driving a stick

[accuratehorn]

Just get a friend to take you to a flat, empty lot at night, and practice a few times. Take off several times, shift, stop, repeat. Practice releasing the clutch without giving it any gas at all, then practice releasing it just enough to hold the car still on an upgrade. It doesn't take too long to get the hang of it.
This used to be a fun date in high school in Galveston-take a girl to the beach and teach her to drive a standard car, many moons ago.

 

[SuperHero]

I used to ride in friends' car who had stick shifts, and just watched their hands and feet while they drove. Then I bought a stick shift car w/o taking lessons and forced myself to learn that way. Of course the clutch on the VWs were so soft, and the throw was so long that I taught 2-3 girls to drive stick within 30 minutes. Just takes a lot of practice 'til you get confidence.

Re the "big brake". It's true. I nearly caused an accident on Parmer while driving my friend's Bimmer. I thought I was clutching in and stomped on the brake pedal, nearly causing a pile up.

Dunno about you guys, but I'm a better driver when I'm involving all 4 limbs. Makes me concentrate on the road more, stop fiddling with the radio, stop eating and talking on the phone. Plus it's just more fun to downshift into a curve and stomp on the gas while you're exiting without feeling like you're going to tip over.

 

[TTUFIN]

It took me about 30 minutes to learn, but I had a good teacher and I learned on a Scout with a 4 cyl, which was basically a V8 cut in half. It has some torque in other words. It is not hard to learn if you have some patience and a good teacher. What are you planning to drive? I would say learn on something similar to what you plan to drive. Learning on trucks or diesels is much easier as they have more torque and thus less clutch work. A diesel will go in first with a little clutch and no gas at all.

 

[ldogg53]

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[YeaTexasFight]

Learn on one of these and you'll have no problems with anything else:

That's the closest I could find to my Dad's '78 Dodge 1 ton flat bed. That picture is actually an '89 model but it looks close to my Dad's ('cept his is tan and actually had a bed).

Forget about it though, if you're less than 6' tall because the clutch has to go ALL the way to the floor in his.

 

[Luke Duke]

A trick to use when you are learning to start on an incline is to engage the parking brake. Start giving the car some gas and let out on the clutch. When you feel the car try to move, slowly release the brake. I still use this on a really steep incline occasionally.

 

[wherzwaldo]

Count me in as one person comfortable with his manhood who has no desire to drive a stick.

 

[Foul]

once you go stick you never go back.

 

[TEXAS1026]

my car is the only one in my family (out of 6) that is automatic, so i had to learn standard at 15.

My dad took me fishing at his cousins ranch in East Texas, and taught me how to drive the 1976 CJ7. The front seat was a park bench and i sat on a square boat cushion.

 

[KaiserSoze]

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