My buddy took me out to the Rose Bowl today and taught me stickshift, and a lot about general car engine knowledge, it was really fun.

We took the Celica, it was the first time I've driven the Celica, boy it's really easy to drive. A heck of a lot easier than the Corolla I used during the 6 hour behind the wheel lessons.

I've got gear shifting down pretty well, but the thing I'm having a problem with is starting the car. I don't have the synergy action in my legs when starting to drive from a standstill to get rolling on first gear. but hopefully my legs will get the muscle memory down soon.

How long did it take you guys to get that muscle memory in your head when you first start the car to get rolling?

 

all it takes is a little practice.

find an empty parking lot and start and stop til you get it down. That's what I do with my girlfriend to teach her stick. My dad taught me when I was very young so it's second nature to me.

Good luck
WADAD

 

I've taught several people to drive stick and had them driving confidently on the road in under half an hour every time. The first thing I tell them is always to just realize how sensitive the clutch is and where it grabs.

Turn the car on, put it in first, then lift the clutch more slowly than you possibly imagine having to. Don't touch the gas. By the way, do this on a flat area. After what will seem like a long time, the car will start to move forward... Keep going. Don't give it any gas until you're rolling pretty well and nearly have your foot off the clutch.

Just doing this a few times will give you a ton of insight into just how the clutch drives.
-N

 

the thing that helped me was letting it rev at 1500-2k and slowly let the clutch go. found it helped learning where the clutch point is. it actually took me a week. my dad ain't a good teacher.

 

got my car and learned how to drive it the first night...that was 3 months ago...still perfecting it ..takes practice and time to get real good but you we be able to drive around within a day

 

Haha awesome. Yeah my buddy took some time to help me find the clutch point on the clutch. I found it but I think my main problem is sensitivity. I'm not sensitive enough on the gas. It's hard for me to stay at a constant level of RPM, I always find myself over revving or not revving at all, and it takes a good couple of tries to get the rev solid and constant at around 1500 and 2000 before I let off the clutch. But hopefully I'll get more practice on that tomorrow, my Mom is letting me drive to school.

 

The best thing to do when your learning to drive a stick is to find an abondond parking lot, come to a full stop, then 'play' with the clutch and gas, rock back and forth. It will help you get smoother at disengaging the clutch and engaging the gas.

 

Well i learn how to drive ia stick by stealing mom boyfriend car every night cause we he tryed to teach me i was getting mad and couldn't get out 2nd then when that went to bed i would take it almost everynight but now i'm nice with it so teach yourself so wont have to anybody

 

2 days baby, 2 days, took me only 1 hour each
hehehehe

 

i just went out & learned friday in a closed down kmart parking lot at 3 am! we used his brother's jetta & my bf kept saying dont be afraid to gas it and find the friction point! blah i got really pissed off and i finally got it for a good 15 mins after 5-10 mins of stalling lolz, then my foot & leg got tired and i started stalling left and right again hahahah damn stick! funny thing is, when he taught me the very first time (like 2 yrs ago) i had the shift to 1st thing down right away, and now i have trouble. what da hell is wrong with me lolz he says i think about it too much and i get too paranoid about other cars. blah!

 

I picked it up after my first try... but was instantly given the nickname "High-Reving D" (D being my real nickname). Reason being is that, when in doubt, I used the clutch, and subsequently would rev the car to 4000 RPM quite often. In my defense, learning in the very hilly country-side of Maryland didn't help much. But OH how much fun it is to drive through Rock State Park with a MT.

 

a good way to learn is to find a moderate incline, and try to keep the car in the same place using the clutch and gas. if you can find that point where the car doesn't roll back, and doesn't move forward, without using the brake, you'll start to get a real good feel for the sensitivity of the clutch.

 

AHHHHH! NO NO NO! That's called "riding the clutch" and is one of the fastest ways you can burn it up. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I've been in a car with someone doing this, and you can smell it starting to burn.

 

Yeah, it is pretty harsh on the clutch, but typically, so is learning to drive one. If someone's having difficulty and riding the clutch on an incline can speed up their learning curve, then it's worth it for a once wear and tear for what they'll learn. It is an effective way to learn, not much different than my suggestion above... though more stressful yes.
-N

 

yes, and as was said, learning to drive is stressful on the car in general. this really helped me learn though, and i picked it up much faster by learning exactly where the clutch engages, meaning less overall time spent stalling, etc. doing that a couple times i almost instantly started to drive like i have been driving manual for years. it also helps so that when you are on a hill and have to start, you can feel what it's like to roll back and try to get the car moving forward.