To those who learnt auto driving before stick
 

Ive driven auto for 3 years now, how long roughly would it take to learn manuel driving and feel confident by myself?

How long did it take you?

A day or two.

Just get in the car, and drive around some back streets with lots of stops and some hills. You will stall the car a few times but unless you are a complete spaz, you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly.

learned*

Always drove auto, understood the concept of manual, not regretting for a second getting a manual. Its either something you want to learn or not.

park yourself on a slight hill and try to drive


my father taught me how to drive manual doing this way, would make me go up the hill and reverse down, over and over again until i could do it without thinking


IMO this made for regular driving around town with manual alot easier!

This is my first manual car and it took me like a week to get comfortable but sat on a steep hill for better part of entire first day. Still improving as I go tho.

2-5 days to be really comfortable.

practice starting on hills. If you can do that you have nothing to worry about. Then practice downshifting as you slow down to turn and such.

it's worth it! The only way to have a sports car IMO

took me about 3 days to be confident enough for city driving and about a week for steep hills. Funny story when I first brought the car I got stuck on a hill a block from the dealer sitting there for nearly an hour before I was saved by a random guy walking by lol.

Not long at all ..... I can't remember exactly .... cause that was 65 years ago ..... when I was 5 years old.....yep, you read that right .... :)

Driving an under powered tractor, pulling a heavy piece of ground working equipment ...... you learn that real quick.

NO, I wasn't exceptional ..... it's just when you "killed it" and grandpa or pa had to come over and hand crank the tractor to start it ..... and glare at you ...... you learn REAL QUICK ..... :slap:

Is it time for my oatmeal .... or is it nap time .....?? :sigh:


humfrz

I learned the old fashioned way, MT first.

I've always thought that coming from Auto to Manual would be relatively easy. Since you already know how to "drive"... Correction you already know the rules of the road, judging distance, traffic signals, vehicle handling, steering speed, etc. All you are doing now is training your other foot to contribute.

Hills are easy, I was taught the ebrake trick for hills as a 15 year old. it helped overcome that fear of rolling into the car behind you. But honestly in a car as light as an 86. You shouldn't ever need it.

As everyone has said go play in a parking lot. Then on side roads, then hills. Then venture out. A day or so of messing around and you will be fine. hell take a friend who can drive stick with you if you are worried you might kill it.

Most decent stick drivers can teach you in less than a couple hours.

Its not that bad. My dad taught my mom how to drive a stick in his truck and made her to go work that evening in that truck. Inb4 sexual joke, but i'm serious.

I got the hang of it within a few minutes. But it takes a few days to be smooth at engaging.

Like all other have posted, it's not too tricky. Honestly, the most difficult part is learning the clutch as I feel 80-90% of driving stick is knowing how to use the clutch. Here are some quick practice tips:

- Practice holding on and driving up a hill. This is a really popular way to learn as others can attest but it's a bit tricky to start off with and can get downright scary sometimes. If you want less anxiety...
- Try doing launches in 1st without using any gas. Go to the flattest parking lot you can find, and just practice launching without using the accelerator. This will require you to be extremely gentle with the clutch, and it will make you a lot more aware of the friction point. Disclaimer, you will stall, a lot. But this will teach you to be smooth with the clutch, learning how to stop right before the friction point.
- My preferred method for teaching people; practice launches in reverse. I.e. go to an empty parking lot and put the car in reverse. Then, be sure to do the proper 'look over your shoulder' method, and just practice starting and stopping. This will teach you to feel the pedals and listen to the engine sound instead of relying on the tach and staring at your feet/shift knob/whatever. It's a bit unnerving at first, but it really nails down the basics quickly from what I've seen.

After that, all you'll need is real world experience. This can be rattling at first because you'll be afraid of stalling or going to slow or jerking the car... but that's to be expected. Don't force yourself to try to keep up with people launching in automatic. Even if you think you're going too slow, as long as your launches are smooth, it doesn't matter. You'll develop speed as you gain more experience. Remeber, 'Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast.'

Also, don't get too hung up on 'how easy' it should be to learn stick or 'how long' it should take to master it. Everyone's different. Some people can knock it out in a couple of hours. Others take weeks. However long it takes YOU to be comfortable with it is how long it takes to learn.

Just be calm and patient with yourself, and you'll be rowing through those gears in no time.

Some people pick it up very quickly while others will take a few days/weeks to get decently comfortable. I learned to drive stick when I was like 15, then I never used that knowledge until I was about 18 when I had to drive a manual work truck for a couple weeks. Then I bought my BRZ and I picked the manual driving back up in about 10 minutes.

