I was browsing thru the search looking at various thread about learning to drive a stick and especially in the S.

I saw something about what speeds you should be in between each gear etc

My main question is when you refer to clutch engaging, what does that mean. Like I understand that I'm supposed to first engage the clutch, shift, release the clutch and accelerate or atleast I think thats right. My question is what do you mean by depressing it till it engages. What am I looking for. A certain sound,feel of the clutch itself, or how the engine responds etc.

Another question is I've heard some people say you're supposed to leave it in gear when you turn it off and others who say leave it in N. Which is correct or are they both?

So as I understand it to basically drive you depress the clutch, choose your gear, release the clutch, give it gas till you need to shift again and repeat as necessary.

Now is the process the same for downshifting as upshifting.

Thanks. I'm supposed to be picking her up either tonight or tommorow and its like a 45mile drive back to my place with a large portion of that being in lousy dallas and plano traffic.

 

http://www.ehow.com/how_3234_drive-car-with.html

http://www.standardshift.com/faq.html

http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/techcente...29/article.html

 

Thanks.

Its kind of hard putting everything together when its so spread out.

Plus so many of those threads were from like 03-04 lol

 

[QUOTE]My main question is when you refer to clutch engaging, what does that mean.

 

Thank you. That was definately helpful. Answered my major questions in once post.

Since I plan on picking it up in the morning I'll probably see if the sales guy will teach me a little. Then I'll tool around in some pking lot and by nightfall I should be comfortable.

Now when you say rev-match what does that exactly mean. Are you saying that there is a specific rpm I have to downshift at?

I thought that you could downshift whenever you want(obviously not to the point of stalling)

Either way thanks a bunch. I really can't get anyone to drive it back because no one I know around here can drive a stick. Guess thats what I get for only knowing chics with sedans and SUV's lol

 

I hope the links were helpful. I actually learned how to drive a stick from reading long before I ever got a chance to try it, and I believe that having a good understanding of what I was supposed to do made it a lot easier. The better you understand what's going on the better you'll be at shifting and using the clutch, so the more you can read on the subject the better, even if you already know how to drive a car with a manual transmission.

I don't think it is possible to teach this kind of thing with words alone, but Stooken has some good suggestions, so I'm going to suggest some modifications.

Rather than setting the parking brake to find the clutch's engagement point, find an empty parking lot and just practice stopping and starting smoothly. When you launch the car you want to let the clutch out just a little past where it starts to engage (the revs drop or the car starts to move at this point in the clutch release) and at the same time give the car just enough gas to keep the revs a little above idle. As soon as the car is moving you can continue the clutch release as you add more throttle. With practice you will learn to launch the car smoothly, with minimal clutch slip and without reving the engine excessively, but it will take some practice.

I'd also suggest practicing 1-2-3 and 3-2-1 shifts in a vacant parking lot. Heavy traffic is not where you want to be when you get distracted and confused.

Upshift and downshift by feel; Do NOT look down at the shifter. Take your time, and when you downshift, blip the throttle as you release the clutch. Try not to let the clutch slip much between gears. No slip at all is best.

You REALLY need to get someone who knows how to drive a stick to go with you, because there are so many ways you can get wrong, and it would suck to burn out the clutch in your new car before you got it home.

Borrow somebody's manual shift pick-up-truck and learn to drive it before you pick up the S2000.

 

[QUOTE]Since I plan on picking it up in the morning I'll probably see if the sales guy will teach me a little.

 

Get in the habit of leaving the car in gear when you turn it off. This is especially useful for safety reasons when you park on a hill, incline, or any place where the road is not flat. There have been cases where the parking brake loses its tightness and sends the car rolling if it's still on N, even though you have the parking brake handle pulled up all the way. Leaving it in gear ensures this won't happen.

Simply put, when you're parking: set parking brake, clutch in, put it in any gear other than N, even reverse will work (I suggest 1st or Reverse), turn the car off, then clutch out. When you go back to drive again, clutch in, put it in N, Engine Start, voila!

 

Interesting.. I didn't know that.

 

Well I picked it up today and I managed to get around the pking lot somewhat. I was able to shift up to 3rd but it was jerky and pretty sad. So I'll try again tommorow. Its definately going to be a learning experience thats for sure. Now I need to go find some people who know how to drive a stick