Just bought a car with a manual transmission.

[KarmaPolice]

I have a Toyota camry and its great stick wise.

The only question I ever have with the stick is...Is having the clutch in as bad as riding the clutch...

For instance..is sitting at a red light with the clutch all the way in = to sitting at a red light with the clutch out and put in nuetral?

 

[NutBucket]

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
I have a Toyota camry and its great stick wise.

The only question I ever have with the stick is...Is having the clutch in as bad as riding the clutch...

For instance..is sitting at a red light with the clutch all the way in = to sitting at a red light with the clutch out and put in nuetral?

Wow, the shifter in our Camry is VERY vague and the clutch provides about zero feedback.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Originally posted by: NutBucket

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
I have a Toyota camry and its great stick wise.

The only question I ever have with the stick is...Is having the clutch in as bad as riding the clutch...

For instance..is sitting at a red light with the clutch all the way in = to sitting at a red light with the clutch out and put in nuetral?

Wow, the shifter in our Camry is VERY vague and the clutch provides about zero feedback.

hrmm well its a new clutch

 

[clickynext]

Stick is good, but it just depends on preference. I feel like in an automatic I don't have much control over the car's acceleration. Nothing particularly horrible about rush hour as long as the clutch isn't heavy and you don't have to battle with the shifter, but it gets tiresome if you have to sit through it often.

 

[NutBucket]

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice

Originally posted by: NutBucket

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
I have a Toyota camry and its great stick wise.

The only question I ever have with the stick is...Is having the clutch in as bad as riding the clutch...

For instance..is sitting at a red light with the clutch all the way in = to sitting at a red light with the clutch out and put in nuetral?

Wow, the shifter in our Camry is VERY vague and the clutch provides about zero feedback.

hrmm well its a new clutch

We bought it new and it drove that way off the lot.

 

[intogamer]

Remember shift at redline

 

[KarmaPolice]

Originally posted by: NutBucket

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice

Originally posted by: NutBucket

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
I have a Toyota camry and its great stick wise.

The only question I ever have with the stick is...Is having the clutch in as bad as riding the clutch...

For instance..is sitting at a red light with the clutch all the way in = to sitting at a red light with the clutch out and put in nuetral?

Wow, the shifter in our Camry is VERY vague and the clutch provides about zero feedback.

hrmm well its a new clutch

We bought it new and it drove that way off the lot.

Dunno what to tell ya. All I can say is that my clutch feels a hell of a lot more repsonsive then almost any jetta I have ever driven.

Mine is a SE..what is yours?

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: NutBucket

Originally posted by: Kalvin00
I'm 17..I learned to drive stick on a Tacoma..not exactly the smoothest tranny in the world, but roughly a year later, i'm pretty damn good at driving it.

Considering buying a car soon. I've driven friend's cars, clutch engagement is so much easier..you dont have to be quite as precise as in my truck.

edit: I picked up driving manual really fast. I think i've stalled it once out on the roads in almost a year.

Huh, I was about to say that the Toyota sticks I've drive have had the most user-friendly clutches I've experienced; light pedal and not grabby. I learned to drive on an '89 Toyota Truck.

Gotta agree with Kalvin. Yeah, the clutch is user-friendly but shifting itself is not.

 

[NutBucket]

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
Dunno what to tell ya. All I can say is that my clutch feels a hell of a lot more repsonsive then almost any jetta I have ever driven.

Mine is a SE..what is yours?

2000 CE. Worst manual trans I've ever driven. (note: this is my parents' car).

 

[chipy]

don't give up OP, it took me a couple of months before i was comfortable with stickshift. i've currently got an 03 sentra se-r spec-v and i love the way it drives. i guess each driver has his/her preferences that is also influenced by their cars (i.e., one car may feel better with stick or vice versa).

chipy

 

[Tetsuo]

Originally posted by: PaulNEPats
The Holy Grail of learning to drive stick

that's a pretty nice site, thanks

 

[Eos]

Talk about a heavy clutch. I drove semi truck for 10 years. Luckily it was only used from a standing start. You can float the rest of the shits.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
I have a Toyota camry and its great stick wise.

The only question I ever have with the stick is...Is having the clutch in as bad as riding the clutch...

For instance..is sitting at a red light with the clutch all the way in = to sitting at a red light with the clutch out and put in nuetral?

Sitting at a red light in neutral with the clutch out is the preferred practice, as holding the clutch in puts wear on your throwout bearing (but not on the clutch itself). Note that the term "riding the clutch" refers to neither of these practices, instead, it refers to leaving your foot resting on the clutch (or touching it at all, really) while the car is in gear and moving. This will partially disengage the clutch, causing it to slip and putting a LOT of unecessary wear on the clutch disk.

Originally posted by: NutBucket
Huh, I was about to say that the Toyota sticks I've drive have had the most user-friendly clutches I've experienced; light pedal and not grabby. I learned to drive on an '89 Toyota Truck.

That may be good for a newbie, but I wish Toyota clutches were a LOT heavier. They give you almost no pedal feel! I think my favorite clutch was on my old '84 BMW...nice and stiff, with great feedback. The MR2 I have now just doesn't feel the same.

 

[Accipiter22]

wtf does the clutch do that you can 'ride' it???? is it a 2nd brake? Man I hate manual transmissions....f'ing waste.

 

[Nyati13]

Originally posted by: Accipiter22
wtf does the clutch do that you can 'ride' it???? is it a 2nd brake? Man I hate manual transmissions....f'ing waste.

Riding the clutch just comes from using the clutch as a footrest. It's also called being lazy.

