Any advice !?
 

Finally picking up my Red Monogram FRS tomorrow !!! YAAAYYY

I'm a first time Manuel driver and had a bit of practice on a RX8. I was just curious if you guys had any advice for driving stick since I feel I'm still really rusty when it comes to launching on start up.

I'm so happy i can finally say im going to be a owner of a FRS YAAAAYYY!!!!

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

You are part of the transmission. Drive the car how you feel comfortable shifting it. After a couple or few months you will find your shifting gets much smoother and natural.

don't stall.

take one last look at your POS corolla and let it know it won't be missed.

ill try not too =[ haha

hahaha i will defiantly wave my corolla good bye !

I personally feel like I hate the FRS's clutch. I've only owned mine for a little over a month and I've owned 5 manual transmission cars including a 300zx and a second gen RX7 which I consider sports cars as well.

The clutch has great resistance when pushing it in and releasing but I feel almost no confidence at the friction point at the tip top of the release point. The resistance is great when releasing but once it gets to the friction point the resistance seems to stop pushing back and there's this weird spot where you have to try to find the friction point by hovering your foot slowly backwards instead of allowing the force of the clutch to push your foot back.

I've gotten better over the month that I've owned it but still have a fear of stalling. I've only stalled it once but it could be because I'm one of those drivers that barely touch the gas pedal on takeoff unless I'm trying to move fast from a stop.

Hit the clutch, hit the gear, hit the gas -- GO !

The manual is pretty Funky on this thing! 1st is a bit of a launch gear and you do have to apply some gas if you don't, it wants to stall. 1st and 2nd are really close ratio. I get the car moving in 1st and shift to 2nd right away. 1st will snap your head if you rev it up and let off the gas.

I've developed a weird clutch technique... I let it out quick to the grab point then taper it out a little slower ( I've never had to do this on any other car! ) but seems to work for a smooth quick shift.

2nd and 5th are infamously grindy when cold.... I have found that is has gotten better with break in though.

I'd almost rather have no experience when I started driving this thing, then i wouldn't have had a preconceived notion of what it should shift like. Being a newby isn't going to hurt you that much we all had to start at square one with this thing. ( and I used to drive big crane trucks on oilfield iceroads and crap like that! )

Start in a parking lot, get your start and stops down. If you can find a really deserted road just work your way up to 5 then down to 2 repeatedly over and over until you feel confident. Helps to crack your window so you can hear the revs really well.

Turn on your gear Indicator as well. If you lose track.. you can sneek a peek!
[ame="http://youtu.be/fB9dcC9dl3w"]http://youtu.be/fB9dcC9dl3w[/ame]

Good luck dude! welcome to the club!

Practice
 

Congrats on your new baby :thumbsup:. As for my advice, just one word which is Practice. Practice on getting the feel of your new ride.

park the car on a slight incline,

my father did this to me when i first started off, parked me on a hill facing uphill, once i learned how to get the car moving on the hill, on normal streets it was a piece of cake


like i said in a previos thread simular to this, dont let the people behind you get to you. once the light turns green, take your time, who cares if you take another second or two to make sure what your doing, people around where i live honk the moment the light turns green if you dont go

Thanks for that video that works out perfectly! i was hoping someone would post this cause i had no luck finding it yesterday haha... Being able to see which gear I'm in is going truly help so much.

Yeah i actually read that thread and was thinking about what you said yesterday. I am defiantly going to be taking my time and not really worrying about when other people behind me. I know i am going to need practice and i may stall... I am not the perfect driver and completely new when it comes to stick so i know i am going to need to develop those driving techniques. That was a great thread btw =]

Thank you everyone for your advice its defiantly making me even more excited to pick her up today !!! Pictures will be uploaded later :party0030:

I was a first time stick driver myself in this car..1st i cant stress enough is to relax. Dont worry what the person behind you thinks. Let them honk haha who gives a shit. Also take drives at night to practice. Dont be a dumb like me and have your first stick shift experience in traffic in downtown chicago lol. Follow the breakin procedures. The transmission may feel clunky at first but it gets better as break in period goes on.

"I've developed a weird clutch technique... I let it out quick to the grab point then taper it out a little slower ( I've never had to do this on any other car! ) but seems to work for a smooth quick shift."
^I find thats the clutching technique that works for me.
Cheers!

I do this too. The clutch is very grabby on this car, but at least this technique works to smooth out shifts. I also do this in 1st from a stop.

That's really odd. My clutch is super light. When I first got this car, I nearly put my foot through the floorboard.

About the engagement point, you can lower that, which helps a lot. Mine engages about halfway off the ground now, which is perfect for me.

Be sure to pay Manuel. He gets grumpy if you miss payday.

If the OP is the driver shouldn't Manuel be paying him?

I came from a 9th gen Corolla as well. Try not to be discouraged the first few months of driving a stick - you will get better. A lot of people here like to say it takes a week or two. Don't listen to them, people learn at different rates.

