Help: learning to drive stick shift

S

sle

For a variety of reasons I want and need to learn how to drive stick shift ASAP (see below) and need to do it rather quickly. At the moment, I have a few avenues (or a combination of any of them).

First, there is some dude in the Bronx that teaches how to drive stick for measly $85 an hour. I guess his fee includes the probabilistic cost of the new clutch. Unfortunately, he's in the Bronx and he seems to be booked solid on the days/times when I want to do it. But I did get the first appointment with him for next week.

Second (and that's where I need help), I can buy a clunker with a working manual transmission and drive it into the ground while learning how to shift. I found a few Honda Fits for 2.5 to 3k that should fit the bill. Even if I go with the Bronx option, I think I'll still go with this option to be able to practice on regular basis. So, if there is someone that lives in NYC, knows how to drive stick and wants to go cruising after work, I'll pay them something reasonable for their time, buy them beer AND they can pick my brains about options/trading/working at a hedge fund/general finance.

PS. Reasons for learning to drive stick are diverse. Apparently, there might be Switzerland in my very near future and it's near impossible to find cars with automatic transmission there. Also, I want to be able to take my junior traders Porsche for a spin without him cringing.
 
My daughter wants a Mustang 5-OH, with a stick [her dad had one when she was growing up :D and that is the car that I taught her to drive in the parking lot]. But she doesn't know how to drive one. Learning to drive a stick is sort of like learning to play the piano, you have to coordinate two or three limbs at once. With a piano, two hands and a foot. With a stick one hand and two feet (gas and clutch) and then steering. Because you already know how to steer and press the gas, this makes it much easier.

I suggested she learn to drive a stick in two steps:

My current car has a sports mode that allows you to shift gears yourself. But, if you make a mistake in downshifting, the computer will do it for you. And of course, there is no clutch. Imo, learning what gear you should be in is just listening to the engine and learning about red lines and getting a feel for when to downshift or even shift into neutral as you are decelerating. The nice thing is you only have to worry about your hands and the gas pedal and not the clutch.

Once you have a feel for shifting and when and how to shift an electronic shifter, you can attempt this on a real clutch and real stick. Imo the hardest part of learning a stick is shifting from 2nd to 3rd, as you have to go through neutral up and to the right, or coming down from 3rd to 2nd for the same reason in the other direction. Once you have that down, I think it is downhill from there. The final hard part is not letting the clutch out too fast after a shift - or the car will jerk or you will stall the car in low gear.

You should practice on an older car because you are going to grind some gears :D

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A teacher can't assist you, so all they can really do is give you basic verbal instruction while sitting in the passenger seat. But driving a stick is really about learning the "feel" of how the clutch, gas, and stick interact with each other, so it's really something you have to teach yourself. I say you watch some youtube videos about it and just get that Honda you were talking about and take it to a Target parking lot early one Sunday morning and just work with it until you get the hang of it. There's really nothing to it. Probably the biggest challenge of it all is when you are stopped at a stop light on a road with a steep uphill incline and you have cars behind you. The second you take your foot off the brake, the car wants to roll backwards downhill, so you have to give it gas and let out the clutch immediately to prevent yourself from rolling into the car behind you. But other that that, there's really not much to it once you get the feel of it.

 
Years ago my dad was teaching me to drive stick, I was 13 at the time, so maybe I'll remember something. I figure I'll do the first one or two lessons with that guy (at least get to damage his car a little) and then switch to the clunker for practice. Main issue is that in the NYC it is going to be a challenge to find an empty spot for the first couple times.
 
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Two of the cars I owned had manual transmission, and I genuinely enjoyed driving them. You somehow feel you're more in control because you're doing more. But the glamor eventually wears off, or at least it did for me. Plus, if you injure an arm or a leg or a hand or a foot (any one will do), then you can't drive the car. Just a thought.
 
Frederick Foresight said:
But the glamor eventually wears off, or at least it did for me.
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Well, it's not really a question of enjoyment in my case - I am going to Europe for a 3-month business trip (trying to unravel a disaster) and while there I get to use a company car. Like almost all cars in Europe, it's manual so if I can't drive it I have to rent one on my own dime.
 
I still enjoy driving a 5 speed manual, rear wheel drive. I have mid 90's truck, and haven't replaced it because so few trucks are available in the US with manual transmissions anymore.

I remember another advantage. Back in the 70's, I rode around with a pal in an old beater (think it was a chevelle). Thing didn't like to start, so we'd push it till we got it going a few miles an hour, then he'd jump in and pop the clutch. Started the car many times that way. Don't know if you could do that with today's models.
 
Baron said:
Probably the biggest challenge of it all is when you are stopped at a stop light on a road with a steep uphill incline and you have cars behind you. The second you take your foot off the brake, the car wants to roll backwards downhill, so you have to give it gas and let out the clutch immediately to prevent yourself from rolling into the car behind you.
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No break needed..........Approach the stop slowly in low gear and ride the clutch and gas enough to prevent you from rolling back. Then gradually release the clutch and give it gas to go.




:)
 
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