Any thoughts on whether it's a good idea to buy a 95 civic to beat around in? Any other car recommendations? I'd like to try to keep it under 3k budget for a beater...
I'd want to be proficient at MT since I want my next (main) car to be a MT

I heard the only real way to "learn" stick is to be driving one daily, and even then it varies from car to car

thoughts?

 

Buy a cheap car to learn on, have a friend or family member who knows how to drive stick show you the ropes a bit. Also practice stops on steep hill situations.

Drive around an open parking lot first and quiet roads, get used to the car.

When you get more comfortable overall, take the car out on some main roads.

You'll get used to driving manual before you know it.

 

I had a 95 Civic Hatchback with MT and it was a pretty good car to learn stick on (it was my 2nd MT car).

 

I took a formal lesson from a driving coach. One afternoon, $50 and I can drive stick no problem.

 

Back when I bought my 98 GS-R I asked the dealer if I could take a demo out for a couple of hours. 2 hours later I was driving stick. And I saved some clutch on my new car.

 

As long as you're not a woman, namely my wife, you should have no troubles learning the basic concepts in no time.

 

^ Ohhhhhhh burn!

It's okay scrib, just read your other thread. she'll get it eventually.

And isn't it easier to learn on MT trucks? I learned on a '95 tacoma double cab 5 speed.

 

Practice, practice, practice...

I bought a $50 1970 AMC Javelin w/ a 3spd to learn how to drive a MT. Best $50 I ever spent.

Beltfed has the routine down... after you've got that stuff mastered, it's time to learn how to handle stopping and starting on a hill...

 

I learned on a brand new 330ci, whats the worse that can happen... you fawk up the clutch. Would be cheaper than buying a cheap car to learn on.

Unless you mis-shift but i dont see that happening when learning slowly

 

my only advice is too let off the clutch SLOW, that was my only problem

 

ask synth19

 

...OR you could buy an M3 with SMG?

That's learning MT!

 

If you're just learning I doubt you'll misshift so badly to mess things up. The times when misshifts cause problems are where you're running the car up to redline, say in 4th, and you downshift to 3rd instead of going up to 5th. Or if you're on the highway in 5th or 6th and you downshift to 3rd or 2nd. Some cars have a lockout to prevent you from doing this I think, or is it only a 1st gear lockout?

But yes, its cheaper to break the clutch on a new car then it is to buy an entire car, even if said car is a beater.

 

My cl was my first manual car, took a while to get the hang of it, but I don't have any problems now. Don't buy a beater, it's not gonna take you that long to learn how to drive a stick.

 

oh yea I learned stick on my first MT car... 98 Supra TT. I had my friend drive it from the dealership to my house, since, I couldn't...

no issues... and this is also the car synth19 learned on, lol. he did good.

 

I learned how to drive stick on my drive home from the dealer. I was VERY shaky during the test drive.....even shakier driving the car home.....but after the weekend I was a pro.

Five years later, I can do it in my sleep. It really shouldn't take you too long, just like these guys said.

 

Correct me if I am wrong on this, but I think your right as well. I gotta 94 extra cab 5 speed, and I hafta agree as well. With a truck, you use more of your leg, as opposed with a car, you have to use your foot more...

 

I bought the CL and learned after I got it out of the dealership parking lot, got stuck in rush hour, stop/go traffic.

 

Find the clutch point......its the point where you release the clutch and the RPMS start the drop, for 5 minutes just keep pushing and letting go of the clutch, find that clutch point and memorize it, when you feel like you know where the clutch point is slowly give it some gas and let go of the clutch slowly

the hardest part of manual is 1st gear, and parking on hills, other than that its cake

the first car i learned on was the new miata and a bmw z3 roadster

 

hahaha, the very first MT car i have ever driven (and the only car i have ever driven) was my current 2004 TL. starting with a 270hp V-6 with drive-by-wire throttle and low engagement clutch really pissed me off. i wore the clutch and stalled the engine so badly but now i breeze through gears, start uphill smoothly, and even learned how to save an extra 2 days of gas, thanks to my mom

my tip is to just always add extra throttle when lifting the clutch slowly and once you get the car to start moving, you'll learn how to use less throttle. hope you get through it easily

 

It isn't too difficult. I've only been doing it for 10 days now learning on my supercharged CL-S6. I stalled a million times at first. The clutch in the CL is very odd. However I've pretty much got the hang of it by now.

 

I learned on a 1984 Volkswagon Diesel Rabbit 5 speed... with only 54 Horsepower.

it took like a minute to get up to 60 MPH.... My dad would not let me drive an auto until I mastered the manual tranny.... still to this day, an auto tranny almost puts me to sleep with bordem.

 

i've been driving stick for about 2 weeks now... you'll get it down in no time. i got about an hour lesson on my brothers' civic before i learned on my car. start uphill and find the sweet-spot on the clutch. the only way to learn is to drive it every day, which is what i'm forced to do now. it's frustrating at first, but it'll happen. i'm still learning the way my car drives right now... but i'll be a pro in no time.

 

i learned on the car i got last summer, 300zxtt, had to have my dad drive it home


took me about a week before i was comfortable in general and a little longer till hills stopped worrying me.

 

I learned on a modded '02 Mustang GT, and I'm still really not great at it to this day. I want either an S4 or TL A-Spec in a stick next year when I'm going to buy a new car, so I might take a lesson or two from a driving teacher in order to get a better understanding on hills and whatnot. It's something I want to do with ease in time.

 

take your best friends car out and learn on that. i was really determined never to stall so i would visualize, often dream about, what was necessary in order to keep the car going. i probably spent way to much time thining about it but learned in a day. also worked at a high volume full serve shop so was driving about 15 different manual cars a day....the bigger the variety the better you become at driving a manual.