? Not too much torque? A flexible engine? Light clutch? Short shifter throws? Just plain cheap? Is a tach a plus, or a distraction?

Right now, I'm teaching my son on a 4-cyl Ranger. It has no tach, and not a lot of power.

On my car (Volvo s40), I have enough power and torque that gearing choice isn't that important. I skip gears all the time and the car has no issue with it. On the Ranger, you need every gear, just about every time.

The Ranger is RWD and a clutch job looks like it would be easy and cheap (no DMF) if he burns it up.

What do you think?

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Worst: Porsche
Best: Any 4 cylinder econobox (Truck or Sedan)

 

[dishdude]

Definitely the Ranger. They're pretty easy to drive in a 5 speed and he should learn to shift by sound and feeling, not watching the tach. Plus as you mentioned, easy and low cost to replace.

 

[Chris142]

Worst: Any gutless 4 cyl car.

Best: My jeep with the torquey 4.0 and 3.73 gears. So easy my 13 yr old cousin can do it. https://youtu.be/ebcdQnBowfU

 

[Lolvoguy]

I'd recommend anything from Toyota.
The Corolla/Echo/Yaris etc all have very clean, precise shifts (regardless of mileage) paired with a moderate-light clutch pedal.

 

[Rand]

Econoboxes are the best, fancy cars and subaru are worse.

Subaru easy to stall, clutch is 2-3x the cost of normal cars to replace.

 

[UncleDave]

best - a stick pickup truck -

first is usually low as a granny gear to get a towed or heavy load moving so they are forgiving as [censored] unloaded.


UD

 

[Audios]

Worst ever-1980s Porsche bottom hinge clutch. Almost instant full grab
Best-E39 540i with clutch delay. You can pretty much make the first inch of engagement and dump it and add power, and it comes off smooth. My tdi is also pretty easy from the rotating mass

 

[Imp4]

The best is one that belongs to someone else.
The worst.... Well, you can figure that part out....

 

[Kestas]

I learned to drive a stick when I interned at the Manual Transmission department of Ford Motor Co. I drove the entire fleet that was offered with a manual transmission in 1978.

It is definitely easiest to learn on a mousy underpowered 4-cyl vehicle with a light clutch.

Even experienced guys would complain when they have to drive their muscle cars in heavy traffic. Their legs would cramp up and start shaking from holding the stiff clutch in for lengths of time.

 

[earlyre]

I'd always heard that an old Beetle was the best car to learn in..
as for me, probably one of the reasons I've never owned a manual car, is that the manual i learned on, and not that well mind you, was a ten speed in a Semi. (failed that training course..)

the only other one I've driven was a POS S10 Frankentruck my buddy bought years ago.(owned it about 3 months before it threw a rod, but it was $500, and he needed a vehicle...)
and i found my self double clutching that thing out of force of habit/training...

 

[kschachn]

Interesting, I found it much easier to teach stick to someone with a higher powered car than my mousy ECHO. The power band is so narrow on the ECHO that you're constantly having to be aware of what's up ahead. Sure the clutch effort might be more but you can practically start off at idle in a stick BMW which you can never do in the ECHO.

 

[sloinker]

Rear wheel drive, two wheel drive, single exhaust pickup. Fastest,easiest clutch replacement. Less than $150 and about 2-3 hours with a lift and high reach transmission jack. That would be my choice for a possibly destroyed clutch replacement. As [censored] as learning, mechanically operated with cable engagement gives more tactile sensations than a hydraulic actuator.

 

[sloinker]

Far is censored?

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted by sloinker
Far is censored?

You added a T at the end.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

An old truck or Jeep or something with a true granny gear; something that can take off in 1st gear with no throttle, without stalling.

You can figure out the clutch modulation without having to figure out the throttle modulation.

 

[UncleDave]

Originally Posted by earlyre
I'd always heard that an old Beetle was the best car to learn in..


they were good- but the bottom hinge isnt ideal

ironically they are worth too much money now......

This was recently fully restored and the owner (our body man at the boat shop) refused 40K at the last show.

 

[UG_Passat]

THe best was my old 02 Golf TDI. It was extremely forgiving to learn how to start off in first gear.

 

[gman2304]

My wife learned how to drive a manual in my old VW beetle. The soft clutch and low power helped IMO. A base 4 cylinder truck would be ideal as some have stated.

 

[Job]

One that is the worst shifting, most worn out, and damaged. Then others will be easy.