Driving a S2000
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 37,305
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Of the responses so far, we have those where the S2000 may have been the first manual car they've owned, HOWEVER, it was NOT the first manual car they've ever driven. Then there are those who compare the S2000 with other cars. You DON'T have this frame of reference so this information has no relevence for you.
Yours is a unique situation and what others may have experienced do not necessarily apply to you ......................................
1. You have NEVER driven a manual before (of any kind).
2. You have NEVER driven a closed gated 6 speed manual transmissioned car before.
3. You have most likely NEVER driven a "rear wheel drive" manual transmissioned car before.
4. You have most likely NEVER driven a car that had an engine that exhibits a "VTEC" surge at high rpm. This can possibly surprise a newbie and combined with the other factors, who knows what the outcome could be?
5. You have NEVER driven an S2000 before.
Now, at what juncture in these 5 points do you wish to introduce an S2000? That is up to your ability to learn new things. Therefore, it would be hard to tell you in any definitive way how you should go about it. In general, I would suggest you start off finding a driving school that offers lessons on manuals. Get the basics down first, then consider the S2000, then take that slowly and in stages.
You will most likely stall a lot. Then you will come back and post, "I stalled my S2000 several times. It made this horrible 'chugging' and rattling and just died. Did I damage anything?"
You will most likely grind occasionally when you shift. Then you will come back and post, "I had this awful grinding noise when I shifted. Did I damage anything?"
You will most likely try to slow down and downshift without rev matching and lurch and chirp the back tires. Then you will come back and post, "I was slowing down and I just about bumped my face on the steering wheel. Besides this, the tires made this awful squealing noise. Did I damage anything?"
You will have just spent a big wad of money on a brand new car (new to you at least). Why give yourself this grief?
You don't "need" to learn this to drive a manual. It is a technique more for the race track where you must brake (usually HARD) and select a new gear at the same time. This is not required for learning how to drive manual, especially when it is a new experience.
Yours is a unique situation and what others may have experienced do not necessarily apply to you ......................................
1. You have NEVER driven a manual before (of any kind).
2. You have NEVER driven a closed gated 6 speed manual transmissioned car before.
3. You have most likely NEVER driven a "rear wheel drive" manual transmissioned car before.
4. You have most likely NEVER driven a car that had an engine that exhibits a "VTEC" surge at high rpm. This can possibly surprise a newbie and combined with the other factors, who knows what the outcome could be?
5. You have NEVER driven an S2000 before.
Now, at what juncture in these 5 points do you wish to introduce an S2000? That is up to your ability to learn new things. Therefore, it would be hard to tell you in any definitive way how you should go about it. In general, I would suggest you start off finding a driving school that offers lessons on manuals. Get the basics down first, then consider the S2000, then take that slowly and in stages.
You will most likely stall a lot. Then you will come back and post, "I stalled my S2000 several times. It made this horrible 'chugging' and rattling and just died. Did I damage anything?"
You will most likely grind occasionally when you shift. Then you will come back and post, "I had this awful grinding noise when I shifted. Did I damage anything?"
You will most likely try to slow down and downshift without rev matching and lurch and chirp the back tires. Then you will come back and post, "I was slowing down and I just about bumped my face on the steering wheel. Besides this, the tires made this awful squealing noise. Did I damage anything?"
You will have just spent a big wad of money on a brand new car (new to you at least). Why give yourself this grief?
Still need to learn heel/toe though
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Joined: Jan 2004
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From: limerick
You can learn how to drive a tick really quickly but combining learning stick with rear wheel drive with vtech with high HP well it will be a challenge. So long as your very very carefull the first 1000 or so miles you'd be fine. If you get the car you need to be nice during the breakin period anyways and you should take some driving courses anyway with this car. Just be carefull and don't get cocky.
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,126
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From: Pittsburgh..south side..
Originally Posted by vAnt,Apr 17 2005, 09:49 PM
Here's a tip no one told me...
DO NOT STAY IN FIRST GEAR!
I thought I could drive the car (since I learned a really really tiny bit like a year or two ago) but when I tried to drive it home from the lot, a hill got me. Scared me too much and I had to have my friend drive it for me. (The ride home I was nervous as hell too, probably from shock of owning such a nice car ;p)
I was too excited and tried to learn to drive the car by myself in a quiet very low traffic neighborhood (mine) but I really had problems. I also didn't know that you couldn't stay in first gear, so I thought my car had some kind of engine problem since it was jerking around like mad. (I actually asked some people on S2ki what was going on, did a sensor whack too hahaha)
Finally with a bruised ego, I had to get my friend to show me how, and after that it was smooth sailing
Still need to learn heel/toe though XD
Tips anyone? ;p
DO NOT STAY IN FIRST GEAR!
