how long did it take u guys to learn to drive a stick shift??..couple hrs?....1 day or what?...thanks

I learned in an hour enough to let me drive where I needed to go, but I had to focus on what I was doing. Within days though itll be copmletely natural and youll soon find yourself holding a book, a phone, a baby and a gun all while shifting, clutching and steering. Seriously.

EDIT: In fact I actually bought my manual Talon without ever driving manual before and obviously without driving the Talon. But the skills came quick enough that I could cruise that night, just not completely error proof.

Takes a hour or two to learn how to get going and maybe a week to have it down pretty good :thumbsup

Like ^^ said...Took me about an hour to understand enough to drive where i needed. But it took me like a week or so til it came naturally..I still have those days when i will fug it up

yeah, as long as you understand it, its simple... Like they said above, maybe an hour to learn the mechanics of doing it....Then a few weeks to get in down perfect, with hills and everything.

bought my elcipse w/o knowing how, but about 1/2 to get to where i needed to, and about a week to then drive w/ my knee and eat and cell phone and read, and check out girls, and etc...

bought my first car without knowing how to drive a stick. IMO that is the best way to do it, it forces you to learn. I figured out how to do it within an hour of buyin my car, and with a day or two it feels perfectly natural. Teaching some one who drives an automatic car is tricky because they dont remember what they did, or how it feels

15min

at the dealership parkinglot.

Yup that's about right...of course hard to remember, I was 12...:D But I think it's harder trying to explain or teach someone than learning how to...


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Took about 15 minutes. My dad came home with my first car, a 5 spd Grand Prix, while I was home on my lunch break. I took it back to work. }( After several kills :P and several noisy burnouts, I had it down by the time I got to work at Wal-Mart.

The best though, was I taught my wife how to drive stick shortly after we met, and at that time, she said her first car would STILL be an auto. When we went shopping for her first car almost 3 years later, she wouldn't even LOOK at an automatic. She wanted a stick.

She drives pretty damn good too, imo. (Good teacher!) }(

If you've got Good "eye/hand" then its all natural, otherwise ya might have to work @ it. To really make it easy on the learner, go start off in a gravel field or gravel road. That way you can spin them tires easily without stalling all the time unlike that good pavement hookup:thumbsup

the ten minute drive from the parking lot where i bought the subie to home. killed it quite alot.

2 hours first day, couldnt get it goin easily without bogging.went to bed, woke up, hoped in, drove it fine as if i had always driven 5 speeds

I learned to drive in my auto eclipse. I had been driving my auto daily for about a year when I got my VR4 and had to learn stick to drive it.

Learning the mechanics and ideas of it took a minute or two. Learning to perfect it took about a week.





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took me about 2 hours, but i learned on a shitty 88 chevy with the clutch goin out. i was about 10 years old...killed it countless times but finally got it down. every car iv owned (which is a grand total of 2 lol) has been a standard and i intend to keep it that way. no auto for me...EVAR!! }(

I think that I was about 11 or 12, and I learned on a '85 cavalier. We was camping, and my dad was like, 'do you want to learn how to drive a stick, and I was like oh yeah! It took me probably about 10 minutes or so. I drove around for about 15 minutes.

Then after that, I really hadn't driven one, and one day later, I just got in it, and it was just like I had always driven one. Both my car and my truck is a stick.

>how long did it take u guys to learn to drive a stick
>shift??..couple hrs?....1 day or what?...thanks

I learned in one day driving a 5sp 88" legend.



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I must be a slow learner :)

Two or three days, a few hours each day to really get the hang of it.

But, I had a TOUGH car to learn on, an 87 dodge charger. Why was it a tough car to learn on? Because the clutch was as stiff as a truck clutch (think about trying to learn on an ACT2600 and you'll get the idea)

took me about 10 minutes to get the general idea, but i learned on a 91 Hyundai SomethingOrOther with like 60 horses at the wheels and a pretty worn out clutch. easiest 5 speed to drive.

then i bought the 2GNT, and i figured out how to do hills and start off from 2nd in about a week. took me another week to figure out how to properly downshift and double clutch. then another week to try to toe-heel, but i discovered that the pedal design sucks and it's almost impossible to really toe-heel.

took me about a week to be able to do it all naturally n whatnot. I taught myself and was driving on the road within that hour.

When you think about it, we take drving a manual for granted. Most people can't do it. I'm sure everyone here is like me now; you don't even think about what you are doing, you are just one with your car and you just drive the thing.

To the majority of people in this country, just the idea of changing their own gears confuses them to no end! They don't even understand the concept of gears.

