How'd you learn to drive a manual transmission?

[TallPaul]

This comes up as I attempt teaching my son to drive a stick. He is doing reasonably well, given the instructor is not the best. We had some rough launches, some bucking, and other unpretty things (hope my engine survives), but once I discovered he was keeping his heel on the floor and trying to work the pedal with his toes, things improved greately. I got him now raising his whole foot and knee to work the clutch. It actually seems to be a hip action.

Now I don't recall much about my learning a stick, partly because it was 35 years ago. But I do recall working at the gas station as a pump jockey and when it was slow I would get in the tow truck, put it in creeper low, turn the key and roll out as the engine cranked over, thereby bypassing the most difficult operation with a clutch, the launch. On that basis I decided that every time my son launches I am going to have him work it between first and second gear to get familiar with the clutch action. I think enough of that will make the launch a bit easier.

At any rate, it is a lot to think about and you need to develop the muscle memory so that you don't think about it. A lot of coordination to still be developed, but he is on the way. He only just got a learners permit mid February and passed his drivers exam last Monday, so it's not like even driving is a "second nature" skill for him yet.

Now your story of how you learned to drive a stick and hopefully some of the funny (not funny at the time of course) things that happened while you were learning.

 

[Chris142]

I learned @ 8yrs old on a dirt bike with a clutch and 5 gears. I was driving my moms Subaru @ 10 on our property by myself.

Stole that same Subaru @ 14 and drove 100 miles to a friends house in the Los Angelas area.

 

[Astro14]

Ford 8N tractor. non-synchro box...on/off clutch...

Yamaha DT-125 (bought with my earnings from lawnmowing when I was 12), Suzuki RM-125 (an upgrade when I was 14), taught me about powerband and gear ratios...

Car was a piece of cake after those...much easier clutch than the 8N...synchromesh...and a much wider power band than the MX bike...

 

[tommygunn]

I showed several girls in my teens how, but I was just trying to get them in my car and forgot what I told them. I learned on a 81 Chevette and that car required a little more gas to get it going. My wife doesn't know how to drive a stick and doesn't want to know so for the first time in 25 years I do not own a stick shift.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

I wouldn't necessarily point to keeping his heel on the floor as the root of his problem, or look at it as flawed technique. Pedal operation has more to do with the car's pedals and maybe the size of the driver's feet. Once a driver gets a feel for a particular vehicle's clutch pedal throw and engagement point, he/she should figure out the best way to make it happen.

I've driven trucks and forklifts that required the driver's entire leg. But I also had a Civic that had such short, light pedals that my heel could stay on the floor. There's no 'correct' way as long as the clutch is used properly. Let him figure out what works for him.

 

[JHZR2]

Find an e30 BMW with an mt and a ton of rust. Teach then sell or scrap. I tried learning on an integra, which has a horrible clutch. Bought a flood title 318, learned on it, in about one say, it was a breeze with perfect feel and ideal gearing.

My brother learned on the car too, and I've put 75k on it since, still with the original, perfect clutch.

Mt is a good excuse to travel to Europe. I had a renault twingo diesel the other week, and it had enough torque that I could let out the clutch without any throttle, even in second gear. That would make learning easy.

 

[Dave Sherman]

First one I ever drove was my dad's 1947 Lincoln coupe. Three on the tree, no power steering, and no power brakes. Managed not to stall it the first time starting out, but stalled it a few times after that. The V-12 in that idles so quietly I had to mash the gas to find out if I had stalled it. Then I got my learner's permit for a Honda CL-100 motorcycle one summer.

My first car was my '97 Saturn, which was what I really cut my teeth on.

 

[NateDN10]

The thing that "did it" for me was to, with no throttle, slowly let out the clutch in first gear and let the vehicle start rolling slowly. That lets you get the feel of the clutch independently of learning how much throttle to give it.

And since you really only have to worry about stalling/jackrabbit-ing on the launch, the other shifts are easy, even for a newbie.

At some point you have to get the rev-matched shifts down, but for a newbie, that's just icing on the cake.

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Find an e30 BMW with an mt and a ton of rust. Teach then sell or scrap. I tried learning on an integra, which has a horrible clutch.