It took me about 15 minutes to learn how to drive stick. It took a couple weeks to get pretty good at it, no more stalling and that awkward bounce when i hit the gas before releasing the clutch. I learned how to drive in an automatic and the first car I bought was a used 91 Honda Crx Si manual and I had to get someone to drive it home for me..lol

Well, here is my opinion. You can learn stick in 15 minutes, and get comfortable without stalling in 1 day. But to drive it skillfully as where you can Rev-match it and down-shift, and engine braking it smoothly ? You will need 1 month. Best is to get a friend who can drive it this well to ride with you

Even if you know how to drive a stick-shift skillfully, every car is different, and so you will need a few weeks if you buy a new car.

This was my first manual car. Owned two automatic Toyota Corolla's previously and have been driving those for 11 years. I've always understood the mechanics behind driving a stick, just never had a reason to own one until I bought the FR-S. I've been driving it for three months now. Took me a good three days to stop stalling it on occasion. Three months in though I still don't feel like I'm 100% smooth coming from a complete stop.

I would say most of all, just don't get discouraged. We've been brainwashed that a car should always feel like our automatics did. I nearly sent the car back to Toyota because I was being too hard on myself about my shifting ability. Read around and you'll see a lot of folks talk about how they've driven sticks for years and still had trouble with the car.

Been working on my rev-matching downshifts now, and damn does it feel / sound awesome when done correctly. :)

It helps if you have a good understanding of how a manual transmission actually works and can visualize the parts IMO.

I drove an auto for 8 years, the FR-S was the first manual transmission car I've owned. It took me about 3 months to where I felt comfortable having a passenger and not forewarning them that I'm still learning.

I agree...I've been driving stick for 1.5 months, and I'm not consistently great. Some drives I'm smooth, some drives I'm just out of it not balancing clutch and gas well.

I've been driving auto for 4 years though. I learned in a Yaris in about 1.5 hours. After that, I got the concept of not stalling.

My motor component of balancing gas and clutch and effectively keeping the car alive was developed from bringing the FR-S out my garage and putting it back in whenever I washed it.

If you practice slow maneuvers--like going in or out from a garage or going up a driveway at no more than 1500 RPM, you should be comfortable driving around in less than a week. You really get a feel for where the clutch bites the more time you spend slipping it at RPMs just above idle. Since this is a necessary task at slow movements, it won't be detrimental, but I wouldn't spend half an hour doing it when the car is still breaking in.

Another tip that separates auto from manual driving is the throttle. I would spend some time getting a feel of the throttle response--put it in neutral and see how it feels to slowly bring the car up to 2000 RPM, so you get a sense of the lag between your neuromotor processes and the actual mechanics of the car.

On the other hand, I think it takes an indefinite amount of time to be proficient. Practice everyday and always be aware of what mistakes you are making so you can solve them and subsequently improve!

Watch youtube videos on how a MT mechanically works (Eric the car guy, I think it was has a really good video).

If I had to teach someone right now, the most important skill is accelerator pedal feel - gotta be able to know instinctively how much pressure it takes to get your RPM to hover at around 1K RPM.

BAD BAD IDEA! Clutch in or clutch out never ever clutch part way. If everybody does this I am going to buy stock in the company that build the replacement parts.

I learned manual on my BRZ and took me about 4 months to feel comfortable in traffic, but that's only cause it's not my daily driver. Also keep in mind that some people have a hard time shifting smooth, even those who have been driving stick for years so don't feel discouraged. I used to think I sucked at driving stick till I drove my friends ST. It felt too easy. The twins are less forgiving.

everyone praising "start by learning on hills" explains why some people go through their clutch after 15k-30k miles...And "holding" yourself on a hill with just the clutch? Jesus Christ.

Start by learning how to shift/clutch/brake in easier environments before trying hills and such. Once you know how everything works, then try hills.

When I was much younger and after driving manual transmissions for years, and then getting an automatic, I had to re-learn to drive it. So many times I'd put down my left foot to realize there's no clutch. :D

ROFLMAO, taking the hill with Manual by using the clutch only ? I suggest you to learn manual transmission again.

Hint "Use your hand-brake"

Been driving mostly standards for 40 years and to this day my wife gets a chuckle out of how many time I punch that invisible clutch and reach for the missing shifter in her automatic SUV! Pretty much every stop or turn for the first 10 minutes of the trip. Her CVT transmission still freaks me out with it's lack of shift points as well.

What ? I am not a pro Manual Driver where I can start moving the car uphill without the use of the gas pedal.

Please phastafrican Enlighten me

Because this sounds so Awesome.

