Drove a Z for the first time last week and It felt like a whole learning experience. I did not like how the clutch and shifter felt/worked. Similar experience driving a friend's manual altima. All the manual Hondas i've driven shifted like butter.

I drove stick one time before I bought the S, so I practically learned on it. 50,000 miles and two years later no problems or failures.

Don't be scared of the S.

 

i feel many people get intimidated by the addition of the third pedal, when the hardest part about learning to drive stick is gas pedal sensitivity. if you can't modulate the gas properly this will lead to clunky starts, burning the clutch, etc. the clutch is the most basic of muscle memory, since it is basically either engaged, or unengaged.

learn to be able to give gas in increments of 500 rpm and you should be able to feel how much gas to give in different situations.

the very first car i had ever driven was my friends manual audi a4 and my first car was a manual wrx. i was able to get it going in the a4 but it was only a short drive in a neighborhood and eventually learned everything in the wrx.

 

The gearbox is fully syncro'ed that means anybody can be a "driver".

If you had to learn how to shift a non-syncro box, like a Hewland then you have your work cut out for you.

You have to be a real F Tard to not be able to move a car from point A to point B today. Notice I did not say drive, most people can point a car in the general direction they need to go. Few can drive a manual well.

 

I learned on a friends '99 Corolla in one of our school parking lots. Took it for a spin just about everyday before tackling the TSX, which was pretty helpful because I went from an easy/forgiving clutch to an easy/forgiving clutch.

I like the rental idea that someone posted about above. Try that or find a friend/family member who drives stick and try taking their car for a spin everyday.

 

It seems like we're treating an S like a rare sports car. It's not. It's a $35K car, made by Honda.

I learned to drive stick 10 years ago in a parking lot with a friends old nissan. It was 30 minutes. Never owned a stick car until we picked up the S in the summer of 09. Drove off the lot. I've made a few bad shifts and road the clutch a little to much the first week. Car didn't go boom - to my surprise.

My advice to you is to drive a friend or neighbors stick car once or twice before you go purchase the car. Or better yet bring a friend who can drive stick to do the test driving for you.

As for learning stick, it's easily researched online. You will never have to use any fancy techniques you see race car drivers or wannabee race car drivers use - though you can as you get more comfortable and it's fun.

As for over revving or damaging your car. If you run it to red you better be comfortable shifting. Otherwise stick to the lower rpms and you wont likely have a problem. Over revving/miss shifting is a problem in any car. Drive it gently until you're comfortable. Common sense, but maybe not.

If you don't know how to drive stick your issues are likely two fold:
1. The safety factor - stalling while making a left turn on a light can get you t-boned
2. Curbs - until you learn to slip the clutch and take curbs slowly you can eat your bumper and/or take off your oil pan

A little practice is all you likely need. Don't let it stop you from buying the car. It's a challenge to be over come.

 

I like the driving school advice for learning to drive a manual car. Thanks for the tips.

You guys are very kind and helpful.

 

Everyone should learn to drive manual transmission in the event you go to the club and your designated driver (who has a MT) party fouls and gets hammered drunk.

Bottom line is find someone who drives a manual and go to a parking lot to learn in their car. The principal of manual trans is the same in each car but some models haves thier quirks, like the above mentioned 350z vs S2k. You can learn in either, better have a patient friend though.

Once you learn, it becomes a subconcious activity, an instinct. You'll drive manual without thinking about shifting. Don't let automatic driving people talk you out of learning.

 

When you downshift, the engine has to go faster in lower gears for the car to continue at the same speed.

If you just downshift without rev matching, the inertia of the car spins the engine up to the required speed by force, and resistance from the engine also slows the car down some. Done really wrong, the resistance from the engine can lock up the rear tires briefly. Or not so briefly. Your mileage may vary.

So with rev matching, you want to use the gas pedal to spin up the engine while the clutch pedal is in, then let the clutch out while the engine is spinning as fast as (or maybe a little faster than) it would need to be in the lower gear.

It just takes a little more practice to get the three-pedal dance down.

 

I learned on a Ford truck with a clutch that was Really hard to push in. It also died if you didn't floor it when shifting. After a few days my friend let me drive his integra. I couldn't believe how easy it was to drive. **** that old ford POS!

 

I've only driven MT a couple times so far,didn't take long to get my basics down, and plan to learn everything else I haven't leaned on my s2000 when I buy one. First time was on a ford truck also and the first thing I was told was"the clutch is really hard to push" that made learning less enjoyable. Then after he let drive his FC. And boy was it wayway easier on that. And of course a lot more fun.

My friend on the other hand kept grinding first gear all night trying to go from 2-3.