ssSsso..... I am a beginner in driving the stick shift and it's like learning to drive all over again except this time I actually feel life-threatened when I fail.. I just had to drive in the dark, in the rain, on pavement, on interstate, in BOSTON, and I almost died from nervousness.
I wanted to cry because I killed the engine too many times even though I prepared mentally and physically to tap the gas pedal as I let go of the clutch slowly. I get ultra nervous when I have to come to a complete stop on a uphill (AHHH AHH!!!). I am SO scared out of my mind that I will roll down and hit the car behind me and hit on the gas WAY too hard, burning the clutch. Is there anyway I can avoid rolling backward too much? I don't want to burn the clutch but I can't help but think I will hit the car behind me
- although my clutch catches super early in the throw that I probably don't have to worry about it...
Another thing that is killing me is that I have to drive to work everyday in the worst traffic jam (I-93 - anyone agree?) and the stop-and-go is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO hard! And worst of all, when people honk at me when I accidently kill the engine I feel like dying
Please help me! - everytime I get on the road, I want to cry and just stop driving but I can't!
sorry - had to vent somewhere and to someone other than my hubby....I've been venting too much at him lately...
I hope you guys understand my feelings....
AsianFemaleDriver wrote:
Is there anyway I can avoid rolling backward too much? I don't want to burn the clutch but I can't help but think I will hit the car behind me - although my clutch catches super early in the throw that I probably don't have to worry about it...
Try using the parking brake. By lightly pulling up on the lever you will use the back wheel brakes to hold the car steady in place. As you get the car moving, squeeze the button and drop the lever - no roll back.
AsianFemaleDriver wrote:
Another thing that is killing me is that I have to drive to work everyday in the worst traffic jam (I-93 - anyone agree?) and the stop-and-go is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO hard! And worst of all, when people honk at me when I accidently kill the engine I feel like dying
Please help me! - everytime I get on the road, I want to cry and just stop driving but I can't!
In one month from now this rant will be funny to you - I promise. It is all just a matter of practice and with your stop and go you are getting a lot of practice.
Get out of the city and just practice a lot. Or find a parking lot and just start and stop. Start and stop. Over and over again. Trick is just getting the feel down.
Then curse your dad for letting you learn to drive without teaching you to drive a stick. My 15 year old is learning now and I try to get him out in a stick every day or two, even if it's just a quick spin around the park.
Take care,
Ed
mtn
SuperDork
9/6/11 8:21 p.m.
Just stay calm, you'll do fine. Try having the hand brake engaged, and when you start to move (forward), slowly release the hand brake.
my wife is very very nervous about learning to drive stick too.
she's also learning to drive at all, so I guess that compounds it..
but she gets super nervous all the time. for a while her first time out in my car she was doing amazingly good, a lot better than i did when I learned how to drive stick. then she started getting nervous and started messing up.
If you're like me, after a week or so I got steadily less and less nervous; I was kind of thrown into a manual as you are now (picked the mazda up from a shop where it was getting a new clutch and drove it away= first time driving stick that wasn't a tractor, lol)
ST_ZX2
Reader
9/6/11 8:43 p.m.
Try : www.learnstickshift.com
PS: All the other gears are a cinch!
You'll get used to it. It was raining and I was doing 70 down the highway as a car in front of me spun out. I didn't even have to hit the brakes because it is natural for me to downshift after driving them for about seven years. When you mash on the brakes in the rain, you lose traction.
Take advantage of the manual transmission and its superiority.
Also, go find a steep hill where its not busy and practice not rolling using the e-brake or not. I sometimes use it, sometimes don't. Depends on how I feel. I let it roll back in forth to let people around me know not to get too close.
Don't upgrade your pressure plate yet. 
