So, being new to the whole manual transmission thing, I have a general question for you all:

When do you guys prefer to shift? Do you shift by RPMs, noise, feel? My dad tends to shift simply by feel and I generally do the same thing, but sometimes my shift into second is a little rough.

Just want to hear some thoughts on the matter.

 

Yeah, once you "learn" the car you'll tend to drive by the feel/sound/etc... I definitely have to since on my '92 Honda the tach goes crazy 24/7! LOL

Enjoy the new ride!

 

How long did it take for you to "learn" the car? I'm not impatient or anything, but I don't like to suck at driving my own car. Ha ha.

 

took me about 6 months to get really used to manual driving

takes me about 2 weeks to a month to learn all the little ins and outs of a new member of my fleet

but then again I drive other peoples cars every day and have to become acustomed to other peoples cars within seconds.

 

Ya I am relatively new to manual, as in I haven't owned one before but have driven, and in my '08 ES the drop into 2nd is really far as opposed to the drop into any of the top 3 gears.

I always have to wait for a long *** time, relatively speaking, to get into 2nd from 1st smoothly.

Any input from some manual vets?

 

Ive driven manual tranny almost all my life and i havent really thought about how i shift. guess it just comes natural to me since i thought myself how to drive (manual tranny) when i was 14. <NO JOKE I PUT IT ON MY MAMA> Anyways all i can say is this. i drive a manual ES to and sometimes i do get sloppy, um what i do is i sometimes go up to 3500 from 1st then when im about to shift, i dont completely let go of the gas, just enough to have a lil bit of rev, press the clutch down, shift to 2nd then heres the trick, now i try not to releast the clutch too much and press on the gas just a bit to get that small rev again and then once you let go of the clutch completely, sometimes youre head doesnt even jerk that much anymore. well iono it may sound stupid but thats basically how i get a "feel" of a car. then youll just notice that youll become a better driver eventually imo

 

There is no secret way. It just takes time and practice.

Time and Practice.

In city driving I shift at 3500 rpms and highway 4000-4500. Unless I'm having fun.

 

Couldnt have said it any better

 

Practice makes perfect. If your not racing someone, let out on the clutch extremely slow. It will be alot smoother.

 

I wouldnt say extremely slow unless you wanna wear out your clutch...just dont pop the clutch, you should never ride your clutch. just develop a feel for it. If you have to let out real slow to make a smooth shift, you arent driving right especially when dealing with a stock clutch

picture the poor clutch disc spinning at high speed and being slowly clamped down by pressure plate but not enough to grab, it just spins against flywheel and plate... thats a LOT of friction and heat, it hurts thinking about it

 

Yeah not extremely slow i think

u just need to hold it at that sweet spot for a second longer and th shift will be smooth

so engaging the clutch is actually quite fast.

drop to sweet spot hold for a split sec, and finish dropping.

Plus higher gears are easier to shift. like 4th to 5th gear u could almost drop it and get an okay shift haha