The Acura may have had a "horrible clutch" (mine did not) but every e30 I've ever driven has had an equally horrible shifter. Wretched imprecise thing with 2ft long throws that bang your knuckles on the dash in first and end up with your elbow in the back seat for second. and if you don't tell a new driver how to get reverse on an E30, they aren't going to get it.
The Germans did not seem to care about shifter precision for a long time. The last time I drove a 911 Turbo, the shifter was reminiscent of a 2nd gen Eclipse. It was that light and plasticky. The only thing I could think of with the shifter. Felt just like an Eclipse And that was an improvement over older 911s and 914s Air-Cooled Porsches remind me of my old Type-1 Beetles.

 

[Spazdog]

When I was a kid my dad took be to a big open field and turned me loose in his MKII Triumph Spitfire. I already knew how to ride a Yamaha GT80 so I just had to translate what my left hand and foot did on the Yamaha to my left foot and right hand in the Triumph. Couple of stalls and I was good to go.

Took my driving test in a 1965 Chevy van. To reach reverse or second you had to lift yourself out of the seat a little bit

 

[Astro14]

If you want to teach, upshift and downshift once moving are timing things that are easily learned over time, the key thing, the hardest thing, to be learned is the clutch "engagement point" - that 0.5" of travel where it goes from engaged to dis-engaged...video-game generation only knows "on - off" when it comes to controls...so, you have to develop that "feel", sense of analog subtlety, that he needs to drive with a clutch.

Find an empty parking lot. Put it in 1st and without touching the gas, feel for that point...you can get the car rolling with the engine idling...he needs to develop a feel for the point. dozens, if not hundreds of repetitions...then turn him lose on the road...

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Spazdog
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Find an e30 BMW with an mt and a ton of rust. Teach then sell or scrap. I tried learning on an integra, which has a horrible clutch.


The Acura may have had a "horrible clutch" (mine did not) but every e30 I've ever driven has had an equally horrible shifter. Wretched imprecise thing with 2ft long throws that bang your knuckles on the dash in first and end up with your elbow in the back seat for second. and if you don't tell a new driver how to get reverse on an E30, they aren't going to get it.
The Germans did not seem to care about shifter precision for a long time. The last time I drove a 911 Turbo, the shifter was reminiscent of a 2nd gen Eclipse. It was that light and plasticky. The only thing I could think of with the shifter. Felt just like an Eclipse And that was an improvement over older 911s and 914s Air-Cooled Porsches remind me of my old Type-1 Beetles.


Whatever, the feel of my wife's integra was equally as bad. My E30 shifts as well and as precicely as our integra, BTW. But this is about learning about driving stick, not playing Honda fanboy. My point is that the feel of the clutch and the gearing make a big difference in how to learn.

 

[Rob_Roy]

My first experience with a manual transmission was in a '67 Ford F250. 390 power with a 4 speed and 4.56 gears, you could pop the clutch in 2nd gear and not stall it...a real confidence booster.

 

[Rand]

I relearned on a 2007 focus zx3 the smallest model.
I originally learned in a mitsubishi mightymax

I thought the ford was very easy to learn on.

A few stalls on hills but after a week of driving it to work 30miles each way with 14 lights and hills I was doing pretty good.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: NateDN10
The thing that "did it" for me was to, with no throttle, slowly let out the clutch in first gear and let the vehicle start rolling slowly. That lets you get the feel of the clutch independently of learning how much throttle to give it.

^^^^^^^^^^ I think this is key right there. At least it was for me. This will teach you how gentle you need to be with the clutch to engage smoothly. The rest will be easy. That's how they teach you to ride a motorcycle in an MSF course as well.

Granted, some cars have more tricky clutches than others, so the above may be more or less challenging depending on a particular vehicle.

I learned on several cars including '81 Fiat 125, '85 Audi 80, and '88 Ford Fiesta.

 

[greenjp]

A friend of mine taught me in his parents' Bronco II when we were teenagers. Drove around in a parking lot for half an hour then hit the open road. Haven't looked back, only buy cars with manuals and somehow found a wife who has the same preference.

