FR-S as first manual car?

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by billwot

My first "manual"!

Hand clutch (and hand throttle)

Yep, you go back a ways with that old JD "pow-pow" ......


humfrz

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Fishbed77

It was a Farmall Cub for me:

Yep, them old cubs were bullet proof ....all 10 HP (at the drawbar) of them .....


humfrz

[Joshuarers]

thx for sharing your experiences, the car gets better every 500 miles, long break-in. Dont worry about the bashing, we are monitoring that carefully

[Fishbed77]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Yep, them old cubs were bullet proof ....all 10 HP (at the drawbar) of them .....


humfrz

Indeed. My father's was a 1949 model that he bought in the mid 80s. He used it regularly until he sold it in 2002. It was still running great at that point.

[spralwers]

I've taught several people, including my sister who was 16 at the time, how to drive manual on this car. It's extraordinarily easy. And that's just the trend for manuals these days, I've test driven lots of new cars and they are far easier than the '93 prizm, '02 corolla, and '95 camry I used to have. slightly easier than my current '04 bmw 330ci too. Clutches are super light, have more of an engagement "zone" than an engagement "point" and cars tend to have more power which all adds up to an easier time not stalling


edit: so yes definitely fine to have this as a first manual car

[j_motion]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Nope, never touched it. I know a lot of guys find it high but it never bothered me. I have driven so many different MTs over the years that none of them feel strange to me anymore and I am not into adjusting things for the sake of adjusting things. If it bothered me in any way or I thought it would be "better" I would do it in a heartbeat but why fix what ain't broke?

i adjusted my Clutch padel..

But the biting point is still very high.

It lower the clutch paddle..

For eg..the OE bit point is say 90% toward the top.
After you lower the clutch, the biting point will still be 90%
You pretty much just lower the clutch

At least that is how i felt~

[ELLSSUU]

It's my 16 year olds first car. Couple trips to the park and he was doing pretty well.

[Nordic86]

Im 19 and this is my first car. Im a new manual driver. (Just started a week and a half ago) At this point, i have been in congested highways and city traffic. Its not my favorite but i got through it without stalling. Took me around 5 days of 2 hour sessions a day to get comfortable, but once i was i couldnt stop loving this car.

[Terruko]

First MT car, bought it last week and love it, stall from time to time but not as much as I used to the first couple days. Car still jerks when shifting gears though, hopefully I learn quickly because I don't wanna end up breaking something.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Terruko

First MT car, bought it last week and love it, stall from time to time but not as much as I used to the first couple days. Car still jerks when shifting gears though, hopefully I learn quickly because I don't wanna end up breaking something.

Yep, give it some time and soon your left foot will learn to talk to your right foot and both will talk to your right arm........and ......KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD........


humfrz

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Terruko

First MT car, bought it last week and love it, stall from time to time but not as much as I used to the first couple days. Car still jerks when shifting gears though, hopefully I learn quickly because I don't wanna end up breaking something.

Probably already said it in this thread but will repeat.
The biggest hurdle in learning to drive MT is getting over the fear of learning to drive MT. I know it isn't easy but relax and don't over think things and you will find that you get the hang of it much quicker. Also don't get trapped into thinkingthere is one way to drive it under all situations. There isn't, so just experiment and enjoy.

[FR-S 264]

People who can't create a user name and password have learned how to drive manuals. Just do it!

[ghostzfh]

FRS was my first manual car. Big difference between getting a manual car to get from a-b and driving properly.

[val_lixembeau]

Hey OP, good advice so far. Here are a couple of things I haven't seen mentioned:

- You said "no timeframe". If you have the option, try not to buy during the winter (ie: when you have heavy footwear) since I see your location is NJ. Having more feeling in your feet from lighter shoes will help you. And getting a few months of driving under your belt means less to worry about once it snows.

Also, you can likely get the seller to deliver the car to you if you don't want to drive home in traffic on your first time out.

- My experience (and that of most of my friends) is that it takes an afternoon to get used to starting off and shifting. About a week of commuting to feel comfortable driving in traffic. A couple of months to get smooth with most of your shifts.

A lot of people say that when starting off, make sure your revs are at such and such and rpm etc. I personally think it's better to listen closely to the engine. Don't play music for the first couple of weeks so you can get used to the sound of your car.

- Don't overly stress about stalls. Think about when they happen... 1) you are starting off from a stop, so the dude behind you won't be travelling at high speed relative to you anyways; at most he'll get annoyed and honk, 2) you are in too high gear for the speed you are travelling; but you won't stall until you are down to traffic crawl speeds and the engine will start coughing so you have time to disengage the clutch or give it some gas depending on the traffic situation.

- Similarly, don't worry too much about lugging the engine. This typically happens when you haven't downshifted enough and need to accelerate out of a corner or else traffic light changed and cars ahead of you are moving again. Worse case scenario here if you are nervous about downshifting is you need to be light on the gas and accelerate slower than you usually would. If you do want to downshift but can't do all that fancy heel and toe-ing, don't worry. Just let up the clutch a bit slower than usual and let it help you rev match.

- Finally, don't worry too much about clutch wear (with a caveat). Slipping the clutch a bit once in a while isn't going to cause you any trouble during your likely ownership period. The one exception is when you have revs high (lets say 3000 and up) and you don't fully engage the clutch. The only time I have seen this happen is during my wife's hill starts. She revs a lot for fear of stalling but is too tentative with the clutch. You will learn the balance between clutch engagement, revs and stalling over time. When you are first starting out, just realize that you can always clutch in (brake if you are on an incline) and take a moment to gather your wits.


Driving a manual transmission can seem complicated when you read about it on the internet, but learning to get from A to B isn't tough. Learning to be optimal or how to performance drive is what all the internet blather is about and that does take longer to learn BUT YOU DON'T NEED TO in order to commute.

Edit: Oh yeah, the one thing you do need to watch out for (as mentioned upthread) is over revving the engine. When you are first starting out, be very deliberate in your shifts to make sure you get the right gear. Don't try to shift fast until you get some miles under your belt.