is it hard? will i be destrioying the car in the learnign process?

 

It's not at all hard once you get the hang of it, except for hill starts, and it's a skill everyone ought to have, but I don't know that I'd learn in a MINI. Short shift throws, tight clutch, small engine -- it's easier to stall than bigger cars I think. Borrow a friend's old Chevy Cavalier to mash the gears around.

I learned in an old three-on-the-three International Scout, to impress some girl, many years ago, in real time -- I fumbled through the gears while she watched. If I can do it, so can you... :smile:

 

Go rent an econo-box with manual trans for the weekend. Take someone along to drive it home for you, then go find a giant empty parking lot. You'll get it in a heartbeat. It's EZ! Only wrinkle as mentioned is starting on hills. Find some and practice, practice. Just try and rent a car with a hand operated e-brake like the minis.

 

You won't hurt anything by learning stick in your mini except maybe your pride. Yeah, you may need a clutch sooner than your average mini owner, but in the big picture, it shouldn't be a big deal.
I always see advice like this:
"Go rent an econo-box with manual trans for the weekend."
My question is, in the United States, who rents cars eqipped with manual transmisions? I've looked. In the U.S. cities I've rented cars (Kansas City, Denver, Houston, San Jose, Seattle, Boston) none of the listed rental outfits had anything available with a manual transmission. The 2 universal reasons given are "we don't want people to abuse the cars by doing clutch drops" and "we don't want new drivers learning stick on our cars".
The only time I've heard of renting a car with a standard tranny is in Vegas, where you can rent Vipers, Harleys, Prowlers and some other exotics. But for the cost of renting one of these bad boys you could have a new racing clutch and flywheel put in your street car!
I'm not flaming, just curious. I'd recommend that, it's a hoot!

 

To me the best way to learn is to buy a manual shift so you are forced to do it on a daily basis. I bought a new VW Jetta years back, had to take a friend with me to drive it out of the dealership for me. Then we went to a better area to "practice" driving it. It was my only car, so I had to learn fast. I stalled it on hills for the first week or so, then it becomes second nature. Just be sure an experienced manual shift driver instructs you, that will speed along your learning as well as keep you from damaging the MINI.

 

>>is it hard? will i be destrioying the car in the learnign process?

You are a student. What is your learnign curve??
You'll probably only destrioy the car if you reckit. Gotit?

 

Its so easy... I have taught customers with the desire to learn. My sister ordered a manual tran MINI without knowing how to drive one. Of course she has learned the basic knowledge... it'll just take her some practice.

 

Yeah, and I bought a manual with knowing only how to move. You know change gears. Go up hills? foget it. I have actually re-routed my way to work to make sure i hit no hills until it does become second nature. Yeah it will take practice and a lot of patience. And bring some asprin. The amount of times i stalled the car on the first run, caused massive migraines.
But I have gotta tell ya.. driving manual is so much fun. Good Luck!!!

_________________
The sweetest thang around!!!

 

>>Yeah, and I bought a manual with knowing only how to move. You know change gears. Go up hills? foget it. I have actually re-routed my way to work to make sure i hit no hills until it does become second nature. Yeah it will take practice and a lot of patience. And bring some asprin. The amount of times i stalled the car on the first run, caused massive migraines.
>>But I have gotta tell ya.. driving manual is so much fun. Good Luck!!!
>>
>>_________________
>>The sweetest thang around!!!

The sweetest thing around....MiniCookie...now I get it.
Keep trying...it becomes second nature. Don't hold the
shifter with a death grip...relax...breath....mold that
shifter like a batch of dough.
700 TADA

 

Just don't ride the clutch too long, and I would definitely recommend riding with someone who drives a stick so that they can guide you out of a hairy situation. If you know someone that will let you use their old manual trans vehichle I would do that instead. Anyways good luck!

Goin just a bit off topic...2minis I noticed you posted a pic of a BMW naked style motor bike, I think thats what it is, anyways it looks nice. How does the bike ride? I was looking into a Ducati Monster S4 or 900. If you have any info or personal experience with this bike could you fill me in on it's handling and performance. I've heard a mix of positive and some slightly negative reviews.

_________________
no alarms and no surprises

 

I had a '72 Ducati...the pic is an R1100R. I like it.
I like bikes w/o a lot of 'stuff on them.' Longest
ride on it was Dallas to St. Pete, FL. and it didn't
miss a tick. Now you can ask about the 2003 883R
Harley I just got. It is the first I've owned and the
only thing I regret is I didn't get one 20 years ago.
I'd probably be riding the V Rod...
BTW Happy Birthday Harley Davidson!!

