Hello folks,

Last Friday I purchased my 2004 s2k with 89k miles. I practiced in my friend's miata a couple times to learn how to drive stick shift, stalling many times. I spent almost all my time since March to May, trying to learn everything about the manual shift so I can be ready. I had a friend teach me how to drive stick for a few hours, and I was able to drive on the streets, to the highway, and back home (which included a surprise stop and go traffic on the highway, and hill stops...which I was a bit nervous about).

So this is my issue. Stalling.....kind of.

When I try to get the car going from a standstill, I had two options in mind. Letting the clutch off slowly until it catches, and eventually letting off the clutch and then giving gas when the clutch was fully engaged. Or giving gas near the biting point (up to 3.5k revs) and letting off the clutch slowly until fully engaged. Whenever I try either one of these methods, the car either stalls, or shudders before it starts to take off.
My friend was telling me that it was because I was letting off the clutch too quickly, but I'm letting it off as slow as I can (the youtube videos that I watched of people depressing and engaging the clutch are much quicker than I). I read some threads on this forum saying that it might be due to some mechanical or electronic issue, but both of my friends were driving it fine, and I can't seem to find what I am doing wrong.

If I may ask, please give me criticism/tips/guides in how to make going from standstill to first, and a smooth second; so I can stop pissing off the people behind me in traffic lights, keep my car safe, (maybe more importantly) don't make this car look bad. Thank you guys!

 

Topic may get better response in S2000 Talk subsection.

As for clutch, best way to learn is practice. My first car was an old VW Beetle. My only car. So, to get to school or anywhere... had to learn manual shifting. I would avoid driving an automatic tranny car during the time you are learning to drive the S2000.

Driving female friends around works a lot better when you aren't stalling. Take your wife or GF for rides. You'll learn REAL FAST.

You are prolly thinking too much about it. You need to get to the point where you are shifting automatically. Clutching techniques vary with location and situations. Practice makes perfect. Someone said to learn a new thing (like playing the guitar) --- it takes 5 to 10,000 hours of practice. Much more for some.

 

Welcome to the forum! Although, I'm pretty new myself.
The best advice my friend gave me is to go to an empty parking lot and close your eyes.
Fully depress the clutch, put the gear in first and then slowly let go of the clutch.
Closing your eyes in this process helps because you're getting rid of unwanted external stimuli.
As you're letting go of the clutch, assuming you haven't stalled already, you can feel the car "turning to life".
You'll feel the car slowing inching forward.
Remember this spot well.
This is what many videos call the "biting point".
Right before this point, you'll want to give it some gas.
When I first started I gave it roughly 2k rpm but you could bring it down to 1.5k with practice.

The reason people can shift faster is the travel distance between clutch fully depressed to the biting point.
Beginners tend to go through the distance slowly but experienced drivers can almost immediately go straight to that point.

As your RPM goes to around 3.5k, that is when I shift, you depress the clutch fully, caress the shifter into second slowly let go of the clutch and give it a little bit of gas for a smooth transition.

You'll figure it out with practice and time.
Have fun

 

Btw, I made a similar post asking beginner questions.
Not sure if it will help though.
https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/115...#entry23930304

 

Pratice in a parking lot, starting off only. Never take the car out of first gear.

Do lots of lightly agressive starts, give it half throttle. Even a touch of wheel spin. Once the clutch is out all the way (meaning your foot is not touching it) immediately being her to a stop, and repeat.

Work your way backwards from this point until you are smooth.

Practicing on the street adds too many variables. By working on starting off only as a constant, you will hone it fast.

 

To the excellent advice already given, I will add, focus on the clutch only at first. Practice holding thottle at say, 2.5k rpm. Now, in that parking lot, doing closed eye take offs over and over (well open them sometimes!), hold the throttle at that practiced rpm, and just leave it there, and focus all your attention on clutch.

Practice just the clutch at first. Over and over until you have it. (Dont let clutch overheat though.)

Once you have clutch action down, you can switch to doing clutch and throttle at same time.

Youll get it...

Sent from my SM-G920P using IB AutoGroup

 

I've help teach manual tranny driving to several folks. Parking lot is a nice way to start out. College one --- when on school break. Pick one with slight inclines, to practice starting off, on uphills.

What I did was have the person stop at designated place. Pretend there is a signal. Tell him/her, light turned green. Then, go to next designated area and stop. Repeat. Usually, it takes only a good weekend to get the hang.

But often, only those that continued to drive on the streets after a good amount of practice, continued to drive manuals. Those that had the option of driving cars with automatics never really were comfortable in a manual car --- under all conditions. They just popped into the Auto car when they needed to do driving in potentially dicey areas with heavy traffic.

Of all the manual cars I've driven, the S2000 is not the easiest. Esp in stop-&-go traffic. Prolly, due to the lack of low-end torque. My Element is a breeze to drive, in comparison. You may need more practice to get comfortable.

I was lucky... the VW Bug has to be one of the easiest cars to learn the stick. Geared low. Modest, flat powerband. Great tranny. I actually learned power shifting (or whatever it's called with no clutch between shifts), on the Bug. Great little car. Even, a bit of a chick magnet (when you are a Senior in HS or college) --- at least in the 1980 and 1990s.

Good luck! You'll get the hang of it. Before you know it, you'll be driving around and not even realize you are shifting.

 

The advice I gave my girlfriend that helped her learn how to drive stick in a weekend is to let the clutch out until it engages (car starts to roll) and then give it gas like you're in an automatic starting from s stop and then let the clutch out slowly the rest of the way.

 

I let the clutch out til I feel it grab and I start to give it gas before I'm completely off the clutch so it like a balance of clutch and gas. This process takes less than a second so you're not riding the clutch.

Also remember that going up or down hill or being on wet or dry roads are going to change how much gas and clutch you balance. Also if you are inching up in a garage or doing a quick run from a stop will also change your balance of clutch and gas.

It's easy to do but you need wheel time so keep driving and it will become second nature to you.

 

Maybe it's just my "giftedness" but I've not had trouble with the S2000 from a standing start. It's a balancing of both feet: clutch foot comes up and the gas foot goes down. Smoothly. Starting from idle is really not difficult, just takes practice. I'll echo the big parking lot.

My trouble, even with decades of manual gearbox experience was shifting during acceleration in normal driving! Nothing was smooth. I thought the guys here will messing with me when 4300 rpm was suggested for up-shifts. Works! At that rpm the engine rpm pretty much drops where it will match the next higher gear in normal driving. An automatic rev-match for want of a different term.

-- Chuck