Just got my first BRZ and first manual car!

[Synkronicity]

Good evening guys! I just got my first Manual car and it's a BRZ series.blue, I got it used at 2400 miles for 26.7k for just the car (had to pay some dealer fees but leaving that out). But! I do have a couple of questions!

I'm currently learning how to drive stick with my brother, he drives a porche so he doesn't want me learning in there, I get extremely scared driving in my car because I dont want to jack up anything so I traded my sister for her Honda Fit for the weekend so I can learn. Questions would be:

• Is it bad to continuously stall the car?
• Any tips to learning stick/manual?
• How long did it take for you to learn stick?
• Did I get a good price on my car?
• My dealer didnt drill holes in the front of the car for the license plate, should I get the towing plate thing for it or just get it drilled in? I have OCD and the off center look looks weird (i kinda answered my own question)

Thank you for your time! I hope I can learn a lot more from this forum.

[ryoma]

watch some youtube videos on how to drive manual then have at it. I learned how to drive manual in my brother's SRT4 and took me about a weekend to get everything down good enough to drive smoothly. practice starting from a stop the most since that's the trickiest. remember to be smooth with the clutch pedal. though, it might take you a day or two to get used to the BRZ compared to the Honda Fit.

I also like how you think lol. don't want to damage your own car so you borrow your sibling's. but you wouldn't really damage anything by learning how to drive manual on a car anyways, unless you're constantly launching it and riding the clutch

btw, always check to make sure your car is in neutral when you start it, or at least know if it's in gear or not so you know whether to keep the clutch in or release.

[CBRZY]

Originally Posted by Synkronicity

Good evening guys! I just got my first Manual car and it's a BRZ series.blue, I got it used at 2400 miles for 26.7k for just the car (had to pay some dealer fees but leaving that out). But! I do have a couple of questions!

I'm currently learning how to drive stick with my brother, he drives a porche so he doesn't want me learning in there, I get extremely scared driving in my car because I dont want to jack up anything so I traded my sister for her Honda Fit for the weekend so I can learn. Questions would be:

• Is it bad to continuously stall the car?
• Any tips to learning stick/manual?
• How long did it take for you to learn stick?
• Did I get a good price on my car?
• My dealer didnt drill holes in the front of the car for the license plate, should I get the towing plate thing for it or just get it drilled in? I have OCD and the off center look looks weird (i kinda answered my own question)

Thank you for your time! I hope I can learn a lot more from this forum.

1. Yes, don't continuously stall it. So just don't do it.
2. Watch youtube videos of manual driving tutorials. It helps to watch people do it and learn with your mirror neurons. Then go out and try it in your sister's Honda. And just keep practicing.
3. Like 3 minutes. Took me a while to shift "correctly" at the right RPM's and whatnot, but that's just practice and feel, and your propensity to rev. Once you get a good feel for flat ground, pretend you're at traffic stops (red lights, stop signs, pretend there's a car behind you, anything where you can add additional PRESSURE to your situation). Next, go on some slight gradual hills and ask your relatives to help you with that.
4. Yeah, that's a pretty good price for a Series.Blue.
5. Follow your heart.

[Turbo95eg6]

How old are you?

[Stealthy]

I learned in this car. Adjust your pedal height, remove the helper spring when you can.

I've stalled plenty of times. You're learning. You're going to stall. You're better off getting used to the car now and get better everyday in it.

[Jfheisenberg]

The brz was my first manual car as well. It was brand new when i got it early this year and the first day i stall the car about 10 times.. Within a few days i stall less about and now i dont stall at all. Check out some videos on YouTube (subaruwrxfan has a good video).

Just make sure that what you learn, apply it correctly (don't overthink while the driving) . You know if you are doing something wrong if you smell burned clutch (thats bad)

Driving manual very simple a and the the twins are great cars for a manual noob.

Enjoy!

[Aozora.BRZ]

Learned manual in this car after driving autos all my life. Having a good understanding of the mechanics on how the clutch and transmission work I was scared to death of slipping the clutch too much. I would try to be overly gentle in my clutch to gas transition and ended up not revving the car enough, so I stalled and stalled and stalled for weeks taking off from stop lights.

Read some good threads here
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?p=265572
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?p=380475

Look at some online vids:
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slBxtYWKdjo"]How to Drive Stick Shift and Rev Match in a BRZ! - YouTube[/ame]

Practice taking off from hills:
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYJoDghq91M"]How to Drive a Manual - (Hill Starts) - YouTube[/ame]

But the only real help is to drive and drive. It took me about a week of practicing around the block before I dared to go all the way back and forth from work. Then about two months until I stopped stalling randomly at stop lights or taking off very slowly. But to upshift and downshift smoothly it took me about 4 months. Even now after 9 months there are some things here and there that I mess up a bit, but I just love this car and the fact I got it manual.

[Brndn704]

Oh god. Never ever watch youtube videos to learn to drive stick. First of all read about what a clutch is, and how it works. Then sit in the driveway with the car off and go through the gears to get a feel for it. You should be driving your car. These cars have a pretty decent clutch in them, not too heavy, not too light. I find that the Honda's have a very different feel. Plus you want to know how to drive your car, right? You have to learn how the clutch is in your car, or you'll be learning all over again.

[themadscientist]

Originally Posted by Synkronicity

Questions would be:

• Is it bad to continuously stall the car?
• Any tips to learning stick/manual?
• How long did it take for you to learn stick?
• Did I get a good price on my car?
• My dealer didnt drill holes in the front of the car for the license plate, should I get the towing plate thing for it or just get it drilled in? I have OCD and the off center look looks weird (i kinda answered my own question)

First, congratulations on your new ride!