WOW that's quite a rant! This is what I had to come home too!! jk She's actually doing quite well (learning much faster than I did! though I might still have to budget for a new clutch at some point... Like I needed for my first stick)
poopshovel wrote:
1. Hey. How's it goin?
2. Press left foot (clutch) in.
3. Place car in gear (1st.)
4. Press throttle (right foot) til engine makes "BAHBAHBAHBAHBAHBAHBAHBAH" noise.
5. Briskly release clutch foot from pedal.
6. Earn admiration from fellow drivers.
SOOOO glad she laughed at this and didn't take it seriously! She laughed HARD too. I knew she wasn't going to give up
poopshovel wrote:
1. Hey. How's it goin?
2. Press left foot (clutch) in.
3. Place car in gear (1st.)
4. Press throttle (right foot) til engine makes "BAHBAHBAHBAHBAHBAHBAHBAH" noise.
5. Briskly release clutch foot from pedal.
6. Earn admiration from fellow drivers.
Reminds me of a honda commercial with Micheal Andretti teaching a teenage boy how to drive in a S2000 ;"push in the clutch, tach it up to 6000, put it in 1st than dump the clutch. Now turn left ... turn left ... turn left ". Boy says"When do we turn right?" Michael responds "Why would you want to do that?"
Just tried to find that commercial on youtube, but all I could find was the boring PC version with out the tach it up and dump it part .
BTDT. My local high school's parking lot had a bit of a slope to it, so it was a great place to practice driving stick when school was out. The worst for me is when someone pulls up behind me on a hill and gives me no breathing room. Even if I pull up a little and brake-check, they'll creep up until they're right on my rear bumper, and I still get nervous sometimes. So, +eleventy-billion to using the handbrake on steep hills. It's especially helpful in my Mazdaspeed3 because the stock clutch is very stiff and tricky to modulate. Once I feel the front wheels start to tug on the rear wheels, then I'll release the e-brake. I'll accidentally chirp the tires sometimes and that gets me dirty looks, but hey, that asshat shouldn't be only a centimeter off my bumper in the first place!
And yes, I-93 traffic does suck and blow at the same time. That's why I work at my company's data center and not at its headquarters!
Stop and go does suck, my first DD stick was a '69 Ford pick up in Atlanta. My clutch leg would have been twice the diameter of my gas leg if the brakes hadn't been rock-hard manuals.
It does give you practice. Don't worry about the drivers behind you. berkeley 'em, they're driving automatics. they can wait.
Once you get some practice in stop and go traffice you can try this. If you pay attention to the way Semi drivers handle traffic you can save your leg and clutch. Let a small gap open between the vehicle in front of you, then let out the clutch and then let the car idle. In first gear you should be able to creep along but still be alble to close up gaps if need be.
Give it some time. It may not seem like it but in no time at all everything will become second nature and you really won't have to think about it any more.
Rusted_Busted_Spit wrote:
Once you get some practice in stop and go traffice you can try this. If you pay attention to the way Semi drivers handle traffic you can save your leg and clutch. Let a small gap open between the vehicle in front of you, then let out the clutch and then let the car idle. In first gear you should be able to creep along but still be alble to close up gaps if need be.
Having driven the bigger trucks.. one thing semis and the like have over cars and smaller trucks.. a super low first gear that basically tops out at 5mph.. it's great for creeping ahead at idle
Help us all out, and take the bus. Thanks.
In reply to mad_machine:
I too have driven big trucks and you are correct but it will also work in a car with the caveat that the car will ge going faster at idle than a truck but it is still very helpful in stop and go traffic.
Something I tell newbe stick drivers is find a flat level parking lot. Ignore the gas pedal and work on getting the car rolling by just easing out the clutch. Do this over and over until your bored. This will teach smoothness on the clutch.
I'm changing my car over to a stick shift, and this is the sort of thing i'm worried about. I've driven stick before, but i've not had sufficient practice.
Good rant.
Don't give up. Do it enough times, and you'll stop thinking about it.
exactly... once you get profiecent (Which does not take long) you will not even have to think about it
EdenPrime wrote:
I'm changing my car over to a stick shift, and this is the sort of thing i'm worried about. I've driven stick before, but i've not had sufficient practice.
Read this entire thread, pick dome good info and you'll have no problem. It becomes second nature and you will be controlling the car in ways you hadn't thunk possible.
Most of all don't stress or worry. Learning is the easy part.
