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How do you learn to drive stick if noone you know owns a stick?

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Originally posted by: jagec
Originally posted by: funboy42
Think about what has to be done and do it and pratice pratice pratice. No one shoed me how but I learned on a motorcycle. Guy I got it from gave me a quick run down and took off. Lots of trial and error. Then when I bought my first stick car (1964 ford econoling van with 3 on the tree) my father said here is the gear patern and left me there.

Just dont be scared and just do it. But run it through your head and in the parking lot before even moving and pratice out the movements. And remeber in a OH SH!T situation to always apply the clutch and the brake pedal at the same time.
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Isn't it easier on a motorcycle? Because you can't grind gears or shift from fifth to second?
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You can grind gears and yes you can go from 2 to 5th if you get nervous enough and twitch your foot. And harder I would think on a bike. Car your using your feet and every once in a while your shifting with your right hand. On a bike every limb does a different task. Right hand on the gas and front brake. Right foot does the rear brake. Too much front brake and your rear will lift off the ground. Too little and you dont stop in time. Too much with the rear brake and you will go into a slide. That you have to worry about along with your left hand working the clutch and your left foot going up and down through gears trying to remeber if your in first and oh crap I just stuck it in netural. Freak out and slam it from 3rd directly into 1st popping the clutch geting thrown over your handle bars from not expecting such a violent deceration of speed.

If I was new to driving a stick it would be in a car. I got hurt plenty at the age of 12 figuring out how to shift and ride a bike at the same time. But it was worth it after I got it all figured out and the scars are worth it as well. Nothing like riding a bike with the wind in your hair or going down LSD at 3 am on a cool night. I want another bike now 🙁

But back to topic it really takes brain power. If you feel scared and tell yourself it is hard and cant do it then you will NEVER do it. Go into a mind set telling yourself this is a piece of cake and play pratice like when you were a kid and mommy and daddy left you in the car.

Push in the clutch, stick it in first, slowly off the clutch while giving it more gas. Then off the gas push in the clutch, move to 2nd let off the clutch slowly while giving more gas and repete it several times till you can do the motion without to much thinking. After that and you have it down start the car in an empty school or mall parking lot late at night and do it with the car running. If a cop should hastle you for being there they should understand you wanting to hit a light pole praticing then going out into the street right away and killing someone.

Hell back in the day I used to pratice in the winter doing slides and doughnuts in the school parking lot and could go around the entire parking lot after awhile in drift. One cop came by to harras me till I told him I was learning how to controll my car incase the situation arose. Said ok and anytime I was up there cops would show up just to watch me. So as long as your doing it to better yourself in a place no one will get hurt they shouldnt care. Then again that was 17 years ago (DAMN been out of school for 17 years already! WTF).

Just make sure to pratice and go into it with the right mind set and all will work out.
 
I just learned a few months ago, the only way is to get lots of practice. To get you started you don't need too much more instruction than what google can give. You could find a driving instructor who teaches manual and they'd teach you in their car, but by the end of that, you probably would have spent enough money to buy a crappy manual car.
 
The concept is simple.

Starting from stop, put in first gear, slowly apply gas and let off clutch slowly.
Once RPM's are higher, let off gas, push in clutch, shift to 2nd, let out clutch, while reapplying gas.

The rest is practice.

LMAO, I test drove a new manual. The dealer, for whatever reason, went with me. I had driven a standard for years, but struggled with the new car; I absolutely couldn't feel any pressure at all behind the clutch and was used to having to push down much harder with my clutch. (for some reason, because the car had turbo, the clutch was much stiffer to push in)
 
I recommend renting a car from Enterprise. Enterprise is a great company because they rip people off (I had previous bad expereinces there myself). Insist that the car has manual transimission and that you want the car for the weekend special.

Then just practice away, 1st gear, 2nd gear... 1st gear, 5th gear.... 5th gear, reverse.. You'll get it or wreck the engine trying - either way it's Enterprise....
 
Originally posted by: SampSon
Driving school through AAA.

Driving stick is extremely easy. I don't understand why people make it out to be a monumental task.
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It's not that it's a monumental task ... it's just that in North American society (as opposed to Europe/rest of the world) it's mostly automatic transmission.

Not everyone has easy access to a manual tranny - and to learn off one to boot.

As with many things, learning to drive manual isn't that hard but getting the concepts into your head and making it "automatic" (pun intended) takes time and practice and access to a car to drive!
 
Luckily for me when I learned how to drive at 16 both of my parents vehicles were diesel and standard trannys, so It was pretty easy with all the low end torque, my dad just took me to an empty winding road with some slight hills and I went up and down the road progressivly using higher and higher gears and it wasnt too difficult. After I drove my first auto tranny I thought "What a weird way to drive this is".
 
pay for my plane ticket and i will fly over to teach you.. you provide the car.

I will guarnteee you will learn in one day all teh skills that i know and more.
 
just go look at new cars, cheaper models, go test drive some Hyundai Tiburons or something like that, that are available in standards.

then you will learn just from that

i test drove a Mazda 3 and it was manual, i had never driven a manual before in my life. i didnt do horrible, but i wasnt great.

i now own a 5 speed car.

i was also forced into learning it when i had to take a 5 speed F 350 dump bed loaded with 4 yards of mulch, on a 45 minute delivery. that was fun, but Diesels are a lot different when shifting as their rev limit is much much lower.
 
Get a job as a service porter at a Chevy dealership. Learn on everyone else's car when they are in for service. 😀

That's how I did it.

I would go from a worn-out 1987 Cavalier, to a brand new 2000 Corvette, to a large diesel truck, to a school bus, to a car that was in the shop for a new clutch - all before lunchtime. I learned on literally EVERYTHING, and drove old cars with clutches / transmissions that were completely shot, to brand new cars.

Not much better way to get a feel for a large variety of what's out there.
 
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