1903-2003

 

I taught myself on a hill in a 1929 Ford a few years ago before I got my liscence... but what I'd really reccommend is find someone with a 5-speed Jeep. They can take a lot of abuse (we've had lots of people learn on ours)... just be sure you learn on a hill... 'cos the hardest part is learning how to heel-and-toe... keep yourself from rolling backwards on a hill when you try to take off.

After awhile you'll decide that you can't stand automatics. I refuse to drive automatics now... I actually think they're harder to drive once you get so used to a stick... besides, you can't engine break with a slushbox like you can with a stick... engine breaking comes in handy in the winter, or when you don't have any brakes. Gives you a chance of slowing down.

_________________
Indi blue cooper, white roof, union jack, black leather, sport seats, sport suspension plus, 5-speed, stripes <p><img src="http://jeepaddict.home.mindspring.co...quot;><a href="https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/albums/album04/axq.jpg">Sprog!</a>

 

Once you learn to drive a stick you will hate driving automatics. You are so much more alert and in control of your car. I've always said that if more people drove sticks you would probably not see near as many rear end collisions. From age 17 until now (34) I've only had stick shift cars except for my boring company car (Ford Taurus).

The way I learned is I simply drove my first stick shift car home from the dealership. I had been riding a motorcycle for a year, though, so I already knew the theory in driving a stick, Just had to transfer the left hand to the left foot and the left foot to the right hand. ScoopFL hit it right on the nose. FORCE yourself to drive it on a daily basis.

 

>>I had a '72 Ducati...the pic is an R1100R. I like it.
>>I like bikes w/o a lot of 'stuff on them.' Longest
>>ride on it was Dallas to St. Pete, FL. and it didn't
>>miss a tick. Now you can ask about the 2003 883R
>>Harley I just got. It is the first I've owned and the
>>only thing I regret is I didn't get one 20 years ago.
>>I'd probably be riding the V Rod...
>>BTW Happy Birthday Harley Davidson!!
>>
>> 1903-2003

oooooh! The VRod! I've been seeing those all around Dallas. Those are SWEET. I'm not a big Harley person(love sport bikes and BMW's) but I do love that VRod. Which city in FL do you live, 2Minis?

 

>>I taught myself on a hill in a 1929 Ford a few years ago before I got my liscence... but what I'd really reccommend is find someone with a 5-speed Jeep. They can take a lot of abuse (we've had lots of people learn on ours)... just be sure you learn on a hill... 'cos the hardest part is learning how to heel-and-toe... keep yourself from rolling backwards on a hill when you try to take off.
>>

I learnd to drive in the uk, the "Hill Start" is part of the driving test there. You are taught to use the hand brake, It's not called the emergency brake. You are also taught to use the hand brake when stationary. Neutral gear and off the brakes. It's very easy to do a Hill start like this: (with a front wheel drive car like the MINI).

Stop on a hill.
Hand break on.
out of gear.
clutch out.
Brakes off. You will feel the nose of the car rise as the brakes come off and all the weight goes on the back breaks.

Clutch in,
1st gear.
Hand onto the hand brake lever.
few revs.
Clutch up just a little and >SLOWLY< (while you are learning how the car feels! worst case you'll stall)
The nose of the car will begin to dip as power gets to the front wheels and the car begins to pull it's weight off the back wheels. This is your cue that the clutch is biting and you can..
Relese the hand break+more revs+ease off the clutch.

You have to be able to do the above to pass the british driving test. If you roll backwards at all you are considered not to be in controll of the car and are failed.

On gentle slopes you don't have to worry so much. You can relese the hand break and go on with the revs and off with the cluch and you will normally catch the car before you roll back.

There are so many extra little skills to learn like the above I would strongly recomend looking for a profesional instructor to teach you 'Stick".

Alot of stuff is just how to remain in control of a manual, an automatic feels like it needs to be pused to go, but a stick can feel like it's pulling you along, Remembering to leave the clutch out if you go into corners too fast, how to downshift to the correct gear to get the required acceleration, how to down shift in an emergency to use engine breaking and how to select gears in icy conditions, are just a few more. The mini has lot's of safty features like cbc, abs, to help you with these but not all manuals do.

Having said all that, Driving a stick is so much more fun, it involves the driver with the car in a way automatic just doesn't.

 

You'll be glad you learned how to drive stick, and trust me (and many others on this site) you won't ever want to go back! There's no better feeling than controling the gears yourself!