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: eos
One thing is to not press the clutch in everytime you press the brake pedal. This is especially true in stop and go. The car will run fine at 3000-3500 rpm in first (or second) gear between stops. Let out the clutch and continue to accelerate. If you see traffic starting to slow down 4 cars ahead of you (you do look more than 1 car ahead, don't you?), let off the throttle slightly and the car will slow. You can leave the clutch out until right before you stop. Really. If you press it in and out when it's unecessary, you'll do a lot of slipping of the clutch when you try to let it out while still rolling. And rocking of the car as well.

Don't lug the motor. That engine runs fine at 4500 rpm. Keep the engine revving by choopsing the correct gear for city intersections or slight curves.

4500rpm for a "slight curve"?!
*hits eos on the head with a newspaper*

Lemme guess, 7000rpm for a gradual incline?

 

[Kalvin00]

Originally posted by: Excelsior

Originally posted by: NutBucket

Originally posted by: Kalvin00
I'm 17..I learned to drive stick on a Tacoma..not exactly the smoothest tranny in the world, but roughly a year later, i'm pretty damn good at driving it.

Considering buying a car soon. I've driven friend's cars, clutch engagement is so much easier..you dont have to be quite as precise as in my truck.

edit: I picked up driving manual really fast. I think i've stalled it once out on the roads in almost a year.

Huh, I was about to say that the Toyota sticks I've drive have had the most user-friendly clutches I've experienced; light pedal and not grabby. I learned to drive on an '89 Toyota Truck.

Gotta agree with Kalvin. Yeah, the clutch is user-friendly but shifting itself is not.

Yeah. It's even worse now that I have a Lock-Right locker in the back. Loves to clunk into gear

 

[Colt45]

Originally posted by: Accipiter22
wtf does the clutch do that you can 'ride' it???? is it a 2nd brake? Man I hate manual transmissions....f'ing waste.

waste of what? wtf?

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Accipiter22
wtf does the clutch do that you can 'ride' it???? is it a 2nd brake? Man I hate manual transmissions....f'ing waste.

You hate a lighter, cheaper, more efficient, more fun, higher-performance transmission just because some people don't know how to drive it?

Let me guess...AOL user?

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: jtusa
2002 Maxima SE 6-speed. Nice car, drives great. I'm picking it up pretty quick, but the whole stop to start thing is messing with me. Let's just say the ignition and starter are being thoroughly tested. I'm not even close to mastering the downshift yet either. Those have been the two hardest things.

Although I'm already starting to agree with the advocates of manual transmissions, they can be lots of fun and it isn't as much of a hassle as I thought it'd be. I'm sure I'll think that even more once I get the hang of it.

Dont try to launch perfectly from the start. Youre a newb, so you have to launch like a noob - youll get better at it before long.

When youre stopped, just let the clutch out a bit until it feel it "bite" - thats the magic grab point. Push the clutch back in, Rev it up a bit, slowly let it go through that point, youll begin moving, then slowly give it more gas and keep going. You have to learn how not to hesitate. For now, give it way more rpm, which is kind of like a stall buffer. Once you get the hang of it, you can do it fast and naturally.

Let off the clutch slowly in first, medium in second, and fast in third, and as fast as youd like between 4, 5 and 6.

And learn to rev-match when you downshift. Think the revving during your shift as a power boost youre saving up - the lower down you go, the more you need to rev, because youre going to probably be accelerating that much faster.


I can definitely say the shifter and clutch on my celica is a pain in the ass most of the time. The clutch is like a light switch, and the shifter is tight. But when I'm going all out, it couldnt be more perfect, I can do 1-2 in probably half a second or less. It demands precision or else it wont even shift right.

 

[NutBucket]

Originally posted by: jagec
That may be good for a newbie, but I wish Toyota clutches were a LOT heavier. They give you almost no pedal feel!

That was my point. Great when I was learning how to drive but now they just suck. I really like the clutches I had in my Honda, stock and aftermarket. The clutch in the Subaru suffers from an overly complicated flywheel (dual-mass bullsh!t).

 

[imported_goku]

What causes the car to 'rock back and forth'?

 

[jennyacute]

i love driving stick shift

 

[thehstrybean]

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: Accipiter22
wtf does the clutch do that you can 'ride' it???? is it a 2nd brake? Man I hate manual transmissions....f'ing waste.

You hate a lighter, cheaper, more efficient, more fun, higher-performance transmission just because some people don't know how to drive it?

Let me guess...AOL user?

McOwned...
I wanna learn, but every time I drive, I screw somethin up...

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: eos
One thing is to not press the clutch in everytime you press the brake pedal. This is especially true in stop and go. The car will run fine at 3000-3500 rpm in first (or second) gear between stops. Let out the clutch and continue to accelerate. If you see traffic starting to slow down 4 cars ahead of you (you do look more than 1 car ahead, don't you?), let off the throttle slightly and the car will slow. You can leave the clutch out until right before you stop. Really. If you press it in and out when it's unecessary, you'll do a lot of slipping of the clutch when you try to let it out while still rolling. And rocking of the car as well.

Don't lug the motor. That engine runs fine at 4500 rpm. Keep the engine revving by choopsing the correct gear for city intersections or slight curves.

4,500 RPM? 3,000+ RPM in city traffic? Do you drive an S2000 or something? Normal driving upshift point is 3,000 RPM in my 951, and 2,000 RPM in my Mustang. I can let the clutch out in first on either without even touching the gas and can idle at 5 mph in 2nd without a problem. You're never going to lug the engine in 1st or 2nd in a car. A fully-laden truck, you might be able to lug it in 2nd, but it shouldn't really be an issue.

3,000 to 3,500 RPM in first... Any decent car will throw you at the windshield from engine braking as soon as you lift off the throttle at those engine speeds in 1st. Way to suggest the least efficient way to drive.

ZV