Also, 3rd world country is where you get the idea of using the clutch and balancing the throttle out = different than riding the clutch ? ok, i got it. It is slowly riding the clutch, and or slowly burning the clutch

Anyone who can drive manual trans can always hold the car up-hill with clutch and throttle, it is not a hard thing, it is just killing the clutch, and it requires throttle input. I can't ingest the idea of moving the car on a hill or an incline for the matter without throttle input

You can start moving the car without throttle input only on a flat surface, if the car has enough HP/torque to do so.

Expert from Wikipedea
Balancing the clutch[edit]

Normally, when a vehicle is stationary on an uphill slope it is necessary to use the handbrake in conjunction with clutch control to prevent the vehicle from rolling backwards when pulling away. However, in situations where the vehicle must be stopped briefly, for example in slow moving traffic, the clutch can be used to balance the uphill force from the engine with the downhill force of gravity. The benefit of this is that there is no need for the hand- or foot-brake, and the driver can pull away more quickly, and sometimes even the accelerator is used with the partially engaged clutch as the clutch alone cannot 'handle' such a steep incline and instead the engine would just stall. Using this option will wear out the clutch more quickly however in some steep inclines with stop-start moving traffic, it is the easiest option as using the handbrake would be time consuming

THIS IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF RIDING THE CLUTCH!!!!!!!!
Contrary to popular belief Wikipedia is NOT written by experts and is filled with misinformation.
I am pretty sure that clutches in "third world countries" wear out prematurely from such abuse just like everyplace else.

New standard drivers DO NOT DO THIS or you will regret it (regardless of where you are from).

That is the end of this debate for me. If somebody else wishs to take up the fight you are welcome to it.

Everyone here is saying the same thing. Going about how to do it has different approaches.

Learning the friction point is key in manual transmission.

Some guys are saying do it on a hill. They probably mean a low grade hill. Like 5% or less. They are not talking about a 30% grade hill.

These clutch in or clutch out opinions are just opinions and based on very conservative driving styles.

I know plenty of people who slip clutches when they are going to launch the car. As dumping the clutch puts tremendous load on various parts.

In everyday driving you will not be launching at 5k rpm, BUT it doesn't mean that the technique cannot transfer over and benefit you in every-day driving.

Everyone has a way the were taught to drive manual. Some of the ideas posted on this thread are very old school and not up to date on current technology.

Anyways, long story short, No one here has given bad information.

Every one drives Manual transmission differently. Just one same principal applied.

Any Jerking, and slipping will ruins either the clutch, or the whole drive-train.

The best Manual-driver = will always get in the correct gear (RPM in the torque band) and rev-match correctly (No jerking, minimal slippage) for the best longivity of the whole car

As long as you understand the concept of driving a manual (when to shift up and when to down shift) and you have the willingness/want to learn, you'll be fine. Practice makes perfect! Just get in and drive and dont be so technical about it.

I bought a car with a manual without knowing how to drive one. Had to drive it 400 miles to my summer internship 5 days later. I'd say about an hour around town before I was comfortable with it. Took about 6 months to properly rev-match every shift, though.

If you're thinking about a manual 86, pulling the spring out lowering the clutch will make it infinitely easier to drive.

I can see teaching people to drive stick-shift correctly to becomes a private side job.

Any reputable driving school will be able to offer a reasonably low cost session to teach you the basics. Be worth every penny if it saves you even one clutch repair.


Yes there are times when slipping/dumping the clutch is appropriate (been know to do it myself a time or a thousand) but you should be at a level that you KNOW what you are doing and what stresses you are putting on your car before you start actually doing it. To learn from the beginning that riding the clutch is the right/only way will get costly fast. The changes in OEM stock clutch face technology over the last 30 years is almost nil so many are not driving with the top level gear.

you mean just for the hill right?

cause when i reverse or inch forward i play with the clutch

Mostly ya. Talking about anytime you have the clutch just touching enough to stop rolling or just barely moving under power. Parts are still spinning down there and getting hot FAST. You don't soon forget your first burnt out clutch believe me!

lol
i've never owned a MT car, always driven other peoples.
my biggest fear before was to burn the clutch, after i finally got the engagement points and knowing i can feather the clutch without causing damage, i was ok

To get 100% comfortable it took me a full month. And by 100% comfortable I mean I didn't even think about shifting anymore.

Lots of discussion here. I'll just add, don't over-think it. If you slip your clutch a couple of times while learning, it's not a problem. Just don't make it a habit. Clutches aren't that fragile, and it's better to give too much gas than to stall out.

I taught two different girls how to drive stick on my old car. The car smelled like burnt clutch for a few days afterwards, but it was fine. I sold the car with the original clutch at 80k miles and the clutch was still going strong.