I thought I could drive the car (since I learned a really really tiny bit like a year or two ago) but when I tried to drive it home from the lot, a hill got me. Scared me too much and I had to have my friend drive it for me. (The ride home I was nervous as hell too, probably from shock of owning such a nice car ;p)
I was too excited and tried to learn to drive the car by myself in a quiet very low traffic neighborhood (mine) but I really had problems. I also didn't know that you couldn't stay in first gear, so I thought my car had some kind of engine problem since it was jerking around like mad. (I actually asked some people on S2ki what was going on, did a sensor whack too hahaha)
Finally with a bruised ego, I had to get my friend to show me how, and after that it was smooth sailing
Still need to learn heel/toe though XD Tips anyone? ;p
I'm not trying to make fun of you, I'm trying to understand- you didn't know you have to up shift out of first when driving normally? If so, that's kinda funny.
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 1,325
Likes: 0
From: San Antonio TX
Originally Posted by racerxjon,Apr 17 2005, 04:10 PM
hi guys im new and i was wondering how hard it is to drive a S2000? I never drove a manual and plus S2000 is a 6 speed...Well im really interested in a S2000 but the problem is i can't drive stick...if i buy a s2000 ...how long would it take me to learn to drive it well....also can someone give me some good adivice on how to drive a S2000 or some tricks to get the car moving without stalling...THANKS
. It's all good with me though. I thing it should be a good car to learn in before I get my S2K this summer. There are some similarities A. RWD B. Shit loads of power C. 6 speed. I'll be learning this weekend and see how it goes. Doesn't look too hard to learn to me.
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 2,472
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From: Potomac Falls, VA
I don't understand why everyone says you're going to destroy the car learning how to drive stick. As long as you're careful and you don't do anything stupid you should be fine learning to drive on the car.
Stalling the car a few times isn't the best thing in the world for the car, but it isn't going to kill the car.
Simple things that might help you ..
1. Don't give it too much gas. Obviously giving it tons of gas and then popping the clutch is bad for the car. If you're having trouble getting started, rev the car up to 3000rpms and then let out the clutch till the car starts moving to get a feel for where the engagement point is.
2. Clutch in, gas out! If the car starts to buck, feels like its going to stall ... Put the clutch back in, stay off the gas pedal and gather your wits. Then try again.
3. If you're used to driving an automatic, you may need to sit closer to be able to push the clutch all the way down to the floor. I made the mistake of sitting too far away from the pedals and it made it hard to push the clutch down to the floor and also hard to feel the clutch engaging. A simple movement of the seat forward 1 click made my driving 100 times better.
4. Don't panic or get discouraged, its not going to be easy that first hour or two, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes second nature pretty quickly. If you panic, see tip #2 and try to do that.
5. Try to make it a habit to remember what gear you're in. The S2000's short throws sometimes makes it difficult at first to figure out what gear you're in by looking at the shifter. Remember in your head, "I'm in 2, I want to goto 3". That way you know where you are and where you're headed next shift. Eventually this will also become second nature and you won't have to be so worried.
I've driven a manual car 2 times in my life before I hopped in the S2000. Both times I never really got a good feel for driving stick. I completely understood what was going on BEFORE I was trying to learn though. Simple stuff like what happens to the engine / transmission when you step on the clutch pedal, why you need to shift gears ... I mean, if you understand basically how a car works you should understand a lot of this already. I managed to learn how to drive the car in about 2 hours. 1 hour a night. Taking a break from driving helps you so you're not as nervous/excited/etc about driving the 2nd night.
I think that the S2000 clutch is pretty nice. You get a good feel when the clutch engages and it makes it really easy for me to know when to give her gas. Experience obviously will make you a better driver, but in the beginning feeling the clutch grab helped tremendously. I test drove an '05 RSX-S after I learned to drive stick and I thought the clutch felt a lot softer and didn't provide any feedback to the driver. I don't have worlds of experience driving stick, but I think the extra feedback from the S2000 clutch makes it a good car to learn on.