Curious. What age are you OP?

WOOO HOO here she is ! soooo happy !!!:thumbup:

Tip, depress the clutch fully with every gear change so you don't develop bad habit.

Congrats and that coat is gorgeous! Stay away from those machine washes and keep those swirl marks away. :thumbsup:

i knew a manuel back in elementary school.

Thank you !!!!

I defiantly am taking it to get it clay bared etc later in the week gotta keep this baby sparkling !

hahahaha oops Manual !

sorry i must have been to excited to notice my typo =[

How was the drive home?

There is no need to clay bar a new car. I think you should read up on what clay bar does, then you would understand.

you are correct i will look more into =]

Wasn't bad at all actually... lucky no traffic so pretty smooth.

i think i stalled maybe once haha...

Keep the clutch moving, all the way in, or all the way out. It can be slow, but keep it moving. Practice being smooth, should make hills easy. There's the trick, stopped on a steep hill? -pull in the e-brake, holding down the button, move your foot to the gas, let off the e-brake slowly as you let out your clutch and giving gas. Good thing to practice if you live or visit San Francisco, or any hilly city. But once you are practiced and confident probably wont need to do that. I love how easy this clutch goes in, makes driving in traffic not bad at all. I am going to do the adjustment that lowers the "engaging" point, seems very high compared to other cars I've owned.

I disagree with this. Between the goo from the transport paper and the rail dust, its not a terrible idea to clay a new car. I'm not a professional though so I could be wrong.

That finish is suspiciously nice for a dealership! I'd quiz your salesman, they might have a detailing Yoda there. It's been polished for sure, and probably was barred, somebody knew what they were doing. "Deep, your finish is." LOL! :)

Some advice from a lifetime manual gearbox driver
 

I leaned to drive in England (more years ago than I care to remember!). One of the things they teach you there, and by the way absolutely essential to pass the driving test, is that when you stop at a light, put the car in neutral and engage the handbrake.
I think it is a good thing to do because it means that the clutch release bearing will last longer and that you won't engage the clutch by mistake. The main reason they give for this when learning in England is safety, in case somebody runs into you from behind (OK that's debatable).
It also helps to train you to get that synchronisation between clutch and handbrake- useful when doing hill starts!

^yeah, there's no need for that most of the time here. You may disregard that.

I'll tell you a short story about my experience as a first manual car driver. So before I picked up my FRS from the dealer, I got a friend of mine to teach me manual on his Jetta. I drove it for couple hours and I thought I got a hang of it. So the next day I go to pick up the car and after all the paperwork they bring out the car and park in on the parking lot in front of me in between two cars head in. So I get in the car all excited and my salesman stays behind the car to help me "navigate out". Let's just say I forgot to learn how to drive the car in reverse when my friend was teaching me, so that's a good start. I managed to figure it out and pulled out while stalling 3-4 times. Then once I got going I managed to get the car off the lot and I got to the nearest stop light on the intersection where I managed to stall again while waiting for the light to turn green. Luckily the guy behind me wasn't an ass and understood my struggle as he patiently waited. I managed to get the car out in the neighborhood where there are almost no cars. That's where I practiced driving FRS for 3-4 hours. I started by simply getting a hold of the clutch. For the first hour I didn't even get out of the first two gears. Once you get a hang of your clutch engagement position just go through first 3 gears, stop, rinse and repeat until you don't stall anymore. I had to drive the car back from the dealer to my house that day which was a nice 15 mile drive on the freeway. Made it home safely. I came home ate dinner, then got in the car and practiced for another hour then went to bed. Next morning I woke up (had to drive it 20 miles to work in a bumper to bumper traffic) got in the car and just started driving. I only stalled once that day. The next day I practiced a hill start. I would park on a steep hill and try to start moving without rolling back at all. Basically on day 3 I got completely a hang of it, a week or tow later it became natural and I only got better ever since. Good luck to you mate! :burnrubber:

Release the clutch and step on the gas petal. What's so hard about that? My 14 year old daughter can drive my wrx like a boss. Is not rocket science.

Any advice !?
 

This is my 2nd car in a row that had little to no feeling at the clutch engagement point. Clutch feel is the problem here. Not enough of it. If they could just find a way to dial in some feel this would be a GREAT manual IMO. Very capable as it is though. The OP needs to practice, practice, practice. Good luck.


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This really helped thank you for this. I did my first traffic lesson today on my way to work and I must say I was super nervous when it got to the stop and go part. But I must say when I read this when I woke up it defiantly helped my nerves. I think I stalled once today when I got off the free way but no one was behind me " thank you god! "

You guy all been great thank you so much!

Like all you have suggested I am going to continuing practicing when I get home on the driveway for those take offs on hills and such cause I know that will defiantly take some time.

:cheers:

Sorry I missed your post earlier. To be fully honest I didn't know what OP meant " Noob Here " lol....

I'm 26 will be turning 27 in October.