IA-SteveB

My son just turned 14 and got his learner's permit. He has been driving various cars with his mom, grandparents and me for about a month now.

I sent him a text yesterday that looks like this, trying to stimulate his interest in cars further:


We first went through how a manual transmission works and how to use a clutch. I let him get the car started in a nice level surface and he did a good job of easing into it and not letting it stall out. We only got to second gear riding around in the lot but I just had him practice stops and starts so he could get the hang of it while I coached. I think he was a little nervous about driving dad's sports car but I assured him everything will be fine. He did a good job but started having trouble stalling it for some unknown reason after being successful on a half dozen tries so we quit for the day. It will be a while before we hit public streets because he has enough to think about driving an automatic right now. We will just ease into this with more parking lot lessons.

Chuck S

There go your insurance rates!

-- Chuck

Car Analogy

Learners permit at 14? What State is that?

Chuck S

I was curious too. IA(Iowa)SteveB lives there. Iowa requires a minimum of 12months with a learner's permit before the real drivers test can be taken at age 16. Bunch of other requirements but starting at 14 with an family-member adult in the car seems reasonable to allow a build-up of driving experience Several other unique (?) things like the ability to drive to and from school at age 15 without an adult in the car.

-- Chuck

OMG VTEC

"Best car ever"

Sounds like you're doing a good job raising your kid.

darcyw

Our house ONLY has manual shift cars. With his G1 (Equivalent to learner permit in Ontario), he's done really well. however, he can only drive my s2000 with the G1. Once he graduates to G2, insurance won't let him- strange.

darcy

Hertz Donut

Good stuff. This is something I've been thinking about recently - my oldest is 13 in November and I'm considering joining the local motorsport club so he can have a go at closed events to learn some car control before he's let loose on the streets at 16.

I'm not as brave as you though, rather than start him out in the S2000 I'll pick up something else simple, manual and RWD like a NA Miata so he can learn car control and maintenance without killing an increasingly rare (for NZ) vehicle.

vicrc

So funny! Enjoying the S2000 with your son is really one of the best things you guys can do together. My son drove automatic for the first 4 years, only then I got the S2000 he learned to drive stick. He was absolutely excited and thought all cars should have been manual! He now drives a new a Toyota 86 and since he lives 2 hours away we often exchange cars as he also loves driving the S2000. Of course I have to remind him not to go crazy with it. Kids! Ugh. Last weekend was the S2K-Socal event with 300+ S2000 and we had a blast as farther and son team! With all the mods and upgrades at the event, I had to keep telling him, NO I DO NOT NEED A WING!

NNY S2k

My son learned on standard shift cars as that is all we had. Since then he has learned to drive automatics if the need arises.
Levi

HawkeyeGeoff

I frequently teach people how to drive manuals at work (since it's kind of my job), what I tend to do for a process is the following:

1. Start on a zero grade surface, have them bring the clutch pedal up slowly to find the grab point to where the car just barely starts rolling in 1st and de-clutch. I have them do this about 15 times, stopping everytime.
2. Do the same as one, but let them ride the clutch out a bit and fully release to get the car rolling without adding throttle. ~10 times or until they're comfortable
3. Reiterate to not go too fast and start adding accel pedal into the mix, ~15 starts and stops. When I feel they're getting it, move on to 1-2 shifts and stops.
4. Work on reverse, I have them do psuedo 3-point turns. Remember to tell them they do not need to/ should not release the clutch all the way. It's a grab and de-clutch manuever. "reverse into a spot", turn the wheel and slowly launch the vehicle out of it. This simulates a parking lot.
5. 1-2-3-4 shifts and practicing coming to a stop like a stop sign or traffic light. Reiterate that they need to de-clutch when doing this as I found a lot of people tend to get nervous and forget to push the clutch in resulting in stalls. Practice clutching in, coming to a stop and putting it in first gear to be ready to go for a stop sign type of situation.
6. Go back to first gear launches; have them show to you that they can indeed GET UP AND GO. Aka pulling out of a subdivision with oncoming traffic. I'm looking for a smooth, controlled quick launch. This is the biggest problems with beginners usually and the part that causes them the most accidents.
7. At work we have grade hills to practice on, I'd suggest doing something minor just to get their confidence up with it a bit. This plays into the muscle memory of finding the right catch point quickly and riding the clutch out to get it going.

That's a quick breakdown of how I do it usually; most of the time students come out of it wanting a manual in their life.