The S2000's short shifter makes it hard as a beginner to know exactly what gear you're in. Now that I'm used to it, I love the short throws and the shifter feel ... But in the beginning I had a hard time being able to tell the difference between 1 and 3 for example. It sounds stupid, but the difference in movement is almost so subtle because of the short throws that it doesn't always make it easy to know exactly what gear you're going into ... Practice will make perfect here. Just be very careful when you're shifting. If you let the clutch pedal out and you notice the RPMs going up when they should be going down ... then be prepared to clutch in quickly!
I can understand those who feel like the S2000 is such a sweet car that you wouldn't want it to get damaged while you're learning how to drive stick. But I think as long as you're careful and you understand what it is you're doing, even if you don't have the coordination down right yet... you still should be able to learn to drive without damaging the car.
Stalling the car a few times isn't the best thing in the world for the car, but it isn't going to kill the car.
Simple things that might help you ..
1. Don't give it too much gas. Obviously giving it tons of gas and then popping the clutch is bad for the car. If you're having trouble getting started, rev the car up to 3000rpms and then let out the clutch till the car starts moving to get a feel for where the engagement point is.
2. Clutch in, gas out! If the car starts to buck, feels like its going to stall ... Put the clutch back in, stay off the gas pedal and gather your wits. Then try again.
3. If you're used to driving an automatic, you may need to sit closer to be able to push the clutch all the way down to the floor. I made the mistake of sitting too far away from the pedals and it made it hard to push the clutch down to the floor and also hard to feel the clutch engaging. A simple movement of the seat forward 1 click made my driving 100 times better.
4. Don't panic or get discouraged, its not going to be easy that first hour or two, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes second nature pretty quickly. If you panic, see tip #2 and try to do that.
5. Try to make it a habit to remember what gear you're in. The S2000's short throws sometimes makes it difficult at first to figure out what gear you're in by looking at the shifter. Remember in your head, "I'm in 2, I want to goto 3". That way you know where you are and where you're headed next shift. Eventually this will also become second nature and you won't have to be so worried.
I've driven a manual car 2 times in my life before I hopped in the S2000. Both times I never really got a good feel for driving stick. I completely understood what was going on BEFORE I was trying to learn though. Simple stuff like what happens to the engine / transmission when you step on the clutch pedal, why you need to shift gears ... I mean, if you understand basically how a car works you should understand a lot of this already. I managed to learn how to drive the car in about 2 hours. 1 hour a night. Taking a break from driving helps you so you're not as nervous/excited/etc about driving the 2nd night.
I think that the S2000 clutch is pretty nice. You get a good feel when the clutch engages and it makes it really easy for me to know when to give her gas. Experience obviously will make you a better driver, but in the beginning feeling the clutch grab helped tremendously. I test drove an '05 RSX-S after I learned to drive stick and I thought the clutch felt a lot softer and didn't provide any feedback to the driver. I don't have worlds of experience driving stick, but I think the extra feedback from the S2000 clutch makes it a good car to learn on.
The S2000's short shifter makes it hard as a beginner to know exactly what gear you're in. Now that I'm used to it, I love the short throws and the shifter feel ... But in the beginning I had a hard time being able to tell the difference between 1 and 3 for example. It sounds stupid, but the difference in movement is almost so subtle because of the short throws that it doesn't always make it easy to know exactly what gear you're going into ... Practice will make perfect here. Just be very careful when you're shifting. If you let the clutch pedal out and you notice the RPMs going up when they should be going down ... then be prepared to clutch in quickly!
I can understand those who feel like the S2000 is such a sweet car that you wouldn't want it to get damaged while you're learning how to drive stick. But I think as long as you're careful and you understand what it is you're doing, even if you don't have the coordination down right yet... you still should be able to learn to drive without damaging the car.
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 266
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From: Apex-Durham-Chapel Hill
i think the best thing to do is spend a couple hundred bucks a buy some POS with stick and practice around. Or have some instructor to teach you how to drive manual correctly. Because a bad habit can kill any clutch easily and you wont get the most out of the car. I bought a old saturn that had 50K miles on it in high school, 2 months later the clutch was wore out and appearantly the previous owner's bad habit on the clutch killed it. Replaced it (with OEM) and the car is now at 120K and the clutch is still doing its job and not need to be replaced for probably another 30 - 50K. Nothing wrong to start learning manual with an S but make sure you learn it right and not taking some of those double clutch or some other techniks that some people are using. Until you are confident and can drive the car without thinking about changing gear, clutching and stuff the do a search on this forum to learn different techniq.