Hi everyone, I just placed my order with Schomp on Wednesday, and now I need to learn how to drive stick before my car is delivered. I could hit up craigslist, but thought I'd take my chances here first.

So I'm looking for someone who would be gracious enough and brave enough to show me the ropes with their MINI. Just teach me whatever basics we can cover in a couple of hours. I'm, like, an adult. I just never learned.

I will pay you, and will be respectful of your car, no matter what. My current car is a 2002 Nissan Sentra that I bought used, and have put on 150,000 miles since, with no mechanical issues. I take care of my things.

If you're up for it, I would be very grateful.

Thanks!
Alan

 

Why not ask the dealer to show you on a loaner car?

 

Area driving schools will teach you how to drive a manual transmission. Usually, private lessons are available. Might want to look into this option.

 

Nick Ko learned to do it. A few of us helped. 4 clutches later he is just fine. J

 

Just kidding about the clutches. J

 

Just kidding about the clutches. J

 

Good call! I hadn't thought of that, I'll see what they can do.

Another good option. I'll hit up the dealer first and see where I need to go from there. Thanks!

 

So hows that stick working out for you?

 

Might have to borrow that idea...

 

It should be mandatory when learning. Then others would not get upset when they stall over and over again.

 

Three lessons in to teaching my 17 y/o to drive the stick in our 2005 Justa.

Poor MINI... hope the clutch doesn't wear out before my patience does.

He just can't seem to get the idea in his head that when the car starts to stall and carry on, engage the clutch pedal ! Yikes.

 

I learned! The dealer wasn't super hot on the idea of me using one of their cars, and I couldn't find a local driving school that had stick lessons. But a gracious NAM member contacted me, and I learned in an hour. I obviously have a lot of practice yet to do, but I'll at least be able to drive away from the dealer myself.

Yes, I did have a line of cars behind me at one point. It was trial by fire. But overall, much easier to pick up than I thought it would be.

 

Good for you ! You'll be a little rough with the clutch and stick for a bit but you'll have the hang of it very soon. And within a few months, shifting will become second nature and you'll be doing it without even thinking about it.

 

and at some point in the future you'll be in an automatic and you'll instinctively reach for the stick... :-)

 

LOL! My 2010 R56 (and all of my other cars) was a manual. My 2012 Countryman (I've had it for 2 1/2 months) is an automatic. I still step on the brake pedal with my left foot sometimes when I go to start it. When I first got it, I had a hard time remembering that reverse is not left and forward!

 

Or....you will be jamming your left foot down on the floor looking for the clutch pedal.....done that more then once in my life.

 

Do those things all the time !

 

I must commend you, alan.dg, for moving to a manual transmission after a lifetime of driving automatics. Not many people are willing to make that jump, so good on you

As an aside, IMO this is one of the best ways to learn how to drive a manual transmission...and it teaches you a lot of feel for the clutch at the same time. So...go to an empty parking lot, or something like that. Clutch in, put the car in first gear, and let off the brakes. Without touching the throttle AT ALL...start to let the clutch out very, VERY, VERY slowly (really slowly in case you didn't get that). You will start to feel the clutch bite, and the car will start to roll forward. Keep disengaging the clutch ever so slowly...eventually the car will have enough forward momentum that it won't stall, and you will have completely disengaged the clutch without ever having touched the throttle. At that point, apply throttle and row a few gears around the parking lot. Do that first part a few times, and you will really get a feel for that bite point on the clutch. Once you have that feel and muscle memory, it will be second nature.

Then once you feel like you have that down, you can start learning the art of driving a manual transmission...being smooth...downshifting...matching revs...heel-toe...and all that fun stuff. Getting it all right is the most fun you can have with your clothes on...and if you're at the track, it may even be more fun than that

I feel very fortunate to have had a father who taught me all that stuff from day one...but it's never too late to learn. Best of luck to you!

 

I agree... that was the first thing I did with my teen son when I started teaching him to drive the stick a few weeks ago.

 

It's funny...for 17-years my daily drivers have had manual transmissions, and I learned how to drive on a manual transmission. But I can get into a vehicle with an automatic transmission and left foot brake without issue. Granted, if it's a car I've never driven before, it may take me a stop or two to get the feel of the brake pedal to be smooth under braking.

Total aside...but I remember getting yelled at by my driver education teacher because I would left foot brake in the automatic transmission driver education cars. And because I would hold the wheel at 9-3, instead of 10-2, and didn't do hand-over-hand turns if I didn't have to. Needless to say, his explanation of "faster reaction time" as a reason to right foot brake, and "better control" as a reason to hold the wheel at 10-2, and doing hand-over-hand turns, did not hold up with a kid who spent his entire childhood watching auto-racing. In a sport where reaction time and control are paramount, I certainly didn't seem them doing any of that.

Yeah, he didn't appreciate me telling him that...so no surprise that he didn't failed me on my final driver's test (passed the class, just not the driver's test), and forced me to go to the DMV to take the test

 

I taught my daughter to drive an old Farmall Cub tractor. At least she learned to work the clutch. Just no shifting. Straight cut gears and all.

 

Thanks for your feedback, everyone!

That's the way I learned. About 95% of the effort was just getting a smooth transition into 1st gear from a stop. In that one hour, I got it right maybe twice. Everything else was cake by comparison.

I LOL'd, and I get it. It was so incredibly satisfying. Can't wait to drive some more!

 

I've never heard of this technique but thought it brilliant so I took out my 18 year old last night and within 4 tries he was getting it. We spent the next 30 minutes practicing by adding power and the smile on his face was priceless.

Now I'll take my wife out and get her starting to learn.

 

Keep teaching people to drive stick on your car like that and the next thread you'll be making is "Need someone to teach me how to change a clutch."

All jokes aside, I seriously wouldn't make a habit of teaching people to drive on your car. Had a nice neighbor when I was younger that was sort of a village mentor. Cool dude, owned an ice cream shop, used to hire all the neighborhood teens and let them all drive his Honda S2000. Seriously just used to let them take it for a day or whatever and would give them crash courses on how to drive it.

I lost count of how many clutches he put in the thing after about 3.

 

That method isn't very taxing on the clutch, especially when compared to how it seems people typically learn...scared to disengage the clutch & stall the car, so they keep the clutch half-engaged 'til 3k RPMs. Now THAT is an excellent way to become very proficient at replacing clutches in your car

And really, anything that speeds up the process of learning is also good for the life of your clutch...fewer learning attempts = less wear & tear on the clutch