I think driving a manual makes someone a better driver. You have to be constantly aware of what your speed is, what gear you are in, and what your car is doing. This easily makes you a better driver.

w3rd

i learned very quick.. it was on a 76 mg the hand brake did not work, its was very hard to get into 1st gear.. learned within 30mins.. sucks when you got to go up hill from a stop ( on the hill ) with a car behind you...you learn really quick..
Michael
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lerned on this car. about 1 hour first day i had it, 2nd day i had no problem starting out. threid day praticed starting on hills an di was ifne after that, just mostly practice and smoothing things out

had to learn in about 5 mins....my dad owns a concrete company and i had to take a ford mini-dump truck inti inner city baltimore...mind you it had a 460ci engine and a 1st gear that ended at 5mph...yea that was noooo fun at all...but the big ass duallie truck would grab 2nd as good as my car does :D

i won't front here. i'm not very coordinated sometimes, and i did what a few of you did and bought a manual so that i'd be FORCED to learn. i was driving OK within about a day, got it down in about a week. but now that it's been 5 years later, it's true that i still get some pretty severe brain fade sometimes. i.e. shoving it into 3rd instead of 5th when you're already doin 80mph on the highway, bogging it badly, overclutching it, grinding, etc... however, i haven't recalled actually killing a car in years, so i guess that part's outta my system... :P

snuFFy

I traded my 97 (auto) for a 99 OZ 5sp, not knowing how ill get out the parking lot. so in a few hours.

420AYE taught me. it probably took about 4-5 hours to get used to using a stick.

You'll be able to operate the car within the first day or two. After that it's just practice so you don't look like a retard. Oh, and just wait til you start racing with one...}(

i learned stick when i was a child. like 12 years old. but i was only good at straight lines, w/no traffic. just being able to concentrate on what i was doing. i always had a tendency to forget which gear i was in. but when i actually got my liscense, i got it in an auto, but i got a vw fox! woo hoo. it was a 4 speed with pretty good accel in 1st. but that is it. i still have that bitch, but my klipse is my baby. yeah, i let yourinmymirror drive it a couple times, its kinda a bitch to learn, lol. he had this thing with swirving to the right as he shifted, but i think he's past that now. i still to this day have the following problems. my 5th gear dog teeth are bad, so i gotta push on the stick while in 5th. the girl in the next seat wants attention, so i gotta let off the gas and do some shit. then with my left knee, i'm driving, and my right hand has a hamburger in it, while i shift with my right elbow. very confusing, but i do it almost naturally know. one time, i had a pack of french fries and a hamburger in both hands. just went about 5000 rpms in 4th down the freeway cuz it wouldn't stay in 5th. that was fun.

Takes an hour or so. I learned on a 1990 mercedes benz while I was in Germany on vacation back in 1991. I was 15.

Took me 3 hours with my dad. He also at the time was trying to teach me how to double clutch and power shift! :P
5 months later I taught my friend in his new S2000 the day he bought the car. I drove it off the lot and I had him doing figure 8's and goin up and down parking lot hills till he got the hang of it. took 2 hours.

my aunt taught me in her ford explorer when I was like 12. the day I got my eclipse, I drove it perfectly. much easier than the explorer. that thing was so hard to shift, and the shift knob would come off in your hand sometimes.

driving stick definately makes you a better driver. always have to be aware, but in an auto your mind tends to wander.

anyone else ever get in an auto and drive, and when coming to a stop, put your right f9ootr on the right side of the brake pedal, and your left foot on the left side, and slam the brakes to the floor thinking it's the clutch? I've done it several times. :P

Turn off the radio and listen to the engine the first couple of days. I twill tell you what you're doing wrong. Once you learn to drive a stick an automatic will be boring. I'm so used to driving a stick I feel weird in an auto. I keep looking for the clutch. Also, you don't ride the brake as much in a stick.

OMG!!!!!!!!! I thougth i was the only one who did that shit! Once, my car was outta gas and i had to get to school and i was just pulling out of my drive way right as the bus was leavin the school(i live by the elementary school) and i drive 15 miles to my school. and i just subconciously heard the engine going up so i stomped on the brake and was like oh shit! i hit my head on the steering wheel. boy was that dumb. but yeah. i do it also.

I learned to drive on a car that was stick, my '86 Chrysler Laser. I was even searching for the clutch in the auto drivers ed car. Being able to drive it isn't hard, driving smoothly, that's what takes more time.



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Yeah, the first thing I do when I drive an auto now is stomp on the floor to the left of the brake pedal to disengage the clutch to start the car. Then I feel like a moron, especially if someone is in the car with me.

yeah. they are like woah! then you pretend like you thought you saw something in the road. or you left something at the house.