1. It's not great, but it doesn't really hurt. You are going to do that a lot as you learn the friction zone where the clutch starts to bite. I've driven manual for decades, (wow, that was depressing, but I digress) and the twins' clutch is very vague. It's like putting two condoms on the clutch pedal.


2. Practice in a parking lot away from obstacles and level ground. Having a passenger with you to watch for other cars and poles and such is good. You can concentrate on your clutchwork without running the risk of missing something coming from other directions. The best way to get good is like any skill, go do it, do it every chance you get.


3. You are never done learning. Every car feels different too so every one you jump in, even if you have been driving for years, will take a little time to get used to it. If you are new, it could take a while. If you are experienced it could take three stoplights.


3 and 4 are based on your market. I have no reference for stateside market.


Good luck with you practice.

[Synkronicity]

Thanks for all the replies guys it kind of makes me feel better knowing how many times people stalled when they first started, I'll be grabbing my car from my sister today, brother took me to an empty school parking lot and taught me how to drive on a slight incline. He's essentially teaching me like they teach you with a motorcycle, so after I master the art of going into first, he's gonna throw me onto a hill and go from stopping to first to stopping kind of like at stop and go traffic AND it'll help with starting up from a hill.


@Turbo95eg6
I'm 22 years old, does that matter though?

@Stealthy
I'm kind of scared to adjust anything in the BRZ, I dont want to mechanically screw something up because I dont know what I'm doing. Lol

[RacerX]

Props for having the guts to buy a MT car without knowing how to drive stick. I did the same thing, everyone said I was foolish for doing that. But I'm so glad I did.

There's a million how to's, and do's and don'ts, all over the internet. But ultimately you just have to drive it to learn it. You can't learn how to ride a bike from a book and you can't learn to drive stick by watching YouTube videos.

Anyone who says they've never stalled or was completely auto-like smooth in a day is full of it. It took me a couple weeks to get perfectly automatic smooth. I didn't get totally comfortable with hills for maybe a month. I've been driving stick for 2 years now and I'll still cock up a gear change every once in a great while if I'm distracted or tired. Nobody is perfect 100% of the time. So don't stress it if you can't get it down right away.

Get comfortable with the clutch and shifter. Be able to manipulate the clutch with ease. When I was first learning I had the seat too far forward and it wasn't until I moved it all the way back that I was able to have more finesse over the clutch. I'm 5'10 and have my seat as far back as it'll go. Practice moving the shifter around with the engine off. Don't hesitate throwing the shifter in and out of gear. Move it quickly and confidently, but never force it.

Learn how the transmission actually works and you'll have a better appreciation for why you're doing what your doing when driving. If you know what gear ratios, and synchros are and how they work you'll understand why it's important to match engine speed to tranny speed when shifting, especially for downshifts.

If you want to go a step further, learn about engine power & torque vs rpm and how that affects your shifting needs. Horsepower is energy produced per unit time, and toque is a moment of force. Torque is RPM dependent and is directly correlated to horsepower. Driving a stick is all about control, and knowing how your engine makes and delivers power and how to manage it with the transmission to give you the greatest performance or efficiency is a rewarding skill to have. So many drivers know what to do, very few understand why they do it. Anyway... I'm rambling now, I'll shut up.

Good luck, go drive.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOo3TLgL0kM"]Manual Transmission Operation - YouTube[/ame]

[Joyride86]

Congrats man. I'm glad you went with the manual even though you didn't know how to drive it. That's taking a plunge of faith and it's much more rewarding than driving an auto.

Like everyone said, it takes practice to get better. I hadn't driven a manual for 8 years before I bought this car so I know how you feel. It's like learning all over again as all cars are different. Once you get used to the clutch, it'll be fine. I do think it's a little vague, but I think it's relatively light and the clutch travel feels short to me. Happy driving

[jsquared]

Congrats on the Series.Blue!

One of the things that helps is to learn where the clutch pedal begins to engage. Sit in a flat parking lot with one foot on the clutch and one on the brake. Slowly let the clutch out until you feel the car begin to move forward, this will give you an idea of how it feels when the process starts. From that point you can SLOWLY let the clutch out, remove foot from the brake, and slowly add pressure to the go pedal.

This works for hills as well as it will allow you to hold the car in place without slipping the clutch too much but still using the transmission to assist on the start. Just remember not to over rev as that will cause clutch slippage and unnecessary wear.

Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. Don't rush things, and don't get frustrated. It'll come to you in no time!

[spicyricecake]

Originally Posted by Synkronicity

Good evening guys! I just got my first Manual car and it's a BRZ series.blue, I got it used at 2400 miles for 26.7k for just the car (had to pay some dealer fees but leaving that out). But! I do have a couple of questions!

I'm currently learning how to drive stick with my brother, he drives a porche so he doesn't want me learning in there, I get extremely scared driving in my car because I dont want to jack up anything so I traded my sister for her Honda Fit for the weekend so I can learn. Questions would be:

• Is it bad to continuously stall the car?
• Any tips to learning stick/manual?
• How long did it take for you to learn stick?
• Did I get a good price on my car?
• My dealer didnt drill holes in the front of the car for the license plate, should I get the towing plate thing for it or just get it drilled in? I have OCD and the off center look looks weird (i kinda answered my own question)

Thank you for your time! I hope I can learn a lot more from this forum.

Decent price on the car. I paid less but mine also had 4k miles on it.
Took me about 3 days to really be certain I could drive in traffic without help (I live at Tallahassee and there are hills everywhere. I had to make sure I wouldn't roll back into someone.)
My tip is to shift above 2500 rpms and take your time up shifting. The car doesn't like being shifted quick at lower rpms. Also, know that you need to ease into the gear when the clutch grabs at lower gears instead of just pulling your leg off as soon as it engages. The car will tell you when you're not doing something right is what my friend told me when I first started. Lol!