You could always fly to Europe. They offer manuals on all of their rental cars.

 

Have you tried to call some driving school? They may have those.
Clutch problem also scares me, I'm not a good stick driver myself, that's why I'm still waiting....to see if Mitsu will do some improvement.

Can anyone tell me, how much is the difference between EVO's stick and .. say ..a Toyota Celica 5 spd?

 

if anyone near san antonio needs lessons, i'll be happy to drive their evo and teach them. ;-)

 

I'll throw out my assistance as well. Any North Texas Evo owners wanting to learn the limits and how to drive their Evo's, I'll gladly take them for a few laps around Texas Motor Speedway's infield road race section in their Evo and help them learn how to shift, stop, and start without having traffic lights, stop signs or police.

And for those owners who can drive a stick, bring those Evo's out to SBH's events and enjoy the track!

 

I've rented only two MT's in my life, even though I've been driving since '82 and have never owned an AT car except for my wife's Volvo...

In '88, I rented a Ford Festiva for a week that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. The entire usable range of clutch was in the top one inch of pedal travel. If other rental MT econocars are anything like that, I'd run away without looking back -- a beginner would have learned nothing useful in that car.

In '97, in Germany, I rented a BMW 316i for a week. That was a nice MT car. Too bad you have to go to Europe to find MT cars easily available...

One possibility for renting a sporty MT car which is relatively affordable... See if anybody in your area rents Miatas. I know Hertz had them available in California some years ago. And of course, you could try Mazda dealers -- some of them also run little rental operations on the side.

The Miata seems like it would be a good car to learn stick in. Lightweight, plus the engine power is about right for a beginning stick driver -- having too little power or too much power leads to bad habits.

 

for free?

 

I'll take you around for free. Whoever is running the event usually require some payment. Sportbike Hype groups do events out there almost every other weekend and it's only $45 for cars 9 am to 5pm.

 

it is a well known fact that in order to drive a manual transmission car you must be a rocket scientist just get the car and take it easy until you get the hang of it. you have to take it easy for the break in period anyways. the last car i bought was a 2002 rsx and it was my first manual tranny car ever......yeah i stalled once leaving the dealer lot but it really doesn't take that long to get used to. if it takes you more than an hour or two to get to where you are competent at driving stick then you must be pretty uncoordinated.

 

I have a friend who learned stick on his Evo. He's doing fine now. It didn't take him that long to learn and he gets better the more he drives. I've never driven an Evo but the first MT car I drove, I drove around my block for about 15 minutes then went out on the street and it only died once! So yeah stick is easy.

 

I was in almost the same position as you...I had VERY little practice on some of my friends' cars. I felt horrible that I had to learn to drive stick properly in an EVO of all cars. But things are a lot better now...you just have to put that extra thought into really getting the feel for the clutch and accelerator relationship (and at least for me, it was FRUSTRATING as hell those few times I bogged or let out the clutch too fast, but you just gotta stick to it and DON'T BE DISCOURAGED). Don't worry about cars behind you at a stoplight honking because it's taking you so long to engage...hahah sounds like it's coming from experience ey? Just take your time and start slow...as long as you put in the effort to learn it, you'll be good to go. Be careful and take it easy!

 

if u like the car and have money, get it. All u need is a new clutch if u mess up. It's not that hard to drive but it does get me tired.

 

Get a beater to learn on. The clutch in your EVO will love you for it.

All you need is some POS car, don't spend more than a couple ben franklins. Beat on it, learn how to drive a stick, then get rid of it when you get the EVO.

 

I too haven't purchased an Evo yet. Respect the engineering, don't abuse it and you should be OK. With AWD, dumping the clutch at 5000 RPM is about the worst thing you can do to an automobile. There's no where for all that torque to go as the tires will likely just grab hard. So the drivetrain takes the abuse, mainly the clutch, along with everything else. The clutch is Mitsubishi's fuse. It blows to protect the rest of the automobile.

I think I just sold myself on an Evo! Am I wrong?

 

You are very right! Go get it...

 

Taran.. stop being a wuss and buy the bloody Evo esp if you can get it for a good price... I have owned 2 generations of evolutions and have found them to be extremely reliable... its all about the respect you show for your car.