To each their own. As far as I'm concerned, if I still have the mini when the 12year old girl in the house learns to drive, she'll be doing it in her mother's car. LOL

 

This is hands down the best and safest method to learn stick... I've trained a few kids this way... You can safely get into 4th no problem in an empty lot... They really learn clutch modulation..

 

I'm more worried about a fun to drive manual transmission car still being available in 11-years when my son is learning how to drive...then again 3-years later when my daughter is learning how to drive. I hope I'm wrong, but it certainly does not seem promising.

 

That's a valid concern. Although I think car manufacturers are going to continue making manual trans versions of cars available because they're still a big chunk of the market in other places besides the US. We happen to have always been a nation of spoiled automatic drivers.

 

Try renting an automatic in Europe, they have a few Autos, for the "Americans" because no-one likes them. Funny planet we live on.

 

I learned in a Ford Econoline Van, with 3 on the column. lol I had a Nash Rambler, and I broke the linkage to the clutch, and I had a 20 mile drive through three small towns to get home. I started the car with the clutch in, then I shifted when I synced the gears. I'm just glad I had played around with syncing the gears before I had the problem. lol Fun drive, and when I would see a red light, I would just slow way down, and hope like heck it would turn green before I got there. I made it home with out stopping once.

 

I think I'm one of the lucky ones. My dad wasnt a pro, but did have an SCCA license in the 70's and did some novice racing. By the time I was learning to drive, I was being taught to match-rev downshift etc from day one.

Anyway, no one mentioned this one yet, and I see it sometimes. Do not get into a bad habit of disengaging the clutch to turn a corner. If the car is moving, and you are not in gear, with the clutch engaged, you're not in control! Maybe it's just a gal I knew and dated about 20 years ago (didn't marry for obvious reasons), she would approach an intersection for example in 3rd gear, disengage the clutch, turn on her street, shift to 2nd, and slowly slip and ride the clutch for the next to thirds of the block! Needless to say, all braking and downshifting should occur before the turn. Nuff said bout that.

 

+1

I do this when teaching my kids. With my Outback, the clutch is heavy and tall but you can get the car moving without any extra throttle. Once you get this part down, the rest is a piece of cake.

 

Quick update on this: I got my car on Wednesday night, and the drive home was pretty rough. But I was not relaxed. Since then, I've relaxed a lot more, learned to recognize some of my mistakes, and I'm doing much better. It's easier when you have someone sitting next to you and making helpful suggestions, but I'll get there soon enough.

Thanks to everyone for your tips and encouragement!