My vote for "best manual" is the old Saturn S-series cars. I had a '92 SC, the clutch & shifter action in that car was just beautiful. Our 2000 Civic was also pretty good, but the shifter didn't snap around with the combination of lightness, feedback, and precision as the Saturn's. Our 2006 Accord is OK, there's actually a little "click" for lack of a better term in the clutch that's annoying. My 2003 Saab's is pretty bad, vague clutch and rubbery shifter. Was not at all impressed with the 2002 or so BMW 330i I drove a few times.

jeff

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: greenjp
Was not at all impressed with the 2002 or so BMW 330i I drove a few times.

In its stock form, that car has a CDV (clutch delay valve). It was meant to protect the drivetrain from sudden clutch pedal releases by people who don't know how to properly drive a manual trans. Unfortunately, for those who do know how to drive, this is just a nuisance and prevents one from shifting smoothly and quickly. I had the CDV removed on my car and it helped regain control of the clutch engagement, but all in all, the clutch in this car is still more finnicky than in many other cars I've driven.

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: Spazdog
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Find an e30 BMW with an mt and a ton of rust. Teach then sell or scrap. I tried learning on an integra, which has a horrible clutch.


The Acura may have had a "horrible clutch" (mine did not) but every e30 I've ever driven has had an equally horrible shifter. Wretched imprecise thing with 2ft long throws that bang your knuckles on the dash in first and end up with your elbow in the back seat for second. and if you don't tell a new driver how to get reverse on an E30, they aren't going to get it.
The Germans did not seem to care about shifter precision for a long time. The last time I drove a 911 Turbo, the shifter was reminiscent of a 2nd gen Eclipse. It was that light and plasticky. The only thing I could think of with the shifter. Felt just like an Eclipse And that was an improvement over older 911s and 914s Air-Cooled Porsches remind me of my old Type-1 Beetles.


Whatever, the feel of my wife's integra was equally as bad. My E30 shifts as well and as precicely as our integra, BTW. But this is about learning about driving stick, not playing Honda fanboy. My point is that the feel of the clutch and the gearing make a big difference in how to learn.



Honda Fanboy?

Whatever.

I can point out plenty of flaws in my old Integra, but the shifter and clutch were not among them. They cheaped out on the window regulators, the headlights were poor etc....but the shifter was precise, well weighted, and user friendly

I have driven plenty of German cars of various makes from the '60s-'70s-'80s and even owned a few and they all have relatively imprecise and nasty shifters. The E30 has a lot of great design features but the shifter is not one of them. It's vague and has unnaturally long throws not to mention that Reverse is on the wrong side of the shift pattern and requires additional manipulation to select. It's just not beginner friendly.

The Germans do things like that. No reason. They just do. Like the dog-leg shift pattern. It kinda' makes sense and Reverse is where it would be on a 3 speed manual, but completely unnecessary on a street driven vehicle. (and it's sloppy and loose feeling too.)

 

[TallPaul]

Good point on getting the feel of the clutch by slowly letting the pedal up without using the accelerator. I had him do that first back when he got his permit and he then made some reasonably good launches.

Well I don't think heel on floor is going to work in this Ranger. I noted that I liked the F150 as it had more pedal travel and he noted that he would like even less travel than the Ranger.

I don't know if its that I drove a manual 4.9L F150 for 34 years (three different ones) or what, but I did find the Ranger a little more challenging to launch than the F150. I think it is the greater power of the F150.

Now for a funny. Years ago my wife was angry at my having a stick and her car was in the shop and demanded I teach her to drive the F150. Well the clutch was having some problems, anyway to make long story short, she lanuched it and it was turning about 4000 rpm and moving out slowly, like slow motion in a dream, and a horrid metalic smell came up into the cab. It was entirely my fault for being an inept teacher though.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Originally Posted By: NateDN10
The thing that "did it" for me was to, with no throttle, slowly let out the clutch in first gear and let the vehicle start rolling slowly. That lets you get the feel of the clutch independently of learning how much throttle to give it.

And since you really only have to worry about stalling/jackrabbit-ing on the launch, the other shifts are easy, even for a newbie.
At some point you have to get the rev-matched shifts down, but for a newbie, that's just icing on the cake.
THIS!. I taught a few this way with graet success. It helps to get the feel of the clutch then work into more throttl;e as the student feels comfortable. And recall to repeat "clutch in before braking!" Also if the car has an e- brake - that would help with rollback hill starts.