 

I also want to get a Mini manual trans but only know the basics. I wanna go for a test drive in one to see how they perform but I don't want to make a fool of myself with the saleperson in the passenger sit. I don't have access to another car with manual. Any suggestions.

 

Just tell the sales person what you just told us. If they are good people, they won't have a problem taking you out in a demo. You already know the basics... it's not like you don't know anything about how a manual trans works.
You know?

 

Pebble,
Thank you for bringing that to everyone's attention. I've been doing that trick for years now and it makes everything so much easier. Especially when you are on a hill and the person behind you likes to stop on your bumper while waiting for the green light!

2MINIS: Is there any need to double clutch anymore? I like to do it when I'm at speed and want to shift to a lower gear, but not necessarily to get the rpm's higer to pass. Just when I realize I'm in too high of a gear. Are cars now so technical that double clutching is a waste? And do you think the stock pedals are wide enough or spaced good enough for good heel/toe driving? Thanks! :smile:

 

This reminds me of the MINI S test drive, and more importantly leaving in my wife's Lexus RX300. Anyway, we have owned 2 manual cars over the last 25 years. A 79 RX7 mazda and an 83 VW Sirocco(I have forgotten how to spell it! altzhimers!) wolfsburg edition both were Red. Anyway it has been a few years since I had driven a stick regularly, and we test drove the MINI S for about 30 minutes one Saturday about a month ago. We drove it spiritedly, and were downshifting and driving it in a very sporting way, if you know what I mean

My wife gave me a ration of crap over the 30 minute drive to Augusta!

jc

 

I too ordered my MINI Cooper (manual trans) without knowing how to drive a stick.
I had one lesson (in a friends car) while I was waiting on delivery and had a long lesson the day it arrived (in my new car). I had someone drive it home from the dealer and drove around and around my neighborhood for the rest of the day!
I really believe the only way to truly KNOW how to drive it is to do it everyday, for about a week...
I don't stall at all anymore and I love the 'get up and go' that a manual shift provides!

Tried the 'rent a car & learn' thing too and NO ONE rents stick shifts here either...
Good Luck and don't worry! You'll be stressed at first, but in NO TIME you'll be shifting like a pro!

 

jowannamini,

Do what I did. You're going to Prestige. Tell the sales rep you've never driven a stick. They were happy to show me how (two easy lessons). I don't think they'll give you a hard time.

It's nerve wracking at first but it's not hard. Just remember to relax, take deep breaths, don't let other drivers pressure you, drive as much as possible (not too hard in a MINI).

I haven't driving a stick in 10+ years. Believe me, it's not hard once you get the hang of it. I had a HIGH learning curve (lots of tolls, traffic and the occasional hill). I didn't think I could do it but now my baby & I get along just fine.

 

>>I taught myself on a hill in a 1929 Ford a few years.....

Same car I learned on. Still double clutch once in a while.
And yes, I am old....but not that old....

>>I had a '72 Ducati...the pic is an R1100R. I like it.
>>I like bikes w/o a lot of 'stuff on them.' Longest
>>ride on it was Dallas to St. Pete, FL. and it didn't
>>miss a tick. Now you can ask about the 2003 883R
>>Harley I just got. It is the first I've owned and the
>>only thing I regret is I didn't get one 20 years ago.
>>I'd probably be riding the V Rod...
>>BTW Happy Birthday Harley Davidson!!
>>
>> 1903-2003

oooooh! The VRod! I've been seeing those all around Dallas. Those are SWEET. I'm not a big Harley person(love sport bikes and BMW's) but I do love that VRod. Which city in FL do you live, 2Minis?

The one, the only St. Pete.....

 

Aside from everything else stated above, I can think of 2 other reasons to learn how to drive a manual... First, you might go outside the US someday and want/need to rent a car. Good luck finding a reasonably priced rental in Europe that DOESN'T have a manual. Exactly the opposite situation from here in the States. Second, you might need to rent a full-size UHaul or Ryder truck some day (you know, those big furniture trucks). I believe that many of those still come with manuals.

Come to think of it, you can go rent one of those for a day -- under $50 -- and drive it around a parking lot until you learn. If you can start one of those things on a hill, you can definitely handle your MINI.

 

One other reason (is that now, what, 45 reasons?) is the same reason I am insisting my girls learn to drive a stick, you will NEVER be stuck somewhere, not knowing how to drive any car on the road... somewhat important in today's world, I think...